member of the westernmost Slavs of Europe who dwelt in medieval times in the territory surrounded by the lower Elbe River in the west, the Baltic Sea in the north, the lower Oder River in the east, and Lusatia in the south. (This territory was situated in what later became Germany.) Their name, which was derived from po and Laba, means “along the Elbe.”

By the early 9th century the Polabs were organized into two confederations, or principalities, the Obodrites (Obodrite) and the Lutycy, or Wilcy. The many Lutycy tribes, of which the Ratarowie and Stodoranie (Hawolanie) were the most important, were subdued by Lothar of Saxony and Albert the Bear of Brandenburg in the 12th century. The other Polab groups were also subjugated by the Germans in the 12th–13th century. Nevertheless, the Polab language, related to Kaszub and Polish, survived until the beginning of the 19th century in what is now the German state of Lower Saxony.