Misplaced Pages

Aromanians

Armãnji, Rrãmãnji
The flag most commonly associated with the Aromanians, unofficial but with traditional roots
Total population
c. 250,000 (Aromanian-speakers)
Regions with significant populations
Greece	39,855 (1951 census); estimated up to 300,000 (2002)
Romania	26,500 (2006 estimate)
North Macedonia	8,714 (2021 census)
Albania	2,459 (2023 census)
Bulgaria	2,000–3,000 (2014 estimate)
Serbia	327 (2022 census)
Languages
Aromanian, also languages of their home countries
Religion
Predominantly Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Related ethnic groups
Other Romance-speaking peoples; (most notably Istro-Romanians, Megleno-Romanians and Romanians)

Part of a series on
Aromanians
Etymology List of Aromanians
Geographical distribution Albania Bulgaria Greece North Macedonia Romania Serbia diaspora
Major settlements Moscopole Muzachia Metsovo Pindus Kruševo Gramos Grabova Farsala
Culture Cuisine Cultural organizations Folk dance Literature Music Traditional clothing
Language and identity Alphabet Anthem Flag National day Nationalism
Religion Eastern Orthodoxy Aromanian Orthodox Church
History Romanization Great Vlachia Aromanian question Ullah millet Samarina Republic Principality of the Pindus Recommendation 1333 (1997)
Related groups Romanians Moldovans Megleno-Romanians Istro-Romanians
v t e

The Aromanians (Aromanian: Armãnji, Rrãmãnji) are an ethnic group native to the southern Balkans who speak Aromanian, an Eastern Romance language. They traditionally live in central and southern Albania, south-western Bulgaria, northern and central Greece, and North Macedonia, and can currently be found in central and southern Albania, south-western Bulgaria, south-western and eastern North Macedonia, northern and central Greece, southern Serbia, and south-eastern Romania (Northern Dobruja). An Aromanian diaspora living outside these places also exists. The Aromanians are known by several other names, such as "Vlachs" or "Macedo-Romanians" (sometimes used to also refer to the Megleno-Romanians).

The term "Vlachs" is used in Greece and in other countries to refer to the Aromanians, with this term having been more widespread in the past to refer to all Romance-speaking peoples of the Balkan Peninsula and Carpathian Mountains region (Southeast Europe).

Their vernacular, Aromanian, is an Eastern Romance language very similar to Romanian, which has many slightly varying dialects of its own. Aromanian is considered to have developed from Common Romanian, a common stage of all the Eastern Romance varieties that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken by Paleo-Balkan peoples after the Romanization of the Balkan area that fell under the Latin sphere of influence. The Aromanian language shares many common features with Albanian, Bulgarian and Greek; however, although it has many loanwords from Greek, Slavic, and Turkish, its lexicon remains majority Romance in origin.

Names and classification

Ethnonyms

The term Aromanian derives directly from the Latin Romanus, meaning Roman citizen. The initial a- is a regular epenthetic vowel, occurring when certain consonant clusters are formed, and it is not, as folk etymology sometimes has it, related to the negative or privative a- of Greek (also occurring in Latin words of Greek origin). The term was coined by Gustav Weigand in his 1894 work Die Aromunen. The first book to which many scholars have referred to as the most valuable to translate their ethnic name is a grammar printed in 1813 in Vienna by Mihail G. Boiagi. It was titled Γραμματική Ρωμαϊκή ήτοι Μακεδονοβλαχική/Romanische oder Macedonowlachische Sprachlehre ("Romance or Macedono-Vlach Grammar").

The term Vlach is an exonym used since medieval times. Aromanians call themselves Rrãmãn or Armãn, depending on which of the two dialectal groups they belong, and identify as part of the Fara Armãneascã ("Aromanian tribe") or the Populu Armãnescu ("Aromanian people"). The endonym is rendered in English as Aromanian, in Romanian as Aromâni, in Greek as Armanoi (Αρμάνοι), in Albanian as Arumunët, in Bulgarian as Arumani (Арумъни), in Macedonian as Aromanci (Ароманци), in Serbo-Croatian as Armani and Aromuni.

The term "Vlach" was used in medieval Balkans as an exonym for all the Romance-speaking (Romanized) people of the region, as well as a general name for shepherds, but nowadays is commonly used for the Aromanians and Meglenites, Daco-Romanians being named Vlachs only in Serbia, Bulgaria and North Macedonia. The term is noted in the following languages: Greek "Vlachoi" (Βλάχοι), Albanian "Vllehët", Bulgarian, Serbian and Macedonian "Vlasi" (Bласи), Turkish "Ulahlar", Hungarian "Oláh". It is noteworthy that the term Vlach also meant "bandit" or "rebel" in Ottoman historiography, and that the term was also used as an exonym for mainly Orthodox Christians in Ottoman-ruled western Balkans (mainly denoting Serbs), as well as by the Venetians for the immigrant Slavophone population of the Dalmatian hinterland (also mainly denoting Serbs).

Groups

German academic Thede Kahl, expert on Aromanian studies, divides the Aromanians into two main groups, the "Rrãmãnji" and "Armãnji", which are further divided into sub-groups.

Rrãmãnji

• Muzãchiars, from Muzachia situated in southwestern-central Albania.
• Fãrshãrots (or Fãrsherots), mostly concentrated in Epirus, from the Frashër (Aromanian Farshar) area in south-eastern Albania.
• Moscopolitans or Moscopoleans, from the city of Moscopole, once an important urban center of the Balkans, now a village in southeastern Albania.

Armãnji

• Pindeans, concentrated in and around the Pindus Mountains of Northern and Central Greece.
• Gramustians (or Gramosteans, gr. grammostianoi), from Gramos Mountains, an isolated area in south-eastern Albania, and north-west of Greece.

Nicknames

The Aromanian communities have several nicknames depending on the country where they are living.

• Gramustians and Pindians are nicknamed Koutsovlachs (Greek: Κουτσόβλαχοι). This term is sometimes taken as derogatory, as the first element of this term is from the Greek koutso- (κουτσό-) meaning "lame". Following a Turkish etymology where küçük means "little" they are the smaller group of Vlachs as opposed to the more numerous Vlachs (Daco-Romanians).
• Fãrsherots, from Frashër (Albania), Moscopole and Muzachia are nicknamed "Frasariotes" (Greek: Φρασαριώτες Βλάχοι) or Arvanitovlachs (Greek: Αρβανιτόβλαχοι), meaning "Albanian Vlachs" referring to their place of origin.

In the South Slavic countries, such as Serbia, North Macedonia and Bulgaria, the nicknames used to refer to the Aromanians are usually Vlasi (South Slavic for Vlachs and Wallachians) and Tsintsari (also spelled Tzintzari, Cincari or similar), which is derived from the way the Aromanians pronounce the word meaning five, tsintsi. In Romania, the demonym Macedoni, Machedoni or Macedoromâni is also used. In Albania, the terms Vllah or Vlleh ("Vlach") and Çoban or Çobenj (from Turkish çoban, "shepherd") are used.

