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Revision as of 20:36, 20 November 2006 editDc76 (talk | contribs)Autopatrolled9,756 editsm This has been long suggested as the "middle" and civilized solution, and some non-intentionally death people actually listen and agreed. Please, stop edit waring!← Previous edit Latest revision as of 19:27, 26 December 2024 edit undoBalkanshepard (talk | contribs)296 edits Removed unnecessary content-mixed origin already mentioned, no need to specify all the specific groups.Tags: Manual revert Mobile edit Mobile web edit 
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{{short description|Ethnic group native to Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe}}
{{sprotect}}
{{Distinguish|text=], ] or ]}}
{{ethnic group|
{{for|information on the population of Romania|Demographics of Romania}}
|group=Romanians<br>(Români)
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2021}}
|image=]
{{EngvarB|date=December 2021}}
|poptime='''24''' to '''28 million (est.)''' <ref> Investment Climate and Market Structure in the Energy Sector Paper of the Energy Charter Secretariat puts the number of Romanians outside Romania at 8.2 million]</ref> <ref> Romane IED Assessment puts the number of Romanians outside the country at 8 million</ref> <ref>UNEP GRID-Arendal Environmental Information Programme </ref><ref> Data obtained from the Romanian Government Embassy in Prague </ref> <ref> Romanian President emphasizes that the Cotroceni Palace is a home for all Romanians, including the 8 million Romanians outside Romania.</ref><ref></ref><ref> Romanian World Council estimates the number of Romanians living outside Romania to be 10 mil. people.</ref><ref> Romanian President puts Romanian immigrants at 6 million and Romanians around Romania's borders at 4 million people.</ref>
{{Infobox ethnic group
|popplace=]: 19,409,400 (2002 cens.)<ref></ref><br>
| group = Romanians
] 75,000 (2004 cens.) <ref>Based on the ]. Note: also 481,593 ] declared ] as their mother tongue and the ] is widely viewed as the official name used in the ] for the ], thus adding 2,011,403 to the number of Romanian speakers. Source: .</ref> - 2,638,125 (est. based on cens.)<ref name="CIA World Factbook"> Data according to the CIA World Factbook</ref> <br>
| native_name = {{lang|ro|Români}}
]: 373,095 (2006)<ref>Instituto Nacional de Estadística: ''Avance del Padrón Municipal a 1 de enero de 2006. Datos provisionales.'' . According to , the total number of Romanians living in Spain could be well over 500,000 people.</ref><br>
| native_name_lang = ro
]: 367,000 (2000)<ref name="USCensus"></ref><ref>Depending on how one counts who is Romanian, the number in the U.S. may be considerably higher. counts 1.2 million in the U.S. who understand Romanian; their numbers are a bit vague, but (once one discounts Jews, Armenians, etc.) seem to suggest a figure of about 900,000 ethnic Romanians.</ref> - 1,100,000 <br>
| image = ]
]: 297,570<ref></ref><ref> Almost 300.000 Romanians in Italy at the end of 2005, according to the Statistical Institute of Italy</ref><br>
| caption = Ethnic distribution of Romanians around the world
], ], ]: 200,000<br>
| population = {{circa}} '''22.8–24.8 million'''<ref name="auto2">{{cite web|url=http://www.ziuaveche.ro/actualitate-interna/social/david-in-afara-grani%C8%9Belor-traiesc-intre-%C8%99ase-%C8%99i-opt-milioane-de-romani-201479.html|title=6–8 Million Romanians live outside Romania's borders|work=Ziua Veche|date=13 December 2013|access-date=13 November 2014|archive-date=13 November 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141113183701/http://www.ziuaveche.ro/actualitate-interna/social/david-in-afara-grani%C8%9Belor-traiesc-intre-%C8%99ase-%C8%99i-opt-milioane-de-romani-201479.html|url-status=live}}</ref> (including Romanian citizens of all ethnic groups living abroad)
]: 151,000<ref>As per the ]. Note: additionally, in Ukraine some of the census respondents self-identified as ]</ref><br> ]: 131,320 <ref>], ]. , discussed further at ]</ref> - 400,000<br>
| popplace = '''{{flag|Romania}}''' 19,053,815 (2022 Romanian census)<ref>{{cite web |url=https://insse.ro/cms/en/content/population-and-housing-census-2021-provisional-results |title=Population and housing census, 2021 - provisional results |access-date=29 May 2023 |archive-date=6 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230306025521/https://insse.ro/cms/en/content/population-and-housing-census-2021-provisional-results |url-status=live }}</ref><br />
]: 100,000&nbsp;<br>
'''{{flagcountry|Moldova}}''' 192,800 (2014 Moldovan census; additional 2,068,058 ])<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://statistica.gov.md/pageview.php?l=ro&idc=479|title=// Recensămîntul populației și al locuințelor 2014|first=Biroul Naţional de|last=Statistică|website=statistica.gov.md|date=2 August 2013 |access-date=23 February 2021|archive-date=25 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225023040/https://statistica.gov.md/pageview.php?l=ro&idc=479|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Includes additional 177,635 Moldovans in Transnistria; as per the 2004 census in Transnistria</ref>
]: 73,365&nbsp;<ref>, German Statistical Office. The number for Germany does ''not'' count some half million ethnic ]ns whose families historically lived in ], and who relocated to Germany at various times in the 20th century.</ref><br>
| tablehdr = Other countries
]: 50,000&nbsp;<ref>The number for Israel does ''not'' count 450,000 ]s of Romanian origin.</ref><br>
{{collapsed infobox section begin|td=yes|Europe}}
]: 33,280 (est.)<br>
| region1 = {{flagcountry|Italy}}
]: 30,419<br>
| pop1 = 1,206,938 migrants from Romania, of all ethnic groups
]: 30,000&nbsp;<ref name="Diaspora"> ("Romanians in diaspora") on the site of The Foundation for Romanians from All Over the World, retrieved December 24, 2004.</ref><br>
| ref1 = <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tuttitalia.it/statistiche/cittadini-stranieri/romania/|title=Romeni in Italia - statistiche e distribuzione per regione|language=it|access-date=2 July 2020|archive-date=6 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806203359/https://www.tuttitalia.it/statistiche/cittadini-stranieri/romania/|url-status=live}}</ref>
]: 29,000<br>
| region2 = {{flagcountry|Germany}}
]: 23,000&nbsp;<ref name="Diaspora"/><br>
| pop2 = 866,000 (2022) migrants from Romania of all ethnic groups, including a wide range of ] as well
]: 20,000<br>
| ref2 = <ref>{{Cite web|url = https://www.destatis.de/DE/Themen/Gesellschaft-Umwelt/Bevoelkerung/Migration-Integration/Publikationen/Downloads-Migration/statistischer-bericht-migrationshintergrund-erst-2010220227005.htmll|title = Statistischer Bericht - Mikrozensus - Bevölkerung nach Migrationshintergrund - Erstergebnisse 2022|date = 20 April 2023|access-date = 17 July 2023|archive-date = 17 July 2023|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230717102449/https://www.destatis.de/DE/Themen/Gesellschaft-Umwelt/Bevoelkerung/Migration-Integration/Publikationen/Downloads-Migration/statistischer-bericht-migrationshintergrund-erst-2010220227005.htmll|url-status = live}}</ref>
]: 13,000&nbsp;<ref name="Diaspora"/><br>
| region3 = {{flagcountry|Spain}}
]: 10,000-20,000<ref>] 2001 Census figures report indicating Romanian ancestry; 12,950 reported as Romanian-born (but not necessarily of Romanian ethnicity).</ref><br>
| pop3 = 535,935 Born in Romania (2022)<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.ine.es/jaxi/Datos.htm?path=/t20/e245/p04/provi/l0/&file=0ccaa005.px#!tabs-tabla | title=Población por comunidades y provincias, país de nacimiento, edad (Grupos quinquenales) y sexo | access-date=2022-07-01 | archive-date=2021-01-30 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210130000255/https://www.ine.es/jaxi/Datos.htm?path=%2Ft20%2Fe245%2Fp04%2Fprovi%2Fl0%2F&file=0ccaa005.px#!tabs-tabla | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.ine.es/prensa/censo_2022_2023.pdf | title=Población por comunidades y provincias, país de nacimiento, edad (Grupos quinquenales) y sexo | access-date=2020-07-01 | archive-date=2021-01-30 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210130000255/https://www.ine.es/jaxi/Datos.htm?path=%2Ft20%2Fe245%2Fp04%2Fprovi%2Fl0%2F&file=0ccaa005.px#!tabs-tabla | url-status=live }}</ref>
]: 10,000&ndash;12,000&nbsp;<ref name="Diaspora"/><br>
| ref3 = <ref>{{cite web|title=Población extranjera por Nacionalidad, comunidades, Sexo y Año. Datos provisionales 2020.|url=https://www.ine.es/jaxi/Datos.htm?path=/t20/e245/p08/l0/&file=02005.px#!tabs-tabla|publisher=]|access-date=9 November 2020|archive-date=27 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201027160218/https://www.ine.es/jaxi/Datos.htm?path=%2Ft20%2Fe245%2Fp08%2Fl0%2F&file=02005.px#!tabs-tabla|url-status=live}}</ref>
<br>
| region4 = {{flagcountry|UK}}
]: 10,000&nbsp;<ref name="Diaspora"/><br>
| pop4 = 329,000 Romanian-born residents (2022)
]: 9,000&nbsp;<ref name="Diaspora"/><br>
| ref4 = <ref name="ons.gov.uk">{{cite web |title=Population of the United Kingdom by country of birth and nationality, July 2020 to June 2021 |url=https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/internationalmigration/datasets/populationoftheunitedkingdombycountryofbirthandnationality/july2020tojune2021/populationbycountryofbirthandnationalityjul20tojun21.xls|website=ons.gov.uk|publisher=Office for National Statistics|access-date=5 February 2023|archive-date=3 January 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240103215501/https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/internationalmigration/datasets/populationoftheunitedkingdombycountryofbirthandnationality/july2020tojune2021/populationbycountryofbirthandnationalityjul20tojun21.xls|url-status=live}}.</ref>
]: 7,995 (2001)&nbsp;<ref></ref><br>
| region5 = {{flagcountry|France}}
]: 1,000 (2001 census) &nbsp;<ref>{{bg icon}} . </ref><br>
| pop5 = 200,000–500,000 (2022)<ref>{{cite web|title=According to the Secretary of State Romanian, Florin Cârciu: In France alone we have 500,000 Romanians, more than what the French State declares today.|url=https://adevarul.ro/amp/economie/circa-8-milioane-de-romani-lucreaza-in-2168349.html|website=]|date=2022-05-19|access-date=2023-01-30|archive-date=31 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230131040038/https://adevarul.ro/amp/economie/circa-8-milioane-de-romani-lucreaza-in-2168349.html|url-status=live}}.</ref> Romanian citizens of all ethnic groups
|langs=]
| ref5 = <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.economica.net/cati-romani-muncesc-in-strainatate-si-unde-sunt-cei-mai-multi_67822.html|title=Câţi români muncesc în străinătate şi unde sunt cei mai mulţi|date=30 November 2013|website=EWconomica.net|access-date=11 April 2018|archive-date=28 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161028133629/http://www.economica.net/cati-romani-muncesc-in-strainatate-si-unde-sunt-cei-mai-multi_67822.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
|rels=Predominantly ], but also including ], ], ] and ].
| region6 = {{flagcountry|Ukraine}}
|related=•&nbsp;]<br/>
| pop6 = 150,989 (additional 258,619 Moldovans)
&nbsp;&nbsp;•&nbsp;]<br/>
| ref6 = <ref>As per the ] (</ref>
&nbsp;&nbsp;•&nbsp;]<br/>
| region7 = {{flagcountry|Austria}}
&nbsp;&nbsp;•&nbsp;]<br/>
| pop7 = 131,788 Romanian citizens of all ethnic groups
&nbsp;&nbsp;•&nbsp;]<br/>
| ref7 = <ref>{{cite web |url=https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/293019/umfrage/auslaender-in-oesterreich-nach-staatsangehoerigkeit/ |title=Anzahl der Ausländer in Österreich nach den zehn wichtigsten Staatsangehörigkeiten am 1. Januar 2021 |work=Statista |access-date=29 May 2017 |archive-date=30 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181130122834/https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/293019/umfrage/auslaender-in-oesterreich-nach-staatsangehoerigkeit/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
•&nbsp;other ]
| region8 = {{flagcountry|Belgium}}
| pop8 = 92,746 migrants from Romania, of all ethnic groups
| ref8 = <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.myria.be/files/MIGRA2018_NL_H2.pdf |title=Migratie in cijfers en in rechten 2018 |work=HotNews.ro |author=V. M. |date=18 March 2016 |language=nl |access-date=19 February 2019 |archive-date=25 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230325171026/https://www.myria.be/files/MIGRA2018_NL_H2.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
| region9 = {{flagcountry|Greece}}
| pop9 = 46,523 Romanian citizens of all ethnic groups
| ref9 = <ref>{{cite press release|url=http://www.statistics.gr/portal/page/portal/ESYE/BUCKET/General/nws_SAM01_EN.PDF|date=23 August 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131225192921/http://www.statistics.gr/portal/page/portal/ESYE/BUCKET/General/nws_SAM01_EN.PDF|archive-date=25 December 2013|title=Announcement of the demographic and social characteristics of the Resident Population of Greece according to the 2011 Population&nbsp;– Housing Census}}</ref>
| region10 = {{flagcountry|Netherlands}}
| pop10 = 39,654 migrants from Romania, of all ethnic groups
| ref10 = <ref>{{cite web |url=http://statline.cbs.nl/Statweb/publication/?DM=SLNL&PA=37325&D1=0&D2=a&D3=0&D4=0&D5=2-4,182,209&D6=0,6,8,12,15-20&HDR=G2,T,G3,G5,G4&STB=G1&VW=T |title=Bevolking; generatie, geslacht, leeftijd en herkomstgroepering, 1 januari |work=Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek |language=nl |access-date=29 May 2017 |archive-date=3 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170903204418/http://statline.cbs.nl/Statweb/publication/?DM=SLNL&PA=37325&D1=0&D2=a&D3=0&D4=0&D5=2-4,182,209&D6=0,6,8,12,15-20&HDR=G2,T,G3,G5,G4&STB=G1&VW=T |url-status=live }}</ref>
| region11 = {{flagcountry|Portugal}}
| pop11 = 39,000 Romanian citizens of all ethnic groups
| ref11 = <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.viata-libera.ro/diaspora/70619-pe-toate-continentele-lumii-cati-romani-au-parasit-romania-pentru-a-trai-in-strainatate |title=Câţi români au părăsit România pentru a trăi în străinătate |date=25 September 2015 |access-date=28 May 2023 |archive-date=15 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230415075306/https://www.viata-libera.ro/diaspora/70619-pe-toate-continentele-lumii-cati-romani-au-parasit-romania-pentru-a-trai-in-strainatate |url-status=live }}</ref>
| region12 = {{flagcountry|Hungary}}
| pop12 = 36,506
| ref12 = <ref name="KSH">{{cite book|last=Vukovich|first=Gabriella|url=http://www.ksh.hu/docs/hun/xftp/idoszaki/mikrocenzus2016/mikrocenzus_2016_12.pdf|title=Mikrocenzus 2016 – 12. Nemzetiségi adatok|trans-title=2016 microcensus – 12. Ethnic data|language=hu|publisher=Hungarian Central Statistical Office|location=Budapest|year=2018|access-date=9 January 2019|isbn=978-963-235-542-9|archive-date=8 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190808024307/http://www.ksh.hu/docs/hun/xftp/idoszaki/mikrocenzus2016/mikrocenzus_2016_12.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
| region13 = {{flagcountry|Denmark}}
| pop13 = 34,960 Romanian citizens of all ethnic groups
| ref13 = <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.statbank.dk/statbank5a/default.asp?w=1600|work=Statistics Denmark|title=Immigrants and Descentants, 1 January 2020|language=en|access-date=13 May 2020|archive-date=8 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308132823/https://www.statbank.dk/statbank5a/default.asp?w=1600|url-status=live}}</ref>
| region14 = {{flagcountry|Sweden}}
| pop14 = 32,294 born in Romania, of all ethnic groups
| ref14 = <ref>{{cite web|title=Utrikes födda samt födda i Sverige med en eller två utrikes födda föräldrar efter födelseland/ursprungsland, 31 december 2017, totalt|url=http://www.statistikdatabasen.scb.se/pxweb/sv/ssd/START__BE__BE0101__BE0101E/FodelselandArK/table/tableViewLayout1/|publisher=Statistics Sweden / Befolkning efter födelseland, ålder, kön och år|access-date=25 February 2020|archive-date=20 December 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081220091841/http://celade.cepal.org/cgibin/RpWebEngine.exe/PortalAction?&MODE=MAIN&BASE=CPVBLZ2000&MAIN=WebServerMain.inl|url-status=live}}</ref>
| region15 = {{flagcountry|Ireland}}
| pop15 = 29,186 Romanian citizens of all ethnic groups
| ref15 = <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cso.ie/en/media/csoie/newsevents/documents/census2016summaryresultspart1/Census2016SummaryPart1.pdf|title=Census 2016 Summary Results – Part 1|date=2016|website=Central Statistics Office|access-date=19 February 2019|archive-date=2 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191102104824/https://www.cso.ie/en/media/csoie/newsevents/documents/census2016summaryresultspart1/Census2016SummaryPart1.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
| region16 = {{flagicon|Cyprus}} ]
| pop16 = 24,376 Romanian citizens of all ethnic groups
| ref16 = <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cystat.gov.cy/mof/cystat/statistics.nsf/All/732265957BAC953AC225798300406903?OpenDocument&sub=2&sel=1&e=|title=Cyprus 2011 census|website=Cystat.gov.cy|access-date=11 April 2018|archive-date=15 January 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130115100623/http://www.cystat.gov.cy/mof/cystat/statistics.nsf/All/732265957BAC953AC225798300406903?OpenDocument&sub=2&sel=1&e=|url-status=dead}}</ref>
| region17 = {{flagcountry|Serbia}}
| pop17 = 23,044 (additional 21,013 ])
| ref17 = <ref>{{cite web|url=https://data.stat.gov.rs/Home/Result/3104020102|title=Становништво према националној припадности|publisher=]|access-date=9 May 2023|language=sr|archive-date=14 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170614162726/http://webrzs.stat.gov.rs/WebSite/userFiles/file/Aktuelnosti/Etnicke_zajednice_sa_manje_od_2000_pripadnika_i_dvojako_izjasnjeni.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
| region18 = {{flagcountry|Switzerland}}
| pop18 = 21,593 Romanian citizens of all ethnic groups
| ref18 = <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/en/home/statistics/population.assetdetail.325742.html |title=Permanent and non permanent resident population by canton, sex, citizenship, country of birth and age, 2014–2015 |work=Federal Statistical Office |date=26 August 2016 |access-date=29 May 2017 |archive-date=21 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161121233702/https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/en/home/statistics/population.assetdetail.325742.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
| region19 = {{flagcountry|Norway}}
| pop19 = 18,877 migrants of Romania, of all ethnic groups
| ref19 = <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ssb.no/en/innvbef/|work=Statistics Norway|title=Immigrants and Norwegian-born to immigrant parents, 1 January 2022|language=no|access-date=14 February 2023|archive-date=11 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160411025653/http://www.ssb.no/en/innvbef|url-status=live}}</ref>
| region20 = {{flagcountry|Czech Republic}}
| pop20 = 14,684 Romanian citizens of all ethnic groups
| ref20 = <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.czso.cz/documents/11292/27320905/c01R04_2018.xlsx/332dc18e-b6bf-4f38-8db0-b5e51f768905?version=1.0 |title=Foreigners in the Czechia by citizenship |work=CZSO |author=Mădălin Danciu |date=31 December 2018 |language=en |access-date=2 July 2020 |archive-date=15 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191115171828/https://www.czso.cz/documents/11292/27320905/c01R04_2018.xlsx/332dc18e-b6bf-4f38-8db0-b5e51f768905?version=1.0 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.czso.cz/documents/11292/27914491/1612_c01t14.pdf/4bbedd77-c239-48cd-bf5a-7a43f6dbf71b?version=1.0|title=Foreigners by category of residence, sex, and citizenship as at 31 December 2016|website=Czso.cz|access-date=10 January 2018|archive-date=12 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180112214925/https://www.czso.cz/documents/11292/27914491/1612_c01t14.pdf/4bbedd77-c239-48cd-bf5a-7a43f6dbf71b?version=1.0|url-status=live}}</ref>
| region21 = {{flag|Turkey}}
| pop21 = 14,411 Romanian citizens of all ethnic groups
| ref21 = <ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ziare.com/social/biserica/pentru-ce-facem-moschee-la-bucuresti-in-cautarea-romanilor-ortodocsi-din-turcia-1373624 |title=Pentru ce facem moschee la București: În căutarea românilor ortodocși din Turcia |work=Ziare.com |author=Ana Ilie |date=20 July 2015 |language=ro |access-date=7 June 2022 |archive-date=18 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220318001140/https://ziare.com/social/biserica/pentru-ce-facem-moschee-la-bucuresti-in-cautarea-romanilor-ortodocsi-din-turcia-1373624 |url-status=live }}</ref>
| region22 = {{flagcountry|Luxembourg}}
| pop22 = 5,209 Romanian citizens of all ethnic groups
| ref22 = <ref>{{cite web |url=https://statistiques.public.lu/stat/TableViewer/tableView.aspx?ReportId=12859&IF_Language=eng&MainTheme=2&FldrName=1 |title=Population by nationalities in detail 2011 - 2019 |website=Statistiques // Luxembourg }}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
| region23 = {{flagcountry|Poland}}
| pop23 = {{circa}} 5,000
| ref23 = <ref>{{cite web |url=https://varsovia.mae.ro/node/804 |title=Comunitatea românească din Polonia |work=Ambasada României în Republica Polonă |author=Ambasada României în Polonia |language=ro |access-date=24 March 2019 |archive-date=24 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190324223036/https://varsovia.mae.ro/node/804 |url-status=live }}</ref>
| region24 = {{flagcountry|Slovakia}}
| pop24 = 4,941 Romanian citizens of all ethnic groups
| ref24 = <ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gandul.info/international/harta-romanilor-plecati-in-strainatate-topul-tarilor-ue-in-care-romanii-reprezinta-cea-mai-mare-comunitate-14926732 |title=HARTA românilor plecați în străinătate. Topul țărilor UE în care românii reprezintă cea mai mare comunitate |work=Gândul |author=Andrei Luca Popescu |date=21 December 2015 |language=ro |access-date=8 April 2018 |archive-date=8 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180408091711/http://www.gandul.info/international/harta-romanilor-plecati-in-strainatate-topul-tarilor-ue-in-care-romanii-reprezinta-cea-mai-mare-comunitate-14926732 |url-status=live }}</ref>
| region25 = {{flagcountry|Finland}}
| pop25 = 4,902 Romanian citizens of all ethnic groups
| ref25 = <ref>{{cite web| url=http://pxnet2.stat.fi/PXWeb/pxweb/en/StatFin/StatFin__vrm__vaerak/statfin_vaerak_pxt_013.px/table/tableViewLayout2/?rxid=726cd24d-d0f1-416a-8eec-7ce9b82fd5a4| title=Statistics Finland's PX-Web databases| author=Statistics Finland| date=20 February 2019}}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
| region26 = {{flagcountry|Russia}}
| pop26 = 3,201
| ref26 = <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.perepis-2010.ru/results_of_the_census/tab5.xls|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120424113952/http://www.perepis-2010.ru/results_of_the_census/tab5.xls|archive-date=24 April 2012|title=2010 Russia Census|publisher=Russian Federation Statistics Office|access-date=13 November 2014}}</ref>
| region27 = {{flagcountry|Malta}}
| pop27 = 2,000
| ref27 = {{citation needed|date=October 2020}}
| region28 = {{flagcountry|Iceland}}
| pop28 = 1,463 Romanian citizens of all ethnic groups
| ref28 = <ref>{{cite web|url=https://copenhaga.mae.ro/node/1294|title=Comunitatea româneacă din Islanda|work=Ambasada României în Regatul Danemarcei|author=Ambasada României în Regatul Danemarcei|date=9 March 2019|language=ro|access-date=9 March 2019|archive-date=23 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181023144634/http://copenhaga.mae.ro/node/1294|url-status=live}}</ref>
| region29 = {{flagcountry|Bulgaria}}
| pop29 = 891
| ref29 = <ref>{{cite web|url=http://censusresults.nsi.bg/Census/Reports/2/2/R9.aspx|title=2011 Bulgarian Census|website=Censusresults.nsi.bg|access-date=13 November 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151219105400/http://censusresults.nsi.bg/Census/Reports/2/2/R9.aspx|archive-date=19 December 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>
| region30 = {{flagcountry|Bosnia and Herzegovina}}
| pop30 = 100
| ref30 = <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mae.ro/bilateral-relations/4535|title=Bosnia și Herțegovina − Comunitatea românească|author=Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Romania)|language=ro|access-date=31 January 2021|archive-date=24 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210124021910/http://www.mae.ro/bilateral-relations/4535|url-status=live}}</ref>
{{collapsed infobox section end}}
{{collapsed infobox section begin|North America}}
| region31 = {{flagcountry|USA}}
| pop31 = 518,653–1,400,000 (incl. mixed origin)
| ref31 = <ref>{{cite web|url=http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_14_1YR_S0201&prodType=table|title=Total ancestry categories tallied for people with one or more ancestry categories reported, 2014 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates|work=U.S. Census Bureau|date=2014|access-date=11 January 2016|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200214011013/http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_14_1YR_S0201&prodType=table|archive-date=14 February 2020|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=Census>{{cite news |url=https://www.census.gov/ |title=U.S. Census Bureau, 2009 American Community Survey |access-date=2011-12-23 |archive-date=9 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709054630/https://www.census.gov/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://ro-am.net/roam/romanian-american-community.html |title=Romanian-American Community |publisher=Romanian-American Network Inc. |access-date=2008-09-15 |archive-date=13 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120113074749/http://ro-am.net/roam/romanian-american-community.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/population/socdemo/ancestry/ancestry_q_by_DAC_2000.xls|title=2000 Census|website=Census.gov|access-date=2 August 2017|archive-date=23 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170723090719/https://www.census.gov/population/socdemo/ancestry/ancestry_q_by_DAC_2000.xls|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="web.archive.org">, Romanian-American Network, Inc. Retrieved 14 October 2005. Their figure of 1.2 million includes "200,000–225,000 Romanian Jews", 50,000–60,000 Germans from Romania, etc.</ref>
| region32 = {{flagcountry|Canada}}
| pop32 = 204,625–400,000 (incl. mixed origin)
| ref32 = <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/nhs-enm/2011/dp-pd/dt-td/Rp-eng.cfm?LANG=E&APATH=3&DETAIL=0&DIM=0&FL=A&FREE=0&GC=0&GID=0&GK=0&GRP=1&PID=105396&PRID=0&PTYPE=105277&S=0&SHOWALL=0&SUB=0&Temporal=2013&THEME=95&VID=0&VNAMEE=&VNAMEF=|title=2011 National Household Survey: Data tables|website=12.statcan.gc.ca|date=8 May 2013|access-date=13 November 2014|archive-date=25 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225153525/https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/nhs-enm/2011/dp-pd/dt-td/Rp-eng.cfm?LANG=E&APATH=3&DETAIL=0&DIM=0&FL=A&FREE=0&GC=0&GID=0&GK=0&GRP=1&PID=105396&PRID=0&PTYPE=105277&S=0&SHOWALL=0&SUB=0&Temporal=2013&THEME=95&VID=0&VNAMEE=&VNAMEF=%20|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/nhs-enm/2011/dp-pd/dt-td/Rp-eng.cfm?TABID=2&LANG=E&APATH=3&DETAIL=0&DIM=0&FL=A&FREE=0&GC=0&GID=1118296&GK=0&GRP=0&PID=105396&PRID=0&PTYPE=105277&S=0&SHOWALL=0&SUB=0&Temporal=2013&THEME=95&VID=0&VNAMEE=&VNAMEF=&D1=0&D2=0&D3=0&D4=0&D5=0&D6=0 |title=2011 National Household Survey: Data tables |author=Statistics Canada |date=8 May 2013 |access-date=11 February 2014 |author-link=Statistics Canada |archive-date=22 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222044510/http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/nhs-enm/2011/dp-pd/dt-td/Rp-eng.cfm?TABID=2&LANG=E&APATH=3&DETAIL=0&DIM=0&FL=A&FREE=0&GC=0&GID=1118296&GK=0&GRP=0&PID=105396&PRID=0&PTYPE=105277&S=0&SHOWALL=0&SUB=0&Temporal=2013&THEME=95&VID=0&VNAMEE=&VNAMEF=&D1=0&D2=0&D3=0&D4=0&D5=0&D6=0 |url-status=live }}</ref>
| region33 = {{flagcountry|Mexico}}
| pop33 = 569
| ref33 = <ref>{{cite web |title = Population and Housing Census 2020 |url = https://www.inegi.org.mx/programas/ccpv/2020/ |publisher = INEGI |access-date = 16 March 2023 |archive-date = 14 February 2022 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220214192634/https://www.inegi.org.mx/programas/ccpv/2020/ |url-status = live }}</ref>
{{collapsed infobox section end}}
{{collapsed infobox section begin|South America}}
| region34 = {{flagcountry|Brazil}}
| pop34 = 200,000 migrants from Romania and Romanian citizens, of all ethnic groups
| ref34 = <ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.romanialibera.ro/actualitate/eveniment/200-000-de-romani-traiesc--visul-brazilian--118075|title=200.000 de români trăiesc "visul brazilian"|first=Gabriel|last=Bejan|newspaper=]|date=16 February 2008|language=ro|access-date=29 May 2017|archive-date=3 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170903162336/http://romanialibera.ro/actualitate/eveniment/200-000-de-romani-traiesc--visul-brazilian--118075|url-status=live}}</ref>
| region35 = {{flagcountry|Venezuela}}
| pop35 = 10,000 migrants from Romania, of all ethnic groups
| ref35 = <ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dprp.gov.ro/america-latina/ |title=AMERICA LATINĂ « DRP – Departamentul pentru Romanii de Pretutindeni |access-date=2012-08-17 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121221095635/http://www.dprp.gov.ro/america-latina/ |archive-date=21 December 2012 |df=dmy-all }} Departamentul pentru Românii de Pretutindeni America Latina</ref>
| region36 = {{flagcountry|Argentina}}
| pop36 = 10,000 of Romanian origin, including ] and ]
| ref36 = <ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.imperialtransilvania.com/2016/12/06/read-more/argomenti/events-1/articolo/the-week-of-the-romanian-diaspora-in-argentina-the-immigration-of-the-romanians-to-argentina.html|title=The Week of the Romanian Diaspora in Argentina – The immigration of the Romanians to Argentina|date=6 December 2016|newspaper=Imperialtransilvania|access-date=11 April 2018|archive-date=28 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180628015850/http://www.imperialtransilvania.com/2016/12/06/read-more/argomenti/events-1/articolo/the-week-of-the-romanian-diaspora-in-argentina-the-immigration-of-the-romanians-to-argentina.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
| region37 = {{flagcountry|Colombia}}
| pop37 = 350
| ref37 = <ref name="vl"/>
| region38 = {{flagcountry|Uruguay}}
| pop38 = 200
| ref38 = <ref name="vl"/>
| region39 = {{flagcountry|Peru}}
| pop39 = 174
| ref39 = <ref name="vl"/>
{{collapsed infobox section end}}
{{collapsed infobox section begin|Oceania}}
| region40 = {{flagcountry|Australia}}
| pop40 = 20,998 first and second generation migrants from Romania, of all ethnic groups
| ref40 = <ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.border.gov.au/ReportsandPublications/Documents/research/people-australia-2013-statistics.pdf |title=The People of Australia |publisher=Australian Government, Department of Immigration and Border Protection |date=2014 |isbn=978-1-920996-23-9 |access-date=28 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170417222156/https://www.border.gov.au/ReportsandPublications/Documents/research/people-australia-2013-statistics.pdf |archive-date=17 April 2017 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref>
| region41 = {{flagcountry|New Zealand}}
| pop41 = 3,100
| ref41 = <ref name="dprp.gov.ro">{{cite web|url=http://www.dprp.gov.ro/australia-si-noua-zeelanda/|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120801095946/http://www.dprp.gov.ro/australia-si-noua-zeelanda/|url-status=dead|archive-date=1 August 2012|title=Australia and New Zealand|publisher=Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs|access-date=11 April 2015}}</ref>
{{collapsed infobox section end}}
{{collapsed infobox section begin|Asia}}
| region42 = {{flagcountry|Israel}}
| pop42 = 100,823
| ref42 = <ref name="auto1">{{cite web | url=https://countryeconomy.com/demography/migration/emigration/romania | title=Romania - International emigrant stock 2019 | access-date=28 June 2022 | archive-date=26 September 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220926191221/https://countryeconomy.com/demography/migration/emigration/romania | url-status=live }}</ref> (mostly ])
| region43 = {{flagcountry|Japan}}
| pop43 = 2,708
| ref43 = <ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hotnews.ro/stiri-esential-8382461-cati-romani-sunt-japonia-invazia-dansatoarelor-romance.htm |title=Câți români sunt în Japonia? Invazia dansatoarelor românce |work=HotNews.ro |author=V. C. |date=11 March 2011 |language=ro |access-date=29 May 2017 |archive-date=4 April 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170404220501/http://www.hotnews.ro/stiri-esential-8382461-cati-romani-sunt-japonia-invazia-dansatoarelor-romance.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>
| region44 =
{{flagcountry|South Korea}}
| pop44 = 661
| ref44 = <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.immigration.go.kr/immigration/1569/subview.do?enc=Zm5jdDF8QEB8JTJGYmJzJTJGaW1taWdyYXRpb24lMkYyMjclMkY1ODg3MTIlMkZhcnRjbFZpZXcuZG8lM0ZwYXNzd29yZCUzRCUyNnJnc0JnbmRlU3RyJTNEJTI2YmJzQ2xTZXElM0QlMjZyZ3NFbmRkZVN0ciUzRCUyNmlzVmlld01pbmUlM0RmYWxzZSUyNnBhZ2UlM0QxJTI2YmJzT3BlbldyZFNlcSUzRCUyNnNyY2hDb2x1bW4lM0QlMjZzcmNoV3JkJTNEJTI2|date=2024 |title=경기도 과천시 관문로 위치. 전자민원, 준법 운동, 여성포럼, 인권 광장 }}</ref>
| region45 = {{flagcountry|Kazakhstan}}
| pop45 = 421
| ref45 = <ref>{{cite web|format=RAR|url=http://www.stat.kz/p_perepis/Documents/%D0%9D%D0%B0%D1%86%20%D1%81%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%B2.rar|title=Ethnic composition, religion and language skills in the Republic of Kazakhstan|work=www.stat.kz|date=2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511104653/http://www.stat.kz/p_perepis/Documents/%D0%9D%D0%B0%D1%86%20%D1%81%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%B2.rar|archive-date=11 May 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://stat.gov.kz/faces/wcnav_externalId/publicationsSocialDevelopment?_afrLoop=20437901848147061#%40%3F_afrLoop%3D20437901848147061%26_adf.ctrl-state%3D17rl0zombx_47 |title=Socio-economic development of the Republic of Kazakhstan |work=stat.gov.kz |access-date=29 May 2017 |archive-date=4 April 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170404221600/http://stat.gov.kz/faces/wcnav_externalId/publicationsSocialDevelopment?_afrLoop=20437901848147061#%40%3F_afrLoop%3D20437901848147061%26_adf.ctrl-state%3D17rl0zombx_47 |url-status=live }}</ref>
| region46 = {{flagcountry|Vietnam}}
| pop46 = 100
| ref46 = <ref name="vl">{{cite web|url=http://www.viata-libera.ro/diaspora/70619-pe-toate-continentele-lumii-cati-romani-au-parasit-romania-pentru-a-trai-in-strainatate|title=Câți români au părăsit România pentru a trăi în străinătate|date=25 September 2015 |language=Romanian|access-date=7 November 2022|archive-date=16 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210416024141/https://www.viata-libera.ro/diaspora/70619-pe-toate-continentele-lumii-cati-romani-au-parasit-romania-pentru-a-trai-in-strainatate|url-status=live}}</ref>
{{collapsed infobox section end}}
{{collapsed infobox section begin|Africa}}
| region47 = {{flagcountry|South Africa}}
| pop47 = 2,828
| ref47 = <ref name="auto1"/>
| region48 = {{flagcountry|Egypt}}
| pop48 = 420
| ref48 = <ref name="vl"/>
{{collapsed infobox section end}}
| languages = ]
| religions = Predominantly ''']'''<br />(]),<br /> also ], ], and ]
| related = Other ] ]-speaking peoples<br />(most notably ], ], ], and ])
| footnotes =
}} }}
{{Culture of Romania}}
{{Romanians}}


