Romanians in Serbia

Romanians (Romanian: Românii din Serbia, Serbian: Румуни у Србији, romanized: Rumuni u Srbiji) are a recognised national minority in Serbia. The total number of self-declared Romanians according to the 2022 census[1] was 23,044, while 21,013 people declared themselves Vlachs; there are differing views among some of the Vlachs over whether they should be regarded as Romanians or as members of a distinctive nationality. Declared Romanians are mostly concentrated in Banat, in Vojvodina, while declared Vlachs are mostly concentrated in the Timok Valley, in eastern Serbia.

Romanians in Serbia
Românii din Serbia
Румуни у Србији / Rumuni u Srbiji
Romania Serbia
Flag of the National Council of the Romanian Minority in Serbia
Total population
  • 23,044 Serbian citizens, 0.35% of Serbia's population (2022)[1]
  • 21,013 Vlach Serbian citizens, 0.32% of Serbia's population (2022)[1]
Regions with significant populations
Banat, Timok Valley
Languages
Romanian, Serbian
Religion
Predominantly Romanian Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Evangelical Christian
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History
Main articles: Vlachs and origin of the Romanians
See also: History of Banat and history of Wallachia
The ethnological map of the Romanian population by Heinrich Kiepert, 1876.
The ethnological map of the Romanian population by Élisée Reclus (19th century)

As Daco-Romanian-speakers, the Vlachs have a connection to Roman heritage in Serbia. Following Roman withdrawal from the province of Dacia at the end of the 3rd century, the name of the Roman region was changed to Dacia Aureliana, and (later Dacia Ripensis) spread over most of what is now called Serbia and Bulgaria.[2][3] Strong Roman presence in the region persisted through the end of Justinian's reign in the 6th century.[4]

The region where Vlachs predominantly live later on was part of the Second Bulgarian Empire, whose first rulers, the Asens, are considered Vlachs.[5] King Stephen Uroš II Milutin of Serbia had most of Timok after his conquering of rival King Stephen Dragutin's lands. The chroniclers of the crusaders describe meeting Vlachs in the 12th and 13th century in various parts of modern Serbia.[6][7] Serbian documents from the 13th and 14th century mention Vlachs, including Emperor Dušan the Mighty, in his prohibition of intermarriage between Serbs and Vlachs.[6][7] 14th and 15th century Romanian (Wallachian) rulers built churches in NE Serbia.[8] 15th century Turkish tax records (defters) list Vlachs in the region of Braničevo in NE Serbia, near the ancient Roman municipium and colonia of Viminacium.[9]

Starting in the early 18th century NE Serbia was settled by Romanians (then known by their international exonym as Vlachs) from Banat, parts of Transylvania, and Oltenia (Lesser Walachia).[6] These are the Ungureni (Ungurjani), Munteni (Munćani) and Bufeni (Bufani). Today about three quarters of the Vlach population speak the Ungurean subdialect. In the 19th century other groups of Romanians, originating in Oltenia (Lesser Wallachia), also settled south of the Danube.[10] These are the Ţărani (Carani), who form some 25% of the modern population. The very name Ţărani indicates their origin in Țara Românească, i.e., "The Romanian Land", that is, Wallachia (Oltenia and Muntenia). From the 15th through the 18th centuries large numbers of Serbs also migrated across the Danube, but in the opposite direction, to both Banat and Ţara Româneasca. Significant migration ended with the establishment of the kingdoms of Serbia and Romania, respectively, in the second half of the 19th century.

The lack of detailed census records and the linguistic effects of the Ungureni and Ţărani on the entire Vlach population make it difficult to determine what fraction of the present Vlachs can trace their origins directly to the ancient south-of-the-Danube Vlachs. The Vlachs of NE Serbia form a contiguous linguistic, cultural and historic group with the Romanians in the region of Vidin in Bulgaria, as well as the Romanians of Banat and Oltenia (Lesser Wallachia).

