The Thracians lived in Bulgaria, Romania, northern Greece, and the Thrace region of Türkiye. They are thought to have been the world's most populous people after the Indians. At its greatest extent, the Thracian lands stretched from the northern Aegean coast to the Carpathian Mountains, from the Vardar River to the southern Morova and Tisza valleys, and partly into Ukraine and northwestern Anatolia. However, the heart of the land was the region known today as Western and Eastern Thrace. The Thracian people who inhabited this vast territory never established a state encompassing the entire region; they were generally fragmented into different tribes, with different governments ruling over different regions.
While powerful tribes acquired larger and more significant territories, conflicts undoubtedly occurred between tribes affiliated with or opposed to them. Against external incursions, these tribes attempted to maintain their existence partly by forming alliances with each other and partly with foreigners. The Odrysian Tribe, which succeeded in establishing a powerful state, originated in the central region of Thracian lands, in the upper Tundzha valleys, and moved along the Meriç River. The Astai, a notable powerful tribe located east of the Odrysian Mountains, established their dominance in the foothills of the Istranca (Yıldız) Mountains, near (Ast) Bizye (Vize) and the surrounding area.
Thracian Tribes
- Astai: Those who lived in the Strandja Mountains
- Apsinthians: Those who lived east of Enez
- Binnai: Those who lived in the middle and lower reaches of the Meriç River
- Bessalar: Those who lived in the valleys between Rhodope and Haimos
- Bettegerriler: Those who lived around Edirne
- Bisalts: Those who lived in the Akte peninsula
- Bistanlar: Those who lived on the Aegean coast
- Briants: Those who lived opposite the island of Samothrace
- Danthalets: Those who lived in the Upper Vardar region
- Darsis: Those who lived in the Lower Vardar region
- Others: Those who lived north of the Rila valley
- Drugeri: Those who lived in the Central Meriç region
- Hedons: Those who lived in the lower Vardar valley
- Tynler: Those who lived in İğneada and Midye region
- Kainoi: Those who lived on the Marmara coast
- Kebreni: Those who lived on the Arisbos River
- Kikones: Those who lived around Lake Biston
- Kovpils: Those who lived in the Alexandroupoli region
- Kalopothaklar: Those who lived in the region from the south of Enez to the Gallipoli peninsula
- Ladepsoylar: Those who lived in the Ergene valley
- Mygdons: Those who lived between Axias and Vardar
- Nipsoi: Those who lived near the coast
- Odomantes: Those who lived in the lower Vardar valley
- Odrysians: Those who lived in the region from the Tunca valley to the coast
- Paitler: Those who lived in the region from Lower Meriç to the Melas River
- Pieres: Those exiled from Macedonia
- Pyrageris: Those who lived in the Arsuz region
- Saioylar: Those who lived around Thassos
- Sapai: Those who lived in the region up to Lake Bistanis and the Rhodopes
- Satrais: Those who lived in the Rhodopes
- Sellets: Those who lived in the Balkans
- Serdais: Those who lived around Sofia
- Setons: Those who lived on the Pallene peninsula
- Sintoys: Those who lived in the mountainous region between Axias and Vardar
- Tralles: Those who lived in Upper Nestos
- Hypsaltans: Neighbors of the Odrysians and lived in the Meriç region