Population

Settlements

The Aromanian community in Albania is estimated up to 200,000 people, including those who no longer speak the language. Tanner estimates that the community constitutes 2% of the population. In Albania, Aromanian communities inhabit Moscopole, their most famous settlement, the Kolonjë District (where they are concentrated), a quarter of Fier (Aromanian Ferãcã), while Aromanian was taught, as recorded by Tom Winnifrith, at primary schools in Andon Poçi near Gjirokastër, Shkallë (Aromanian Scarã) near Sarandë, and Borovë near Korçë (Aromanian Curceau) (1987).

A Romanian research team concluded in the 1960s that Albanian Aromanians migrated to Tirana, Stan Karbunarë, Skrapar, Pojan, Bilisht and Korçë, and that they inhabited Karaja, Lushnjë, Moscopole, Drenovë (Aromanian Dãrnova) and Boboshticë (Aromanian Bubushtitsa). There was an important community of Aromanians in Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina that was probably assimilated by local dwellers. Initially they were Christians but around year 1000 they adhered to Bogomil/Patarene Christian sect and were Serbianized. After the Turkish occupation, the Aromanians of Bosnia and Herzegovina converted to Islam faith due to economic and religious motives. There are many artifacts of Aromanians in Bosnia and Herzegovina, mainly in their necropolises. These necropolises cover all Bosnia and consist of funerary monuments, generally without crosses.

Origins

It has been suggested that this section be split out into another article titled Origin of the Aromanians. (Discuss) (September 2023)

Language

The Aromanian language is related to the Vulgar Latin spoken in the Balkans during the Roman period. It is hard to establish the history of the Vlachs in the Balkans, with a gap between the barbarian invasions and the first mentions of the Vlachs in the 11th and 12th centuries. Byzantine chronicles are unhelpful, and only in the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries does the term Vlach become more frequent, although it proves problematic to distinguish sorts of Vlachs as it was used for various subjects, such as the empire of the Asen dynasty, Thessaly, and Romania across the Danube. It has been assumed that Vlachs are descendants of Roman soldiers or Latinized original populations (Greeks, Illyrians, Thracians or Dacians), due to the historical Roman military presence in the territory inhabited by the community. Many Romanian scholars maintain that the Aromanians were part of a Daco-Romanian migration from the north of the Danube between the 6th and 10th centuries, supporting the theory that the 'Great Romanian' population descend from the ancient Dacians and Romans. Greek scholars view the Aromanians as descendants of Roman legionaries that married Greek women. There is no evidence for either theory, and Winnifrith deems them improbable. The little evidence that exists points that the Vlach (Aromanian) homeland was within the Latin sphere of influence in the Northern Balkans, north of the Jireček Line, which roughly demarcated the areas of influence of Latin and Greek. With the Slavic breakthrough of the Danube frontier in the 7th century, Latin-speakers were pushed further southwards. Based on linguistic considerations, Olga Tomic concludes that Aromanians moved from Thrace to their present locations after the Slavic invasion of Thrace, though before the Megleno-Romanians.

Genetic studies

It has been suggested that this section be split out into another article titled Genetic studies on Aromanians. (Discuss) (September 2023)

In 2006 Bosch et al. attempted to determine if the Aromanians are descendants of Latinised Dacians, Greeks, Illyrians, Thracians or a combination of these, but it was shown that they are genetically indistinguishable from the other Balkan populations. Linguistic and cultural differences between Balkan groups were deemed too weak to prevent gene flow among the groups.

Y-DNA haplogroups

Haplogroup R1b is the most common haplogroup among two or three of the five tested Aromanian populations, which is not shown as a leading mark of the Y-DNA locus in other regions or ethnic groups on the Balkan Peninsula. On the 16 Y-STR markers from the five Aromanian populations, Jim Cullen's predictor speculates that over half of the mean frequency of 22% R1b of the Aromanian populations is more likely to belong to the L11 branch. L11 subclades form the majority of Haplogroup R1b in Italy and western Europe, while the eastern subclades of R1b are prevailing in populations of the eastern Balkans.

History and self-identification

The Aromanians or Vlachs first appear in medieval Byzantine sources in the 11th century, in the Strategikon of Kekaumenos and Anna Komnene's Alexiad, in the area of Thessaly. In the 12th century, the Jewish traveller Benjamin of Tudela records the existence of the district of "Vlachia" near Halmyros in eastern Thessaly, while the Byzantine historian Niketas Choniates places "Great Vlachia" near Meteora. Thessalian Vlachia was apparently also known as "Vlachia in Hellas". Later medieval sources also speak of an "Upper Vlachia" in Epirus, and a "Little Vlachia" in Aetolia-Acarnania, but "Great Vlachia" is no longer mentioned after the late 13th century.

The medieval Vlachs (Aromanians) of Herzegovina are considered authors of the famous funerary monuments with petroglyphs (stecci in Serbian) from Herzegovina and surrounding countries. The theory of the Vlach origin was proposed by Bogumil Hrabak (1956) and Marian Wenzel and more recently was supported by the archeological and anthropological researches of skeleton remains from the graves under stećci. The theory is much older and was first proposed by Arthur Evans in his work Antiquarian Researches in Illyricum (1883). While doing research with Felix von Luschan on stećak graves around Konavle, he found that a large number of skulls were not of Slavic origin but similar to older Illyrian and Albanian tribes, as well as noting that Dubrovnik memorials recorded those parts inhabited by the Vlachs until the 15th century.

Aromanians within the Balkan nationalisms of the 19th and 20th centuries

A distinct Aromanian consciousness was not developed until the 19th century, and was influenced by the rise of other national movements in the Balkans.

Until then, the Aromanians, as Eastern Orthodox Christians, were subsumed with other ethnic groups into the wider ethnoreligious group of the "Romans" (in Greek Rhomaioi, after the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire), which in Ottoman times formed the distinct Rum millet. The Rum millet was headed by the Greek-dominated Patriarchate of Constantinople, and the Greek language was used as a lingua franca among Balkan Orthodox Christians throughout the 17th–19th centuries. As a result, wealthy, urbanized Aromanians were culturally Hellenized and played a major role in the dissemination of Greek language and culture; indeed, the first book written in Aromanian was written in the Greek alphabet and aimed at spreading Greek among Aromanian-speakers.

By the early 19th century, however, the distinct Latin-derived nature of the Aromanian language began to be studied in a series of grammars and language booklets. In 1815, the Aromanians of Budapest requested permission to use their language in liturgy, but it was turned down by the local metropolitan.

The establishment of a distinct Aromanian national consciousness, however, was hampered by the tendency of the Aromanian upper classes to be absorbed in the dominant surrounding ethnicities, and espouse their respective national causes as their own. So much did they become identified with the host nations that Balkan national historiographies portray the Aromanians as the "best Albanians", "best Greeks" and "best Bulgarians", leading to researchers calling them the "chameleons of the Balkans". Consequently, many Aromanians played a prominent role in the modern history of the Balkan nations: the revolutionary Pitu Guli, Greek Prime Minister Ioannis Kolettis, Greek magnate Georgios Averoff, Greek Defence Minister Evangelos Averoff, Serbian Prime Minister Vladan Đorđević, Patriarch Athenagoras I of Constantinople, Romanian metropolitan Andrei Şaguna etc.