'''Romanians''' ({{langx|ro|români}}, {{IPA|ro|roˈmɨnʲ|pron}}; dated ] '']'') are a ]<ref name="Pop">{{cite book |last=Pop |first=Ioan-Aurel |author-link=Ioan-Aurel Pop |title=Romanians and Hungarians from the 9th to the 14th century |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xDwMAQAAMAAJ |date=1996 |publisher=] |isbn=0-88033-440-1 |quote=We could say that contemporary Europe is made up of three large groups of peoples, divided on the criteria of their origin and linguistic affiliation. They are the following: the Romanic or neo-Latin peoples (Italians, Spaniards, Portuguese, French, Romanians, etc.), the Germanic peoples (Germans proper, English, Dutch, Danes, Norwegians, Swedes, Icelanders, etc.), and the Slavic peoples (Russians, Ukrainians, Belorussians, Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Bulgarians, Serbs, Croats, Slovenians, etc.) |access-date=3 September 2019 |archive-date=27 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230927204635/https://books.google.com/books?id=xDwMAQAAMAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Minahan">{{cite book |last=Minahan |first=James |title=One Europe, Many Nations: A Historical Dictionary of European National Groups |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NwvoM-ZFoAgC |date=2000 |publisher=] |pages=548,776 |isbn=0-313-30984-1 |quote=The Romanians are a Latin nation Romance (Latin) nations... Romanians |access-date=10 July 2018 |archive-date=16 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230116024421/https://books.google.com/books?id=NwvoM-ZFoAgC |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Cole">{{cite book |last=Cole |first=Jeffrey |author-link=Jeffrey Cole |title=Ethnic Groups of Europe: An Encyclopedia |date=2011 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wlth0GRi0N0C |publisher=] |isbn=978-1-59884-302-6 |quote=Romanians are the only Latin people to adopt Orthodoxy |access-date=3 September 2019 |archive-date=11 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230311102543/https://books.google.com/books?id=Wlth0GRi0N0C |url-status=live }}</ref> ethnic group and ] native to ], ], and ].<ref>*{{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Vlach |title=Vlach - History, Language & Culture |website=britannica.com |publisher=] |access-date=21 September 2023 |quote=Although the origin of Aromanian and Meglenoromanian (and Romanian) from Balkan Latin is beyond question, it is unclear to what extent contemporary Balkan Romance speakers are descended from Roman colonists or from indigenous pre-Roman Balkan populations who shifted to Latin. Nationalist historians deploy one or the other scenario to justify modern territorial claims or claims to indigeneity. Thus, Hungarian (Magyar) claims to Transylvania assume a complete Roman exodus from Dacia, while Romanian claims assume that Romance continued to be spoken by Romanized Dacians. Most scholars who are not nationally affiliated assume the second scenario. |language=en |archive-date=23 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230423033248/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Vlach |url-status=live}}
The '''Romanians''' (''români'' in present-day ] and ''rumâni'' in historical contexts) are an ]; they are the majority inhabitants of ]. There is an ongoing dispute whether the ] of ] are Romanians or constitute a distinct ethnic group<ref name="Moldovans as a distinct ethnic group"> see ].</ref>). Both countries also have other significant ], and the Romanians constitute an ethnic minority in several nearby countries.
*{{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/summary/Dacia |title=Dacia, summary |website=britannica.com |publisher=] |access-date=1 March 2024 |quote=Dacia, Ancient country, central Europe. Roughly equivalent to modern Romania |language=en |archive-date=20 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230220103550/https://www.britannica.com/summary/Dacia |url-status=live}}</ref> Sharing a ] and ], they speak the ] and live primarily in ] and ]. The ] found that 89.3% of Romania's citizens identified themselves as ethnic Romanians.<ref>{{cite web |author=Bogdan Păcurar |date=30 December 2022 |title=Recensământ 2022. România are 19.053.815 locuitori. Țara noastră a pierdut peste un milion de locuitori față de acum 10 ani |url=https://www.digi24.ro/stiri/actualitate/recensamant-2022-romania-are-19-053-815-locuitori-tara-noastra-a-pierdut-peste-un-milion-de-locuitori-fata-de-acum-10-ani-2199695 |access-date=30 December 2022 |work=Digi24.ro |language=ro |archive-date=30 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221230082315/https://www.digi24.ro/stiri/actualitate/recensamant-2022-romania-are-19-053-815-locuitori-tara-noastra-a-pierdut-peste-un-milion-de-locuitori-fata-de-acum-10-ani-2199695 |url-status=live }}</ref>


In one interpretation of the 1989 census results in Moldova, the majority of ] were counted as ethnic Romanians as well.<ref name="davidlevinson">''Ethnic Groups Worldwide: A Ready Reference Handbook By'' ], Published 1998&nbsp;– Greenwood Publishing Group.</ref><ref name="coutryst">At the time of the 1989 census, Moldova's total population was 4,335,400. The largest nationality in the republic, ethnic Romanians, numbered 2,795,000 persons, accounting for 64.5 percent of the population. Source : {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110921042802/http://countrystudies.us/moldova/15.htm |date=21 September 2011 }}: "however it is one interpretation of census data results. The subject of Moldovan vs Romanian ethnicity touches upon the sensitive topic of" , page 108 sqq. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061006002011/http://www.ruc.dk/cuid/publikationer/publikationer/mobility/mobility2/Ciscel |date=6 October 2006 }}</ref> Romanians also form an ethnic minority in several nearby countries situated in Central, Southeastern, and Eastern Europe, most notably in ], ] (including ]), and ].
The Romanian people are a ] in the meaning ''an ]'' (in Romanian: ''popor),'' defined more by a sense of sharing a common ] and having a Romanian ], than by ] or by being subjects to any particular country. In the world today, ''24 million'' have Romanian as their mother tongue <ref> Data according to the Latin Union</ref>. If a distinction is made between ''Romanians'' and ''Ethnic Romanians,'' the latter are distinguished by living outside of the Romania and not holding Romanian ].


Estimates of the number of Romanian people worldwide vary from 24 to 30 million, in part depending on whether the definition of the term "Romanian" includes natives of both Romania and Moldova, their respective diasporas, and native speakers of both Romanian and other ]. Other speakers of the latter languages are the ], the ], and the ] (native to ]), all of them unevenly distributed throughout the ], which may be considered either Romanian subgroups or separated but related ethnicities.
The concept of who is a ''Romanian'' has varied in time. In historical contexts, the Romanians are generally referred with the ] ''']''', a term shared by other Romance populations of the ]. These populations also shared, and share, a common ], with dialectical variants ''rumân'', ''armân'', ''rumâr'', etc. These populations, regarded separately today, had generally been regarded as a single people with a cohesive self-identity, possessing a common language divided into the main dialects: ], the dominant language of modern Romania and Moldova; ] (also known as Macedo-Romanian), spoken today by about 300,000 people in the several countries south of the ]; ], spoken today by about 10,000 people in ] and the ]; and ] spoken today by fewer than 1,000 people in a few villages on the peninsula of ] in ]. However, a modern separation and interpretation, although would group the modern Romanians along with the ], ] and ], would nevertheless conclude and have as final result the perception of these populations as separate, distinguished ]s.


== History ==
Ascribing the concept to the territory which nowadays encompasses Romania, than it can be inferred that until the 19th century, the term ''Romanian'' denoted the speakers of the Daco-Romanian dialect of the Romanian language, thus being a much more distinct concept than that of ''Romania, the country of the Romanians''. Prior to ], the (Daco-)Romanians were part of different statal entities: with the ]ns and the ]ns being split off and having shaped separate political identities, possessing states of their own, and with the rest of Romanians being part of other states. However, like the rest of the Vlachs, they all retained their Romanian cultural and ethnic identity.


{{Main|History of Romania}}
== Population ==
Most Romanians live in ], where they constitute a majority; Romanians also constitute a minority in the countries that neighbour them. Romanians can also be found in many countries as immigrants, notably in the ], ], ], ], ] and ]. It is also a matter of the ongoing dispute whether the population of the ] (i.e., ]) are Romanians.


=== Antiquity ===
The contemporary total population of ethnic Romanians cannot be stated with any degree of certainty. A disparity can be observed between official sources (such as ] counts) where they exist, and estimates which come from non-official sources and interested groups. Several inhibiting factors (not unique to this particular case) contribute towards this uncertainty, which may include:
*A degree of overlap may exist or be shared between Romanian and other ethnic identities in certain situations, and census or survey respondents may elect to identify with one particular ancestry but not another, or instead identify with multiple ancestries;
*Counts and estimates may inconsistently distinguish between Romanian nationality and Romanian ethnicity (i.e. not all Romanian nationals identify with Romanian ethnicity, and vice versa);
*The measurements and methodologies employed by governments to enumerate and describe the ethnicity and ancestry of their citizens vary from country to country. Thus the census definition of "Romanian" might variously mean Romanian-born, of Romanian parentage, or also include other ethnic identities as Romanian which otherwise are identified separately in other contexts;
*The number of ethnic Romanians who live and work abroad is not precisely known, particularly so where their presence in the host country may be considered "illegal". In addition, where estimates for these populations have been made there is some risk of likely "double counting"&mdash; that is, Romanian persons abroad who have retained (or have not formally relinquished) their original citizenship may possibly figure in the counts or estimates of both the "home" and "host" countries.
For example, the decennial ] of 2000 calculated (based on a ] of household data) that there were 367,310 respondents indicating Romanian ancestry (roughly 0.1% of the total population).<ref name="USCensus"/> The actual total recorded number of foreign-born Romanians was only 136,000 However, some non-specialist organisations have produced estimates which are considerably higher: a 2002 study by the Romanian-American Network Inc. mentions an estimated figure of 1,200,000<ref>, Romanian-American Network, Inc. Retrieved 14 Oct 2005. Their figure of 1.2 million includes "200,000-225,000 Romanian Jews", 50,000-60,000 Germans from Romania, etc.</ref> for the number of ]s. This estimate notes however that "...other immigrants of Romanian national minority groups have been inlcuded such as: Armenians, Germans, Gypsies, Hungarians, Jews, and Ukrainians". It also includes an unspecified allowance for second- and third-generation Romanians, and an indeterminate number living in Canada. An error range for the estimate is not provided. For the ] figures, almost 20% of the total population did not classify or report an ancestry, and the census is also subject to undercounting, an incomplete (67%) response rate, and sampling error in general.


