The Lusatian culture existed in the later Bronze Age and early Iron Age (1300 BCE – 500 BCE) in most of today's Poland, parts of Czech Republic and Slovakia, parts of eastern Germany (where it is known as Lausitz, Latin: Lusatia) and parts of Ukraine. It covers the Periods Montelius III (early Lusatian culture) to V of the Northern-European chronological scheme.

There were close contacts with the Nordic Bronze Age, and the Scandinavian influence on Pomerania and northern Poland during this period was so considerable that this region is sometimes included in the Nordic Bronze Age culture.Hallstatt and La Tène influences are seen particularly in ornaments (fibulae, pins) and weapons.

The Lusatian culture developed as the preceding Trzciniec culture experienced influences from the middle Bronze Age Tumulus Bronze Age (Hügelgräberkultur), essentially incorporating the local communities into the socio-political network of Iron Age Europe. It forms part of the Urnfield systems found from eastern France, southern Germany and Austria to Hungary and the Nordic Bronze Age in northwestern Germany and Scandinavia. It is followed by the early Iron Age Billendorf culture in the West. In Poland, the Lusatian culture is taken to span part of the Iron Age as well (there is only a terminological difference) and is succeeded in Montelius VIIbc in northern ranges around the mouth of Vistula by the Pomeranian culture spreading south.

Rjana Łužica (Lower Sorbian: Rědna Łužyca)—“Beautiful Lusatia”) is the Sorbian national anthem. It was written by poet Handrij Zejler. The lyrics were firstly published on August 24, 1827, in the Leipzig magazine Serbska Nowina. Its music was composed in the beginning of 1845 by Korla Awgust Kocor (German: Karl August Katzer). The anthem was publicly performed for the first time on October 17, 1845, in Budyšin/Bautzen (Upper Sorbian Budyšin, Lower Sorbian: Budyšyn), German Bautzen, formerly Budissin).

Handrij Zejler’s two additional verses have been excluded from the official version.

Upper Lusatia (German: Oberlausitz, Upper Sorbian: Hornja Łužica, Lower Sorbian: Górna Łužyca, Czech: Horní Lužice, Polish: Górne Łużyce or Milsko) is a region in Germany and Poland. Along with Lower Lusatia to the north, it makes up the historical region of Lusatia, named after the Slavic tribe of the Lusici. Both Lusatias are home to the West Slavic people the Sorbs, as well as Germans and Silesians.

The majority of Upper Lusatia is in Saxony (roughly the districts of Bautzen (Budyšin) and Görlitz), the northern part is in Brandenburg (southern Oberspreewald-Lausitz district), and a small eastern part is in Poland (part of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship and Lubusz Voivodeship). The west of Upper Lusatia is a subregion, Western Lusatia.

The historical capital of Upper Lusatia is Bautzen. The largest city in the region is Görlitz/Zgorzelec, halved between Germany and Poland since 1945. The name Upper Lusatia was first recorded in the late 15th century. Originally the region was only called Lusatia, or later Land Budissin. The region was also referred to as Milsko in pre-15th century chronicles and modern Polish historiography.

The Kurdish people, or Kurds (Kurdish: کورد Kurd), are an Iranic people native to the Middle East, mostly inhabiting a region known as Kurdistan, which includes adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. They speak the Kurdish language, which is a member of the Iranian branch of Indo-European languages. The Kurds number about 30 million, the majority living in the Middle East, with significant Kurdish diaspora communities in the cities of western Turkey, in Armenia, Georgia, Israel, Azerbaijan, Russia, Lebanon and, in recent decades, some European countries and the United States. The Kurds are an indigenous ethnic minority in countries where the Kurdistan region is located, although they have enjoyed partial autonomy in Iraqi Kurdistan since 1991. An irredentist movement pushes for the creation of a Kurdish nation state.

The exact origins of the name, "Kurd", are unclear. Reynolds believes that the term Kurd is most likely related to the ancient term Qardu. The common root of Kurd and Qardu is first mentioned in a Sumerian tablet from the third millennium B.C. as the "land of Kar-da." Qardu is etymologically related to the Assyrian term Urartu corresponding to Ararat. According to Asatrian, the most reasonable explanation of this ethnonym is its possible connections with the Cyrtii (Cyrtaei)