History of the Romani people facts for kids
The Romani people, also known as Roma, Sinti, or Kale, are an ethnic group that mostly lives in Europe. They are believed to have come from India. Their journey westward might have started around 500 AD. Some think they moved with soldiers who were defeated by Mahmud of Ghazni and then went to the Byzantine Empire.
Experts like Ralph Lilley Turner believe the Romani language shows they came from central India. Then, they moved to northwest India. The Romani language shares old features with languages from central India. It also shares patterns with languages like Kashmiri and Shina from northwest India. This suggests that the early Romani people stayed in India until the late 900s AD.
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Where Did the Romani People Come From?
There are many ideas about where the Romani people first came from. Some think they came from a place called Sindh in India.
A writer named Diana Muir Appelbaum says the Romani people are special. They have never connected themselves to one specific land. They do not have a story about an ancient homeland they left. They also do not claim the right to rule any land where they live. Instead, being Romani is linked to the idea of freedom. This freedom means not being tied to one homeland.
Because they did not write down their early history, their origins were a mystery for a long time. But in the late 1700s, people noticed that the Romani language sounded like languages from India.
In the Romani language, "rom" means husband or man. "Romňi" means wife or woman. So, "roma" means "husbands" or "people." Some ideas suggest that the Romani ancestors were part of the military in northern India. One modern idea is that during the invasions by Mahmud of Ghazni (around 1000 to 1030 AD), defeated soldiers and their families were moved west into the Byzantine Empire.
Genetic studies have shown that the Romani people have Indian origins. This means they are descendants of people who moved from South Asia towards Central Asia during the Middle Ages.
How Language Shows Romani Origins
Before the late 1700s, people mostly guessed about where the Romani came from. In 1782, Johann Christian Christoph Rüdiger published his findings. He showed that the Romani language was related to Hindustani. Later studies supported the idea that Romani came from the same source as other Indo-Aryan languages in northern India.
Domari and Romani Languages
The Domari language was once thought to be a "sister language" to Romani. People thought they split after the Romani left India. But newer research shows they are two separate languages. They are both from the Central zone of Indo-Aryan languages. This means the Dom and Rom people probably came from two different groups. These groups left India in two separate waves, hundreds of years apart.
Genetic Clues to Romani Origins
More proof for the Romani people's South Asian origin came in the late 1990s. Scientists studying DNA found that Romani groups had many specific Y chromosomes. These are passed down from fathers. They also had certain mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), passed down from mothers. These DNA markers are usually only found in people from South Asia.
About 47% of Romani men have a Y chromosome type called haplogroup H-M82. This type is rare outside South Asia. Also, a type of mitochondrial DNA called haplogroup M is common in India. It is rare outside southern Asia. This type is found in almost 30% of Romani people. A study of Polish Roma showed this was the M5 type, which is specific to India.
Also, a rare inherited muscle disorder is found in Romani people. It is caused by a specific gene change. This change is otherwise only known in people of Indian background. This is considered strong evidence that Romani people came from India.
The Romani people have been described as "a mix of genetically separate founding groups." Many common genetic disorders found among Romani people across Europe show they have "a common origin." This means they came from a small founding group.
A study from 2001 suggested that a "small group of migrants" split from a specific caste or tribal group in India. This study also noted that "genetic drift" (random changes in gene frequency) and mixing with other groups helped create the different Romani populations. The same study found that "a single lineage" (a line of ancestors) is found across Romani groups. This lineage makes up almost one-third of Romani males.
A 2004 study concluded that the Romani people came from "a founding population of common origins." This group later split into many different Romani groups. The study also showed that this founding group started about 32 to 40 generations ago. More splitting into smaller groups happened about 16 to 25 generations ago.
There is also genetic evidence that Romani people mixed a lot with people from the Balkans. This happened during the time of the Ottoman Empire.
Early Records of Romani People
Early writings about traveling groups from India go back to the Sassanid period. A British language expert, Donald Kenrick, notes the first record of "Zott" people in Baghdad in 820 AD. They were also in Khanaqin in 834 AD.
Some modern experts think one of the first written mentions of Romani people is from the Byzantine era. It uses the name "Atsingani." This was during a famine in the 800s. In 800 AD, Saint Athanasia gave food to "foreigners called the Atsingani" near Thrace. Later, in 803 AD, Theophanes the Confessor wrote that Emperor Nikephoros I got help from the "Atsingani." They used their "knowledge of magic" to stop a riot. However, the Atsingani were a religious group that disappeared from records in the 1000s. The word "Atsinganoi" was used for traveling fortune tellers and magicians. They visited Emperor Constantine IX in 1054.