{{Main|Dacia|Roman Dacia}}
== History ==
]
{{main|History of Romania}}


] was spoken. The blue area shows the Dacian lands conquered by the ]. The orange area was inhabited by Free Dacian tribes and others.]]
===Ancient times===
{{main|Origin of Romanians}}
Inhabited by the ancient ]ns, today's territory of ] was conquered by the ] in ], when ]'s army defeated the army of ] (''see ]''). The ] withdrew two centuries later, under the pressure of the ] and ].


The territories of modern-day ] and ] were inhabited by the ancient ] and ] tribes. King ] who reigned from 82/61 BC to 45/44 BC, was the first king who successfully unified the tribes of the ], which comprised the area located between the Danube, Tisza, and Dniester rivers. King ] who reigned from 87 to 106 AD was the last king of the ] before it was conquered by the ] in 106,<ref>Rita J. Markel, The Fall of the Roman Empire, p. 17, ], 2007</ref> after ] between Decebalus' army and ]'s army. Prior to the two wars, Decebalus ] during the reign of ] between 86 and 88 AD.<ref name="autogenerated150">Brian W. Jones, ''The Emperor Domitian'', (London: Routledge, 1992), p. 150</ref>
===Middle ages===
The tribal migrations that followed - such as the ones of ], ] (later ]), ], and ] - did not allow Romanians to develop any large centralized state, which was only achieved in the 13th century and especially in the 14th century, when the ] of ] and ] emerged to fight the ].


The ] retreated from Dacia between 271 and 275 AD, during the reign of emperor ] under the pressure of the ] and the Dacian ] tribe. The later Roman province '']'', was organized inside former ].<ref>{{harvnb|Hind|1984|p=191}}: "The emperor Aurelian formed two provinces of Moesia Superior and Inferior. In fact, Dacia Ripensis was formed out of a stretch of the Danube between Moesia Superior and Inferior, while Dacia Mediterranea was the old inland Balkan region of Dardania."</ref> It was reorganized as ] (as a military province, devastated by an ] invasion in 586) <ref name="Jones231">{{harvnb|Jones|1988|p=231}}: "When founded as a colony by Trajan, Ratiaria was within Moesia Superior: when Aurelian withdrew from the old Dacia north of the Danube and established a new province of the same name on the south (Dacia Ripensis), Ratiaria became the capital. As such it was the seat of the military governor (dux), and the base of the legion XIII Gemina. It flourished in the fourth and fifth centuries, and according to the historian Priscus was {{lang|grc|μεγίστη καί πολυάνθρωπος}} ("very great and with numerous inhabitants") when it was captured by the Huns in the early 440s. It appears to have recovered from this sack, but was finally destroyed by the Avars in 586, though the name survives in the modern Arcar."</ref> and ] (as a civil province, devastated by an Avar invasion in 602).
The entire ] was annexed by the ], but Moldavia, Wallachia, and ] remained autonomous under Ottoman ]. The three principalities were united in 1600 under the authority of Wallachian ] ].


] language was spoken in pink during the Roman Empire between the 4th and 7th century (including the territory of present-day Romania)]]
Up until 1541, Transylvania was part of the ], later (due to the conquest of Hungary by the Ottoman Empire) was a self-governed Principality governed by the Hungarian nobility. In 1699 it became a part of the ]. By the 19th century, the ] was awarded the by the Ottomans the region of ] and, in 1812, the Russians occupied the eastern half of Moldavia, known as ].


The ] (circa 337–602) was a ] of the later ], in the area of modern-day ].{{sfn|Curta|2006|p=}} The Diocese of Dacia was composed of five provinces, the northernmost provinces were ] (the Danubian portion of Dacia Aureliana, one of the cities of Dacia Ripensis in today Romania is ]) and ] (today in Serbia, near the border between Romania and Serbia).{{sfn|Curta|2001|p=}} The territory of the diocese was devastated by the ] in the middle of 5th century and finally overrun by the Avars and ] in late 6th and early 7th century.{{sfn|Janković|2004|p=39–61}}
===Modern age===
In 1821 and 1848, two rebellions occurred, and both failed; but they had an important role in the spreading of the ]. In 1859, ] and ] elected the same ruler - ] (who reigned as '']'') and were thus unified ''de facto''.


] (c. 290 – c. 680) was a ] corresponding to the lands between the ] and the ], today's ] divided between ] and ].<ref name=Kazhdan1991>Kazhdan, Alexander (1991). "Scythia Minor". In Kazhdan, Alexander (ed.). The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-504652-8}}.</ref><ref>Rizos, Efthymios (2018). "Scythia Minor". In Nicholson, Oliver (ed.). The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity. Oxford: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-19-866277-8}}.</ref> The capital of the province was Tomis (today ]).<ref name=Kazhdan1991 /> According to the '']'' of {{circa|314}} and the '']'' of {{circa|400}}, Scythia belonged to the ].{{sfn|Wiewiorowski|2008|p=11}} The indigenous population of Scythia Minor was ] and their material culture is apparent archaeologically into the sixth century.<ref name=Kazhdan1991 /> Roman fortifications mostly date to the ] or the ]. The province ceased to exist around 679–681, when the region was ], which the Emperor ] was forced to recognize in 681.{{sfn|Zahariade|2006|p=236}}
Newly-founded ], led by the ] prince ] fought the ] against the Ottomans, which was recognized in 1878. At the beginning of ], although allied with ], Romania refused to go to war on the side of the ], because Romania was obliged to go to war only if ] was attacked. In 1916, Romania joined ] on the ] side. As a result, at the end of the war, Transylvania, Bessarabia and Bukovina were awarded to Romania, resulting in '']''.


=== Early Middle Ages to Late Middle Ages ===
], ] lost territory in both east and west, as ] became part of ] through the ], while Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina were taken by the Soviets and included in the ] and ] respectively. The eastern territory losses were facilitated by the ].
{{See also|Romania in the Middle Ages|Vlachs}}
During the ] Romanians were mostly known as ], a blanket term ultimately of ] origin, from the word ], used by ancient Germanic peoples to refer to ]-speaking and ] neighbours. Besides the separation of some groups (], ], and ]) during the ], many Vlachs could be found all over the ], in ],<ref>{{Cite book|title=Peoples of Europe| publisher= Marshall Cavendish Corporation | year = 2002 |isbn=0-7614-7378-5 | url = https://archive.org/details/peoplesofeurope0007unse|url-access=registration|page=|quote=vlachs maramures.}}</ref> across ]<ref name="boundary">{{cite report|title=International Boundary Study Hungary – Romania (Rumania) Boundary|volume=47|publisher=US Office of the Geographer Bureau of Intelligence and Research|url=http://archive.law.fsu.edu/library/collection/LimitsinSeas/IBS047.pdf|date=15 April 1965|access-date=10 January 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151001050145/http://archive.law.fsu.edu/library/collection/LimitsinSeas/IBS047.pdf|archive-date=1 October 2015|df=dmy-all}}</ref> as far north as Poland and as far west as the regions of ] (part of the modern Czech Republic), some went as far east as ] of western Ukraine, and the present-day Croatia where the ] gradually disappeared, while the Catholic and Orthodox Vlachs took Croat and Serb national identity.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Slavonian Census of 1698. Part I: Structure and Meaning, European Journal of Population|author=Hammel, E. A. and Kenneth W. Wachter|publisher=University of California|url=http://www.demog.berkeley.edu/~gene/hammel_1-fmt.html|access-date=21 January 2010|archive-date=29 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029210323/http://www.demog.berkeley.edu/~gene/hammel_1-fmt.html|url-status=live}}</ref>


The first written record about a ] spoken in the Middle Ages in the Balkans, near the ] is from 587 AD. A Vlach muleteer accompanying the Byzantine army noticed that the load was falling from one of the animals and shouted to a companion ''Torna, torna, fratre!'' (meaning "Return, return, brother!"). ] recorded it as part of a 6th-century military expedition by ] and ] against the Avars. Historian ] considers that these words "represent an expression from the Romanian language, as it was formed at that time in the Balkan and Danube regions"; "they probably belong to one and the most significant of the substrates on which our (''Romanian'') language was built".<ref name="Cătănescu19962">{{cite book |author=Maria Cvasnîi Cătănescu |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yp5iAAAAMAAJ |title=Limba română: origini și dezvoltare |publisher=Humanitas |year=1996 |isbn=978-973-28-0659-3 |page=64 |access-date=18 March 2023 |archive-date=27 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230927204634/https://books.google.com/books?id=Yp5iAAAAMAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>
The Soviet Union imposed a Communist government and ] ] was forced to abdicate and leave for exile. ] became the head of the ] in 1965 and his draconian rule of the 1980s was stopped by a ].


The first definite document mentioning Romanians (Vlachs) is from the 8th century from the ] in ], in ] and talks about the Vlachs of the Rynchos river (present-day ]).<ref>Stelian Brezeanu, O istorie a Bizanțului, Editura Meronia, București, 2005, p.126</ref> According to the early 13th century medieval Hungarian book ] the invading Magyars of King ]
The Romanian revolution brought to power the dissident and former communist ]. He remained in power until 1996, and then once more between 2000 and 2004. ] was ] from 1996 to 2000, and ] started his mandate in 2004.
(c. 845 – c. 907) waged wars against three dukes—], ] and the Vlach ]—for Banat, Crișana and Transylvania. {{sfn|Hitchins|2014|p=20}}{{sfn|Georgescu|1991|pp=14–15}} Gesta Hungarorum also mentions the ], ], Vlachs and the ] inhabiting the ]: "sclauij, Bulgarij et Blachij, ac pastores romanorum".<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181004085602/http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/18975/1/18975.pdf |date=4 October 2018 }} (a translation by Martyn Rady)</ref> Most researchers identify the ''Blachij'' with the Vlachs.<ref>E.g. Armbruster, Adolf (1972). ''Romanitatea românilor: Istoria unei idei''</ref><ref>Kristó, Gyula (2002). ''Magyar historiográfia I.: Történetírás a középkori Magyarországon''</ref>{{sfn|Spinei|2009}} However the document was written between 1200 and 1230, around 300 years after the described events and some modern historians have reservations about it and find it unreliable.


Another important document mentioning Romanians (Vlachs) from the South
] joined ] in 2002 and is expected to join the ] in 2007. {{fact}}
of the Balkan Peninsula dates back to 980. That year, the governor of ], ] received the position of leader (archon) of the Vlachs from ] from Emperor ]. The function received by Nikulitsa might have been as a commander of a Vlach army. ] historians usually described foreign rulers as ''archontes''.<ref>Aksum: an African civilisation of late antiquity By Stuart C. Munro-Hay Page 145 {{ISBN|0-7486-0209-7}}</ref> The document signed by ] to give the position of archon of the Vlachs to Nekulitsa is mentioned in ] (written between 1075 and 1078 AD).<ref>{{cite book |last=Madgearu |first=Alexandru |title=Originea medievală a focarelor de conflict din Peninsula Balcanică |pages=52–53 |publisher=Editura Corint |year=2001b |isbn=973-653-191-0 |trans-title=The wars of the Balkan Peninsula: Their medieval origins |url=https://biblioteca-digitala.ro/?pub=1124-originea-medievala-a-focarelor-de-conflict-din-peninsula-balcanica |language=ro |access-date=9 April 2023 |archive-date=27 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230927204658/https://biblioteca-digitala.ro/?pub=1124-originea-medievala-a-focarelor-de-conflict-din-peninsula-balcanica |url-status=live }}</ref>


] (681–1018) around 850]]
== Culture ==
After the ] collapsed in the&nbsp;790s, the ] became the dominant power of the region, occupying lands as far as the river ].{{sfn|Hitchins|2014|p=16}} The ] had a mixed population consisting of the Bulgar conquerors, ] and Vlachs (Romanians) but the ] of the Bulgar elite had already begun in the 9th century. Following the conquest of Southern and Central ] around 830, people from the Bulgar Empire mined salt from mines in ], ], Sărățeni and Ocnița. They traded and transported salt throughout the Bulgar Empire.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bóna |first=István |editor1-last=Köpeczi |editor1-first=Béla |editor2-last=Barta |editor2-first=Gábor |editor3-last=Bóna |editor3-first=István |editor4-last=Makkai |editor4-first=László |editor5-last=Szász |editor5-first=Zoltán |editor6-last=Borus |editor6-first=Judit |title=History of Transylvania |publisher=Akadémiai Kiadó |year=2001 |chapter=Southern Transylvania under Bulgar Rule |isbn=0-88033-479-7 |url=https://mek.oszk.hu/03400/03407/html/49.html |access-date=13 April 2023 |archive-date=26 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326032324/https://mek.oszk.hu/03400/03407/html/49.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
''Main article: ]''


A series of ] historians from the 10th century are some of the first to mention Vlachs in Eastern/South Eastern ]: ] (c.945-991) writes: "They say that in the Turkic neighbourhood there are the Khazars, Russians, Slavs, ''Waladj'' (Vlachs), Alans, Greeks and many other peoples".<ref>A. Decei, V. Ciocîltan, "La mention des Roumains (Walah) chez Al-Maqdisi", in Romano-arabica I, Bucharest, 1974, pp. 49–54</ref> ] (early 932–998) published in 998 the work '']'' mentioning "Turks, Bulgars and Vlahs" (using ''Blagha'' for Vlachs).<ref>Ibn al Nadim, al-Fihrist. English translation: The Fihrist of al-Nadim. Editor și traducător: B. Dodge, New York, Columbia University Press, 1970, p. 37 with n.82</ref>{{sfn|Spinei|2009|p=83}}
=== Contribution to humanity ===
''Main article: ]''


A series of Byzantine historians, such as ] (circa 1000), ] (circa 1000), ] (early 1040s – after 1101), ] (1083-1153), ] (1143-1185) and ] (1155-1217) were some of the first to write about the Vlachs.{{sfn|Georgescu|1991|p=13}} ] mentions the Vlachs around 976 AD, as guides and guards of Byzantine caravans in the Balkans. Between ] and ], they met and fought with a Bulgarian rebel named David. The Vlachs killed David in their first documented battle.{{sfn|Spinei|2009|p=155}}
Romanians have played an important role in the ], ] and ].
]'s father-in-law was ], a lord of ] who took part in the revolt of ] and Vlachs in ] in 1066 AD.{{sfn|Curta|2006|p=}} The 11th-century scholar ] wrote of a Vlach homeland situated "near the Danube and&nbsp;&nbsp;the Sava, where the Serbians lived more recently".{{sfn|Madgearu|2005|p=56}}<ref>''Cecaumeno: Consejos de un aristócrata bizantino'' (12.4.2), p. 122.</ref> He associated the Vlachs with the ] and the ].{{sfn|Madgearu|2005|pp=56–57}} <ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.protothema.gr/stories/article/764584/oi-vlahoi-i-katagogi-i-glossa-kai-i-makraioni-istoria-tous-/|title=Οι Βλάχοι: Η καταγωγή, η γλώσσα, και η μακραίωνη ιστορία τους|first=Michalis|last=Stoukas|newspaper=]|date=25 February 2018|language=el|access-date=9 April 2023|archive-date=24 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230324230511/https://www.protothema.gr/stories/article/764584/oi-vlahoi-i-katagogi-i-glossa-kai-i-makraioni-istoria-tous-/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230325234236/https://faretra.info/2022/06/01/o-livelos-tou-kekavmenou-kata-ton-vlachon-mia-apantisi-tou-giorgi-exarchou/ |date=25 March 2023 }}.</ref> Accordingly, historians have located this homeland in several places, including ] (]) and ] (Mátyás Gyóni).{{sfn|Schramm|1997|p=323}}{{sfn|Madgearu|2005|p=56}}{{Sfn|Gyóni|1944|p=310}}


The princess and chronicler Anna Komnene reports that in April 1091, on the eve of the decisive ]-] ], Emperor ] (1057-1118) was assisted by "a number of 5,000 brave mountaineers and ready to attack, passed by his side, to fight alongside him". Most of the specialists who have addressed these aspects have identified those " ''bold mountaineers'' ", with the 'Vlachs.<ref name="auto">Anna Comnena, The Alexiad, English translation: Elisabeth Dawes, London, 1928: https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/basis/AnnaComnena-Alexiad.asp {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406115024/https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/basis/AnnaComnena-Alexiad.asp |date=6 April 2023 }}</ref> Anna Komnene reports that in 1094, on the occasion of the ]' campaign south of the Danube, Emperor ] was informed about the movements of the "Turanians", who had crossed the Danube by "''a certain Pudilos, a Vlach noble''".<ref name="auto"/>
In the history of flight, ] built the first self-propelling heavier-than-air aircraft, while ] built the first aircraft powered by a ]. ] discovered more than 50 germs and a cure for a disease named after him, ]; biologist ] discovered ]. Another biologist, ], received the Nobel Prize for his contributions to ]. Mathematican ] is considered to be the ideological father behind ].


The Byzantine chronicler ] writes that in 1164, ], the emperor ]'s cousin, tried without success, to usurp the throne. Failing in his attempt, the Byzantine prince sought refuge in ] but ] was "captured by the ''Vlachs'', to whom the rumor of his escape had reached, he was taken back to the emperor".<ref>Annals of Niketas Choniates, Translated by H.J. Magoulias, Wayne State University Press, Detroit, 1984, p.238-371. (https://archive.org/details/o-city-of-byzantium-annals-of-niketas-choniates-ttranslated-by-harry-j-magoulias-1984)</ref><ref>E. Stănescu, op. cit., pp. 585-588</ref><ref>V. Mărculeț, Vlachs during the Comnenian period, p. 46.</ref>
In the arts and culture, important figures were ] (music composer), ] (sculptor), ] (playwright), ] (historian of religion and novelist) and ] (essayist).


The Byzantine chronicler ], presenting the campaign of ] against Hungary in 1166, reports that General Leon Vatatzes had under his command "a great multitude of Vlachs, who are said to be ancient colonies of those in Italy", an army that attacked the Hungarian possessions "about the lands near the Pontus called the Euxine", respectively the southeastern regions of ], "destroyed everything without sparing and trampled everything it encountered in its passage".<ref>John Kinnamos, Epitoma, in Fontes Historiae Daco-Romanae, vol. III, Bucharest, 1975, VI, pp 3.</ref><ref>Les "Blachoi" de Kinnamos et Choniatès et la présence militaire byzantine au nord du Danube sous les Comnènes. Stanescu, Eugen. (1971) - In: Revue des études sud-est européennes vol. 9 (1971) p. 585-593 http://opac.regesta-imperii.de/lang_en/anzeige.php?pk=337176 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406115025/http://opac.regesta-imperii.de/lang_en/anzeige.php?pk=337176 |date=6 April 2023 }}</ref><ref>V. Mărculeț, The Vlachs in the military actions during the Comnen, in Revista de Istorie Militară, 2(60), 2000, p. 46-47 (hereinafter: The Vlachs during the Comnen).</ref><ref>Kristó, Gyula (2003). Háborúk és hadviselés az Árpádok korában (in Hungarian). Szukits Könyvkiadó. {{ISBN|963-9441-87-2}}.</ref>
] is a worldwide icon of Romania. However, the idea of Dracula as a vampire is not genuinely Romanian. It was created by the Irishman ] from ] and the historic Romanian figure of ].


By the 9th and 10th centuries, the nomadic ] conquered much of the steppes of ] and the ].The Pecheneg wars against the ] caused some of the ] and Vlachs from North of the Danube to gradually migrate north of the ] in the 10th and 11th centuries.<ref>V. Klyuchevsky, The course of the Russian history. v.1: "Myslʹ.1987, {{ISBN|5-244-00072-1}}</ref>
=== Language ===
''Main article: ]''


The ] founded by the ] consisting of Bulgarians and Vlachs was founded in 1185 and lasted until 1396. Early rulers from the Asen dynasty (particularly ]) referred to themselves as "Emperors of Bulgarians and Vlachs". Later rulers, especially ], styled themselves "Tsars (Emperors) of Bulgarians and Romans". An alternative name used in connection with the pre-mid ] 13th century period is the ''Empire of Vlachs and Bulgarians'';<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/631511/Vlach?anchor=ref35948|title=Encyclopædia Britannica: Vlach|access-date=20 September 2011|archive-date=20 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141020142316/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/631511/Vlach?anchor=ref35948|url-status=live}}</ref> variant names include the "Vlach–Bulgarian Empire", the "Bulgarian–Wallachian Empire".<ref>{{cite book|last=Kolarz|first=Walter|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZVRpAAAAMAAJ&q=%22+bulgarian+wallachian+empire%22|title=Myths and Realities in Eastern Europe|year=1972|publisher=Kennikat Press|isbn=0-8046-1600-0|page=217|access-date=9 April 2023|archive-date=26 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230426225648/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZVRpAAAAMAAJ&q=%22+bulgarian+wallachian+empire%22|url-status=live}}</ref>
The origins of ], a ], can be traced back to the Roman colonization of ]. The basic vocabulary is of Latin origin, although there are some ] ] words. Of all the Romance languages, it could be said that Romanian is the most archaic one, having retained, for example, the inflected structure of Latin grammar.


Royal charters wrote of the "Vlachs' land" in southern ] in the early 13th century, indicating the existence of ].{{sfn|Bóna|1994|p=189}} Papal correspondence mentions the activities of Orthodox prelates among the Romanians in ] in the 1230s.{{sfn|Curta|2006|p=408}} ]'s land grant to the ] in ] and ] shows that the local Vlach rulers were subject to the king's authority in 1247.{{sfn|Curta|2006|pp=407, 414}}<ref>Pop, Ioan-Aurel (1999), p. 44. Romanians and Romania: A Brief History. Boulder. {{ISBN|978-0-88033-440-2}}.</ref>
During the Middle Ages, Romanian was isolated from the other Romance languages, and borrowed words from the nearby ]. The ] enriched the language with a picturesque Turkic vocabulary by now thoroughly integrated into everyday speech. During the modern era, most neologisms were borrowed from ] and ], though increasingly the language is falling under the sway of English borrowings.


] (a seasonal movement of livestock between fixed summer and winter pastures) in Eastern and Southeastern Europe (including the territory of Romania today) during the 18th and 19th centuries]]
The ], in its official form, is practically identical to Romanian, although there are some differences in colloquial speech. In the de-facto independent (but internationally unrecognised) region of ], the official script used to write Moldovan is Cyrillic.


The late 13th-century Hungarian chronicler ] states that the Vlachs were "shepherds and husbandmen" who "remained in Pannonia".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Simon of Kéza |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a72xT1YubqAC&dq=Deeds%20of%20the%20Hungarians&pg=PP1 |title=Gesta Hunnorum et Hungarorum |date=January 1999 |publisher=Central European University Press |isbn=978-963-9116-31-3 |trans-title=Deeds of the Hungarians |access-date=9 April 2023 |archive-date=8 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408092623/https://books.google.com/books?id=a72xT1YubqAC&dq=Deeds%20of%20the%20Hungarians&pg=PP1 |url-status=live }}</ref>{{sfn|Madgearu|2005|pp=46–47}} An unknown author's ''Description of Eastern Europe'' from 1308 likewise states that the Vlachs "were once the ]" who "had over them ten powerful kings in the entire ] and Pannonia".{{sfn|Madgearu|2005|pp=54–55}}{{sfn|Spinei|2009|p=76}}
A 2005 ] estimation puts the (world-wide) number of Romanian speakers at approximately 23.5 million,<ref> on ].</ref> not all of whom however are necessarily ethnic Romanians.