Following the establishment of independent Romania and the autocephaly of the Romanian Orthodox Church in the 1860s, the Aromanians increasingly began to come under the influence of the Romanian national movement. Although vehemently opposed by the Greek church, the Romanians established an extensive state-sponsored cultural and educative network in the southern Balkans: the first Romanian school was established in 1864 by the Aromanian Dimitri Atanasescu, and by the early 20th century there were 100 Romanian churches and 106 schools with 4,000 pupils and 300 teachers. As a result, Aromanians divided into two main factions, one pro-Greek, the other pro-Romanian, plus a smaller focusing exclusively on its Aromanian identity.

With the support of the Great Powers, and especially Austria-Hungary, the "Aromanian-Romanian movement" culminated in the recognition of the Aromanians as a distinct millet (the Ullah millet) by the Ottoman Empire on 22 May 1905, with corresponding freedoms of worship and education in their own language. Nevertheless, due to the advanced assimilation of the Aromanians, this came too late to lead to the creation of a distinct Aromanian national identity; indeed, as Gustav Weigand noted in 1897, most Aromanians were not only indifferent, but actively hostile to their own national movement.

At the same time, the Greek–Romanian antagonism over Aromanian loyalties intensified with the armed Macedonian Struggle, leading to the rupture of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 1906. During the Macedonian Struggle, most Aromanians participated on the "patriarchist" (pro-Greek) side, but some sided with the "exarchists" (pro-Bulgarians). However, following the Balkan Wars of 1912–13, Romanian interest waned, and when it revived in the 1920s it was designed more towards encouraging the Romanians' "Macedonian brothers" to emigrate to Southern Dobruja, where there were strong non-Romanian minorities.

While Romanian activity declined, from World War I on and with its involvement in Albania, Italy made some efforts—not very successful—in converting pro-Romanian sympathies into pro-Italian ones. In World War II, during the Axis occupation of Greece, Italy encouraged Aromanian nationalists to form an "Aromanian homeland", the so-called Principality of the Pindus. The project never gained much traction among the local population, however. On the contrary, many leading figures of the Greek Resistance against the Axis, like Andreas Tzimas, Stefanos Sarafis, and Alexandros Svolos, were Aromanians. The "principality" project collapsed with the Italian armistice in 1943.

Modern Aromanian identities

The date of the announcement of the Ottoman irade of 23 May 1905 has been adopted in recent times by Aromanians in Albania, Australia, Bulgaria and North Macedonia as the "Aromanian National Day" (Dzua Natsionalã a Armãnjilor), but notably not in Greece or among the Aromanians in the Greek diaspora. In Romania, every 10 May, the Balkan Romanianness Day is celebrated instead for the same event. This observance is meant for the Aromanians but also for the Megleno-Romanians and the Istro-Romanians.

In modern times, Aromanians generally have adopted the dominant national culture, often with a dual identity as both Aromanian and Greek/Albanian/Bulgarian/Macedonian/Serbian/etc. Aromanians are also found outside the borders of Greece. There are many Aromanians in southern Albania and in towns all over the Balkans, while Aromanians identifying as Romanians are still to be found in areas where Romanian schools were active. There are also many Aromanians who identify themselves as solely Aromanian (even, as in the case of the "Cincars", when they no longer speak the language). Such groups are to be found in southwestern Albania, the eastern parts of North Macedonia, the Aromanians who immigrated to Romania in 1940, and in Greece in the Veria (Aromanian Veryia) and Grevena (Aromanian Grebini) areas and in Athens.

Culture

Religion

The Aromanians are predominantly Orthodox Christians, and follow the Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar.

Cuisine

Aromanian cuisine is strongly influenced by Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisine.

Music

Polyphonic music is common among the Aromanians, and follows a common set of rules.

Literature

A literature in the Aromanian language exists.

Clothing

In Aromanian rural areas, clothes differed from the dress of the city dwellers. The shape and the colour of a garment, the volume of the headgear, the shape of a jewel could indicate cultural affiliation and also could show the village people came from. Fustanella usage among Aromanians can be traced to at least the 15th century, with notable examples being seen in the Aromanian stećak of the Radimlja necropolis. Additionally Aromanians claim the fustanella as their ethnic costume.

Sports

There are some famous Aromanian sport personalities like tennis player Simona Halep and football player Gheorghe Hagi. In Romania, they also have their own football team called Armãnamea, who have been representing them since 2008 in the European football tournament for minorities, Europeada. There also exists the Cupa Armânamea, a futsal competition organized by Aromanians in Romania.

Aromanians today

In Greece

In Greece, Aromanians are not recognised as an ethnic but as a linguistic minority and, like the Arvanites, have been indistinguishable in many respects from other Greeks since the 19th century. Although Greek Aromanians would differentiate themselves from native Greeks (Grets) when speaking in Aromanian, most still consider themselves part of the broader Greek nation (Elini, Hellenes), which also encompasses other linguistic minorities such as the Arvanites or the Slavic speakers of Greek Macedonia. Greek Aromanians have long been associated with the Greek national state, actively participated in the Greek Struggle for Independence, and have obtained very important positions in government, although there was an attempt to create an autonomous Aromanian canton under the protection of Italy at the end of World War I, called Principality of the Pindus. Aromanians have been very influential in Greek politics, business and the army. Revolutionaries Rigas Feraios and Giorgakis Olympios, Prime Minister Ioannis Kolettis, billionaires and benefactors Evangelos Zappas and Konstantinos Zappas, businessman and philanthropist George Averoff, Field Marshal and later Prime Minister Alexandros Papagos, and conservative politician Evangelos Averoff were all either Aromanians or of partial Aromanian heritage. It is difficult to estimate the exact number of Aromanians in Greece today. The Treaty of Lausanne of 1923 estimated their number between 150,000 and 200,000, but the last two censuses to differentiate between Christian minority groups, in 1940 and 1951, showed 26,750 and 22,736 Vlachs respectively. Estimates on the number of Aromanians in Greece range between 40,000 and 300,000. Kahl estimates the total number of people with Aromanian origin who still understand the language as no more than 300,000, with the number of fluent speakers under 100,000.

The majority of the Aromanian population lives in northern and central Greece; Epirus, Macedonia and Thessaly. The main areas inhabited by these populations are the Pindus Mountains, around the mountains of Olympus and Vermion, and around the Prespa Lakes near the border with Albania and the Republic of North Macedonia. Some Aromanians can still be found in isolated rural settlements such as Samarina (Aromanian Samarina, Xamarina or San Marina), Perivoli (Aromanian Pirivoli) and Smixi (Aromanian Zmixi). There are also Aromanians (Vlachs) in towns and cities such as Ioannina (Aromanian Ianina, Enina or Enãna), Metsovo (Aromanian Aminciu), Veria (Aromanian Veryia) Katerini, Trikala (Aromanian Trikolj), Grevena (Aromanian Grebini) and Thessaloniki (Aromanian Sãruna)

Generally, the use of the minority languages has been discouraged in Greece, although recently there have been efforts to preserve the endangered languages (including Aromanian) of Greece.

Since 1994, the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki offers beginner and advanced courses in "Koutsovlach", and cultural festivals with over 40,000 participants—the largest Aromanian cultural gatherings in the world—regularly take place in Metsovo. Nevertheless, there are no exclusively Aromanian newspapers, and the Aromanian language is almost totally absent from television. Indeed, although as of 2002 there were over 200 Vlach cultural associations in Greece, many did not even feature the term "Vlach" in their titles, and only a few are active in preserving the Aromanian language.

