History and Migration of the Romani Race
Teacher Introduction – KS4
Romanies have migrated throughout the world. They are present in every European
country, the Middle East, North Africa, South and Central Asia, Australia and North
and South America. Most of them speak one of the many dialects of the Romani
language.
They call themselves by many names including Romm, Roma, Romanies, Gypsies
and Travellers. Travellers is a term we use in schools to decribe the different groups
– Romany Gypsies, Roma, Irish Travellers, Circus Travellers, Bargees and
Fairground Travellers, called, ‘Showmen’.
Romanies are the largest ethnic minority in Europe. Recent estimates of the size of
the Romani population worldwide suggest a figure of around 15 million. There is no
way to obtain an exact number since they are not included in most official census
counts. Many Roma conceal the fact that they are Roma out of fear of discrimination.
In the past many, though not all, were semi-nomadic, travelling with their families with
horses, donkeys, carts and tents, and later with caravans working as metal
workers/basket makers and entertainers. Some have been settled in the same place
for centuries.
Origins
Most historical evidence suggests that Romanies originated in Northwestern India
(now southeastern Pakistan), but it is not known for sure where they began their
migration from.Different historians believe different things, and the Roma themselves
do not all share the same viewpoint.
Before the first written evidence in the early 15th century in Europe, there is no
recorded history of Romanies. This is because Romanies have an oral tradition,
passing on their history and culture through stories and songs.
Middle East to the 11th Century
It has still not been discovered why the migration began. Avoiding wars could have
contributed, as Romanies are peaceful people, and their semi-nomadic life allowed
them the opportunity to easily flee when battles threatened the area in which they
lived.
Romanies were pushed West by multiple Persian, Turkish, Muslim invasions
between the 3rd and 13th centuries.
West through Persia 200AD to 1000AD
It is thought that there was an early migration of Romanies from India between 224
and 642 AD to Persia during the Persian conquest of India. It is thought that they left
through Afghanistan for the Turkistan and Turkmen and spread all the way to the
Caspian Sea to Persia, and lived under Persian rule in the Middle East from 642 to
900 CE. Often quoted to support this idea is the story of the receipt by the Persian
monarch, Behram Gour, of 12,000 musicians from an Indian king at the beginning of
the 5th Century CE. Perhaps this story is attractive to many because to this day the
Roma are well known for their music and dance. Behram Gour gave them land, corn
and livestock so they could play music to entertain his subjects for free.
Some historians (eg Donald Kendrick) believe that the Romani People actually
originated in Persia during this period when Nomadic Indian Immigrants from various
tribes intermarried.
Romanies took a route to avoid the mountains and deserts to the west of Northwest
India, crossing the Himalayas, and following the Silk Road, an ancient trading route,
west to Persia.
Several further Muslim invasions of Northern India in the early 800's and during the
10th to 13th centuries may have caused subsequent emigrations. Around the 9th10th centuries there are reports about Gypsies who were already nomadic, travelling
great distances from India towards the Middle East. Mahmud of Ghazni conducted a
series of raids over the first 25 to 30 years of the 11th century causing a mixed
population (warriors and their "camps") to leave Northern India.
In Persia, this group joined the Romanies who had left in the earlier migration
between the 3rd and 7th centuries.
A Roma legend tells that once they had a king who ruled wisely in Sind, a wonderous
land in NW India. The Roma were very happy there, until the arrival of Islamic
armies, who hunted them and destroyed their country. After that, the Roma were
forced to travel from one nation to another.The historical evidence now supports the
old Roma legend of their migration from Sind, in India, to flee invasion by Islamic
armies.
Through the Middle East to the 11th Century
From Persia, Romanies migrated in different directions.
Some spread West through Azerbaijan and Georgia, following the southern shores of
the Caspian Sea, up along the west coast to the foothills of the Caucasus range in
Armenia, (and then) through Turkey, eventually reaching the Byzantine Empire in
Europe around 1000AD.
This migration from Armenia through Turkey to Byzantium, the area around present
day Greece, may have happened when the Turks attacked Armenia in the first half of
11th century. This would have also affected Romanies who went North in the first
split, in Caucasus, also pushing them west towards Byzantium.
The Byzantine Empire was the Roman Empire of the Middle Ages. It is thought that
the Romanies took this route of migration because there are many Persian,
Armenian, and Greek words in the Romani language.
Romani Migration into Europe 11th - 14th Centuries
The second group migrated South from Syria along the coast of Mediterranean to
Egypt, through the countries in the North of Africa to Spain. In these long journeys
Roma mixed with other nomadic groups.
Fleeing from and Travelling with the Ottoman Empire C14th - C17th
Muslim Romanies joined the Ottoman army working as blacksmiths and armourers.
Between the 14th and 17th centuries they spread through Europe and North Africa,
travelling with Ottoman Armies.