Additionally, in medieval times there were other lands known by the name 'Vlach' such as ], situated between ] and the western ] mountains, of the ] between the 12th-15th century. Originally within the ], but after the 13th century autonomous or semi-independent. In the 12th century, the Jewish traveller ], who toured the area in 1166 called the region of ] "Vlachia".{{sfn|Madgearu|2001|p=54}}
=== Surnames ===
<ref>J. Koder, F. Hild, P. Soustal| Tabula Imperii Bizantini, 1 Hellas und Thessalia DAW, 125, 1976, https://archive.org/details/tabulaimperiibyz0000unse | p. 40-41</ref> The contemporary Byzantine historian ] however distinguishes "Great Vlachia" as a district near ].{{sfn|ODB|loc="Vlachia" (A. Kazhdan), p. 2183}} "Vlachia", "Great Vlachia", and the other variants began to fall out of use for Thessaly at the turn of the 14th century, and with the emergence of the Principality of ] north of the ] in the 14th century, from the 15th century the name was reserved for it.{{sfn|ODB|loc="Vlachia" (A. Kazhdan), p. 2183}}{{sfn|Soulis|1963|p=273}} ], a Byzantine denomination for the region between the Danube River and the Balkans; ], a region in south-eastern Czech Republic). The names derive from the Vlachs, who had lived across much of these regions.
Many Romanian names have the ] suffix -escu, which used to be a ]. (for example, "Petrescu" used to be the son of "Petre") Many Romanians in France changed the the ending of their surnames to -esco, because the way it is pronounced "-cu" in French. Other suffixes are "-eanu", which indicates the geographical origin and "-aru", which indicates the occupation.


In the 14th century the ] of ] and ] emerged to fight the ]. During the ], prominent medieval Romanian monarchs such as ], ], ], ], or ] took part actively in the history of ] by waging tumultuous wars and leading noteworthy crusades against the then continuously expanding Ottoman Empire, at times allied with either the ] or the ] in these causes.
The most common surnames are Ionescu ("son of John") and Popescu ("son of the priest").

=== Early Modern Age to Late Modern Age ===
] entering Alba Iulia]]
Eventually the entire ] was annexed by the Ottoman Empire. However, Moldavia and Wallachia (extending to Dobruja and Bulgaria) were not entirely subdued by the Ottomans as both principalities became autonomous (which was not the case of other Ottoman territorial possessions in Europe). Transylvania, a third region inhabited by an important majority of Romanian speakers, was a vassal state of the Ottomans until 1687, when the principality became part of the Habsburg possessions. The three principalities were united for several months in 1600 under the authority of Wallachian ] ].<ref name=Stoica1>{{cite book|last=Stoica|first=Vasile|title=The Roumanian Question: The Roumanians and their Lands|year=1919|publisher=Pittsburgh Printing Company|location=Pittsburgh|page=18|url=http://www.wdl.org/en/item/7314/view/1/18/|access-date=7 October 2013|archive-date=15 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180815055407/https://www.wdl.org/en/item/7314/view/1/18/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Up until 1541, Transylvania was part of the ], later (due to the conquest of Hungary by the Ottoman Empire) was a self-governed Principality governed by the Hungarian nobility. In 1699 it became a part of the ]. By the end of the 18th century, the ] was awarded by the Ottomans with the region of ] and, in 1812, the Russians occupied the eastern half of Moldavia, known as ] through the ] of 1812.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|lang=en|url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Treaty-of-Bucharest-1812|title=Treaty of Bucharest/Russo-Turkish history |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date=14 February 2023|archive-date=14 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230214184002/https://www.britannica.com/event/Treaty-of-Bucharest-1812|url-status=live}}</ref>

]
]
]In the context of the ] ] and ] revolutions across Europe, the events that took place in the ] were the first of their kind to unfold in the Romanian-speaking territories. On the one hand, the ] and the Transylvanian Romanians (with consistent support on behalf of the ]) successfully managed to oppose the goals of the ], with the two noteworthy historical figures leading the common Romanian-Saxon side at the time being ] and ].
]
On the other hand, the Wallachian revolutions of ] and ] as well as the ], which aimed for independence from Ottoman and Russian foreign rulership, represented important impacts in the process of spreading the ] in the eastern and southern Romanian lands, in spite of the fact that all three eventually failed. Nonetheless, in 1859, ] and ] elected the same ruler, namely ] (who reigned as '']'') and were thus unified ''de facto'', resulting in the ] for the period between 1859 and 1881.

During the 1870s, the United Romanian Principalities (then led by ] Domnitor ]) fought a ] against the Ottomans, with Romania's independence being formally recognised in 1878 at the ].

Although the relatively newly founded ] initially allied with ], Romania refused to enter ] on the side of the ], because it was obliged to wage war only if Austria-Hungary was attacked. In 1916, Romania joined the war on the side of the ].

As a result, at the end of the war, Transylvania, Bessarabia, and Bukovina were awarded to Romania, through a series of international peace treaties, resulting in an enlarged and far more powerful kingdom under King ]. As of 1920, the Romanian people was believed to number over 15 million solely in the region of the Romanian kingdom, a figure larger than the populations of ], ], and the ] combined.<ref name=Stoica2>{{cite book|last=Stoica|first=Vasile|title=The Roumanian Question: The Roumanians and their Lands|year=1919|publisher=Pittsburgh Printing Company|location=Pittsburgh|page=50|url=http://www.wdl.org/en/item/7314/view/1/50/|access-date=8 October 2013|archive-date=29 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171229112601/https://www.wdl.org/en/item/7314/view/1/50/|url-status=live}}</ref>

During the ], two additional monarchs came to the Romanian throne, namely ] and ]. This short-lived period was marked, at times, by political instabilities and efforts of maintaining a ] in favour of other, totalitarian regimes such as an ] or a ].

=== Contemporary Era ===

], the Kingdom of Romania lost territory both to the east and west, as ] became part of the ] through the ], while Bessarabia and northern Bukovina were taken by the Soviets and included in the ], respectively ]. The eastern territory losses were facilitated by the ].

After the end of the war, the Romanian Kingdom managed to regain territories lost westward but was nonetheless not given Bessarabia and northern Bukovina back, the aforementioned regions being forcefully incorporated into the ] (USSR). Subsequently, the Soviet Union imposed a communist government and ] Michael was forced to abdicate and leave for exile, subsequently settling in ], while ] remained the ] of the ] (RSR). ] became the head of the ] (PCR) in 1965 and his severe rule of the 1980s was ended by the ].

The chaos of the 1989 revolution brought to power the dissident communist ] as ] (largely supported by the ]). Iliescu remained in power as ] until 1996, when he was defeated by ]-supported ] in the ], the first in post-communist Romania that saw a ]. Following Constantinescu's single term as president from 1996 to 2000, Iliescu was re-elected in late 2000 for another term of four years. In 2004, ], the ]-] candidate of the ] (DA), was elected president. Five years later, Băsescu (solely supported by the ] this time) was narrowly re-elected for a second term in the ].

In 2014, the ]-] candidate (as part of the larger ] or ACL for short; also endorsed by the ], FDGR/DFDR for short respectively) ] won a surprise victory over former ] and ]-supported contender ] in the second round of the ]. Thus, Iohannis became the first Romanian president stemming from an ] (as he belongs to the ], being a ]). In 2019, the PNL-supported Iohannis was re-elected for a second term as president after a second round landslide victory in the ] (being also supported in that round by ] and ] as well as by the FDGR/DFDR in both rounds).

In the meantime, Romania's major foreign policy achievements were the alignment with ] and the ] by joining the ] (NATO) back in 2004 and the ] three years later, in 2007. Current national objectives of Romania include adhering to the ], the ] as well as the ] (i.e. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development).

== Language ==

{{Main|Romanian language}}

] to Johannes Benkner (former Transylvanian Saxon mayor of Kronstadt/Brașov) is the oldest document written in Romanian discovered to date.]]

During the Middle Ages, Romanian was isolated from the other Romance languages, and borrowed words from the nearby ] (see ]). Later on, it borrowed a number of words from ], ], and ].<ref>Dr. Ayfer AKTAŞ, Türk Dili, TDK, 9/2007, s. 484–495, Online: {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131109144315/http://turkoloji.cu.edu.tr/YENI%20TURK%20DILI/ayfer_aktas_gunumuz_rumence_turkce_kaynakli_sozler.pdf |date=9 November 2013 }}</ref> During the modern era, most neologisms ] from ] and ], though the language has increasingly begun to adopt English borrowings.

The origins of the ], a ], can be traced back to the Roman colonisation of the region. The basic vocabulary is of Latin origin,<ref name=Stoica2/> although there are some ] words that are assumed to be of ] origin. It is the most spoken ] language and is closely related to ], ], and ], all three part of the same sub-branch of Romance languages.

] sub-branch of Romance languages, alongside and related to ], ], and ].]]

The ], in its official form, is practically identical to Romanian, although there are some differences in colloquial speech.{{cn|date=July 2024}} In the de facto independent (but internationally unrecognised) region of ], the official script used to write Moldovan is Cyrillic, although Moldovan has a very limited usage in Transnistria despite its official status.{{cn|date=July 2024}}

Since 2013, the ] is officially celebrated on ] in Romania.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.agerpres.ro/documentare/2020/08/31/31-august-ziua-limbii-romane--563779|title=31 august - Ziua Limbii Române|newspaper=]|date=31 August 2020|language=ro|access-date=26 November 2020|archive-date=25 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201025003653/https://www.agerpres.ro/documentare/2020/08/31/31-august-ziua-limbii-romane--563779|url-status=dead}}</ref> In Moldova, it is officially celebrated on the same day since 2023.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://tv8.md/2023/31/08/depunere-de-flori-program-pentru-copii-si-spectacol-muzical-agenda-completa-a-evenimentelor-dedicate-zilei-limbii-romane/237915|title=Depunere de flori, program pentru copii și spectacol muzical: Agenda completă a evenimentelor dedicate Zilei Limbii Române|first=Andreea|last=Josan|newspaper=]|date=31 August 2023|language=ro|access-date=1 September 2023|archive-date=1 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230901133410/https://tv8.md/2023/31/08/depunere-de-flori-program-pentru-copii-si-spectacol-muzical-agenda-completa-a-evenimentelor-dedicate-zilei-limbii-romane/237915|url-status=live}}</ref>

As of 2017, an ] estimation puts the (worldwide) number of Romanian speakers at approximately 24.15 million.<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200525155837/https://www.ethnologue.com/language/ron |date=25 May 2020 }} on ].</ref> The 24.15 million, however, represent only speakers of ], not all of whom are necessarily ethnic Romanians. Also, this number does not include ethnic-Romanians who no longer speak the Romanian language.

== Names for Romanians ==
In English, Romanians are usually called Romanians and very rarely Rumanians or Roumanians, except in some historical texts, where they are called Roumans or ].{{cn|date=July 2024}}

=== Etymology of the name ''Romanian'' ({{lang|ro|român}}) ===
{{Main|Name of Romania}}
]

The name ''Romanian'' is derived from ] ], meaning "]".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://dexonline.ro/search.php?cuv=rom%C3%A2n |title=''Explanatory Dictionary of the Romanian Language'', 1998; ''New Explanatory Dictionary of the Romanian Language'', 2002 |publisher=Dexonline.ro |access-date=25 September 2010 |language=ro |url-status=live |archive-url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20160517200517/http://dexonline.ro/search.php?cuv%3Drom%25C3%25A2n |archive-date=17 May 2016 }}</ref> Under regular phonetical changes that are typical to the Romanian language, the name {{lang|la|romanus}} over the centuries transformed into {{lang|ro|rumân}} {{IPA|ro|ruˈmɨn|}}. An older form of {{lang|ro|român}} was still in use in some regions. Socio-linguistic evolutions in the late 18th century led to a gradual preponderance of the {{lang|ro|român}} spelling form, which was then generalised during the National awakening of Romania of early 19th century.<ref name="mo0">Vladimír Baar, Daniel Jakubek, (2017) Divided National Identity in Moldova, Journal of Nationalism, Memory & Language Politics, Volume 11: Issue 1, {{doi|10.1515/jnmlp-2017-0004}}.</ref>
Several historical sources show the use of the term "Romanian" among the medieval or early modern Romanian population. One of the earliest examples comes from the '']'', a German ] from before 1200 in which a "Duke Ramunc from the land of Vlachs (Wallachia)" is mentioned. "Vlach" was an exonym used almost exclusively for the Romanians during the Middle Ages. It has been argued by some Romanian researchers that "Ramunc" was not the name of the duke, but a name that highlighted his ethnicity. Other old documents, especially Byzantine or Hungarian ones, make a correlation between the old Romanians as Romans or their descendants.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Drugaș|first=Șerban George Paul|date=2016|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5325/hiperboreea.3.issue-1|title=The Wallachians in the ''Nibelungenlied'' and their Connection with the Eastern Romance Population in the Early Middle Ages|journal=Hiperboreea|volume=3|pages=71–124|issue=1|doi=10.3406/hiper.2016.910|s2cid=149983312|access-date=6 March 2021|archive-date=10 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210810174533/https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5325/hiperboreea.3.issue-1|url-status=live}}</ref> Several other documents, notably from Italian travelers into Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania, speak of the self-identification, language and culture of the Romanians, showing that they designated themselves as "Romans" or related to them in up to 30 works.<ref>Ioan-Aurel Pop, Italian Authors and the Romanian Identity in the 16th Century, Revue Roumaine d'Histoire, XXXIX, 1-4, p. 39-49, Bucarest, 2000</ref> One example is Tranquillo Andronico's 1534 writing that states that the Vlachs "now call themselves Romans".<ref>''"Connubia iunxit cum provincialibus, ut hoc vinculo unam gentem ex duabus faceret, brevi quasi in unum corpus coaluerunt et '''nunc se Romanos vocant''', sed nihil Romani habent praeter linguam et ipsam quidem vehementer depravatam et aliquot barbaricis idiomatibus permixtam."'' in {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224161444/http://real-j.mtak.hu/4112/1/MagyarTortenelmiTar_1903_51_4_04.pdf |date=24 February 2021 }}; also see Endre Veress, ''Fontes rerum transylvanicarum: Erdélyi történelmi források'', Történettudományi Intézet, Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, Budapest, 1914, Vol. IV, S. 204 and also Maria Holban, Călători străini în Țările Române, Editura Științifică, București, 1968, Vol. 1, p. 247 and also in Gábor Almási, I Valacchi visti dagli Italiani e il concetto di Barbaro nel Rinascimento, Storia della Storiografia, 52 (2007): 049-066</ref> Another one is Francesco della Valle's 1532 manuscripts that state that the Romanians from Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania preserved the name "Roman" and cites the sentence "''Sti Rominest?''" ({{lang|ro|știi românește}}''?'', "do you speak Romanian?").<ref>''"...'''si dimandano in lingua loro Romei'''...se alcuno dimanda se sano parlare in la lingua valacca, dicono a questo in questo modo: '''Sti Rominest ? Che vol dire: Sai tu Romano''',..."'' and further "'''''però al presente si dimandon Romei''', e questo è quanto da essi monacci potessimo esser instruiti''" in Claudio Isopescu, Notizie intorno ai Romeni nella letteratura geografica italiana del Cinquecento, in "Bulletin de la Section Historique de l'Académie Roumaine", XIV, 1929, p. 1- 90 and also in Maria Holban, Călători străini în Țările Române, Editura Științifică, București, 1968, Vol. 1, p. 322-323 For the original text also see {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220319083528/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433066659982;view=1up;seq=38 |date=19 March 2022 }}</ref> Authors that travelled to modern Romania who wrote about it in 1574,<ref>''"Tout ce pays la Wallachie et Moldavie et la plus part de la Transivanie a esté peuplé des colonie romaines du temps de Traian l'empereur...Ceux du pays se disent vrais successeurs des Romains et nomment leur parler '''romanechte, c'est-à-dire romain''' ... "'' cited from "Voyage fait par moy, Pierre Lescalopier l'an 1574 de Venise a Constantinople", fol 48 in Paul Cernovodeanu, Studii si materiale de istorie medievala, IV, 1960, p. 444</ref> 1575<ref>''" Valachi, i quali sono i più antichi habitatori ... Anzi '''essi si chiamano romanesci''', e vogliono molti che erano mandati quì quei che erano dannati a cavar metalli..."'' in Maria Holban, Călători străini despre Țările Române, vol. II, p. 158&ndash;161 and also in {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405205821/https://books.google.com/books?id=eyRbB0mbSsUC&dq=ferrante+capeci&pg=PA127 |date=5 April 2023 }} and also in Gábor Almási, I Valacchi visti dagli Italiani e il concetto di Barbaro nel Rinascimento, Storia della Storiografia, 52 (2007): 049-066, p.65</ref> and 1666 also noted the use of the term "Romanian".<ref>"''Valachi autem hodierni quicunque lingua Valacha loquuntur se ipsos non dicunt Vlahos aut Valachos sed Rumenos et a Romanis ortos gloriantur Romanaque lingua loqui profitentur''" in: {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230411060906/https://books.google.com/books?id=GXxUAAAAcAAJ&dq=Valachi+autem+hodierni+quicunque&pg=PA284 |date=11 April 2023 }}</ref> From the Middle Ages, Romanians bore two names, the ] (one given to them by foreigners) ''Wallachians'' or ''Vlachs'', under its various forms (''vlah'', ''valah'', ''valach'', ''voloh'', ''blac'', ''olăh'', ''vlas'', ''ilac'', ''ulah'', etc.), and the ] (the name they used for themselves) ''Romanians'' ({{lang|ro|Rumâni}}/{{lang|ro|Români}}).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://dspace.bcucluj.ro/bitstream/123456789/48209/1/Pop%2bIoan%2bAurel-Despre%2bsemnificatia%2bunor%2bnume-2009.pdf|title=On the Significance of Certain Names: Romanian/Wallachian and Romania/Wallachia|author=Pop, Ioan-Aurel|access-date=18 June 2018|archive-date=28 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210228073223/http://dspace.bcucluj.ro/bitstream/123456789/48209/1/Pop%2bIoan%2bAurel-Despre%2bsemnificatia%2bunor%2bnume-2009.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> The first mentions by Romanians of the endonym are contemporary with the earliest writings in Romanian from the sixteenth century.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rosetti |first=Alexandru |date=1986 |title=Istoria Limbii Române. Vol I (1986) |work=Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, București |url=https://www.academia.edu/44324240 |editor=Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, București |page=448}}</ref>

According to ], at the time of the rise of Romanian nationalism during the early 19th century, the political leaders of Wallachia and Moldavia were aware that the name ''România'' was identical to ''Romania'', a name that had been used for the former Byzantine Empire by its inhabitants. Kamusella continues by stating that they preferred this ethnonym in order to stress their presumed link with ] and that it became more popular as a nationalistic form of referring to all Romanian-language speakers as a distinct and separate nation during the 1820s.<ref>T. Kamusella, The Politics of Language and Nationalism in Modern Central Europe, Springer, 2008, {{ISBN|978-0-230-58347-4}}, p. 208; 452.</ref> ] asserts that {{lang|ro|român}}, derived from the Latin {{lang|la|Romanus}}, acquired at a certain point the same meaning of the Greek {{lang|grc-latn|Romaios}}; that of Orthodox Christian.<ref>''In Romanian the ethnonym român, derived from Latin Romanus, had acquired the same meaning as Greek Romaios (in the sense of Orthodox Christian)... Obviously, the Latin Romanus and Greek Romaios shared the same semantic development from an ethnic, or rather, political community to religious denomination''. Raymond Detrez on p. 41 in Pre-National Identities in the Balkans in: Entangled Histories of the Balkans - Volume One, pp. 13–65, {{doi|10.1163/9789004250765_003}}</ref> ] claims that the meaning of ''romanus'' (Roman) as "Christian", as opposed to "pagan", which used to mean "non-Roman", may have contributed to the preservation of this word as an ethonym of the Romanian people, under the meaning of "Christian".<ref>Wolfgang Dahmen, who has questioned the continuity between ''romanus'' and ''român'' as an ethnic denomination, notes: One might also suppose that the early identification of ROMANUS with "Christian" (as opposed to PAGANUS, which then acquired also the meaning of "non-Roman"), has contributed to the preservation of the former meaning. Dahmen, Wolfgang, “Pro- und antiwestliche Strömungen im rumänischen literarischen Diskurs – ein Überblick,” in Gabriella Schubert and Holm Sundhaussen (eds.): Prowestliche und antiwestliche Diskurse in den Balkanländern / Südosteuropa. 43. Internationale Hochschulwoche der Südosteuropa-Gesellschaft in Tutzing 4. - 8.10.2004, München 2008, 59-75. as cited by ] on p. 41 in {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230802041043/https://books.google.com/books?id=FGmJqMflYgoC |date=2 August 2023 }} - Volume One, pp. 13–65, {{doi|10.1163/9789004250765_003}}</ref>

==== Daco-Romanian ====

To distinguish Romanians from the other Romanic peoples of the Balkans (Aromanians, Megleno-Romanians, and Istro-Romanians), the term ] is sometimes used to refer to those who speak the standard ] and live in the former territory of ancient ] (today comprising mostly Romania and Moldova) and its surroundings (such as Dobruja or the ], the latter region part of the former Roman province of ]).<ref>{{cite web|language=ro|url=https://dexonline.ro/definitie/daco-roman|title=Definition of the term 'daco-roman'|work=Dex.ro|access-date=9 February 2023|archive-date=9 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230209110601/https://dexonline.ro/definitie/daco-roman|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|language=ro|url=https://dexonline.ro/definitie/dacorom%C3%A2n|title=Definition of the term 'dacoromân'|work=Dex.ro|access-date=9 February 2023|archive-date=30 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230130113804/https://dexonline.ro/definitie/dacorom%C3%A2n|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Etymology of the term Vlach ===

The name of "]" is an ] that was used by Slavs to refer to all Romanized natives of the Balkans. It holds its origin from ancient Germanic—being a cognate to "Welsh" and "Walloon"—and perhaps even further back in time, from the ] name Volcae, which was originally a ]ic tribe. From the Slavs, it was passed on to other peoples, such as the ] (''Oláh'') and ] (''Vlachoi'') (see the Etymology section of Vlachs). ], the Southern region of Romania, takes its name from the same source.

Nowadays, the term Vlach is more often used to refer to the Romanized populations of the Balkans who speak ], ], ], and ].

