Wends, the Slavic peoples who settled in what is now eastern Germany in the sixth century. Efforts by the Germans to conquer and Christianize them began in the 10th century. A Wendish Crusade in 1147 pushed them back eastward, leaving them concentrated in Brandenburg and Saxony. Both areas were heavily colonized by Germans, and the Wends were largely absorbed. One group, the Sorbs, retain their identity and a number of them live in the area of Bautzen, their traditional capital.