Romani bones found in Norwich, UK, were tested. They date back to around 930–1050 AD.
Romani People Arrive in Europe
Romani people first came to Europe from northern India. They traveled through Iran, Armenia, and Turkey.
In 1323, an Irish monk named Simon Simeonis wrote about people like the "atsingani" living in Crete. He said they rarely stayed in one place for more than 30 days. They moved from field to field with small tents, like Arabs. He said they were "nomad and outcast, as if cursed by God."
In 1350, Ludolf von Sudheim mentioned similar people. They had a unique language and he called them "Mandapolos." Some think this word came from a Greek word meaning "frenzied" or "fortune teller."
Around 1360, a special area called the "Feudum Acinganorum" was set up in Corfu. It mainly used Romani workers who were like serfs.
By the 1300s, Romani people had reached the Balkans and Bohemia. By the 1400s, they were in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. By the 1500s, they reached Russia, Denmark, Scotland, and Sweden. (However, DNA from bones in Norwich suggests some may have arrived earlier, around the mid-1000s.)
Some Romani people traveled from Persia through North Africa. They reached Europe through Spain in the 1400s. Romani people started coming to the United States during colonial times. Small groups settled in Virginia and French Louisiana. More came in the 1860s, especially Romnichal from Britain. The largest number came in the early 1900s, mostly from the Kalderash group. Many Romani people also settled in Latin America.
According to historian Norman Davies, a law from 1378 in Greece is the first written record of Romani people in Europe. It confirmed special rights for the "atsingani." Similar documents record them reaching Braşov, Transylvania, in 1416. They were in Hamburg, Holy Roman Empire, in 1418, and Paris in 1427. A writer in Paris said they dressed poorly. The Church made them leave town because they told fortunes by reading palms.
Their early history shows they were treated in different ways. In 1385, the first record of a Romani person being enslaved in Wallachia appeared. But in 1417, Sigismund of the Holy Roman Empire gave them safe passage. Romani people were ordered to leave Meissen, Germany, in 1416. They were also expelled from Lucerne in 1471, Milan in 1493, France in 1504, Aragon in 1512, Sweden in 1525, and England in 1530. Denmark expelled them in 1536. In 1510, any Romani person found in Switzerland was ordered to be executed. In 1554, a law in England said all Romani people in the country must leave or be executed. Similar laws were passed in many European countries. Portugal started sending Romani people to its colonies in 1538.
Later, a 1596 English law gave Romani people special rights that other travelers did not have. France passed a similar law in 1683. Catherine the Great of Russia said Romani people were "crown slaves." This was a better status than serfs. But she also kept them out of certain parts of the capital city. In 1595, Ştefan Răzvan became the Prince of Moldavia, even though he was born into slavery.
In Wallachia, Transylvania, and Moldavia, Romani people were enslaved for 500 years. This ended in the mid-1800s.
In the late 1800s, Romani culture inspired many artworks. Famous examples include the opera Carmen and the book La Vie de Bohème.
Romani People in the Ottoman Empire
In the Ottoman Empire, Muslim Romani people were treated better than Christian Romani. Muslim Romani were settled in the Balkans from Anatolia. Some also converted to Islam to have better lives under Ottoman rule. A special area called the Sanjak of the Çingene was created for Muslim Romani in the Balkans. It lasted from 1520 until the end of the Ottoman Empire. Muslim Romani could move freely within the Ottoman Empire.
Forced Assimilation
In 1758, Maria Theresa of Austria started a plan to make Romani people more like other Hungarians. The government built houses for them instead of letting them use tents. They were not allowed to travel. Children were taken from their parents and raised by non-Romani families. By 1894, most Romani people in Hungary lived in one place. In 1830, Romani children in Nordhausen were taken from their families to be raised by Germans.
Russia also encouraged all traveling groups to settle down in 1783. Poland introduced a settlement law in 1791. Bulgaria and Serbia banned traveling in the 1880s.
In 1783, laws against Romani people were removed in the United Kingdom. But a specific law in 1822 stopped traveling groups from camping on roadsides. This law was made stronger in 1835.
Persecution of Romani People
In 1530, England passed the Egyptians Act 1530. This law banned Romani people from entering the country. It also said those already living there had to leave within 16 days. If they did not, their property could be taken, they could be jailed, or sent away. The law was changed in 1554. It ordered Romani people to leave the country within a month. Romani people who did not follow the law were executed.
