Romani diaspora

Countries with a significant Romani population according to unofficial estimates.
  + 1,000,000
  + 100,000
  + 10,000
Distribution of the Romani people in Europe (2007 Council of Europe "average estimates", totalling 9.8 million)[1]
* The size of the wheel symbols reflects absolute population size
* The gradient reflects the percent in the country's population: 0%                              10%.

The Romani diaspora refers to the presence and dispersion of Romani people across various parts of the world. Their migration out of the Indian subcontinent occurred in waves, with the first estimated to have taken place between the 1st and 2nd century AD.[2][3] They first arrived in Europe via the Balkans in the early 12th century. They settled in the areas of present-day Turkey, Greece, Serbia, Romania, Croatia, Moldova, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Hungary, Albania, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Slovenia and Slovakia, by order of volume, and Spain. From the Balkans, they migrated throughout Europe and, in the nineteenth and later centuries, to the Americas. The Roma population in the United States is estimated at more than one million.[4]

Romani people are predominantly found in Europe, particularly in the Balkans, parts of Central Europe and Spain. The total number of Romani living outside Europe are primarily in the Middle East and North Africa and in the Americas, and are estimated in total at more than two million.[5][6] Most Romani populations overseas were founded in the 19th century by emigration from Europe. There were Roma with Christopher Columbus on his third voyage to Hispaniola in 1498.[7] Some countries do not collect data by ethnicity. As of the early 2000s, an estimated 4 to 9 million Romani people lived in Europe and Asia Minor,[8] although some Romani organizations estimate numbers as high as 14 million.[9]

There is no official or reliable count of the Romani populations worldwide.[10] Many Roma refuse to register their ethnic identity in official censuses for fear of discrimination.[11] There are also descendants of intermarriage with local populations who no longer identify exclusively as Roma, or who do not identify as Roma at all.

The Romani people identify as distinct ethnicities based in part on territorial, religious, cultural and dialectal differences, and self-designation. The main branches are:[12][13][14][15]

  1. Roma, concentrated in Central and Eastern Europe and Italy; they emigrated (mostly from the 19th century onwards) to the rest of Europe as well as the Americas. The name Roma is also used as a collective name for all Romani people.
Romani people dancing at a Romani wedding in Sofia, Bulgaria, 1936
  1. Calé, mostly in Spain (see Gitanos), but also in Portugal (see Romani people in Portugal), Southern France, and Latin America
  2. Finnish Kale, in Finland; communities also exist in Sweden.
  3. Welsh Kale, in Wales, specifically in the Northwestern part of the country in Welsh-speaking areas
  4. Romanichal, in England. Communities also exist in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Northeast Wales, South Wales and in the Scottish Borders.
Romani people with their horse and vardo (Romani wagon) in Epsom, England, 1938
  1. Sinti, in German-speaking areas of Europe and some neighboring countries
  2. Manush, in French-speaking areas of Europe (in French: Manouche)
  3. Romanisæl, in Sweden and Norway. The Romani-Swedish population is mostly located in the southern parts of the country.
  4. Kalderash, in Central and Eastern Europe. Also present in parts of Northern Europe.
  5. Scottish Lowland Roma are also considered to be a Romani subgroup although their heritage is theorised to be a fusion between Roma and a native Traveller group. Their language is predominantly derived from Romani.
  6. Muslim Roma, Horahane, Romanlar in Turkey and the Balkans
  7. Middle East Gypsies[16]
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Romani people
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Romani people by sub-group
Romani diaspora by country

The Romani have additional internal distinctions, with groups identified as Bashaldé; Churari; Lori; Ungaritza; Lovari (Lovara) from Hungary; Machvaya (Machavaya, Machwaya, or Macwaia) from Serbia; Romungro from Hungary and neighbouring Carpathian countries; Erlides (Yerlii, Arli); Xoraxai (Horahane) from Greece and Turkey; Boyash (Lingurari, Ludar, Ludari, Rudari, Zlătari) from Romanian / Moldovan miners; Ursari from Romanian / Moldovan bear-trainers; Argintari from silversmiths; Aurari from goldsmiths; Florari from florists; and Lăutari from singers.

  1. ^ "Council of Europe website". European Roma and Travellers Forum (ERTF). 2007. Archived from the original on 6 July 2007.
  2. ^ Mendizabal, Isabel (2012). "Reconstructing the Population History of European Romani from Genome-wide Data". Current Biology. 22 (24): 2342–2349. Bibcode:2012CBio...22.2342M. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2012.10.039. hdl:10230/25348. PMID 23219723.
  3. ^ "Genomic Study Traces Roma to Northern India", The New York Times, 10 December 2012. Findings recently reported also in Current Biology.
  4. ^ Quote: "Today, estimates put the number of Roma in the U.S. at about one million."
  5. ^ Mission To Earth. p. 244.
  6. ^ Sunal, Cynthia S.; Mutua, Kagendo (1 July 2013). Research on the Influences of Educational Policy on Teaching and Learning. IAP. ISBN 9781623962524 – via Google Books.
  7. ^ The Lion and the Unicorn - Volumes 11-12. 1987. p. 48.
  8. ^ 3.8 million according to Pan and Pfeil, National Minorities in Europe (2004), ISBN 978-3-7003-1443-1, p. 27f.; 9.1 million in the high estimate of Liégois, Jean-Pierre (2007). Roms en Europe, Éditions du Conseil de l'Europe.
  9. ^ Roma Travellers Statistics at the Wayback Machine (archived 6 October 2009), Council of Europe, compilation of population estimates. Archived from the original, 6 October 2009.
  10. ^ "European effort spotlights plight of the Roma", USA Today, 1 February 2005
  11. ^ Chiriac, Marian (29 September 2004). "It Now Suits the EU to Help the Roma". Other-News.info. Archived from the original on 23 August 2011. Retrieved 27 June 2007.
  12. ^ Hancock, Ian, 2001, Ame sam e rromane džene / We are the Romani People, The Open Society Institute, New York, page 2
  13. ^ Matras, Yaron, Romani: A linguistic introduction, Cambridge University Press, 2002, p. 5
  14. ^ "Names of the Romani People". Desicritics.org. Archived from the original on 7 May 2008. Retrieved 30 January 2009.
  15. ^ N. Bessonov, N. Demeter "Ethnic groups of Gypsies" Archived 29 April 2007 at the Wayback Machine, Zigane website, Russia
  16. ^ "Middle East Gypsies". Middleastgypsies.com.