In 1997, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe passed Recommendation 1333 (1997) encouraging the Balkan states to take steps to rectify the "critical situation" of Aromanian culture and language. This was after pressure from the Union for Aromanian Language and Culture in Germany. In response, the then President of Greece, Konstantinos Stefanopoulos, publicly urged Greek Aromanians to teach the language to their children.

In 2001, 31 Aromanian mayors and heads of villages signed a protest resolution against the U.S. State Department report on the human rights situation in Greece. They complained "against the direct or indirect characterisation of the Vlach-speaking Greeks as an ethnic, linguistic or other minority, stating that the Vlach-speaking Greeks never requested to be recognised by the Greek state as a minority, stressing that historically and culturally they were and still are an integral part of Hellenism, they would be bilingual and Aromanian would be secondary".

Furthermore, the largest Aromanian group in Greece (and across the world), the Panhellenic Federation of Cultural Associations of Vlachs in Greece, has repeatedly rejected the classification of Aromanian as a minority language or the Vlachs as a distinct ethnic group separate from the Greeks, considering the Aromanians as an "integral part of Hellenism". The Aromanian (Vlach) Cultural Society, which is associated with Sotiris Bletsas, is represented on the Member State Committee of the European Bureau for Lesser Spoken Languages in Greece.

In Albania

The exact presence of the Aromanian community in Albania is unknown. They are mostly concentrated in parts of southern and western Albania. 8,266 people declared themselves to be Aromanians in the 2011 census. On the quality of the specific data the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities stated that "the results of the census should be viewed with the utmost caution and calls on the authorities not to rely exclusively on the data on nationality collected during the census in determining its policy on the protection of national minorities.". According to Tom Winnifrith in 1995, that there were about 200,000 individuals who were of Aromanian descent in Albania, regardless of proficiency in Aromanian, or spoke Aromanian without necessarily considering themselves to have a separate identity. According to Frank Kressing and Karl Kaser in 2002, there were between 30,000 and 50,000 Aromanians in Albania. Tanner (2004) pointed out Albania as the only country where Aromanians make a relatively significant percentage of population, around 2%.

For the last years there seems to be a renewal of the former policies of supporting and sponsoring of Romanian schools for Aromanians of Albania. As a recent article in the Romanian media points out, the kindergarten, primary and secondary schools in the Albanian town of Divjakë where the local Albanian Aromanians pupils are taught classes both in Aromanian and Romanian were granted substantial help directly from the Romanian government. One of the only churches serving the Aromanian minority in Albania is the St. Sotir Church (Ayiu Sutir) of Korçë, which was given 2 billion lei help from the Romanian government. They also have a political party named Alliance for Equality and European Justice (ABDE; Ligãturea ti Egaliteati shi Ndrept European), which is the only in the world along with two in North Macedonia, and two social organisations named Shoqata Arumunët/Vllehtë e Shqiperisë (The Society of the Aromanians/Vlachs of Albania) and Unioni Kombëtar Arumun Shqiptar (The Aromanian Albanian National Union). Many of the Albanian Aromanians (Arvanito Vlachs) have immigrated to Greece, since they are considered in Greece part of the Greek minority in Albania. There are attempts to establish education in their native language in the town of Divjakë.

Notable Aromanians whose family background hailed from today's Albania include Bishop Andrei Şaguna, and Father Haralambie Balamaci, whereas notable Albanians with an Aromanian family background are actors Aleksandër (Sandër) Prosi, Margarita Xhepa, Albert Vërria, and Prokop Mima, as well as composer Nikolla Zoraqi and singers Eli Fara and Parashqevi Simaku.

On 13 October 2017, Aromanians received the official status of ethnic minority, through voting of a bill by Albanian Parliament.

In North Macedonia

According to official government figures (census 2002), there are 9,695 Aromanians or Vlachs, as they are officially called in North Macedonia. According to the census of 1953 there were 8,669 Vlachs, 6,392 in 1981 and 8,467 in 1994. Aromanians are recognized as an ethnic minority, and are hence represented in Parliament and enjoy ethnic, cultural, linguistic and religious rights and the right to education in their language.

There are Aromanian cultural societies and associations such as the Union for Aromanian Culture from North Macedonia, The Aromanian League of North Macedonia, The International League of Aromanians and Comuna Armãneascã "Frats Manachi", (The Aromanian Community Manaki Brothers) in Bitola (Aromanian Bituli or Bitule). There also are two political parties representing the Aromanian minority of the country. These are the Democratic Union of the Vlachs of Macedonia (DSVM; Unia Democratã a Armãnjlor dit Machidunii, UDAM) and the Party of the Vlachs of Macedonia (PVM; Partia Armãnjilor ditu Machidunie, PAM). They are the only Aromanian parties in the world along with ABDE in Albania.

Many forms of Aromanian-language media have been established since the 1990s. North Macedonia's Government provides financial assistance to Aromanian-language newspapers and radio stations. Aromanian-language newspapers such as Phoenix (Aromanian: Fenix) service the Aromanian community. The Aromanian television program Spark (Aromanian: Scanteao; Macedonian Искра (Iskra)) broadcasts on the second channel of the Macedonian Radio-Television.

There are Aromanian classes provided in primary schools and the state funds some Aromanian published works (magazines and books) as well as works that cover Aromanian culture, language and history. The latter is mostly done by the first Aromanian Scientific Society, "Constantin Belemace" in Skopje (Aromanian Scopia), which has organized symposiums on Aromanian history and has published papers from them. According to the last census, there were 9,596 Aromanians (0.48% of the total population). There are concentrations in Kruševo (Aromanian Crushuva) 1,020 (20%), Štip (Aromanian Shtip) 2,074 (4.3%), Bitola 1,270 (1.3%), Struga 656 (1%), Sveti Nikole (Aromanian San Nicole) 238 (1.4%), Kisela Voda 647 (1.1%) and Skopje 2,557 (0.5%).

In Romania

Since the Middle Ages, due to the Turkish occupation and the destruction of their cities, such as Moscopole, Gramos, Linotopi [bg; el; mk; sq] (which never recovered) and later on Kruševo, many Aromanians fled their native homelands in the Balkans to settle the Romanian principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia, which had a similar language and a certain degree of autonomy from the Turks. These immigrant Aromanians were assimilated into the Romanian population.

In 1925, 47 years after Dobruja was incorporated into Romania, King Ferdinand gave the Aromanians land and privileges to settle in this region, which resulted in a significant migration of Aromanians into Romania. Today, 25% of the population of the region are descendants of Aromanian immigrants.

There are currently between 50,000 and 100,000 Aromanians in Romania, most of which are concentrated in Dobruja. According to some Aromanian cultural organizations in Romania, there are some 100,000 Aromanians in Romania, and they are often called macedoni ("Macedonians"). Some Aromanian associations even place the total number of people of Aromanian descent in Romania as high as 250,000.

Recently, there has been a growing movement in Romania, both by Aromanians and by Romanian lawmakers, to recognize the Aromanians either as a separate cultural group or as a separate ethnic group, and extend to them the rights of other minorities in Romania, such as mother-tongue education and representatives in parliament.

In Romania exists the Macedo-Romanian Cultural Society.

