The Germanic peoples (also called Teutonic in older literature) are a historical ethno-linguistic group, originating in Northern Europe and identified by their use of the Indo-European Germanic languages. Migrating Germanic peoples spread throughout Europe in Late Antiquity (300-600) and the Early Middle Ages. Germanic languages became dominant along the Roman borders (Austria, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium and England), but in the rest of the (western) Roman provinces, the Germanic immigrants adopted Latin (Romance) dialects.The Germanic people played a large role in transforming the Roman Empire into Medieval Europe.
By the 1st century CE, the writings of Caesar, Tacitus and other Roman era writers indicate a division of Germanic-speaking peoples into tribal groupings centred on:
--the rivers Oder and Vistula/Weichsel (East Germanic tribes),
--the lower Rhine river (Istvaeones),
--the river Elbe (Irminones),
--Jutland and the Danish islands (Ingevones)