The territory of Germania, a region extending from the steppes of modern Russia to the west banks of the Rhine, was for the first time described by the Roman historian Tacitus in 98 AD. Today this Latin term refers to a territory of German language-speaking countries in central and northern Europe. In antiquity, the present-day territory of Berlin was well outside Roman borders. It was populated by Germanic tribes that fled this land during the period of the Great Migration. It is believed that they became part of the ruling class in the western part of the Roman Empire. 

From the 6th Century on, the vacated area between the Oder and Elbe rivers was settled by Slavic peoples that had arrived from the east. Around 720 AD two main tribes settled in the present-day region of Berlin – the Heveller (Havolane) and the Sprewanen (Sprevjane). The first settled in Brennabor, known as Brandenburg today. The ancient castle of Brandenburg had been a fortress, taken over by King Henry the Fowler in 929. There was a Slavic rebellion against German rule in 983, and the region was ruled by the Slavic princes of the Hevelles for almost two centuries thereafter. The last of this dynasty, Pribislav, died in 1150. Afterwards the lands passed to Albert I. The other tribe, the Sprewanen, settled near the banks of the Spree River around present-day Kopenick, a zone in Berlin.