In Bulgaria

Most of the Aromanians in the Sofia region are descendants of emigrants from the region of Macedonia and northern Greece who arrived between 1850 and 1914.

In Bulgaria, most Aromanians were concentrated in the region south-west of Sofia, in the region called Pirin, formerly part of the Ottoman Empire until 1913. Due to this reason, a large number of these Aromanians moved to Southern Dobruja, part of the Kingdom of Romania after the Treaty of Bucharest of 1913. After the reinclusion of Southern Dobruja in Bulgaria with the Treaty of Craiova of 1940, most were moved to Northern Dobruja in a population exchange. Another group moved to northern Greece. Nowadays, the largest group of Aromanians in Bulgaria is found in the southern mountainous area, around Peshtera. Most Aromanians in Bulgaria originate from the Gramos Mountains, with some from North Macedonia, the Pindus Mountains in Greece and Moscopole in Albania.

After the fall of communism in 1989, Aromanians and Romanians (known as "Vlachs" in Bulgaria) have started initiatives to organize themselves under one common association.

According to the 1926 official census, there were 69,080 Romanians, 5,324 Aromanians, 3,777 Cutzovlachs, and 1,551 Tsintsars.

In Serbia

In medieval times, the Aromanians populated Herzegovina, a region today in Bosnia and Herzegovina close to modern Serbia, and elevated famous necropolises with petroglyphs (Radimlja, Blidinje, etc.). The Aromanians, known as Cincari (Цинцари), migrated to Serbia in the 18th and early 19th centuries. They most often were bilingual in Greek, and were often called "Greeks" (Grci). They were influential in the forming of Serbian statehood, having contributed with rebel fighters, merchants and intellectuals. Many Greek Aromanians (Грко Цинцари) came to Serbia with Alija Gušanac as krdžalije (mercenaries) and later joined the Serbian Revolution (1804–1817). Some of the notable rebels include Konda Bimbaša and Papazogli. Among the notable people of Aromanian descent are playwright Jovan Sterija Popović (1806–1856), novelist Branislav Nušić (1864–1938), and politician Vladan Đorđević (1844–1930).

The majority of Serbian people of Aromanian descent do not speak Aromanian and espouse a Serb identity. They live in Niš, Belgrade and some smaller communities in Southern Serbia, such as Knjaževac. The Lunjina Serbian–Aromanian Association was founded in Belgrade in 1991. According to the 2022 census, there were 327 Serbian citizens that identified as ethnic Cincari. However, unofficial estimates number the Aromanian population of Serbia at 5,000–15,000.

Diaspora

Aside from the Balkan countries, there are also communities of Aromanian emigrants living in Canada, the United States, France and Germany. Although the largest diaspora community is in select major Canadian cities, Freiburg, Germany has one of the most important Aromanian organisations, the Union for Aromanian Language and Culture. In the United States, the Society Farsharotu is the oldest and most well-known association of Aromanians, founded in 1903 by Nicolae Cican, an Aromanian native of Albania. In France, the Aromanians are grouped in the Trâ Armânami Association of French Aromanians.

Notable Aromanians

This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The following is a list of notable people of full or partial Aromanian descent. Note that these claims are in many cases disputed or shared with ancestry from other ethnicties.

Art and literature

• Alexandru Arsinel—comedian and actor
• Constantin Belimace—poet
• Ion Luca Caragiale—playwright, short story writer, poet, theater manager, political commentator and journalist
• Toma Caragiu—theatre, television and film actor
• Konstantin Čomu—cinema operator
• Elena Gheorghe—singer
• Jovan Četirević Grabovan—icon painter
• Stere Gulea—film director and screenwriter
• Kira Hagi—actress
• Dimitrios Lalas—composer and musician
• Taško Načić—actor
• Sergiu Nicolaescu—film director, actor and politician
• Constantin Noica—philosopher, essayist and poet
• Branislav Nušić—playwright, satirist, essayist, novelist
• Ștefan Octavian Iosif—poet and translator
• Dan Piţa—film director and screenwriter
• Aurel Plasari—writer
• Jovan Sterija Popović—playwright, poet, lawyer, philosopher and pedagogue
• Florica Prevenda—painter
• Toše Proeski—singer
• Sandër Prosi—actor
• Camil Ressu—painter and academic
• Konstantinos Tzechanis—philosopher, mathematician and poet
• Nuși Tulliu—poet and prose writer
• Albert Vërria—actor
• Lika Yanko—painter
• Jovan Jovanović Zmaj—poet
• Manaki brothers—film makers

Law, philanthropy and commerce

• George Averoff—businessman and philanthropist
• Gigi Becali—businessman and politician
• Emanoil Gojdu—lawyer
• Petar Ičko—merchant
• Mocioni family—barons, philanthropists and bankers
• Theodoros Modis—lumber merchant and scholar
• Sterjo Nakov—businessman
• Simon Sinas—banker, aristocrat, benefactor and diplomat
• Georgios Sinas—entrepreneur, banker and national benefactor
• Michael Tositsas—benefactor
• Evangelis Zappas—philanthropist and businessman
• Konstantinos Zappas—entrepreneur and national benefactor
• Toma Fila—lawyer and politician

Military

• Pitu Guli—revolutionary
• Christodoulos Hatzipetros—military leader
• Anastasios Manakis—revolutionary
• Giorgakis Olympios—military commander
• Alexandros Papagos—army officer
• Anastasios Pichion—educator and fighter
• Stefanos Sarafis—army officer
• Konstantinos Smolenskis—army officer
• Leonidas Smolents—army officer
• Mitre the Vlach—revolutionary

Politics

• Apostol Arsache—politician and philanthropist
• Evangelos Averoff—politician and writer
• Nicolae Constantin Batzaria—politician, activist and writer
• Marko Bello—politician, diplomat and lecturer
• Yannis Boutaris—politician and businessman
• Costică Canacheu—politician and businessman
• Ion Caramitru—politician and actor
• Alcibiades Diamandi—politician
• Michael Dukakis—politician
• Vladan Đorđević—politician, diplomat, physician, prolific writer, organizer of the State Sanitary Service
• Rigas Feraios—writer, political thinker and revolutionary
• Taki Fiti—politician
• Ioannis Kolettis—politician
• Helena Angelina Komnene
• Spyridon Lambros—politician and professor
• Apostol Mărgărit—writer
• Nicolaos Matussis—politician
• Georgios Modis—jurist, politician and writer
• Alexandros Papagos— politician and army officer
• Alexandros Svolos—politician
• Andreas Tzimas—politician
• Petros Zappas—entrepreneur and politician

Religion

• Cyril of Bulgaria—patriarch
• Joachim III of Constantinople—ecumenical patriarch
• Theodore Kavalliotis—priest and teacher
• Andrei Șaguna—metropolitan bishop
• Nektarios Terpos—scholar and monk

Sciences, academia and engineering

• Sotiris Bletsas
• Elie Carafoli
• Ioannis Chalkeus
• Sterie Diamandi
• Neagu Djuvara
• Jovan Karamata
• Mina Minovici
• Theodore Modis
• Yorgo Modis
• Daniel Moscopolites
• George Murnu
• Pericle Papahagi
• Nicolae Malaxa