In 1538, the first anti-Romani laws were passed in Moravia and Bohemia. These areas were under Habsburg rule. Three years later, after fires in Prague were blamed on Romani people, Ferdinand I ordered them to be expelled. In 1545, a meeting in Augsburg said that "whoever kills a Gypsy will be guilty of no murder." This led to many killings. The government eventually had to step in.
In 1660, Louis XIV banned Romani people from living in France.
In 1685, Portugal sent Romani people to Brazil.
In 1710, Joseph I issued a decree to "exterminate" Romani people. In 1721, Charles VI, Joseph's brother, changed the decree. It now included executing adult Romani women. Children were to be put in hospitals for education.
Romani Organizations Before World War II
In 1879, Romani people held a national meeting in Kisfalu, Hungary. Romani people in Bulgaria held a meeting in 1919. They wanted the right to vote. A Romani newspaper, Istiqbal ("future"), started in 1923.
In the Soviet Union, the All-Russian Union of Gypsies was formed in 1925. A newspaper, Romani Zorya ("Romani dawn"), was published two years later. A writers' group called Romengiro Lav ("Romani word") encouraged Romani authors.
A General Association of the Gypsies of Romania was created in 1933. They held a national meeting and published two newspapers. An "international" meeting was held in Bucharest the next year.
In Yugoslavia, the Romani newspaper Romano Lil started in 1935.
The Porajmos (Romani Genocide)
During World War II and the the Holocaust, the Nazis murdered between 220,000 and 500,000 Romani people. This terrible event is called the Porajmos. Like the Jewish people, Romani people were separated and forced into special areas called ghettos. Then, they were sent to concentration or extermination camps.
After World War II
In Communist Central and Eastern Europe, Romani people faced plans to make them fit in. Their cultural freedom was limited. In Bulgaria, speaking the Romani language and playing Romani music were banned in public. In Czechoslovakia, many Romani people from Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania were moved to new areas. Their traveling way of life was forbidden.
In the early 1990s, Germany sent tens of thousands of migrants back to Central and Eastern Europe. About 60% of 100,000 Romanian citizens sent back under a 1992 agreement were Romani.
In 2005, the Decade of Roma Inclusion began in nine countries in Central and Southeastern Europe. This project aimed to improve the lives of Romani people and help them be more included in society. It led to efforts by the European Union to do similar work.
Romani People in the Americas
Romani people started moving to the United States during colonial times. Small groups settled in Virginia and French Louisiana. More came in the 1860s, especially Romnichal from Britain.
The 1997 Czech-Canadian Exodus
In August 1997, a Czech TV station showed a documentary about Romani people who had moved to Canada. The report said they were living well with government help. It also claimed they were safe from racism and violence. At that time, life was hard for many Romani people in Czechia. After Czechoslovakia split up, many Romani people did not have citizenship in either Czechia or Slovakia. Also, big floods in Moravia in July 1997 left many Romani people homeless. They were not welcome in other parts of the country.
Almost overnight, there were reports of Romani people getting ready to move to Canada. One report said 5,000 people from the city of Ostrava planned to move. Mayors of some Czech towns even encouraged them to leave. They offered to help pay for flights. The next week, the Canadian embassy in Prague received hundreds of calls from Romani people every day. Flights between Czechia and Canada were sold out until October. In 1997, 1,285 people from Czechia came to Canada and asked for refugee status. This was a big jump from the 189 Czechs who did so the year before.
A spokesperson at the Canadian embassy in Prague criticized the TV program. She said it "showed only one side of the matter." A spokesperson for the Czech embassy in Ottawa said the program "was full of half-truths, which strongly twisted reality." She said it "practically invited the exodus of large groups of Czech Romanies."
Before this, it was easy for Romani people to move to Canada. This was because Canada had removed visa requirements for Czech citizens in April 1996. Because of the sudden increase in people, the Canadian government brought back visa requirements for all Czechs on October 8, 1997.
Romani Nationalism
There is a small movement of Romani people who want to strengthen their national identity.
The first World Romani Congress was held near London, England, in 1971. It was partly paid for by the World Council of Churches and the government of India. Representatives from India and 20 other countries attended. At this meeting, the green and blue flag with a red, 16-spoked wheel was confirmed as the national symbol of the Romani people. The song "Gelem, Gelem" was chosen as their national anthem.
The International Romani Union was officially started in 1977. In 1990, the fourth World Congress declared that April 8 is the International Day of the Roma. This day celebrates Romani culture and raises awareness about issues affecting the Romani community.
In 2000, the 5th World Romani Congress officially stated that the Romani people are a nation without a specific territory.
See also
In Spanish: Historia del pueblo gitano para niños
- Timeline of Romani history
- Names of the Romani people