== Romanians outside Romania ==

{{Main|Romanian diaspora}}
[[File:Map of the Romanian Diaspora in the World.svg|thumb|Countries with a significant Romanian population and descendants from Romanians:<br/>
{{Legend|#000000|Romania}}
{{Legend|#00133d|+1,000,000}}
{{Legend|#002b80|+100,000}}
{{Legend|#2975ff|+10,000}}
{{Legend|#94baff|+1,000}}|300x300px]]
]

Most Romanians live in Romania, where they constitute a majority; Romanians also constitute a minority in the countries that neighbour Romania. Romanians can also be found in many countries, notably in the other EU countries, particularly in Italy, Spain, Germany, the United Kingdom and France; in North America in the United States and Canada; in Israel; as well as in Brazil, Australia, ], and New Zealand among many other countries. Italy and Spain have been popular emigration destinations, due to a relatively low ], and both are each now home to about a million Romanians. With respect to geopolitical identity, many individuals of Romanian ethnicity in Moldova prefer to identify themselves as ].<ref name="davidlevinson"/><ref name="coutryst"/>

The contemporary total population of ethnic Romanians cannot be stated with any degree of certainty. A disparity can be observed between official sources (such as ] counts) where they exist, and estimates which come from non-official sources and interested groups. Several inhibiting factors (not unique to this particular case) contribute towards this uncertainty, which may include:

* A degree of overlap may exist or be shared between Romanian and other ethnic identities in certain situations, and census or survey respondents may elect to identify with one particular ancestry but not another, or instead identify with multiple ancestries;<ref name="refcitizenship">In an ever more globalized world the incredibly diverse and widespread phenomenon of migration has played a significant role in the ways in which notions such as "home," "membership" or "national belonging" have constantly been disputed and negotiated in both sending and receiving societies. – ''Rogers Brubaker, Citizenship and Nationhood '' (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1994).</ref>
* Counts and estimates may inconsistently distinguish between Romanian nationality and Romanian ethnicity (i.e. not all Romanian nationals identify with Romanian ethnicity, and vice versa);<ref name="refcitizenship"/>
* The measurements and methodologies employed by governments to enumerate and describe the ethnicity and ancestry of their citizens vary from country to country. Thus the census definition of "Romanian" might variously mean Romanian-born, of Romanian parentage, or also include other ethnic identities as Romanian which otherwise are identified separately in other contexts.<ref name="refcitizenship"/>

] in ], western ], performing a traditional dance.]]

For example, the decennial ] of 2000 calculated (based on a ] of household data) that there were 367,310 respondents indicating Romanian ancestry (roughly 0.1% of the total population).<ref name="USCensus">{{cite web|url=http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/QTTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=01000US&-qr_name=DEC_2000_SF3_U_QTP13&-ds_name=DEC_2000_SF3_U&-_lang=en&-_sse=on|title=2000 U.S. Census, ancestry responses|work=US Census Bureau|access-date=13 November 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200210210930/http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/QTTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=01000US&-qr_name=DEC_2000_SF3_U_QTP13&-ds_name=DEC_2000_SF3_U&-_lang=en&-_sse=on|archive-date=10 February 2020}}</ref>

The actual total recorded number of foreign-born Romanians was only 136,000.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Migration Information Source|url=https://www.migrationpolicy.org/programs/migration-information-source|access-date=2021-08-04|website=migrationpolicy.org|language=en|archive-date=17 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140217212251/https://www.migrationpolicy.org/programs/migration-information-source|url-status=live}}</ref> However, some non-specialist organisations have produced estimates which are considerably higher: a 2002 study by the Romanian-American Network Inc. mentions an estimated figure of 1,200,000<ref name="web.archive.org"/> for the number of ]. Which makes the United States home to the largest Romanian community outside Romania.

This estimate notes however that "...other immigrants of Romanian national minority groups have been included such as: ], ], ], ], ], and ]". It also includes an unspecified allowance for second- and third-generation Romanians, and an indeterminate number living in Canada. An error range for the estimate is not provided. For the ] figures, almost 20% of the total population did not classify or report an ancestry, and the census is also subject to undercounting, an incomplete (67%) response rate, and sampling error in general.

In ], one of the two entities constituting ] together with the ], Romanians are legally recognized as an ethnic minority.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.prometej.ba/clanak/drustvo-i-znanost/manjine-u-bih/zivot-u-sjeni-konstitutivnih-naroda-rumunji-u-bih-2376|title=Život u sjeni konstitutivnih naroda – Rumunji u BiH|first=Marijan|last=Oršolić|newspaper=Prometej|date=17 February 2016|language=bs|access-date=3 April 2023|archive-date=2 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230402170756/http://www.prometej.ba/clanak/drustvo-i-znanost/manjine-u-bih/zivot-u-sjeni-konstitutivnih-naroda-rumunji-u-bih-2376|url-status=live}}</ref>

== Culture ==
{{Main|Culture of Romania}}

=== Contributions to contemporary culture ===
{{Main|List of Romanians}}

Romanians have played and contributed a major role in the advancement of the ], culture, ], technology and ].{{cn|date=July 2024}}

In the history of aviation, ] and ] built and tested some of the earliest aircraft designs, while ] discovered the ] of fluidics. ] discovered more than 50 germs and a cure for a disease named after him, ]; biologist ] was among the first scientists to identify ]. Another biologist, ], received the Nobel Prize for his contributions to ]. ] created the ], while mathematician ] has been claimed as "the ideological father behind ]" – his work ''The Consonantist Psychology'' (Paris, 1938) was supposedly the main source of inspiration for ]'s ''Cybernetics'' (Paris, 1948). ] was the first chemist to synthesize ] and also invented the modern method of ] ].{{cn|date=July 2024}}

In the arts and culture, prominent figures were ] (music composer, violinist, professor of Sir ]), ] (sculptor), ] (playwright), ] (historian of religion and novelist), ] (essayist, Prix de l'Institut Français for stylism) and ] (soprano). More recently, filmmakers such as ] and ] have attracted international acclaim, as has fashion designer ].{{cn|date=July 2024}}

In sports, Romanians have excelled in a variety of fields, such as football (]), gymnastics (], ] etc.), tennis (], ], ]), rowing (]) and handball (four times men's ] winners).
] is a worldwide icon of Romania. This character was created by the Irish fiction writer ], based on some stories spread in the late ] by the frustrated German tradesmen of Kronstadt (]) and on some ] tales about the historic Romanian figure of Prince ].{{cn|date=July 2024}}


=== Religion === === Religion ===
{{Main|Religion in Romania}}
Almost 90% of all Romanians consider themselves religious.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.evz.ro/ires-aproape-9-din-10-romani-se-considera-religiosi-dar-doar-10-tin-post.html|title = IRES: Aproape 9 din 10 români se consideră religioși, dar doar 10% țin post|date = 11 April 2015|website = Evenimentul Zilei|last = Marian|first = Mircea|language = ro|access-date = 12 April 2015|archive-date = 14 April 2015|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150414084547/http://www.evz.ro/ires-aproape-9-din-10-romani-se-considera-religiosi-dar-doar-10-tin-post.html|url-status = live}}</ref> The vast majority are ] Christians, belonging to the ] (a branch of Eastern Orthodoxy, or Eastern Orthodox Church, together with the Greek Orthodox, Orthodox Church of Georgia and Russian Orthodox Churches, among others). Romanians form the ] in the world.<ref name="Pew20152016">{{cite web|title=Religious Belief and National Belonging in Central and Eastern Europe|url=http://www.pewforum.org/2017/05/10/religious-belief-and-national-belonging-in-central-and-eastern-europe/|website=Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project|date=10 May 2017|access-date=21 November 2020|archive-date=10 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170510190714/http://www.pewforum.org/2017/05/10/religious-belief-and-national-belonging-in-central-and-eastern-europe/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Orthodox Christianity in the 21st Century|url=https://www.pewforum.org/2017/11/08/orthodox-christianity-in-the-21st-century/|website=Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project|date=10 November 2017|access-date=21 November 2020|archive-date=25 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125010533/https://www.pewforum.org/2017/11/08/orthodox-christianity-in-the-21st-century/|url-status=live}}</ref>


The majority of Romanians are ] Christians, belonging to the ]. According to the 2002 census, 94.0% of ethnic Romanians in ] identified themselves as Romanian Orthodox (in comparison to 86.8% of Romania's total population, including other ethnic groups). However, it must be noted that the actual rate of church attendance is significantly lower, and that many Romanians are only nominally believers. For example, according to a 2006 poll, only 26% of Romanians attend church once a week or more.<ref>, ]</ref> According to the 2022 census, 91.5% of ethnic Romanians in Romania identified themselves as Romanian Orthodox (in comparison to 73.6% of Romania's total population, including other ethnic groups), followed by 3.6% as Protestants and 2.5% as Catholics.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.recensamantromania.ro/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Tabel-2.05.1-si-Tabel-2.05.2.xlsx |title=Populaţia rezidentă după etnie şi religie (Etnii, Religii, Județe, Medii de rezidență) |work=Institutul Național de Statistică |language=ro |access-date=6 December 2024 |archive-date=13 November 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241113061329/https://www.recensamantromania.ro/rezultate-rpl-2021/rezultate-definitive/ |url-status=live }}</ref> However, the actual rate of church attendance is significantly lower and many Romanians are only nominally believers. For example, according to a 2006 ] poll, only 23% of Romanians attend church once a week or more.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/eb/eb66/eb66_ro_nat.pdf|title=National Report: Romania – Autumn 2006|language=ro|page=25|publisher=European Commission, ]|date=2006|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070615180142/http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/eb/eb66/eb66_ro_nat.pdf|archive-date=15 June 2007}}</ref> A 2006 poll conducted by the ] found that only 33% of Romanians attended church once a ''month'' or more.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fundatia.ro/sites/default/files/BOP-perceptii%20despre%20mass%20media.pdf|title=Barometrul de Opinie Publică|trans-title=Barometer of Public Opinion|work=]|date=May 2006|access-date=8 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160109004219/http://www.fundatia.ro/sites/default/files/BOP-perceptii%20despre%20mass%20media.pdf|archive-date=9 January 2016|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref>


<gallery class="center">
Romanian Catholics are present in ], ], and parts of ], belonging to both the ] (]) and the Roman Rite (]). A small percentage of Romanians are ] (2.8%) or ]. Romania had large ] minority before World War II; over 200,000 survived the war. The Jewish populace largely emigrated ("made '']''") to Israel during the Communist era. Also, because of historic contact with the ], a few ethnic Romanians may have converted to Islam and assimilated as ].
File:Biserica „Sf. Nicolae” sat Densuș, comuna Densuș, jud. Hunedoara.jpg|] ], Hunedoara, Transylvania
File:Strei HD.NV.jpg|] ], Hunedoara, Transylvania
File:Biserica Sfantu Nicolae.JPG|], Transylvania
File:Biserica Sf.Ioan Botezatorul.jpg|], Piatra Neamț, Moldavia
File:Catedrala Mitropolitana02.JPG|], Moldavia
File:Manastirea putna1.jpg|], Bukovina
</gallery>


Romanian Catholics are present in ], ], ], ], and parts of ], belonging to both the ] (297,246 members) and the ] (124,563 members). According to the ], 2.5% of ethnic Romanians in Romania identified themselves as Catholic (in comparison to 5% of Romania's total population, including other ethnic groups). Around 1.6% of ethnic Romanians in Romania identify themselves as ], with the population numbering 276,678 members. Smaller percentages are Protestant, Jews, Muslims, agnostic, atheist, or practice a traditional religion.
There is no official date for the adoption of Christianity by the Romanians. It appears that Christianization occurred gradually, starting with the ]'s mission during the Roman era and then continuing while the Romanian people and language emerged, as suggested by archeological findings and by Romanian words for church ("biserica" < basilica), ] ("]" < Domine Deus), Easter ("Paste" < Paschae), etc.


<gallery class="center">
After the ], there existed a Catholic Bishopric of ] (later, separate bishoprics in both ] and ]). However, this seems to be the exception, rather than the rule, as in both ] and ] the state religion (the one use for crowning, and other ceremonies) was orthodox. Until the 17th century, the official language of the liturgy was ]. Then, it gradually changed to Romanian.
File:19, Strada General Henri Mathias Berthelot, Bucharest (Romania).jpg|Roman Catholic ], Wallachia
File:Alba Iulia - Catedrala Sf.Mihail Aprilie 2013.JPG|Roman Catholic ], Transylvania
File:Blaj Catedrala greco catolica (3).jpg|Greek Catholic ], ], Transylvania
File:Centrul Vechi Baia Mare.jpg|Greek Catholic ], Transylvania
File:Roman Catholic church in Suceava by day.jpg|Roman Catholic St. John of Nepomuk Church, ], Bukovina
File:Timisoara - Catholic Dome in Union Square.jpg|Roman Catholic ] in Timișoara, Banat
</gallery>

There are no official dates for the adoption of religions by the Romanians. Based on linguistic and archaeological findings, historians suggest that the Romanians' ancestors acquired polytheistic religions in the Roman era, later adopting Christianity, most likely by the 4th century AD when decreed by Emperor ] as the official religion of the Roman Empire.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Jones|first=Arnold Hugh Martin|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mo77FrgvtDkC|title=Constantine and the Conversion of Europe|publisher=University of Toronto Press (reprint 2003) |year=1978|isbn=978-0-8020-6369-4|edition=1962|pages=73|language=en|author-link=A. H. M. Jones|orig-year=1948|access-date=27 April 2023|archive-date=27 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230927204635/https://books.google.com/books?id=Mo77FrgvtDkC|url-status=live}}</ref> Like in all other Romance languages, the basic Romanian words related to Christianity are inherited from Latin, such as '']'' ('']'' < {{lang|la|Domine Deus}}), ''church'' ({{lang|ro|biserică}} < {{lang|la|basilica}}), '']'' ({{lang|ro|cruce}} < {{lang|la|crux}}, -{{lang|la|cis}}), ''angel'' ({{lang|ro|înger}} < {{lang|la|angelus}}), ''saint'' (regional: {{lang|ro|sfân(t)}} < {{lang|la|sanctus}}), ''Christmas'' ({{lang|ro|Crăciun}} < {{lang|la|creatio}}, -{{lang|la|onis}}), '']'' ({{lang|ro|creștin}} < {{lang|la|christianus}}), ''Easter'' ({{lang|ro|paște}} < {{lang|la|paschae}}), ''sin'' ({{lang|ro|păcat}} < {{lang|la|peccatum}}), ''to baptise'' ({{lang|ro|a boteza}} < {{lang|la|batizare}}), ''priest'' ({{lang|ro|preot}} < {{lang|la|presbiterum}}), ''to pray'' ({{lang|ro|a ruga}} < {{lang|la|rogare}}), ''faith'' ({{lang|ro|credință}} < {{lang|la|credentia}}), and so on.

After the ], there existed a ] for a short period of time, from 1228 to 1241. However, this seems to be the exception, rather than the rule, as in both ] and ] the state religion was Eastern Orthodox. Until the 17th century, the official language of the liturgy was ] (a.k.a. Middle Bulgarian). Then, it gradually changed to Romanian.


=== Symbols === === Symbols ===
]
]
]
The colours of blue, yellow and red, which are now used on the both the ] and the ] were used by the nationalist movement of the 1820s. {{fact}}


{{multiple image
In addition to these colours, each historical province of Romania has its own characteristic animal symbol:
| align = right
| image1 = Flag of Romania.svg
| width1 = 200
| alt1 =
| caption1 =
| image2 = Coat of arms of Romania.svg
| width2 = 92
| alt2 =
| caption2 =
| footer = National symbols of Romania: the ] (left) and the ] (right)
}}

In addition to the colours of the ], each historical province of Romania has its own characteristic symbol:
* ]: ]
* ]: ]
* ] <small>(including ] and ])</small>: ]/]
* ]: ] * ]: ]
* ] <small>(including ] and ])</small>: ] or ]
* ]: ]
* ]: ]/]
* ]: ]
* ]: ] * ]: ]
The ] combines these together. The ] combines these together.


=== Customs === === Customs ===
''Main article: ]''


{{Main|Folklore of Romania}}
== Name ==
In English they are usually called Romanians or Rumanians except in some historical texts, where they are called ].


==== Traditional costumes ====
===Romanian===
''Main article: ]''


<gallery class="center">
The name "Romanian" is derived from Latin "Romanus". Under regular phonetical changes that are typical to the Romanian languages, the name was transformed in "rumân" (''ru'mɨn''). An older form of "român" was still in use in some regions. Socio-linguistic evolutions in the late 18th century led to a gradual preponderance of the "român" spelling form, which was then generalised during the ] of early 19th century.
File:43. TKB - Martis Orul z Kluż-Napoki (Rumunia) 03.JPG|Romanians from ], ], ], ], in traditional folk costumes, dancing on the occasion of the ] holiday (2006).
File:Ion Theodorescu-Sion - Tarani din Abrud.jpg|Painting of Transylvanian Romanian peasants from ] by ]
File:Costumes of Peasants from Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Germany.jpg|Traditional Romanian peasant costumes to the left, followed from left to right by Hungarian, Slavic, and German ones
File:Bucovina.jpg|Romanian peasant costume from Bukovina, early 20th century
File:Bukovynski rumuny.jpg|Romanians from Bukovina, early 20th century postcard
File:Ipolit Strambu - Ciobanas.jpg|Painting of a young Wallachian shepherd in the early 20th century by ]
File:Roumanians in New York 1891.JPG|Romanian immigrants in ], late 19th century
</gallery>


== Relationship to other ethnic groups ==
===Vlach===
The closest ethnic groups to the Romanians are the other Romanic peoples of Southeastern Europe: the ] (]-Romanians), the ], and the ]. The Istro-Romanians are the closest ethnic group to the Romanians, and it is believed they left ], ] about a thousand years ago and settled in ], Croatia.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.istro-romanian.net/articles/art020105.html|title=Istro-Romanians in Croatia|author=Bogdan Banu|website=Istro-romanian.net|access-date=13 November 2014|archive-date=16 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131016115140/http://www.istro-romanian.net/articles/art020105.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Numbering about 500 people still living in the original villages of Istria while the majority left for other countries after World War II (mainly to Italy, United States, Canada, Spain, Germany, France, Sweden, Switzerland, Romania, and Australia), they speak the ], the closest living relative of Romanian. On the other hand, the Aromanians and the Megleno-Romanians are Romance peoples who live south of the Danube, mainly in Greece, Albania, North Macedonia and Bulgaria although some of them migrated to Romania in the 20th century. It is believed that they diverged from the Romanians in the 7th to 9th century, and currently speak the ] and ], both of which are Eastern Romance languages, like Romanian, and are sometimes considered by traditional Romanian linguists to be dialects of Romanian.
The name of "]" is an ] that was used by Slavs to refer to all Romanized natives of the Balkans. It holds its origin from ancient Germanic - being a cognate to "Welsh" and "Walloon" -, and perhaps even further back in time, from the ] name Volcae, which was originally a ]ic tribe. From the Slavs, it was passed on to other peoples, such as the ] (''Oláh'') and ] (''Vlachoi''). (see: ]) Vlach was also used for all Orthodox Christians. ], a region in Romania, takes its name from the same source.


== Genetics ==
Nowadays, the term Vlach is more often used to refer to the Romanized populations of the Balkans who do not speak the ] but rather the ] and other Romance languages such as ] and ]. Aromanian, Istro-Romanian and Megleno-Romanian are the closest related languages to the Romanian language.
{{Primary sources|section|date=April 2023}}
{{see also|Genetic history of Europe}}


]
===Daco-Romanian===
To distinguish Romanians from the other Romanic peoples of the Balkans (Aromanians, Megleno-Romanians and Istro-Romanians), the term ] is sometimes used to refer to those who speak the standard ] and live in the territory of ancient ] (today comprising mostly Romania and Moldova), although some Daco-Romanians can be found in ] (which was part of ancient ]).


A Bulgarian study from 2013 shows genetic similarity between ] (8-6 century BC), medieval Bulgarians (8–10 century AD), and modern Bulgarians, highlighting highest resemblance between them and Romanians, Northern Italians and Northern Greeks.<ref>Karachanak et al., 2012. </ref> A genetic study published in '']'' in 2019 examined the ] of 25 Thracian remains in ] from the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC. They were found to harbor a mixture of ancestry from ] (WSHs) and ] (EEFs), supporting the idea that Southeast Europe was the link between Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Modi |first1=Alessandra |last2=Nesheva |first2=Desislava |last3=Sarno |first3=Stefania |last4=Vai |first4=Stefania |last5=Karachanak-Yankova |first5=Sena |last6=Luiselli |first6=Donata |last7=Pilli |first7=Elena |last8=Lari |first8=Martina |last9=Vergata |first9=Chiara |last10=Yordanov |first10=Yordan |last11=Dimitrova |first11=Diana |last12=Kalcev |first12=Petar |last13=Staneva |first13=Rada |last14=Antonova |first14=Olga |last15=Hadjidekova |first15=Savina |last16=Galabov |first16=Angel |last17=Toncheva |first17=Draga |last18=Caramelli |first18=David |title=Ancient human mitochondrial genomes from Bronze Age Bulgaria: new insights into the genetic history of Thracians |journal=Scientific Reports |date=December 2019 |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=5412 |doi=10.1038/s41598-019-41945-0 |pmid=30931994 |pmc=6443937 |bibcode=2019NatSR...9.5412M }}</ref>
=== Toponyms ===
In the Middle Ages, Romanian shepherds migrated with their flocks in search of better ]s and reached Southern ], ], ], and ].