Sports

• Gheorghe Hagi—football coach and former player
• Ianis Hagi—football player
• Simona Halep—tennis player
• Cristian Gaţu—handball player
• Rafail Dishnica Gërnjoti—boxer
• Theodhor Gërnjoti—boxer
• Dominique Moceanu—gymnast

Gallery

• Aromanian herdsmen in Greece (Amand Schweiger from Lerchenfeld, 1887)
• Aromanian armatoles in 1907 in Veria
• Aromanian men of Macedonia, circa 1914
• Aromanians in 1915

See also

• Thraco-Roman
• List of Aromanian cultural organizations

References

1. Minahan, James B. (2016). Encyclopedia of stateless nations: ethnic and national groups around the world (2nd ed.). ABC-CLIO. p. 38. ISBN 9781610699549.
2. Ene, Maria Camelia (2016). "Paftaua, tipuri de decorații și simboluri. Accesorii din patrimoniul Muzeului Municipiului București" (PDF). Materiale de Istorie și Muzeografie (in Romanian). 30. Bucharest: Bucharest Municipality Museum: 136.
3. Puig, Lluis Maria de (17 January 1997). "Report: Aromanians". Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly. Doc. 7728.
4. ^ According to INTEREG – quoted by Eurominority Archived 3 July 2006 at the Wayback Machine: Aromanians in Greece Archived 19 May 2005 at the Wayback Machine
5. ^ Kahl 2002, p. 153.
6. Gatej, Iuliana (8 December 2006). "Aromânii vor statut minoritar". Cotidianul (in Romanian). Archived from the original on 9 March 2012.
7. ^ "Попис на населението, домаќинствата и становите во Република Северна Македонија, 2021 – прв сет на податоци" (PDF). p. 8. Retrieved 2 July 2022.
8. "Population and Housing Census 2023" (PDF). Instituti i Statistikës (INSTAT).
9. Constantin, Marin (2014). "The ethno-cultural belongingness of Aromanians, Vlachs, Catholics, and Lipovans/Old Believers in Romania and Bulgaria (1990–2012)" (PDF). Revista Română de Sociologie. 25 (3–4): 255–285.
10. ^ "Становништво према националној припадности" (in Serbian). Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
11. ^ Kahl 2002, p. 145.
12. Across the Danube: Southeastern Europeans and Their Travelling Identities (17th–19th C.). Brill. 2016. p. 30. ISBN 978-90-04-33544-8. The Aromanians (Vlachs) are a Latin-speaking ethnic group native to the southern Balkans.
13. Benevedes, Eli; Lally, Owen; Li, Hung-En; Perlee, Abigail; Piombino, Eileen (2021). Investigating the Impacts of Earthquakes on Ethnic and Religious Groups: Bucharest, Romania (PDF) (Thesis). Worcester Polytechnic Institute. pp. 1–63.
14. Tudorancea, Radu (2007). "An analysis of the Macedo-Romanian issue within the Romanian–Greek relations during the first decade of the twentieth century (1900–1926)" (PDF). Euro-Atlantic Studies (11): 91–97.
15. Vrabie, Emil (1993). "Aromanian etymologies". General Linguistics. 33 (4): 212–219. ProQuest 1301510711.
16. Țîrcomnicu, Emil (2009). "Some topics of the traditional wedding customs of the Macedo–Romanians (Aromanians and Megleno–Romanians)". Romanian Journal of Population Studies. 3 (3): 141–152.
17. "Vlach – European ethnic group". Britannica.com. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
18. "Romanian language". Archived from the original on 20 March 2006. Retrieved 16 May 2006.
19. Isac, Daniela (2024). Definiteness in Balkan Romance. Oxford Studies in Theoretical Linguistics. Oxford University Press. p. 1. ISBN 9780198865704. The term 'Balkan Romance' is used to designate a group of languages including Romanian, Aromanian, Istro-Romanian and Megleno-Romanian. Even though the exact historical links between these languages are still unclear (...), it is commonly accepted that they have a common ancestor and hence form a coherent family.  Alternative names for Balkan Romance are Daco-Romance and Eastern Romance.
20. ^ Winnifrith 2002, p. 115.
21. James Minahan (2002). Encyclopedia of the Stateless Nations: A–C. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 175. ISBN 978-0-313-32109-2. Retrieved 18 April 2012. Aromanian shares many common features with Bulgarian, Greek, and Albanian, but the lexical composition, though rich in Greek, Slavic, and Turkish borrowings, remains basically of the Romance type.
22. "What does Daco-Romanian mean?". www.definitions.net.
23. "Magyar Néprajzi Lexikon /". Mek.niif.hu. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
24. ^ Winnifrith 1987, p. 35.
25. Tanner 2004, pp. 203–.
26. ^ Tanner 2004, p. 209.
27. Isidor Ieşan, Secta patarenă în Balcani şi în Dacia Traiană. Institutul de arte grafice C. Sfetea, București, 1912
28. ^ Tanner 2004, p. 210.
29. ^ Winnifrith 1987, p. 39.
30. Binder, David (2004). "Vlachs, A Peaceful Balkan People". Mediterranean Quarterly. 15 (4): 115–116. doi:10.1215/10474552-15-4-115. ISSN 1527-1935. S2CID 154461762. The Roman Empire gradually expanded in what is now called the Balkan Peninsula from 146 BC, with the first colonies around Preveza in the Epirus region of Greece, to about 550 AD. Vlachs are sometimes assumed to be the Romanized descendants of autochthonous ethnic groups, the Illyrians, Thracians, Dacians and Greeks, though the Greek connection is undoubtedly the strongest.
31. ^ Winnifrith 2002, p. 114.
32. Tanner 2004, p. 205.
33. Tomic, O.M. (2006). Balkan Sprachbund Morpho-Syntactic Features. Springer. p. 39.
34. ^ Bosch, E.; Calafell, F.; González-Neira, A.; Flaiz, C; Mateu, E; Scheil, HG; Huckenbeck, W; Efremovska, L; et al. (2006). "Paternal and maternal lineages in the Balkans show a homogeneous landscape over linguistic barriers, except for the isolated Aromuns". Annals of Human Genetics. 70 (Pt 4): 459–87. doi:10.1111/j.1469-1809.2005.00251.x. PMID 16759179. S2CID 23156886.
35. Myres, Natalie M. (2010). "A major Y-chromosome haplogroup R1b Holocene era founder effect in Central and Western Europe". European Journal of Human Genetics. 19 (1): 95–101. doi:10.1038/ejhg.2010.146. PMC 3039512. PMID 20736979.
36. ^ ODB, "Vlachs" (A. Kazhdan), pp. 2183–2184.
37. ODB, "Vlachia" (A. Kazhdan), p. 2183.
38. Marian Wenzel, Bosnian and Herzegovinian Tombstobes-Who Made Them and Why?" Sudost-Forschungen 21(1962): 102–143
39. Mužić, Ivan (2009). "Vlasi i starobalkanska pretkršćanska simbolika jelena na stećcima". Starohrvatska prosvjeta (in Croatian). Split: Museum of Croatian Archaeological Monuments. III (36): 315–349.
40. "BJUNIORNEWBLOG: THE AROMANIAN REBIRTH". 11 September 2019.
41. ^ Kahl 2002, p. 146.
42. Kahl 2002, pp. 146–147.
43. ^ Kahl 2002, p. 147.
44. Kahl 2002, pp. 149–150.
45. Kahl 2002, p. 150.
46. Kahl 2002, pp. 147–148.
47. ^ Kahl 2002, p. 148.
48. ^ Kahl 2002, p. 149.
49. ^ Kahl 2002, p. 151.
50. Vușcan, Cătălin (13 May 2021). "Ziua Românității Balcanice a fost adoptată de Camera Deputaților. Frații noștri din sud vor fi sărbătoriți, anual, pe 10 mai. Bust la Corcea, Albania, pentru Părintele-martir Haralambie Balamace, ucis de greci cu baionetele pentru că a slujit în română". ActiveNews (in Romanian).
