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Carantanians (Latin: Quarantani, Slovene: Karantanci) were a Slavic people of the Early Middle Ages (Latin: Sclavi qui dicuntur Quarantani, or "Slavs called Carantanians"), living in the principality of Carantania, later known as Carinthia, which covered present-day southern Austria and parts of Slovenia. They are considered ancestors of modern Slovenes, particularly Carinthian Slovenes.
In the High Middle Ages, the term Carantanians and Carinthians were used interchangeably and denoted both the inhabitants of the bilingual Slavic-German Duchy of Carinthia, as well as South Slavs living within the borders of the Holy Roman Empire (that is, the ancestors of present-day Slovenes and Istrian Croats).[1]