The prevailing Y-chromosome in ] (], ]), ] (], ]), ] (]), and northern Republic of Moldova is recorded to be ].<ref>Bosch2006, Varzari2006, Varzari 2013, Martinez-Cruz 2012</ref><ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite journal |vauthors=Martinez-Cruz B, Ioana M, Calafell F, Arauna LR, Sanz P, Ionescu R, Boengiu S, Kalaydjieva L, Pamjav H, Makukh H, Plantinga T, van der Meer JW, Comas D, Netea MG |year=2012 |editor1-last=Kivisild |editor1-first=Toomas |title=Y-chromosome analysis in individuals bearing the Basarab name of the first dynasty of Wallachian kings |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=7 |issue=7 |pages=e41803 |bibcode=2012PLoSO...741803M |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0041803 |pmc=3404992 |pmid=22848614 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Subclades ] and ] can be found in most present-day European populations, with peaks in some ]an and ]an countries. Haplogroup I occurs at 32% in Romanians.<ref>Rootsi, Siiri (2004). Human Y-chromosomal variation in European populations (PhD Thesis). Tartu University Press. {{hdl|10062/1252}}</ref> The frequency of I2a1 (I-P37) in the Balkans today is owed to indigenous European tribes, and was present before the ].<ref name="slav">{{cite journal |last1=Kushniarevich |first1=A |last2=Utevska |first2=O |last3=Chuhryaeva |first3=M |last4=Agdzhoyan |first4=A |last5=Dibirova |first5=K |last6=Uktveryte |first6=I |last7=Möls |first7=M |last8=Mulahasanovic |first8=L |last9=Pshenichnov |first9=A |last10=Frolova |first10=S |last11=Shanko |first11=A |last12=Metspalu |first12=E |last13=Reidla |first13=M |last14=Tambets |first14=K |last15=Tamm |first15=E |display-authors=29 |year=2015 |title=Genetic Heritage of the Balto-Slavic Speaking Populations: A Synthesis of Autosomal, Mitochondrial and Y-Chromosomal Data |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=10 |issue=9 |pages=e0135820 |bibcode=2015PLoSO..1035820K |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0135820 |pmc=4558026 |pmid=26332464 |doi-access=free |last16=Koshel |first16=S |last17=Zaporozhchenko |first17=V |last18=Atramentova |first18=L |last19=Kučinskas |first19=V |last20=Davydenko |first20=O |last21=Goncharova |first21=O |last22=Evseeva |first22=I |last23=Churnosov |first23=M |last24=Pocheshchova |first24=E |last25=Yunusbayev |first25=B |last26=Khusnutdinova |first26=E |last27=Marjanović |first27=D |last28=Rudan |first28=P |last29=Rootsi |first29=S |last30=Yankovsky |first30=N}}</ref> A similar result was cited in a study investigating the genetic pool of people from Republic of Moldova, concluded about the representative samples taken for comparison from Romanians from the towns of Piatra-Neamț and Buhuși that "the most common Y haplogroup in this population was I-M423 (40.7%). This is the highest frequency of the I-M423 haplogroup reported so far outside of the northwest Balkans. The next most frequent among Romanian males was haplogroup R-M17* (16.7%), followed by R-M405 (7.4%), E-v13 and R-M412* (both 5.6%)."<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Varzari |first1=Alexander |last2=Kharkov |first2=Vladimir |last3=Nikitin |first3=Alexey |last4=Raicu |first4=Florina |last5=Simonova |first5=Kseniya |last6=Stephan |first6=Wolfgang |last7=Weiss |first7=Elisabeth |last8=Stepanov |first8=Vadim |date=16 January 2013 |title=Paleo-Balkan and Slavic Contributions to the Genetic Pool of Moldavians: Insights from the Y Chromosome |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=e53731 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0053731 |pmid=23341985 |pmc=3547065 |bibcode=2013PLoSO...853731V |doi-access=free }}</ref> The I-M423 haplogroup is a subclade of I2a, a haplogroup prosperous in the ] culture and its possible offshoot ] (4800-3000 BCE). The high concentration of I2a1b-L621, the main subclade, is attributed to Bronze Age and Early Iron Age migrations (Dacians, Thracians, Illyrians) and the medieval Slavic migrations.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Balogh |first=Gábor |date=2014 |title=I2a1b (I-M423) Y-DNA Genetic AncestralJourney |url=https://www.academia.edu/23187714 |access-date=13 August 2023 |website=Academia.edu |archive-date=14 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230914141105/https://www.academia.edu/23187714 |url-status=live }}</ref>
=== Anthroponyms ===
These are family names that have been derived from either ''Vlach'' or ''Romanian''. Most of these names have been given when a Romanian settled in a non-Romanian region.
] PCA plot of genetic variation of European populations. ('''A''') Geographic coordinates of 37 populations. ('''B''') Procrustes-transformed PCA plot of genetic variation. The Procrustes analysis is based on the unprojected latitude-longitude coordinates and PC1-PC2 coordinates of 1378 individuals.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Wang |first1=Chaolong |last2=Zöllner |first2=Sebastian |last3=Rosenberg |first3=Noah A. |date=2012-08-23 |title=A Quantitative Comparison of the Similarity between Genes and Geography in Worldwide Human Populations |journal=PLOS Genetics |language=en |volume=8 |issue=8 |pages=e1002886 |doi=10.1371/journal.pgen.1002886 |issn=1553-7404 |pmc=3426559 |pmid=22927824 |doi-access=free }}</ref>]]
According to a Y-chromosome analysis of 335 sampled Romanians, 15% of them belong to R1a.<ref>{{cite journal |ref={{sfnref|Underhill et al.|2014}} |last1=Underhill |first1=Peter A |last2=Poznik |first2=G David |last3=Rootsi |first3=Siiri |last4=Järve |first4=Mari |last5=Lin |first5=Alice A |last6=Wang |first6=Jianbin |last7=Passarelli |first7=Ben |last8=Kanbar |first8=Jad |last9=Myres |first9=Natalie M |last10=King |first10=Roy J |last11=Di Cristofaro |first11=Julie |last12=Sahakyan |first12=Hovhannes |last13=Behar |first13=Doron M |last14=Kushniarevich |first14=Alena |last15=Šarac |first15=Jelena |display-authors=29 |year=2014 |title=The phylogenetic and geographic structure of Y-chromosome haplogroup R1a |journal=European Journal of Human Genetics |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=124–31 |doi=10.1038/ejhg.2014.50 |pmc=4266736 |pmid=24667786 |last16=Šaric |first16=Tena |last17=Rudan |first17=Pavao |last18=Pathak |first18=Ajai Kumar |last19=Chaubey |first19=Gyaneshwer |last20=Grugni |first20=Viola |last21=Semino |first21=Ornella |last22=Yepiskoposyan |first22=Levon |last23=Bahmanimehr |first23=Ardeshir |last24=Farjadian |first24=Shirin |last25=Balanovsky |first25=Oleg |last26=Khusnutdinova |first26=Elza K |last27=Herrera |first27=Rene J |last28=Chiaroni |first28=Jacques |last29=Bustamante |first29=Carlos D |last30=Quake |first30=Stephen R}}</ref> ], is a ] which is distributed in a large region in ], extending from ] and ] to southern ] and ].<ref>{{Cite journal |ref={{harvid |Underhill et al.|2009}} |last1=Underhill |first1=PA |last2=Myres |first2=NM |last3=Rootsi |first3=S |last4=Metspalu |first4=M |last5=Zhivotovsky |first5=LA |last6=King |first6=RJ |last7=Lin |first7=AA |last8=Chow |first8=CE |last9=Semino |first9=O |last10=Battaglia |first10=V |last11=Kutuev |first11=I |last12=Järve |first12=M |last13=Chaubey |first13=G |last14=Ayub |first14=Q |last15=Mohyuddin |first15=A |last16=Mehdi |first16=SQ |last17=Sengupta |first17=S |last18=Rogaev |first18=EI |last19=Khusnutdinova |first19=EK |last20=Pshenichnov |first20=A |last21=Balanovsky |first21=O |last22=Balanovska |first22=E |last23=Jeran |first23=N |last24=Augustin |first24=DH |last25=Baldovic |first25=M |last26=Herrera |first26=RJ |last27=Thangaraj |first27=K |last28=Singh |first28=V |last29=Singh |first29=L |last30=Majumder |first30=P |last31=Rudan |first31=P |last32=Primorac |first32=D |last33=Villems |first33=R |last34=Kivisild |first34=T |date=4 November 2009 |publication-date=April 2010 |title=Separating the post-Glacial coancestry of European and Asian Y chromosomes within haplogroup R1a |volume=18 |issue=4 |journal=European Journal of Human Genetics |doi=10.1038/ejhg.2009.194 |doi-access=free |pmid=19888303 |pmc=2987245 |pages=479–84 |display-authors=8}}</ref>{{sfn|Underhill et al.|2014}} Haplogroup R1a among Romanians is entirely from the Eastern European variety Z282 and may be a result of Baltic, Thracian or Slavic descent. 12% of the Romanians belong to ], the Alpino-Italic branch of R1b is at 2% a lower frequency recorded than other Balkan peoples.<ref name="myres">{{cite journal |last1=Myres |first1=N. M. |last2=Rootsi |first2=S |last3=Lin |first3=A. A. |last4=Järve |first4=M |last5=King |first5=R. J. |last6=Kutuev |first6=I |last7=Cabrera |first7=V. M. |last8=Khusnutdinova |first8=E. K. |last9=Pshenichnov |first9=A |last10=Yunusbayev |first10=B |last11=Balanovsky |first11=O |last12=Balanovska |first12=E |last13=Rudan |first13=P |last14=Baldovic |first14=M |last15=Herrera |first15=R. J. |year=2010 |title=A major Y-chromosome haplogroup R1b Holocene era founder effect in Central and Western Europe |journal=European Journal of Human Genetics |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=95–101 |doi=10.1038/ejhg.2010.146 |pmc=3039512 |pmid=20736979 |last16=Chiaroni |first16=J |last17=Di Cristofaro |first17=J |last18=Villems |first18=R |last19=Kivisild |first19=T |last20=Underhill |first20=P. A.}}</ref> The eastern branches of R1b represent 7%, they prevail in parts of ] as a result of Ancient ] – in parts of Sicily as well.<ref name="myres" /><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cruciani |first1=F. |last2=La Fratta |first2=R. |last3=Trombetta |first3=B. |last4=Santolamazza |first4=P. |last5=Sellitto |first5=D. |last6=Colomb |first6=E. B. |last7=Dugoujon |first7=J.-M. |last8=Crivellaro |first8=F. |last9=Benincasa |first9=T. |last10=Pascone |first10=R. |last11=Moral |first11=P. |last12=Watson |first12=E. |last13=Melegh |first13=B. |last14=Barbujani |first14=G. |last15=Fuselli |first15=S. |year=2007 |title=Tracing Past Human Male Movements in Northern/Eastern Africa and Western Eurasia: New Clues from Y-Chromosomal Haplogroups E-M78 and J-M12 |journal=Molecular Biology and Evolution |volume=24 |issue=6<!--|pages=1300–11--> |pages=1300–11 |doi=10.1093/molbev/msm049 |pmid=17351267 |doi-access=free |last16=Vona |first16=G. |last17=Zagradisnik |first17=B. |last18=Assum |first18=G. |last19=Brdicka |first19=R. |last20=Kozlov |first20=A. I. |last21=Efremov |first21=G. D. |last22=Coppa |first22=A. |last23=Novelletto |first23=A. |last24=Scozzari |first24=R.}}</ref> Other studies analyzing the haplogroup frequency among Romanians came to similar results.<ref name="ReferenceA" />


Delving into the regional differences of ] of Romanians, a 2014 study emphasised the different position of North and South Romanian populations (ie inside and outside of the Carpathian range) in terms of mitochondrial haplotype variability. The population within the Carpathian range was found to have ] at 59.7% frequency, U at 11.3%, K and HV at 3.23% each, and M, X and A at 1.61% each. The South Romanian population also showed the highest frequency in ] at 47% (lower than in the sample from the North of Romania), ] showed a noticeable frequency at 17% (higher than in the sample from North Romania), haplogroups HV and K at 10.61% and 7.58%, respectively, while haplogroups M, X and A were absent. Comparing the results to European and international samples, the study proposes a weak differentiated distribution of mitochondrial haplogroups between inner and outer Carpathian population (rather than North-South boundary) based on higher frequency for the ] and ] in the Southern Romanian sample - considered as markers of the Neolithic expansion in Europe from the Near East, the absence of K2a and the presence of ] in Northern Romanian sample - with higher frequency in Western and Southern Asia, and the inclusion of both Romanian populations within the range of the European mitochondrial variability, rather than being closer to the Near Eastern populations. The North Romanian sample was also found to be slightly separated from the other samples included in the study.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hervella |first1=Montserrat |last2=Izagirre |first2=Neskuts |last3=Alonso |first3=Santos |last4=Ioana |first4=Mihai |last5=Netea |first5=Mihai |last6=de-la-Rua |first6=Concepcion |date=2014 |title=The Carpathian range represents a weak genetic barrier in South-East Europe |journal=BMC Genetics |volume=15 |page=56 |doi=10.1186/1471-2156-15-56 |pmid=24885208 |pmc=4050216 |doi-access=free }}</ref>
* Oláh (37,147 Hungarians have this name)
* Vlach
* Vlahuta
* Vlasa
* Vlašic
* Vlasceanu
* Vlachopoulos


A 2017 paper concentrated on the ] of Romanians, showed how Romania has been "a major crossroads between Asia and Europe" and thus "experienced continuous migration and invasion episodes"; while stating that previous studies show Romanians "exhibit genetic similarity with other Europeans". The paper also mentions how "signals of Asian maternal lineages were observed in all Romanian historical provinces, indicating gene flow along the migration routes through ] and Europe, during different time periods, namely, the Upper Paleolithic period and/or, with a likely greater preponderance, the Middle Ages", at low frequency (2.24%). The study analysed 714 samples, representative to the 41 counties of Romania, and grouped them in 4 categories corresponding to historical Romanian provinces: ], ], ], and ]. The majority was classified within 9 Eurasian mitochondrial haplogroups (H, U, K, T, J, HV, V, W, and X), while also finding sequences that belonged to the most frequent Asian haplogroups (haplogroups A, C, D, I - at 2.24% overall frequency, and M and N) and African haplogroup L (two samples in Wallachia and one in Dobruja). The H, V, and X haplogroups were detected at higher frequencies in Transylvania, while the frequency of U and N was lower, with M being absent, interpreted as an indicator of genetic proximity of Transylvania to Central European populations, in contrast to the other three provinces, which showed resemblance to Balkan populations. The Dobrujan samples showed a larger contribution of genes from Southwestern Asia which the authors attributed to a larger Asian influence historically and/or its smaller sample size compared to that of the other populations included.<ref name="Cocoș-2017">{{Cite journal |last1=Cocoș |first1=Relu |last2=Schipor |first2=Sorina |last3=Hervella |first3=Montserrat |last4=Cianga |first4=Petru |last5=Popescu |first5=Roxana |last6=Bănescu |first6=Claudia |last7=Constantinescu |first7=Mihai |last8=Martinescu |first8=Alina |last9=Raicu |first9=Florina |year=2017 |title=Genetic affinities among the historical provinces of Romania and Central Europe as revealed by an mtDNA analysis |journal=BMC Genetics |volume=18 |issue=1 |pages=20 |doi=10.1186/s12863-017-0487-5 |pmc=5341396 |pmid=28270115 |doi-access=free }}</ref>
== Subgroups and related ethnic groups ==
The closest ethnic groups to the Romanians are the other Romanic peoples of Southeastern Europe: the ], the ] (Macedo-Romanians) and the ]. The Istro-Romanians are the closest ethnic group to the Romanians, and it is believed they left ], ] about a thousand years ago and settled in ], ]. Numbering about 500 people, they speak the ], the closest living relative of Romanian.


== Ethnogenesis ==
The Aromanians and the Megleno-Romanians are Romanic peoples who live south of the Danube, mainly in ], ] and the ], although some of them migrated to Romania in the 20th century. It is believed that they diverged from the Romanians in the 7th to 9th century, and currently speak the ] and ], both of which are ] languages, like Romanian, and are sometimes considered by traditional Romanian linguists to be dialects of standard (Daco-)Romanian.
{{main|Origin of the Romanians}}


Three theories account for the ethnogenesis of the Romanian people. One, known as the Daco-Roman continuity theory, posits that they are descendants of Romans and Romanized indigenous peoples (]) living in the ] Province of ], while the other posits that the Romanians are descendants of Romans and Romanized indigenous populations of the former Roman provinces of ], ], ], and ], and the ancestors of Romanians later migrated from these Roman provinces south of the ] into the area which they inhabit today.
==See also==
The third theory also known as the admigration theory, proposed by ] (1856–1923), posits that the formation of the Romanian people occurred in the former "Dacia Traiana" province, and in the central regions of the Balkan Peninsula.{{sfn|Boia|2001|p=117}}{{sfn|Schramm|1997|pp=277–278}}{{sfn|Pană Dindelegan|2013|p=1}} However, the Balkan Vlachs' northward migration ensured that these centers remained in close contact for centuries.{{sfn|Boia|2001|p=117}}{{sfn|Schramm|1997|p=278}} This theory is a compromise between the immigrationist and the continuity theories.{{sfn|Boia|2001|p=117}}
* ]

==Demographics==
The largest ethnic group in Romania is ethnic Romanians, followed by ] and ].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://eurydice.eacea.ec.europa.eu/national-education-systems/romania/population-demographic-situation-languages-and-religions#:~:text=The%20main%20ethnic%20group%20in,constitute%203.3%20%25%20of%20the%20population.|title=Population: demographic situation, languages and religions - Eurydice}}</ref>

== Maps ==

<gallery class="center">
File:Roumanophones 1856.jpeg|Mid-19th century French map depicting Romanians in Central and Eastern Europe
File:RomaniansInBalkans.png|Modern distribution of the Eastern Romance-speaking ethnic groups (including, most notably, the Romanians)
File:Austria-Hungary (ethnic).jpg|Romanians in Central Europe (coloured in blue), 1880
File:Austro-Ungaria si Romania (harta etnica).jpg|Ethnic map of Austria-Hungary and Romania, 1892
File:Romanians before WW1.jpg|British map depicting territories inhabited by Eastern Romance peoples before the outbreak of World War I
File:Sprachatlas Weigand 67.JPG|Romanian speakers in Central and Eastern Europe, early 20th century
File:GreaterRomaniaHistoricRegions.png|Map of the Kingdom of Romania at its greatest extent (1920–1940)
File:SE Europe Romanians.png|Geographic distribution of ethnic Romanians in the early 21st century
File:Map-balkans-vlachs.png|Notable regions with inhabited by Eastern Romance speakers at the beginning of the 21st century
File:Daco-Romanians (subgroups).PNG|Map highlighting the three main sub-groups of Daco-Romanians
File:Romania harta etnica 2011.PNG|Geographic distribution of Romanians in Romania (coloured in purple) at commune level (2011 census)
File:Harta etnica 2011 JUD.png|Geographic distribution of Romanian in Romania (coloured in purple) at county level (2011 census)
</gallery>

== See also ==

{{Portal|Romania}}
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== Notes and references ==
==External links ==
{{Reflist}}
*


== Bibliography ==
==Notes and references==
{{refbegin}}
<references/>
* {{cite book |last=Boia |first=Lucian |author-link=Lucian Boia |year=2001 |title=History and Myth in Romanian Consciousness (Translated by James Christian Brown) |publisher=CEU Press |isbn=978-963-9116-96-2}}
<!-- As of 2 April 2006: These footnotes were here, but no reference to it existed.
* {{cite book |last=Bóna |first=István |editor1-last=Köpeczi |editor1-first=Béla |editor2-last=Barta |editor2-first=Gábor |editor3-last=Bóna |editor3-first=István |editor4-last=Makkai |editor4-first=László |editor5-last=Szász |editor5-first=Zoltán |editor6-last=Borus |editor6-first=Judit | title=History of Transylvania |publisher=Akadémiai Kiadó |year=1994 |pages=62–177 |chapter=From Dacia to Transylvania: The Period of the Great Migrations (271&ndash;895); The Hungarian&ndash;Slav Period (895&ndash;1172) |isbn=963-05-6703-2}}
#{{note|RoMedia}} [http://www.romedia.us/target/index.htm RoMedia
* {{Cite book|last=Curta|first=Florin|author-link=Florin Curta|title=The Making of the Slavs: History and Archaeology of the Lower Danube Region, c. 500–700|year=2001|location=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-139-42888-0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rcFGhCVs0sYC|access-date=9 April 2023|archive-date=27 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230927203144/https://books.google.com/books?id=rcFGhCVs0sYC|url-status=live}}
#{{note|RoMedia}} Retrieved 20 Dec 2005. This commercial site claims 1,100,000 Romanians in the US; they give no indication of whether that is by ethnicity or language.
* {{Cite book|last=Curta|first=Florin|author-link=Florin Curta|title=Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500–1250|year=2006|location=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press|url=https://archive.org/details/southeasterneuro0000curt|url-access=registration}}
#{{note|Serbia}} ("The Romanian minority in Serbia is discontent")
* {{cite book |last1=Georgescu |first1=Vlad |title=The Romanians : a history |date=1991 |publisher=Ohio State University Press |location=Columbus |isbn=978-0-8142-0511-2}}
#{{note|Spain}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Gyóni |first1=Mátyás |editor1-last=Elekes |editor1-first=Lajos |title=A legrégibb vélemény a román nép eredetéről |journal=Századok |date=1944 |volume=78 |url=http://real-j.mtak.hu/13695/1/Szazadok_1944.pdf |trans-title=The oldest opinion about the origin of the Romanian people |location=] |language=hu |access-date=29 June 2023 |archive-date=16 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230316044000/http://real-j.mtak.hu/13695/1/Szazadok_1944.pdf |url-status=live }}
-->
* {{cite journal |last=Hind |first=J. G. F. |date=1984 |title=Whatever Happened to the 'Agri Decumates'? |journal=Britannia |volume=15 |pages=187–92 |doi=10.2307/526591 |jstor=526591|s2cid=163324047 }}
<!-- As of 2 April 2006: This footnote was here, but no reference to it existed.
* {{cite book |last1=Hitchins |first1=Keith |title=A Concise History of Romania |date=2014 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-87238-6 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/concise-history-of-romania/1F69320FF2C653434C4E894E2BF114C6 |access-date=30 April 2023 |archive-date=30 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230430120208/https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/concise-history-of-romania/1F69320FF2C653434C4E894E2BF114C6 |url-status=live }}
#{{note|Emigre-vote}} {{note label|Emigre-vote|11|a}} {{note label|Emigre-vote|11|b}} Anca Alexe, Ana-Maria Luca, Costin Anghel, "Românii din strainatate nu prea merg la votare", ("Most Romanians abroad will not go to vote"). '']'', 26 Nov 2004. Reprinted at , retrieved 18 Dec 2005.
* {{Cite journal|last=Janković|first=Đorđe|title=The Slavs in the 6th Century North Illyricum|journal=Гласник Српског археолошког друштва|year=2004|volume=20|pages=39–61|url=http://www.rastko.rs/arheologija/delo/13047|access-date=29 June 2023|archive-date=23 January 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130123101219/http://www.rastko.rs/arheologija/delo/13047|url-status=live}}
<!-- captured December 24, 2004 from
* {{cite journal |last=Jones |first=C. P. |date=1988 |title=An Epigram from Ratiaria |journal=The American Journal of Philology |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |volume=109 |number=2 |pages=231–38 |doi=10.2307/294583 |jstor=294583}}
#-
* {{Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium|ref={{harvid|ODB}}}} <!-- Kazdhan -->
http://www.jurnalul.ro/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=121158 on their own site, but that link is now broken and hasn't showed up in the Internet Archive. Similarly http://www.jurnalul.ro/print.php?sid=121158. Please preserve these in case they eventually shows up on the Archive.-->
* {{cite journal |last=Madgearu |first=Alexandru |title=The Church Organization at the Lower Danube, between 971 and 2001 |journal=Études byzantines et post-byzantines |volume=IV |pages=71–85 |publisher=Academia română |year=2001 |url=https://www.academia.edu/1300078 |issn=1222-4766 |access-date=11 December 2015 |archive-date=19 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220619102504/https://www.academia.edu/1300078 |url-status=live }}
</div>
* {{cite book |last1=Madgearu |first1=Alexandru |title=The Romanians in the Anonymous "Gesta Hungarorum" : truth and fiction |date=2005 |publisher=Center for Transylvanian Studies, Romanian Cultural Institute |location=Cluj-Napoca |isbn=973-7784-01-4}}
* {{cite book |last=Pană Dindelegan |first=Gabriela |author-link=Gabriela Pană Dindelegan |editor-last=Pană Dindelegan |editor-first=Gabriela |title=The Grammar of Romanian |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2013 |pages=1–7 |chapter=Introduction: Romanian – a brief presentation |isbn=978-0-19-964492-6}}
* {{Cite book |last=Schramm |first=Gottfried |year=1997 |title=Ein Damm bricht. Die römische Donaugrenze und die Invasionen des 5-7. Jahrhunderts in Lichte der Namen und Wörter '''' |publisher=R. Oldenbourg Verlag |isbn=978-3-486-56262-0 |language=de}}
* {{cite journal |last=Soulis |first=George C. |date=1963 |title=Thessalian Vlachia |journal=Zbornik Radova Vizantološkog Instituta |volume=8 |number=1 |pages=271–273}}
* {{cite book |last1=Spinei |first1=Victor |title=The Romanians and the Turkic nomads north of the Danube Delta from the tenth to the mid-thirteenth century |date=2009 |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden |isbn=978-90-04-17536-5}}
* {{cite journal |first=Jacek |last=Wiewiorowski |year=2008 |location=Poznán |title=Duces of Scythia Minor: A Prosopographical Study |journal=Xenia Posnaniensia |volume=VIII |isbn=978-83-60251-15-7 |url=https://www.academia.edu/5850298 |access-date=29 June 2023 |archive-date=29 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230629173545/https://www.academia.edu/5850298 |url-status=live }}
* {{cite book |first=Mihail |last=Zahariade |title=Scythia Minor: A History of a Later Roman Province (284–681) |publisher=Hakkert |year=2006}}
{{refend}}


== External links ==
{{Ethnic groups of Romania}}
{{Commons category|Romanians}}
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{{Romanian topics}}
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{{Authority control}}

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Latest revision as of 19:27, 26 December 2024

Ethnic group native to Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe Not to be confused with Romani people, Romans or Aromanians. For information on the population of Romania, see Demographics of Romania.