51. ^ Kahl 2002, p. 152.
52. Kahl 2003.
53. Dărăbuș, Carmen (2013). "L'alimentazione come sistema alluvionale nella cultura degli aromeni" (PDF). Acta Iassyensia Comparationis (in Italian). 11 (1): 85–90.
54. Kahl, Thede (2008). "Multipart singing among the Aromanians (Vlachs)". In Ahmedaja, Ardian; Haid, Gerlinde (eds.). European Voices I: Multipart singing in the Balkans and the Mediterranean. Böhlau Verlag. pp. 267–280. ISBN 9783205780908.
55. Ghering, Silviu (23 May 2020). "23 mai este ziua Simonei Halep și a lui Gică Hagi. Și a tuturor aromânilor din lume. Ce machedoni mai avem în sportul românesc". Fanatik.ro (in Romanian).
56. "Armânamea". Europeada.
57. Bocai, Marian (17 December 2013). "Hagi, Simona Halep şi Eliza Samara, invitaţi la finalele "Cupei Armânamea" (galerie foto)". Ziua de Constanţa (in Romanian).
58. Elisabeth Kontogiorgi, Population exchange in Greek Macedonia the rural settlement of refugees 1922–1930, p. 22
59. Viktor Meier (1999). Yugoslavia: A History of Its Demise. Routledge. p. 184. ISBN 978-0-415-18596-7. The problem of the linguistic minorities in Greece is a complex one ... They both consider themselves Greeks
60. John S. Koliopoulos, Plundered loyalties Axis occupation in Greek West Macedonia 1941–1949, pages 81–85
61. Leontis, Artemis (2009). Culture and customs of Greece. Greenwood Press. p. 13. ISBN 9780313342967.
62. Merry, Bruce (2004). Encyclopedia of modern Greek literature. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 163. ISBN 9780313308130.
63. Brown, James F. (2001). The grooves of change: Eastern Europe at the turn of the millennium. Duke University Press. p. 261. ISBN 9780822326526.
64. Greek Monitor of Human and Minority Rights vol I. No 3 December 1995
65. ^ Kahl 2002, p. 155.
66. "Recommendation 1333 (1997) on the Aromanian culture and language". 1997. Archived from the original on 18 November 2002. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
67. Baicu, Cornel (29 August 2003). ""Rumänien ist für uns eine zweite Heimat"" (in German). Deutsche Welle.
68. Kahl 2003, p. 217.
69. Έκδοση ψηφίσματος διαμαρτυρίας κατά του Στέτ Ντιπαρτμεντ (in Greek). 28 February 2001. Archived from the original on 15 September 2004. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
70. Έκδοση Δελτίου Τύπου για την διοργάνωση του Συνεδρίου του Ελληνικού παραρτήματος της μη κυβερνητικής οργάνωσης του Ε.Β.L.U.L., στη Θεσσαλονίκη (in Greek). 14 November 2002. Archived from the original on 10 September 2004. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
71. Έκδοση ψηφίσματος διαμαρτυρίας κατά της έκθεσης της Αμερικανικής οργάνωσης Freedom House (in Greek). 18 August 2003. Archived from the original on 15 September 2004. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
72. "Learn a Foreign Language". eblul.org. 29 March 2023.
73. Population and Housing Census (Main Results) – 2011 (PDF) (Report). Institute of Statistics (Albania). 2012. p. 71. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
74. "Third Opinion on Albania adopted on 23 November 2011". Advisory Committee on the Framework for the Protection of National Minorities. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
75. Schwandner-Sievers, Stephanie (March 1999). "The Albanian Aromanians' Awakening: Identity Politics and Conflicts in Post-Communist Albania". www.ecmi.de. European Centre for Minority Issues. pp. 1–2. Archived from the original on 26 January 2020. Retrieved 17 August 2021. Winnifrith increased these figures after repeated travels through Southern Albania. In his most recent estimate of 200,000 he includes all those who think of themselves as Vlachs / Aromanians in terms of descent with or without knowledge of the language as well as those who speak the language but do not refer to a distinct identity.
76. Kressing, Frank; Kaser, Karl (2002). Albania—a Country in Transition: Aspects of Changing Identities in a South-East European Country. Nomos. p. 12. between 5,000 and 15,000 Macedonians and Montenegrins in the north and east; between 30,000 and 50,000 Vlahs or Aromanians
77. Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers. The Albanian Aromanians´ Awakening: Identity Politics and Conflicts in Post-Communist Albania Archived 18 February 2015 at the Wayback Machine, p. 12-13.
78. "Aromanians in Albania" (PDF). Ecmi.de. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 February 2015. Retrieved 9 August 2014.
79. Çollaku, Robert (July–August 2011). Gusho, Jani (ed.). "Frația (Vëllazëria)". Calendaru 2011. Arumunët e Shqipërisë. p. 2.
80. The Vlachs of Macedonia Archived 27 October 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Tom J. Winnifrith.
81. Conseil de l'Europe. Assemblée parlementaire. Session ordinaire (1997). Documents de séance. Council of Europe. p. xxi. ISBN 978-92-871-3239-0.
82. Армъните в България ("The Aromanians in Bulgaria") (in Bulgarian). Архитектурно-етнографски комплекс "Етър" – Габрово. Archived from the original on 30 January 2009. Retrieved 15 January 2009.
83. "Ministerul Afacerilor Externe". MAE.ro. 23 July 2014. Retrieved 9 August 2014.
84. "Lumea Magazin". 5 September 2005. Archived from the original on 5 September 2005.
85. "Romanian Global News – singura agentie de presa a romanilor de pretutindeni". 7 October 2007. Archived from the original on 7 October 2007. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
86. Marian Wenzel, Bosnian and Herzegovinian Tombstobes-Who Made Them and Why?" Sudost-Forschungen 21(1962): 102–143.
87. Mitološki zbornik. Vol. 7–8. Centar za mitološki studije Srbije. 2002. p. 35. Многи Грко-Цинцари су дошли у Србију са Гушанцем као крхалије, па су касније пришли устаницима. У ову групу спадају Конда и Папазоглија. У Гушанчевој војсци Конда је био буљубаша, све до 1806. године, када су устаници ...
88. Jokić Stamenković, Dragana (30 January 2017). "Цинцари – крвоток Балкана". Politika (in Serbian).
89. Ružica, Miroslav (2006). "The Balkan Vlachs/Aromanians awakening, national policies, assimilation". Proceedings of the Globalization, Nationalism and Ethnic Conflicts in the Balkans and Its Regional Context: 28–30. S2CID 52448884.
90. Kahl 2002, p. 163.
91. Aleksov, Bojan (23 January 2013). Jovan Jovanović Zmaj and the Serbian identity between poetry and history. CEUP collection. Central European University Press. pp. 273–305. ISBN 9786155211669.
92. Jovanovski, Dalibor; Minov, Nikola (2017). "Ioannis Kolettis. The Vlach from the ruling elite of Greece". Balcanica Posnaniensia. 24 (1). Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań: 222–223. ISSN 2450-3177. Archived from the original on 18 March 2020. Retrieved 8 May 2017.

