The settlement of the Eastern Alps region by early Slavs took place during the 6th to 8th centuries CE. It formed part of the southward expansion of early Slavs which would result in the South Slavic group, and would ultimately result in the ethnogenesis of present-day Slovenes. The Eastern Alpine territories concerned comprise modern-day Slovenia, Eastern Friuli, in modern-day northeast Italy, and large parts of modern-day Austria (Carinthia, Styria, East Tyrol, Lower Austria and Upper Austria).