In a Romanian-Yugoslav agreement of November 4, 2002, the Yugoslav authorities agreed to recognize the Romanian identity of the Vlach population in Central Serbia,[11] but the agreement was not implemented.[12] In April 2005, many deputies from the Council of Europe protested against the position of this population in Serbian society.[13] In August 2007, they were officially recognized as a national minority, and their language was recognized as Romanian.[14]

Culture
The Romanian Orthodox Cathedral in Vršac
Main article: Romanian language in Serbia

In Vojvodina, Romanian enjoys the status of official language and Romanians in this province receive a wide range of minority rights, including access to state-funded media and education in their native language. Most of the Romanians of Serbia are Eastern Orthodox by faith, belonging to the Romanian Orthodox Church (Romanians in Vojvodina) and Serbian Orthodox Church (Vlachs of eastern Serbia). The relative isolation of the Vlachs has permitted the survival of various pre-Christian religious rites that are frowned upon by the Eastern Orthodox Church. They are known in Serbia as "Vlach magic".

The language spoken by one major group of Vlachs is similar to the Oltenian variety spoken in Romania while that of the other major group is similar to the Romanian variety of Banat.

Demographics

Of the total number of 29,332 self-declared Romanians in the 2011 census, 22,353 live in Banat and 1,826 live in eastern Serbia. Of the total number of 35,330 self-declared Vlachs, 32,805 live in Eastern Serbia, and 134 in Banat. The largest concentration of Romanians in Banat are to be found in the municipalities of Alibunar (24.1%) and Vršac (10.4%). According to the U.S. Census Bureau figures from 2015, there were 552 ethnic Romanians born in Serbia living in the United States of America, including some individuals who had declared that they were Vlachs in Serbia.[15]

Year
(census data)		 Number of ethnic Romanians Percent of national population Number of ethnic Vlachs Percent of national population
1856104,34316.81%
1859122,59314.47%
1866127,54510.5%
1884149,7277.87%
1895159,0006.43%
1921224,7464.7%
1931130,6352.3%
194863,1300.91%
195359,7050.85%28,4070.4%
196159,5050.78%1,3300.02%
197157,4190.68%14,7240.17%
198153,6930.58%25,5960.27%
199142,3310.43%17,8070.18%
200234,5760.46%40,0540.53%
201129,3320.41%35,3300.49%
202223,0440.35%21,0130.32%

Banat
Romanian in Serbia, census 2002
  1–5%
  5–10%
  10–15%
  15–25%
  25–35%
  over 35%

After World War I, the Treaty of Versailles, which defined the borders between Romania and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, left a Romanian minority of 75,223 people (1910 census in Vojvodina) inside the borders of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. In the 1921 census in Vojvodina, Romanian-speakers numbered 65,197 people. According to the 2011 census, there were 42,391 Romanians in Vojvodina (2.2% of the population of Vojvodina).

Settlements in the Serbian Banat (Vojvodina) with a Romanian majority or plurality (2002 census data):

Timok Valley
Main article: Vlachs of Serbia

It is likely that a part of the Timok Vlachs can trace their ancient roots to this region. The present geographic location of the Vlachs is near a former location of the medieval Second Bulgarian Empire (also called the Empire of Vlachs and Bulgars)[16] of the Asens, suggesting their continuity in the area. In addition, a Vlach population in the regions around Braničevo (near the ancient Roman city of Viminacium) is attested by 15th-century Ottoman defters (tax records). The modern Vlachs occupy the same area where in antiquity the Romans had a strong presence for many centuries: Viminacium and Felix Romuliana (Gamzigrad).

However, some of the Vlachs of north-eastern parts of Central Serbia settled there from regions north of the Danube by the Habsburgs at the beginning of the 18th century. The origins of these Vlachs are indicated by their own self-designations: "Ungurean/Ungureni" (serb. Ungurjani), i.e. those who came from Hungary (that is, Banat and Transylvania) and "Ţărani" (serb. Carani), who are either an autochthonic population of the region (their name means "people of the country" or "countrymen"), either they came from Wallachia (Romanian: Ţara Românească – "Romanian Country").

The area roughly defined by the Morava, the Danube and the Timok rivers where most of the Vlachs live became part of modern Serbia. Until 1833 the eastern Serbian border was the Homolje-Mountains (the slopes of the Serbian Carpathians) and the state had no common border with Wallachia. Prior to that, the land was part of the Ottoman Empire (Pashaluk of Vidin and Pashaluk of Smederevo) and Habsburg monarchy (Governorate of Serbia).