Bibliography

• Atanassova, Katya (1998). "Aromanians". Communities and Identities in Bulgaria: 1000–1012.
• Cozaru, G. C., A. C. Papari, and M. L. Sandu. "Considerations Regarding the Ethno-Cultural Identity of the Aromanians in Dobrogea". Tradition and Reform Social Reconstruction of Europe (2013): 121.
• Iosif, Corina (2011). "The Aromanians between nationality and ethnicity: the history of an identity building". Transylvanian Review. 20: 133–148.
• Kahl, Thede (2002). "The Ethnicity of Aromanians after 1990: the Identity of a Minority that Behaves like a Majority". Ethnologia Balkanica. Vol. 6. pp. 145–169.
• Kahl, Thede (2003). "Aromanians in Greece. Minority or Vlach-Speaking Greeks?". Jahrbücher für Geschichte und Kultur Südosteuropas. 5: 205–219.
• Kazhdan, Alexander, ed. (1991). The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6.
• Kocój E., Heritage without Heirs? Tangible and religious cultural heritage of the Vlachs minority in Europe in the context of interdisciplinary research project (contribution to the subject), Balcanica Posnaniensia", Poznań 2015, s. 137–147.
• Kocój E., The Story of an Invisible City. The Cultural Heritage of Moscopole in Albania. Urban Regeneration, Cultural Memory and Space Management Intangible heritage of the city. Musealisation, preservation, education, ed. By M. Kwiecińska, Kraków 2016, s. 267–280.
• Kocój E., Artifacts of the past as traces of memory. The Aromanian cultural heritage in the Balkans, Res Historica, 2016, pp. 175–195.
• Motta, Giuseppe (2011). "The Fight for Balkan Latinity. The Aromanians until World War I". Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences. 2 (3): 252–260.
• Motta, Giuseppe (2012). "The Fight for Balkan Latinity (II). The Aromanians after World War". Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences. 3 (11): 541–550.
• Nowicka, Ewa (29 September 2016). "Ethnic Identity of Aromanians/Vlachs in the 21st Century". Res Historica. 41: 213. doi:10.17951/rh.2016.41.213.
• Prendergast, Eric (2017). The Origin and Spread of Locative Determiner Omission in the Balkan Linguistic Area (Ph.D). UC Berkeley.
• Ružica, Miroslav (2006). "The Balkan Vlachs/Aromanians Awakening, National Policies, Assimilation" (PDF). Proceedings of the Globalization, Nationalism and Ethnic Conflicts in the Balkans and Its Regional Context. Belgrade. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 May 2015. Retrieved 16 November 2016.
• Schwandner-Sievers, Stephanie (1999), The Albanian Aromanians' awakening: identity politics and conflicts in post-communist Albania, Flensburg: European Centre for Minority Issues
• Tanner, Arno (2004). "The Vlachs – A contested identity". The Forgotten Minorities of Eastern Europe: The History and Today of Selected Ethnic Groups in Five Countries. East-West Books. pp. 203–. ISBN 978-952-91-6808-8.
• Țîrcomnicu, Emil (2009). "Some Topics of the Traditional Wedding Customs of the Macedo–Romanians (Aromanians and Megleno–Romanians)". Romanian Journal of Population Studies Supplement. 3 (Supplement): 141–152.
• Winnifrith, Tom (1995). Shattered Eagles, Balkan Fragments. Duckworth. ISBN 978-0-7156-2635-1.
• Winnifrith, Tom (1987). The Vlachs: the history of a Balkan people. Duckworth. ISBN 978-0-7156-2135-6.
• Winnifrith, Tom (2002). "Vlachs". In Clogg, Richard (ed.). Minorities in Greece: Aspects of a Plural Society. C. Hurst & Co. Publishers. pp. 112–121. ISBN 978-1-85065-705-7.

Further reading

• "Report: The Vlachs". Greek Monitor of Human & Minority Rights. 1 (3). December 1995 . Archived from the original on 16 January 2015. Retrieved 27 May 2013.
• Gica, Alexandru (2009–2011). "The recent history of the Aromanians in Southeast Europe" (PDF). The Newsletter of the Society Farsharotu. 24–25 (1–2): 1–22.

External links

• Media related to Aromanians at Wikimedia Commons

v t e Aromanians
Names	Aromanians Vlachs Koutsovlachs Macedo-Romanians Macedonians Tsintsars
History	Origin of the Aromanians Vlach uprising of 1066 Great Vlachia Ottoman era Macedonian Struggle Ottoman Aromanians in Romanian foreign policy Romanian churches in the Balkans St. Sotir Church, Korçë Romanian schools in the Balkans Armatoles Chetas Ullah millet World War I Samarina Republic World War II Population exchange between Bulgaria and Romania Roman Legion (1941–1943) Principality of the Pindus Recommendation 1333 (1997)
Identity	Genetic studies on Aromanians Aromanian nationalism Aromanian studies Aromanian question Grecomans Flag of the Aromanians Aromanian National Day Dimãndarea pãrinteascã Political parties Alliance for Equality and European Justice Democratic Union of the Vlachs of Macedonia Party of the Vlachs of Macedonia
Culture	Aromanian cuisine Aromanian folk dance Aromanian language alphabet dialects Bible translations into Aromanian Influence on Slavic languages Linguistic parallels with Albanian Aromanian-language names Aromanian literature Aromanian Missal Codex Dimonie Aromanian mass media I'm Not Famous but I'm Aromanian Newspapers Românul de la Pind Radio stations Radio Romania International Aromanian music Aromanian Orthodox Church Aromanian traditional clothing Avdhela Project Celnic Subgroups of the Aromanians Organizations Lunjina Serbian–Aromanian Association Macedo-Romanian Cultural Society Panhellenic Federation of Cultural Associations of Vlachs Society Farsharotu Trâ Armânami Association of French Aromanians Union for Aromanian Language and Culture
Population	Geographical distribution Albania Bulgaria Greece North Macedonia Romania Serbia diaspora Settlements Avdella Bitola Constanța Gramos Kruševo Malovište Metsovo Moscopole Peshtera Samarina
People	Nicolae Constantin Batzaria Constantin Belimace Mihail G. Boiagi Toma Caragiu Matilda Caragiu Marioțeanu Alcibiades Diamandi Pitu Guli Gheorghe Hagi Simona Halep Manaki brothers Nicolaos Matussis Gheorghe Constantin Roja Nuși Tulliu Constantin Ucuta
Related groups	Romanians Moldovans Megleno-Romanians Istro-Romanians

• Aromanians
• Eastern Romance people
• Ethnic groups in Albania
• Ethnic groups in Bulgaria
• Ethnic groups in Greece
• Ethnic groups in North Macedonia
• Ethnic groups in Romania
• Ethnic groups in Serbia
• Ethnic groups in the Balkans
• Romance peoples
• Ethnic groups divided by international borders