Around 3000 BC, the proto-Baltic ancestors of the Latvian people settled on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea. The Balts established trade routes to Rome and Byzantium, trading local amber for precious metals. By 900 AD, four distinct Baltic tribes inhabited Latvia: Curonians, Latgalians, Selonians, Semigallians (in Latvian: ''kurši'', ''latgaļi'', ''sēļi'' and ''zemgaļi''), as well as the Finnic tribe of Livonians (''lībieši'') speaking a Finnic language.