Ethnic group
Romanians
Români
Ethnic distribution of Romanians around the world
Total population
c. 22.8–24.8 million (including Romanian citizens of all ethnic groups living abroad)
Regions with significant populations
 Romania 19,053,815 (2022 Romanian census)
 Moldova 192,800 (2014 Moldovan census; additional 2,068,058 Moldovans)
Other countries
Europe
 Italy1,206,938 migrants from Romania, of all ethnic groups
 Germany866,000 (2022) migrants from Romania of all ethnic groups, including a wide range of Romanian Germans as well
 Spain535,935 Born in Romania (2022)
 United Kingdom329,000 Romanian-born residents (2022)
 France200,000–500,000 (2022) Romanian citizens of all ethnic groups
 Ukraine150,989 (additional 258,619 Moldovans)
 Austria131,788 Romanian citizens of all ethnic groups
 Belgium92,746 migrants from Romania, of all ethnic groups
 Greece46,523 Romanian citizens of all ethnic groups
 Netherlands39,654 migrants from Romania, of all ethnic groups
 Portugal39,000 Romanian citizens of all ethnic groups
 Hungary36,506
 Denmark34,960 Romanian citizens of all ethnic groups
 Sweden32,294 born in Romania, of all ethnic groups
 Ireland29,186 Romanian citizens of all ethnic groups
Cyprus Cyprus24,376 Romanian citizens of all ethnic groups
 Serbia23,044 (additional 21,013 Timok Vlachs)
  Switzerland21,593 Romanian citizens of all ethnic groups
 Norway18,877 migrants of Romania, of all ethnic groups
 Czech Republic14,684 Romanian citizens of all ethnic groups
 Turkey14,411 Romanian citizens of all ethnic groups
 Luxembourg5,209 Romanian citizens of all ethnic groups
 Polandc. 5,000
 Slovakia4,941 Romanian citizens of all ethnic groups
 Finland4,902 Romanian citizens of all ethnic groups
 Russia3,201
 Malta2,000
 Iceland1,463 Romanian citizens of all ethnic groups
 Bulgaria891
 Bosnia and Herzegovina100
North America
 United States518,653–1,400,000 (incl. mixed origin)
 Canada204,625–400,000 (incl. mixed origin)
 Mexico569
South America
 Brazil200,000 migrants from Romania and Romanian citizens, of all ethnic groups
 Venezuela10,000 migrants from Romania, of all ethnic groups
 Argentina10,000 of Romanian origin, including Romanian Jews and Romanian Romani
 Colombia350
 Uruguay200
 Peru174
Oceania
 Australia20,998 first and second generation migrants from Romania, of all ethnic groups
 New Zealand3,100
Asia
 Israel100,823 (mostly Romanian Jews)
 Japan2,708
 South Korea661
 Kazakhstan421
 Vietnam100
Africa
 South Africa2,828
 Egypt420
Languages
Romanian
Religion
Predominantly Orthodox Christianity
(Romanian Orthodox Church),
also Roman Catholic, Greek Catholic, and Protestant
Related ethnic groups
Other Eastern Romance-speaking peoples
(most notably Moldovans, Aromanians, Megleno-Romanians, and Istro-Romanians)
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Romanians (Romanian: români, pronounced [roˈmɨnʲ]; dated exonym Vlachs) are a Romance-speaking ethnic group and nation native to Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. Sharing a common culture and ancestry, they speak the Romanian language and live primarily in Romania and Moldova. The 2021 Romanian census found that 89.3% of Romania's citizens identified themselves as ethnic Romanians.

In one interpretation of the 1989 census results in Moldova, the majority of Moldovans were counted as ethnic Romanians as well. Romanians also form an ethnic minority in several nearby countries situated in Central, Southeastern, and Eastern Europe, most notably in Hungary, Serbia (including Timok), and Ukraine.

Estimates of the number of Romanian people worldwide vary from 24 to 30 million, in part depending on whether the definition of the term "Romanian" includes natives of both Romania and Moldova, their respective diasporas, and native speakers of both Romanian and other Eastern Romance languages. Other speakers of the latter languages are the Aromanians, the Megleno-Romanians, and the Istro-Romanians (native to Istria), all of them unevenly distributed throughout the Balkan Peninsula, which may be considered either Romanian subgroups or separated but related ethnicities.

History

Main article: History of Romania

Antiquity

Main articles: Dacia and Roman Dacia
Map showing the area where Dacian was spoken. The blue area shows the Dacian lands conquered by the Roman Empire. The orange area was inhabited by Free Dacian tribes and others.

The territories of modern-day Romania and Moldova were inhabited by the ancient Getae and Dacian tribes. King Burebista who reigned from 82/61 BC to 45/44 BC, was the first king who successfully unified the tribes of the Dacian kingdom, which comprised the area located between the Danube, Tisza, and Dniester rivers. King Decebalus who reigned from 87 to 106 AD was the last king of the Dacian kingdom before it was conquered by the Roman Empire in 106, after two wars between Decebalus' army and Trajan's army. Prior to the two wars, Decebalus defeated a Roman invasion during the reign of Domitian between 86 and 88 AD.

The Roman administration retreated from Dacia between 271 and 275 AD, during the reign of emperor Aurelian under the pressure of the Goths and the Dacian Carpi tribe. The later Roman province Dacia Aureliana, was organized inside former Moesia Superior. It was reorganized as Dacia Ripensis (as a military province, devastated by an Avars invasion in 586) and Dacia Mediterranea (as a civil province, devastated by an Avar invasion in 602).

Map showing the area where the Latin language was spoken in pink during the Roman Empire between the 4th and 7th century (including the territory of present-day Romania)

The Diocese of Dacia (circa 337–602) was a diocese of the later Roman Empire, in the area of modern-day Balkans. The Diocese of Dacia was composed of five provinces, the northernmost provinces were Dacia Ripensis (the Danubian portion of Dacia Aureliana, one of the cities of Dacia Ripensis in today Romania is Sucidava) and Moesia Prima (today in Serbia, near the border between Romania and Serbia). The territory of the diocese was devastated by the Huns in the middle of 5th century and finally overrun by the Avars and Slavs in late 6th and early 7th century.

Scythia Minor (c. 290 – c. 680) was a Roman province corresponding to the lands between the Danube and the Black Sea, today's Dobruja divided between Romania and Bulgaria. The capital of the province was Tomis (today Constanța). According to the Laterculus Veronensis of c. 314 and the Notitia Dignitatum of c. 400, Scythia belonged to the Diocese of Thrace. The indigenous population of Scythia Minor was Dacian and their material culture is apparent archaeologically into the sixth century. Roman fortifications mostly date to the Tetrarchy or the Constantinian dynasty. The province ceased to exist around 679–681, when the region was overrun by the Bulgars, which the Emperor Constantine IV was forced to recognize in 681.

Early Middle Ages to Late Middle Ages

See also: Romania in the Middle Ages and Vlachs

During the Middle Ages Romanians were mostly known as Vlachs, a blanket term ultimately of Germanic origin, from the word Walha, used by ancient Germanic peoples to refer to Romance-speaking and Celtic neighbours. Besides the separation of some groups (Aromanians, Megleno-Romanians, and Istro-Romanians) during the Age of Migration, many Vlachs could be found all over the Balkans, in Transylvania, across Carpathian Mountains as far north as Poland and as far west as the regions of Moravia (part of the modern Czech Republic), some went as far east as Volhynia of western Ukraine, and the present-day Croatia where the Morlachs gradually disappeared, while the Catholic and Orthodox Vlachs took Croat and Serb national identity.

The first written record about a Romance language spoken in the Middle Ages in the Balkans, near the Haemus Mons is from 587 AD. A Vlach muleteer accompanying the Byzantine army noticed that the load was falling from one of the animals and shouted to a companion Torna, torna, fratre! (meaning "Return, return, brother!"). Theophanes the Confessor recorded it as part of a 6th-century military expedition by Comentiolus and Priscus against the Avars. Historian Gheorghe I. Brătianu considers that these words "represent an expression from the Romanian language, as it was formed at that time in the Balkan and Danube regions"; "they probably belong to one and the most significant of the substrates on which our (Romanian) language was built".

The first definite document mentioning Romanians (Vlachs) is from the 8th century from the Konstamonitou Monastery in Mount Athos, in Greece and talks about the Vlachs of the Rynchos river (present-day North Macedonia). According to the early 13th century medieval Hungarian book Gesta Hungarorum the invading Magyars of King Árpád (c. 845 – c. 907) waged wars against three dukes—Glad, Menumorut and the Vlach Gelou—for Banat, Crișana and Transylvania. Gesta Hungarorum also mentions the Slavs, Bulgarians, Vlachs and the shepherds of the Romans inhabiting the Carpathian Basin: "sclauij, Bulgarij et Blachij, ac pastores romanorum". Most researchers identify the Blachij with the Vlachs. However the document was written between 1200 and 1230, around 300 years after the described events and some modern historians have reservations about it and find it unreliable.

Another important document mentioning Romanians (Vlachs) from the South of the Balkan Peninsula dates back to 980. That year, the governor of Servia, Nikulitsa received the position of leader (archon) of the Vlachs from Hellas from Emperor Basil II. The function received by Nikulitsa might have been as a commander of a Vlach army. Byzantine historians usually described foreign rulers as archontes. The document signed by Basil II to give the position of archon of the Vlachs to Nekulitsa is mentioned in Strategikon of Kekaumenos (written between 1075 and 1078 AD).

First Bulgarian Empire (681–1018) around 850

After the Avar Khaganate collapsed in the 790s, the First Bulgarian Empire became the dominant power of the region, occupying lands as far as the river Tisa. The First Bulgarian Empire had a mixed population consisting of the Bulgar conquerors, Slavs and Vlachs (Romanians) but the Slavicisation of the Bulgar elite had already begun in the 9th century. Following the conquest of Southern and Central Transylvania around 830, people from the Bulgar Empire mined salt from mines in Turda, Ocna Mureș, Sărățeni and Ocnița. They traded and transported salt throughout the Bulgar Empire.

A series of Arab historians from the 10th century are some of the first to mention Vlachs in Eastern/South Eastern Europe: Mutahhar al-Maqdisi (c.945-991) writes: "They say that in the Turkic neighbourhood there are the Khazars, Russians, Slavs, Waladj (Vlachs), Alans, Greeks and many other peoples". Ibn al-Nadīm (early 932–998) published in 998 the work Kitāb al-Fihrist mentioning "Turks, Bulgars and Vlahs" (using Blagha for Vlachs).

A series of Byzantine historians, such as George Kedrenos (circa 1000), Kekaumenos (circa 1000), John Skylitzes (early 1040s – after 1101), Anna Komnene (1083-1153), John Kinnamos (1143-1185) and Niketas Choniates (1155-1217) were some of the first to write about the Vlachs. John Skylitzes mentions the Vlachs around 976 AD, as guides and guards of Byzantine caravans in the Balkans. Between Prespa and Kastoria, they met and fought with a Bulgarian rebel named David. The Vlachs killed David in their first documented battle. Kekaumenos's father-in-law was Nikulitzas Delphinas, a lord of Larissa who took part in the revolt of Bulgarians and Vlachs in Thessaly in 1066 AD. The 11th-century scholar Kekaumenos wrote of a Vlach homeland situated "near the Danube and  the Sava, where the Serbians lived more recently". He associated the Vlachs with the Dacians and the Bessi. Accordingly, historians have located this homeland in several places, including Pannonia Inferior (Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu) and Dacia Aureliana (Mátyás Gyóni).

The princess and chronicler Anna Komnene reports that in April 1091, on the eve of the decisive Byzantine-Pecheneg Battle of Levounion, Emperor Alexios I Komnenos (1057-1118) was assisted by "a number of 5,000 brave mountaineers and ready to attack, passed by his side, to fight alongside him". Most of the specialists who have addressed these aspects have identified those " bold mountaineers ", with the 'Vlachs. Anna Komnene reports that in 1094, on the occasion of the Cumans' campaign south of the Danube, Emperor Alexios I Komnenos was informed about the movements of the "Turanians", who had crossed the Danube by "a certain Pudilos, a Vlach noble".

The Byzantine chronicler Niketas Choniates writes that in 1164, Andronikos I Komnenos, the emperor Manuel I Komnenos's cousin, tried without success, to usurp the throne. Failing in his attempt, the Byzantine prince sought refuge in Halych but Andronikos I Komnenos was "captured by the Vlachs, to whom the rumor of his escape had reached, he was taken back to the emperor".

The Byzantine chronicler John Kinnamos, presenting the campaign of Manuel I Komnenos against Hungary in 1166, reports that General Leon Vatatzes had under his command "a great multitude of Vlachs, who are said to be ancient colonies of those in Italy", an army that attacked the Hungarian possessions "about the lands near the Pontus called the Euxine", respectively the southeastern regions of Transylvania, "destroyed everything without sparing and trampled everything it encountered in its passage".

By the 9th and 10th centuries, the nomadic Pechenegs conquered much of the steppes of Southeast Europe and the Crimean Peninsula.The Pecheneg wars against the Kievan Rus' caused some of the Slavs and Vlachs from North of the Danube to gradually migrate north of the Dniestr in the 10th and 11th centuries.

The Second Bulgarian Empire founded by the Asen dynasty consisting of Bulgarians and Vlachs was founded in 1185 and lasted until 1396. Early rulers from the Asen dynasty (particularly Kaloyan) referred to themselves as "Emperors of Bulgarians and Vlachs". Later rulers, especially Ivan Asen II, styled themselves "Tsars (Emperors) of Bulgarians and Romans". An alternative name used in connection with the pre-mid Second Bulgarian Empire 13th century period is the Empire of Vlachs and Bulgarians; variant names include the "Vlach–Bulgarian Empire", the "Bulgarian–Wallachian Empire".

Royal charters wrote of the "Vlachs' land" in southern Transylvania in the early 13th century, indicating the existence of autonomous Romanian communities. Papal correspondence mentions the activities of Orthodox prelates among the Romanians in Muntenia in the 1230s. Béla IV of Hungary's land grant to the Knights Hospitallers in Oltenia and Muntenia shows that the local Vlach rulers were subject to the king's authority in 1247.

Map depicting historical Romanian/Vlach pastoral transhumance (a seasonal movement of livestock between fixed summer and winter pastures) in Eastern and Southeastern Europe (including the territory of Romania today) during the 18th and 19th centuries

The late 13th-century Hungarian chronicler Simon of Kéza states that the Vlachs were "shepherds and husbandmen" who "remained in Pannonia". An unknown author's Description of Eastern Europe from 1308 likewise states that the Vlachs "were once the shepherds of the Romans" who "had over them ten powerful kings in the entire Messia and Pannonia".

Additionally, in medieval times there were other lands known by the name 'Vlach' such as Great Vlachia, situated between Thessaly and the western Pindus mountains, of the Despotate of Epirus between the 12th-15th century. Originally within the Byzantine Empire, but after the 13th century autonomous or semi-independent. In the 12th century, the Jewish traveller Benjamin of Tudela, who toured the area in 1166 called the region of Thessaly "Vlachia". The contemporary Byzantine historian Niketas Choniates however distinguishes "Great Vlachia" as a district near Meteora. "Vlachia", "Great Vlachia", and the other variants began to fall out of use for Thessaly at the turn of the 14th century, and with the emergence of the Principality of Wallachia north of the Danube in the 14th century, from the 15th century the name was reserved for it. White Wallachia, a Byzantine denomination for the region between the Danube River and the Balkans; Moravian Wallachia, a region in south-eastern Czech Republic). The names derive from the Vlachs, who had lived across much of these regions.

In the 14th century the Danubian Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia emerged to fight the Ottoman Empire. During the late Middle Ages, prominent medieval Romanian monarchs such as Bogdan of Moldavia, Stephen the Great, Mircea the Elder, Michael the Brave, or Vlad the Impaler took part actively in the history of Central Europe by waging tumultuous wars and leading noteworthy crusades against the then continuously expanding Ottoman Empire, at times allied with either the Kingdom of Poland or the Kingdom of Hungary in these causes.

Early Modern Age to Late Modern Age

Michael the Brave entering Alba Iulia

Eventually the entire Balkan peninsula was annexed by the Ottoman Empire. However, Moldavia and Wallachia (extending to Dobruja and Bulgaria) were not entirely subdued by the Ottomans as both principalities became autonomous (which was not the case of other Ottoman territorial possessions in Europe). Transylvania, a third region inhabited by an important majority of Romanian speakers, was a vassal state of the Ottomans until 1687, when the principality became part of the Habsburg possessions. The three principalities were united for several months in 1600 under the authority of Wallachian Prince Michael the Brave.

Up until 1541, Transylvania was part of the Kingdom of Hungary, later (due to the conquest of Hungary by the Ottoman Empire) was a self-governed Principality governed by the Hungarian nobility. In 1699 it became a part of the Habsburg lands. By the end of the 18th century, the Austrian Empire was awarded by the Ottomans with the region of Bukovina and, in 1812, the Russians occupied the eastern half of Moldavia, known as Bessarabia through the Treaty of Bucharest of 1812.

Animated history of Romania's borders (mid 19th century–present)
Romanians in the Kingdom of Hungary, according to the 1890 census
Map depicting the United Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia between 1859 and 1878

In the context of the 1848 Romanticist and liberal revolutions across Europe, the events that took place in the Grand Principality of Transylvania were the first of their kind to unfold in the Romanian-speaking territories. On the one hand, the Transylvanian Saxons and the Transylvanian Romanians (with consistent support on behalf of the Austrian Empire) successfully managed to oppose the goals of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, with the two noteworthy historical figures leading the common Romanian-Saxon side at the time being Avram Iancu and Stephan Ludwig Roth.

Romanian peasants in the 1840s

On the other hand, the Wallachian revolutions of 1821 and 1848 as well as the Moldavian Revolution of 1848, which aimed for independence from Ottoman and Russian foreign rulership, represented important impacts in the process of spreading the liberal ideology in the eastern and southern Romanian lands, in spite of the fact that all three eventually failed. Nonetheless, in 1859, Moldavia and Wallachia elected the same ruler, namely Alexander John Cuza (who reigned as Domnitor) and were thus unified de facto, resulting in the United Romanian Principalities for the period between 1859 and 1881.

During the 1870s, the United Romanian Principalities (then led by Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen Domnitor Carol I) fought a War of Independence against the Ottomans, with Romania's independence being formally recognised in 1878 at the Treaty of Berlin.

Although the relatively newly founded Kingdom of Romania initially allied with Austria-Hungary, Romania refused to enter World War I on the side of the Central Powers, because it was obliged to wage war only if Austria-Hungary was attacked. In 1916, Romania joined the war on the side of the Triple Entente.

As a result, at the end of the war, Transylvania, Bessarabia, and Bukovina were awarded to Romania, through a series of international peace treaties, resulting in an enlarged and far more powerful kingdom under King Ferdinand I. As of 1920, the Romanian people was believed to number over 15 million solely in the region of the Romanian kingdom, a figure larger than the populations of Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands combined.

During the interwar period, two additional monarchs came to the Romanian throne, namely Carol II and Michael I. This short-lived period was marked, at times, by political instabilities and efforts of maintaining a constitutional monarchy in favour of other, totalitarian regimes such as an absolute monarchy or a military dictatorship.

Contemporary Era

During World War II, the Kingdom of Romania lost territory both to the east and west, as Northern Transylvania became part of the Kingdom of Hungary through the Second Vienna Award, while Bessarabia and northern Bukovina were taken by the Soviets and included in the Moldavian SSR, respectively Ukrainian SSR. The eastern territory losses were facilitated by the Molotov–Ribbentrop Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact.

After the end of the war, the Romanian Kingdom managed to regain territories lost westward but was nonetheless not given Bessarabia and northern Bukovina back, the aforementioned regions being forcefully incorporated into the Soviet Union (USSR). Subsequently, the Soviet Union imposed a communist government and King Michael was forced to abdicate and leave for exile, subsequently settling in Switzerland, while Petru Groza remained the head of the government of the Socialist Republic of Romania (RSR). Nicolae Ceaușescu became the head of the Romanian Communist Party (PCR) in 1965 and his severe rule of the 1980s was ended by the Romanian Revolution of 1989.

The chaos of the 1989 revolution brought to power the dissident communist Ion Iliescu as president (largely supported by the FSN). Iliescu remained in power as head of state until 1996, when he was defeated by CDR-supported Emil Constantinescu in the 1996 general elections, the first in post-communist Romania that saw a peaceful transition of power. Following Constantinescu's single term as president from 1996 to 2000, Iliescu was re-elected in late 2000 for another term of four years. In 2004, Traian Băsescu, the PNL-PD candidate of the Justice and Truth Alliance (DA), was elected president. Five years later, Băsescu (solely supported by the PDL this time) was narrowly re-elected for a second term in the 2009 presidential elections.

In 2014, the PNL-PDL candidate (as part of the larger Christian Liberal Alliance or ACL for short; also endorsed by the Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania, FDGR/DFDR for short respectively) Klaus Iohannis won a surprise victory over former Prime Minister and PSD-supported contender Victor Ponta in the second round of the 2014 presidential elections. Thus, Iohannis became the first Romanian president stemming from an ethnic minority of the country (as he belongs to the Romanian-German community, being a Transylvanian Saxon). In 2019, the PNL-supported Iohannis was re-elected for a second term as president after a second round landslide victory in the 2019 Romanian presidential election (being also supported in that round by PMP and USR as well as by the FDGR/DFDR in both rounds).

In the meantime, Romania's major foreign policy achievements were the alignment with Western Europe and the United States by joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) back in 2004 and the European Union three years later, in 2007. Current national objectives of Romania include adhering to the Schengen Area, the Eurozone as well as the OECD (i.e. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development).

Language

Main article: Romanian language
Neacșu's letter to Johannes Benkner (former Transylvanian Saxon mayor of Kronstadt/Brașov) is the oldest document written in Romanian discovered to date.

During the Middle Ages, Romanian was isolated from the other Romance languages, and borrowed words from the nearby Slavic languages (see Slavic influence on Romanian). Later on, it borrowed a number of words from German, Hungarian, and Turkish. During the modern era, most neologisms were borrowed from French and Italian, though the language has increasingly begun to adopt English borrowings.

The origins of the Romanian language, a Romance language, can be traced back to the Roman colonisation of the region. The basic vocabulary is of Latin origin, although there are some substratum words that are assumed to be of Dacian origin. It is the most spoken Eastern Romance language and is closely related to Aromanian, Megeleno-Romanian, and Istro-Romanian, all three part of the same sub-branch of Romance languages.