The second wave of Vlachs from present-day Romania came in the middle of the 19th century. In 1835 feudalism was fully abolished in the Principality of Serbia and smaller groups from Wallachia came there to enjoy the status of free peasants. (1856: 104,343 Romanians lived in Serbia, 1859: 122,593 Romanians)

According to the Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine from 1919, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes annexed from Bulgaria also a small section along the Timok River in the municipality and District of Zaječar, composed by 8 localities (7 populated by Romanians and 1 populated by Bulgarians).[17]

In 2002, a report from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia's ministry of national and ethnic minorities indicated that 70% of the Timok Romanian community was illiterate.[18]

In 2009, during an interview for Politika, Živoslav Lazić, president of the Vlach National Council of Serbia, called the efforts by "some in Serbia" to prove that the Romanians and the "Vlachs" are a separate minority as "xenophobic". He also argued that claims about Romanianization of the Timok "Vlachs" come from people whose real aim is the assimilation of the Timok Romanians.[19]

Ethnic map of the Balkans from 1861, by G. Lejean

Notable people

See also

References
  1. "Национална Припадност Подаци по општинама и градовима" [Ethnicity Data by municipalities and cities] (PDF). 28 April 2023.
  2. Alaric Watson, Aurelian and the Third Century, Routledge, 1999.
  3. Watson, Alaric (2004). Aurelian and the Third Century. Psychology Press. p. 157. ISBN 978-0-415-30187-9.
  4. William Rosen, Justinian's Flea: Plague, Empire, and the Birth of Europe, Viking Adult, 2007.
  5. Wolff, Robert Lee Wolff, The Second Bulgarian Empire: Its Origin and History to 1204, SpeculumVolume 24, Issue 2 , 1949.
  6. (in Croatian)Zef Mirdita, Vlasi u historiografiji, Hrvatski institut za povijest, Zagreb 2004.
  7. Noel Malcolm, Kosovo, A short History, University Press, NY, 1999.
  8. (in German) Felix Kanitz, Serbien, Leipzig, 1868.
  9. Noel Malcolm, Bosnia: A short History, University Press, NY, 1994.
  10. (in Serbian) Kosta Jovanovic, Negotinska Krajina i Kljuc, Belgrade, 1940
  11. Adevărul, 6 Noiembrie 2002: Prin acordul privind minoritatile, semnat, luni, la Belgrad, de catre presedintii Ion Iliescu si Voislav Kostunita, statul iugoslav recunoaste dreptul apartenentei la minoritatea romaneasca din Iugoslavia al celor aproape 120.000 de vlahi (cifra neoficiala), care traiesc in Valea Timocului, in Serbia de Rasarit.
  12. Curierul Naţional, 25 ianuarie 2003: Chiar si acordul dintre presedintii Ion Iliescu si Voislav Kostunita, semnat la sfarsitul anului trecut, nu este respectat, in ceea ce priveste minoritatile, deoarece locuitorii din Valea Timocului, numiti vlahi, nu sunt recunoscuti ca minoritari, ci doar „grup etnic“.
  13. Parliamentary Assembly, 28 April 2005 Archived 30 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine: Deeply concerned over the cultural situation of the so-called “Vlach” Romanians dwelling in 154 ethnic Romanian localities 48 localities of mixed ethnic make-up between the Danube, Timok and Morava Rivers who since 1833 have been unable to enjoy ethnic rights in schools and churches
  14. România Liberă, 16 August 2007 Archived 26 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine: Romanii din Valea Timocului, cunoscuti drept vlahi, au obtinut recunoasterea statutului de minoritate nationala. Decizia guvernului de la Belgrad inseamna, printre altele, ca limba romana ar putea fi predata in premiera in scolile din Serbia unde romanii timoceni sunt majoritari, transmite BBC, preluat de Rompres.
  15. "Explore Census Data".
  16. According to Encyclopaedia Britannica the state is also called "The Vlach-Bulgarian Empire"
  17. Tribalia
  18. "Illiteracy of Romanies as high as 80 per cent," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European – Political, 2 August 2002 (Source: B92 TV, Belgrade, in Serbo-Croat 1630 gmt 1 Aug 02).
  19. Власи источне Србије – од асимилације до румунизације.

Sources
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