Lithuanians
When the Yotvingians left today's Sejny region in the 13th century, the area was covered in forest. Only in the 15th century did the Lithuanian settlers from the northeast start to colonize the forest. At the same time Russian settlers were coming from the southeast, and Poles from Mazowsze from the west and southwest. In the 16th century these three waves of settlers met in the present area of Sejny. Those of Russian origin became Polonized or Lithuanized, and from as early as the 17th century there were two dominant groups in the Sejny region: the Poles and the Lithuanians. Therefore the local Lithuanians are native and indigenous people as much as the Poles are.