Romanian language, as part of the Eastern Romance sub-branch of Romance languages, alongside and related to Aromanian, Megleno-Romanian, and Istro-Romanian.

The Moldovan language, in its official form, is practically identical to Romanian, although there are some differences in colloquial speech. In the de facto independent (but internationally unrecognised) region of Transnistria, the official script used to write Moldovan is Cyrillic, although Moldovan has a very limited usage in Transnistria despite its official status.

Since 2013, the Romanian Language Day is officially celebrated on 31 August in Romania. In Moldova, it is officially celebrated on the same day since 2023.

As of 2017, an Ethnologue estimation puts the (worldwide) number of Romanian speakers at approximately 24.15 million. The 24.15 million, however, represent only speakers of Romanian, not all of whom are necessarily ethnic Romanians. Also, this number does not include ethnic-Romanians who no longer speak the Romanian language.

Names for Romanians

In English, Romanians are usually called Romanians and very rarely Rumanians or Roumanians, except in some historical texts, where they are called Roumans or Vlachs.

Etymology of the name Romanian (român)

Main article: Name of Romania
Romanian revolutionaries of 1848 waving the tricolor flag

The name Romanian is derived from Latin romanus, meaning "Roman". Under regular phonetical changes that are typical to the Romanian language, the name romanus over the centuries transformed into rumân [ruˈmɨn]. An older form of român was still in use in some regions. Socio-linguistic evolutions in the late 18th century led to a gradual preponderance of the român spelling form, which was then generalised during the National awakening of Romania of early 19th century. Several historical sources show the use of the term "Romanian" among the medieval or early modern Romanian population. One of the earliest examples comes from the Nibelungenlied, a German epic poem from before 1200 in which a "Duke Ramunc from the land of Vlachs (Wallachia)" is mentioned. "Vlach" was an exonym used almost exclusively for the Romanians during the Middle Ages. It has been argued by some Romanian researchers that "Ramunc" was not the name of the duke, but a name that highlighted his ethnicity. Other old documents, especially Byzantine or Hungarian ones, make a correlation between the old Romanians as Romans or their descendants. Several other documents, notably from Italian travelers into Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania, speak of the self-identification, language and culture of the Romanians, showing that they designated themselves as "Romans" or related to them in up to 30 works. One example is Tranquillo Andronico's 1534 writing that states that the Vlachs "now call themselves Romans". Another one is Francesco della Valle's 1532 manuscripts that state that the Romanians from Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania preserved the name "Roman" and cites the sentence "Sti Rominest?" (știi românește?, "do you speak Romanian?"). Authors that travelled to modern Romania who wrote about it in 1574, 1575 and 1666 also noted the use of the term "Romanian". From the Middle Ages, Romanians bore two names, the exonym (one given to them by foreigners) Wallachians or Vlachs, under its various forms (vlah, valah, valach, voloh, blac, olăh, vlas, ilac, ulah, etc.), and the endonym (the name they used for themselves) Romanians (Rumâni/Români). The first mentions by Romanians of the endonym are contemporary with the earliest writings in Romanian from the sixteenth century.

According to Tomasz Kamusella, at the time of the rise of Romanian nationalism during the early 19th century, the political leaders of Wallachia and Moldavia were aware that the name România was identical to Romania, a name that had been used for the former Byzantine Empire by its inhabitants. Kamusella continues by stating that they preferred this ethnonym in order to stress their presumed link with Ancient Rome and that it became more popular as a nationalistic form of referring to all Romanian-language speakers as a distinct and separate nation during the 1820s. Raymond Detrez asserts that român, derived from the Latin Romanus, acquired at a certain point the same meaning of the Greek Romaios; that of Orthodox Christian. Wolfgang Dahmen claims that the meaning of romanus (Roman) as "Christian", as opposed to "pagan", which used to mean "non-Roman", may have contributed to the preservation of this word as an ethonym of the Romanian people, under the meaning of "Christian".

Daco-Romanian

To distinguish Romanians from the other Romanic peoples of the Balkans (Aromanians, Megleno-Romanians, and Istro-Romanians), the term Daco-Romanian is sometimes used to refer to those who speak the standard Romanian language and live in the former territory of ancient Dacia (today comprising mostly Romania and Moldova) and its surroundings (such as Dobruja or the Timok Valley, the latter region part of the former Roman province of Dacia Ripensis).

Etymology of the term Vlach

The name of "Vlachs" is an exonym that was used by Slavs to refer to all Romanized natives of the Balkans. It holds its origin from ancient Germanic—being a cognate to "Welsh" and "Walloon"—and perhaps even further back in time, from the Roman name Volcae, which was originally a Celtic tribe. From the Slavs, it was passed on to other peoples, such as the Hungarians (Oláh) and Greeks (Vlachoi) (see the Etymology section of Vlachs). Wallachia, the Southern region of Romania, takes its name from the same source.

Nowadays, the term Vlach is more often used to refer to the Romanized populations of the Balkans who speak Daco-Romanian, Aromanian, Istro-Romanian, and Megleno-Romanian.

Romanians outside Romania

Main article: Romanian diaspora
Countries with a significant Romanian population and descendants from Romanians:
  Romania   +1,000,000   +100,000   +10,000   +1,000
Charts depicting share of Romanians living abroad within other states of the European Union

Most Romanians live in Romania, where they constitute a majority; Romanians also constitute a minority in the countries that neighbour Romania. Romanians can also be found in many countries, notably in the other EU countries, particularly in Italy, Spain, Germany, the United Kingdom and France; in North America in the United States and Canada; in Israel; as well as in Brazil, Australia, Argentina, and New Zealand among many other countries. Italy and Spain have been popular emigration destinations, due to a relatively low language barrier, and both are each now home to about a million Romanians. With respect to geopolitical identity, many individuals of Romanian ethnicity in Moldova prefer to identify themselves as Moldovans.

The contemporary total population of ethnic Romanians cannot be stated with any degree of certainty. A disparity can be observed between official sources (such as census counts) where they exist, and estimates which come from non-official sources and interested groups. Several inhibiting factors (not unique to this particular case) contribute towards this uncertainty, which may include:

  • A degree of overlap may exist or be shared between Romanian and other ethnic identities in certain situations, and census or survey respondents may elect to identify with one particular ancestry but not another, or instead identify with multiple ancestries;
  • Counts and estimates may inconsistently distinguish between Romanian nationality and Romanian ethnicity (i.e. not all Romanian nationals identify with Romanian ethnicity, and vice versa);
  • The measurements and methodologies employed by governments to enumerate and describe the ethnicity and ancestry of their citizens vary from country to country. Thus the census definition of "Romanian" might variously mean Romanian-born, of Romanian parentage, or also include other ethnic identities as Romanian which otherwise are identified separately in other contexts.
Romanians of Zakarpattia Oblast in Carpathian Ruthenia, western Ukraine, performing a traditional dance.

For example, the decennial US Census of 2000 calculated (based on a statistical sampling of household data) that there were 367,310 respondents indicating Romanian ancestry (roughly 0.1% of the total population).

The actual total recorded number of foreign-born Romanians was only 136,000. However, some non-specialist organisations have produced estimates which are considerably higher: a 2002 study by the Romanian-American Network Inc. mentions an estimated figure of 1,200,000 for the number of Romanian Americans. Which makes the United States home to the largest Romanian community outside Romania.

This estimate notes however that "...other immigrants of Romanian national minority groups have been included such as: Armenians, Germans, Gypsies, Hungarians, Jews, and Ukrainians". It also includes an unspecified allowance for second- and third-generation Romanians, and an indeterminate number living in Canada. An error range for the estimate is not provided. For the United States 2000 Census figures, almost 20% of the total population did not classify or report an ancestry, and the census is also subject to undercounting, an incomplete (67%) response rate, and sampling error in general.

In Republika Srpska, one of the two entities constituting Bosnia and Herzegovina together with the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romanians are legally recognized as an ethnic minority.

Culture

Main article: Culture of Romania

Contributions to contemporary culture

Main article: List of Romanians

Romanians have played and contributed a major role in the advancement of the arts, culture, sciences, technology and engineering.

In the history of aviation, Traian Vuia and Aurel Vlaicu built and tested some of the earliest aircraft designs, while Henri Coandă discovered the Coandă effect of fluidics. Victor Babeș discovered more than 50 germs and a cure for a disease named after him, babesiosis; biologist Nicolae Paulescu was among the first scientists to identify insulin. Another biologist, Emil Palade, received the Nobel Prize for his contributions to cell biology. George Constantinescu created the theory of sonics, while mathematician Ștefan Odobleja has been claimed as "the ideological father behind cybernetics" – his work The Consonantist Psychology (Paris, 1938) was supposedly the main source of inspiration for N. Wiener's Cybernetics (Paris, 1948). Lazăr Edeleanu was the first chemist to synthesize amphetamine and also invented the modern method of refining crude oil.

In the arts and culture, prominent figures were George Enescu (music composer, violinist, professor of Sir Yehudi Menuhin), Constantin Brâncuși (sculptor), Eugène Ionesco (playwright), Mircea Eliade (historian of religion and novelist), Emil Cioran (essayist, Prix de l'Institut Français for stylism) and Angela Gheorghiu (soprano). More recently, filmmakers such as Cristi Puiu and Cristian Mungiu have attracted international acclaim, as has fashion designer Ioana Ciolacu.

In sports, Romanians have excelled in a variety of fields, such as football (Gheorghe Hagi), gymnastics (Nadia Comăneci, Lavinia Miloșovici etc.), tennis (Ilie Năstase, Ion Țiriac, Simona Halep), rowing (Ivan Patzaichin) and handball (four times men's World Cup winners). Count Dracula is a worldwide icon of Romania. This character was created by the Irish fiction writer Bram Stoker, based on some stories spread in the late Middle Ages by the frustrated German tradesmen of Kronstadt (Brașov) and on some vampire folk tales about the historic Romanian figure of Prince Vlad Țepeș.

Religion

Main article: Religion in Romania

Almost 90% of all Romanians consider themselves religious. The vast majority are Eastern Orthodox Christians, belonging to the Romanian Orthodox Church (a branch of Eastern Orthodoxy, or Eastern Orthodox Church, together with the Greek Orthodox, Orthodox Church of Georgia and Russian Orthodox Churches, among others). Romanians form the third largest ethno-linguistic group among Eastern Orthodox in the world.

According to the 2022 census, 91.5% of ethnic Romanians in Romania identified themselves as Romanian Orthodox (in comparison to 73.6% of Romania's total population, including other ethnic groups), followed by 3.6% as Protestants and 2.5% as Catholics. However, the actual rate of church attendance is significantly lower and many Romanians are only nominally believers. For example, according to a 2006 Eurobarometer poll, only 23% of Romanians attend church once a week or more. A 2006 poll conducted by the Open Society Foundations found that only 33% of Romanians attended church once a month or more.

Romanian Catholics are present in Transylvania, Banat, Bukovina, Bucharest, and parts of Moldavia, belonging to both the Roman Catholic Church (297,246 members) and the Romanian Greek Catholic Church (124,563 members). According to the 2011 Romanian census, 2.5% of ethnic Romanians in Romania identified themselves as Catholic (in comparison to 5% of Romania's total population, including other ethnic groups). Around 1.6% of ethnic Romanians in Romania identify themselves as Pentecostal, with the population numbering 276,678 members. Smaller percentages are Protestant, Jews, Muslims, agnostic, atheist, or practice a traditional religion.

There are no official dates for the adoption of religions by the Romanians. Based on linguistic and archaeological findings, historians suggest that the Romanians' ancestors acquired polytheistic religions in the Roman era, later adopting Christianity, most likely by the 4th century AD when decreed by Emperor Constantine the Great as the official religion of the Roman Empire. Like in all other Romance languages, the basic Romanian words related to Christianity are inherited from Latin, such as God (Dumnezeu < Domine Deus), church (biserică < basilica), cross (cruce < crux, -cis), angel (înger < angelus), saint (regional: sfân(t) < sanctus), Christmas (Crăciun < creatio, -onis), Christian (creștin < christianus), Easter (paște < paschae), sin (păcat < peccatum), to baptise (a boteza < batizare), priest (preot < presbiterum), to pray (a ruga < rogare), faith (credință < credentia), and so on.

After the Roman Catholic-Eastern Orthodox Schism of 1054, there existed a Roman Catholic Diocese of Cumania for a short period of time, from 1228 to 1241. However, this seems to be the exception, rather than the rule, as in both Wallachia and Moldavia the state religion was Eastern Orthodox. Until the 17th century, the official language of the liturgy was Old Church Slavonic (a.k.a. Middle Bulgarian). Then, it gradually changed to Romanian.

Symbols

National symbols of Romania: the flag (left) and the coat of arms (right)

In addition to the colours of the Romanian flag, each historical province of Romania has its own characteristic symbol:

The coat of arms of Romania combines these together.

Customs

Main article: Folklore of Romania

Traditional costumes

  • Romanians from Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, Transylvania, Romania, in traditional folk costumes, dancing on the occasion of the Mărțișor holiday (2006). Romanians from Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, Transylvania, Romania, in traditional folk costumes, dancing on the occasion of the Mărțișor holiday (2006).
  • Painting of Transylvanian Romanian peasants from Abrud by Ion Theodorescu-Sion Painting of Transylvanian Romanian peasants from Abrud by Ion Theodorescu-Sion
  • Traditional Romanian peasant costumes to the left, followed from left to right by Hungarian, Slavic, and German ones Traditional Romanian peasant costumes to the left, followed from left to right by Hungarian, Slavic, and German ones
  • Romanian peasant costume from Bukovina, early 20th century Romanian peasant costume from Bukovina, early 20th century
  • Romanians from Bukovina, early 20th century postcard Romanians from Bukovina, early 20th century postcard
  • Painting of a young Wallachian shepherd in the early 20th century by Ipolit Strâmbu Painting of a young Wallachian shepherd in the early 20th century by Ipolit Strâmbu
  • Romanian immigrants in New York City, late 19th century Romanian immigrants in New York City, late 19th century

Relationship to other ethnic groups

The closest ethnic groups to the Romanians are the other Romanic peoples of Southeastern Europe: the Aromanians (Macedo-Romanians), the Megleno-Romanians, and the Istro-Romanians. The Istro-Romanians are the closest ethnic group to the Romanians, and it is believed they left Maramureș, Transylvania about a thousand years ago and settled in Istria, Croatia. Numbering about 500 people still living in the original villages of Istria while the majority left for other countries after World War II (mainly to Italy, United States, Canada, Spain, Germany, France, Sweden, Switzerland, Romania, and Australia), they speak the Istro-Romanian language, the closest living relative of Romanian. On the other hand, the Aromanians and the Megleno-Romanians are Romance peoples who live south of the Danube, mainly in Greece, Albania, North Macedonia and Bulgaria although some of them migrated to Romania in the 20th century. It is believed that they diverged from the Romanians in the 7th to 9th century, and currently speak the Aromanian language and Megleno-Romanian language, both of which are Eastern Romance languages, like Romanian, and are sometimes considered by traditional Romanian linguists to be dialects of Romanian.

Genetics

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See also: Genetic history of Europe
Main Y-DNA haplogroups for average Romanian population and per historical regions.

A Bulgarian study from 2013 shows genetic similarity between Thracians (8-6 century BC), medieval Bulgarians (8–10 century AD), and modern Bulgarians, highlighting highest resemblance between them and Romanians, Northern Italians and Northern Greeks. A genetic study published in Scientific Reports in 2019 examined the mtDNA of 25 Thracian remains in Bulgaria from the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC. They were found to harbor a mixture of ancestry from Western Steppe Herders (WSHs) and Early European Farmers (EEFs), supporting the idea that Southeast Europe was the link between Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean.

The prevailing Y-chromosome in Wallachia (Ploiești, Dolj), Moldavia (Piatra Neamț, Buhuși), Dobruja (Constanța), and northern Republic of Moldova is recorded to be Haplogroup I. Subclades I1 and I2 can be found in most present-day European populations, with peaks in some Northern European and Southeastern European countries. Haplogroup I occurs at 32% in Romanians. The frequency of I2a1 (I-P37) in the Balkans today is owed to indigenous European tribes, and was present before the Slavic migrations to Southeastern Europe. A similar result was cited in a study investigating the genetic pool of people from Republic of Moldova, concluded about the representative samples taken for comparison from Romanians from the towns of Piatra-Neamț and Buhuși that "the most common Y haplogroup in this population was I-M423 (40.7%). This is the highest frequency of the I-M423 haplogroup reported so far outside of the northwest Balkans. The next most frequent among Romanian males was haplogroup R-M17* (16.7%), followed by R-M405 (7.4%), E-v13 and R-M412* (both 5.6%)." The I-M423 haplogroup is a subclade of I2a, a haplogroup prosperous in the Starcevo culture and its possible offshoot Cucuteni–Trypillia culture (4800-3000 BCE). The high concentration of I2a1b-L621, the main subclade, is attributed to Bronze Age and Early Iron Age migrations (Dacians, Thracians, Illyrians) and the medieval Slavic migrations.

Procrustes-transformed PCA plot of genetic variation of European populations. (A) Geographic coordinates of 37 populations. (B) Procrustes-transformed PCA plot of genetic variation. The Procrustes analysis is based on the unprojected latitude-longitude coordinates and PC1-PC2 coordinates of 1378 individuals.

According to a Y-chromosome analysis of 335 sampled Romanians, 15% of them belong to R1a. Haplogroup R1a, is a human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup which is distributed in a large region in Eurasia, extending from Scandinavia and Central Europe to southern Siberia and South Asia. Haplogroup R1a among Romanians is entirely from the Eastern European variety Z282 and may be a result of Baltic, Thracian or Slavic descent. 12% of the Romanians belong to Haplogroup R1b, the Alpino-Italic branch of R1b is at 2% a lower frequency recorded than other Balkan peoples. The eastern branches of R1b represent 7%, they prevail in parts of Eastern and Central Europe as a result of Ancient Greek colonisation – in parts of Sicily as well. Other studies analyzing the haplogroup frequency among Romanians came to similar results.

Delving into the regional differences of Mitochondrial DNA of Romanians, a 2014 study emphasised the different position of North and South Romanian populations (ie inside and outside of the Carpathian range) in terms of mitochondrial haplotype variability. The population within the Carpathian range was found to have haplogroup H at 59.7% frequency, U at 11.3%, K and HV at 3.23% each, and M, X and A at 1.61% each. The South Romanian population also showed the highest frequency in haplogroup H at 47% (lower than in the sample from the North of Romania), haplogroup U showed a noticeable frequency at 17% (higher than in the sample from North Romania), haplogroups HV and K at 10.61% and 7.58%, respectively, while haplogroups M, X and A were absent. Comparing the results to European and international samples, the study proposes a weak differentiated distribution of mitochondrial haplogroups between inner and outer Carpathian population (rather than North-South boundary) based on higher frequency for the haplogroup J and haplogroup K2a in the Southern Romanian sample - considered as markers of the Neolithic expansion in Europe from the Near East, the absence of K2a and the presence of haplogroup M in Northern Romanian sample - with higher frequency in Western and Southern Asia, and the inclusion of both Romanian populations within the range of the European mitochondrial variability, rather than being closer to the Near Eastern populations. The North Romanian sample was also found to be slightly separated from the other samples included in the study.

A 2017 paper concentrated on the Mitochondrial DNA of Romanians, showed how Romania has been "a major crossroads between Asia and Europe" and thus "experienced continuous migration and invasion episodes"; while stating that previous studies show Romanians "exhibit genetic similarity with other Europeans". The paper also mentions how "signals of Asian maternal lineages were observed in all Romanian historical provinces, indicating gene flow along the migration routes through East Asia and Europe, during different time periods, namely, the Upper Paleolithic period and/or, with a likely greater preponderance, the Middle Ages", at low frequency (2.24%). The study analysed 714 samples, representative to the 41 counties of Romania, and grouped them in 4 categories corresponding to historical Romanian provinces: Wallachia, Moldavia, Transylvania, and Dobruja. The majority was classified within 9 Eurasian mitochondrial haplogroups (H, U, K, T, J, HV, V, W, and X), while also finding sequences that belonged to the most frequent Asian haplogroups (haplogroups A, C, D, I - at 2.24% overall frequency, and M and N) and African haplogroup L (two samples in Wallachia and one in Dobruja). The H, V, and X haplogroups were detected at higher frequencies in Transylvania, while the frequency of U and N was lower, with M being absent, interpreted as an indicator of genetic proximity of Transylvania to Central European populations, in contrast to the other three provinces, which showed resemblance to Balkan populations. The Dobrujan samples showed a larger contribution of genes from Southwestern Asia which the authors attributed to a larger Asian influence historically and/or its smaller sample size compared to that of the other populations included.

Ethnogenesis

Main article: Origin of the Romanians

Three theories account for the ethnogenesis of the Romanian people. One, known as the Daco-Roman continuity theory, posits that they are descendants of Romans and Romanized indigenous peoples (Dacians) living in the Roman Province of Dacia, while the other posits that the Romanians are descendants of Romans and Romanized indigenous populations of the former Roman provinces of Illyricum, Moesia, Thracia, and Macedonia, and the ancestors of Romanians later migrated from these Roman provinces south of the Danube into the area which they inhabit today. The third theory also known as the admigration theory, proposed by Dimitrie Onciul (1856–1923), posits that the formation of the Romanian people occurred in the former "Dacia Traiana" province, and in the central regions of the Balkan Peninsula. However, the Balkan Vlachs' northward migration ensured that these centers remained in close contact for centuries. This theory is a compromise between the immigrationist and the continuity theories.

Demographics

The largest ethnic group in Romania is ethnic Romanians, followed by Hungarians and Romani people.

Maps

  • Mid-19th century French map depicting Romanians in Central and Eastern Europe Mid-19th century French map depicting Romanians in Central and Eastern Europe
  • Modern distribution of the Eastern Romance-speaking ethnic groups (including, most notably, the Romanians) Modern distribution of the Eastern Romance-speaking ethnic groups (including, most notably, the Romanians)
  • Romanians in Central Europe (coloured in blue), 1880 Romanians in Central Europe (coloured in blue), 1880
  • Ethnic map of Austria-Hungary and Romania, 1892 Ethnic map of Austria-Hungary and Romania, 1892
  • British map depicting territories inhabited by Eastern Romance peoples before the outbreak of World War I British map depicting territories inhabited by Eastern Romance peoples before the outbreak of World War I
  • Romanian speakers in Central and Eastern Europe, early 20th century Romanian speakers in Central and Eastern Europe, early 20th century
  • Map of the Kingdom of Romania at its greatest extent (1920–1940) Map of the Kingdom of Romania at its greatest extent (1920–1940)
  • Geographic distribution of ethnic Romanians in the early 21st century Geographic distribution of ethnic Romanians in the early 21st century
  • Notable regions with inhabited by Eastern Romance speakers at the beginning of the 21st century Notable regions with inhabited by Eastern Romance speakers at the beginning of the 21st century
  • Map highlighting the three main sub-groups of Daco-Romanians Map highlighting the three main sub-groups of Daco-Romanians
  • Geographic distribution of Romanians in Romania (coloured in purple) at commune level (2011 census) Geographic distribution of Romanians in Romania (coloured in purple) at commune level (2011 census)
  • Geographic distribution of Romanian in Romania (coloured in purple) at county level (2011 census) Geographic distribution of Romanian in Romania (coloured in purple) at county level (2011 census)

See also

Notes and references

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