Other Romanies, however migrated through Europe at this time to avoid the
advancing of the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East. The Turks progressed north
which caused movement of Gypsies who took shelter on Venetian land on islands
and on the mainland. Many Romanies migrated to avoid invasions, but some groups
also spread over non-invaded parts of the Balkans.
When the Ottoman empire invaded the Balkans in the 14th Century, Romanies
experienced a strengthening of liberalism and tolerance which the Turks showed
towards all, which allowed their nomadic existence. They migrated to and inhabited,
and still live today in, the countries which the Ottoman Empire invaded.
Europe
The first recorded descriptions of Gypsies in Europe date from 14th Century Greece,
and from this time, there are written records of their arrival in various parts of Europe,
where they called themselves Sinti.
Concrete mentioning of the presence of Romanies in today’s Greece is found in
practicum of monastery Xiropotamos on Athos from 1325-1330 where it is written
that “Anna daughter of Limocherval had husband ‘Egyptian’”. According to data it
seems that the Gypsies at the end of 13th and beginning of 14th centuries lived on
Corfu, and there is a possibility that at that time they lived in other areas of
Byzantium that at the time belonged to Venice as part of Venetia Romania.
In Europe during the early fourteenth century the Romani had their own culture:
music, dance and festivals, their own system of justice, ‘The Kriss’, their own
customs, myths, religious beliefs, most of which have survived.
At this time in Greece and others countries in Eastern Europe, Romanies were
captured and kept in slavery.
15th Century Migration through Europe and to Russia
They developed their skills as migratory traders, travelling west to find new places to
work. They were respected as metal workers (tinsmiths, coppersmiths and
blacksmiths), basket makers, horse traders, jewellery makers, musicians and
entertainers. They also made money from magic arts such as fortune telling,
astrology and healing. They had much knowledge of plants which they used to make
herbal medicines.
Throughout the 15th Century they migrated Westwards through Germany, and on to
France, Italy, The Netherlands, Portugal and Britain, travelling in family groups. Early
German town accounts suggest that Gypsies received beer, bread, shelter and hay
for horses. the Romanies often travelled with letters of protection written by European
Kings and rulers.
Meeting after many centuries in Hungary in the 15th century, they joined again and
mixed. It is interesting to consider the way Romanies look after all these migrations
throughout their history. Romanies who moved along the Mediterranean through
African countries are of dark skin and mostly brown eyes, while Romanies who
moved towards north have fairer skin and green or blue eyes. Today there are
Romanies who have dark skin and green or blue eyes and there are also Romanies
with fair skin and dark eyes.
Groups travelled east from the Balkans into Russia, establishing themselves in
Siberia by the early 16th century
Romanies in Britain
Romanies did not enter Great Britain until 1514, probably because the Irish
Travellers already occupied Britain and performed the same nomadic roles Gypsies
did in other countries: entertainers, knife-grinders, pot-menders, woodworkers, and
transient field employees. The push to enter the British Isles was probably caused by
late fifteenth century Spanish policies banishing Gypsies. With nowhere else to go,
they entered Britain, then finally Norway in 1544 and Finland in 1597.
When the Roma first arrived in England in 1514 many worked as pedlars and
farmers, as well as the other nomadic occupations they were accustomed to making
money from in Europe.
People started to call them ‘Gypsies’ because they thought they came from the
Middle East, which at that time was known as ‘Little Egypt’. Some of the groups of
Gypsies said that they had been expelled from Egypt. In several countries in Europe
Romanies had been referred to as ‘Egyptians’ because of their knowledge of magic
arts, for which Egypt was renowned.
They provided the people with many valued services, but they were classified as
outsiders due to their mysterious language and culture, unknown nationality and
nomadic way of life. The idea that they had supernatural abilities led people to be
suspicious of them.
People feared Romanies because they didn’t understand them. The obvious
differences of Romanies made them easy targets and scapegoats wherever they
went. Throughout Europe Gypsies were persecuted - attacked, murdered, banished
or enslaved.
16th - 20th Centuries - Deportations of Romanies
Hundreds were transported to the European colonies in North and South America
from the 16th century on to be used as slaves. In the 17th and 18th Centuries in the
Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden and Denmark, Gypsies were hunted and
murdered for sport.
In the early 18th Century, an order for all Gypsies to be killed was issued by the
Roman Emperors of France and Germany.Romani slavery was abolished in Europe
in 1864. But following this during the 19th and early 20th centuries, Roma were
deported to the Americas and Australia with criminals, even when they had
committed no crime.
Later they spread out, migrating within all these countries and continents. By the late
19th Century Romanies were present throughout the world.
1940s after WWII
Roma who survived the Porraimos emigrated West through Europe. In the 20th
Century, during and after WWII, there was a migration within Europe as a result of
the Porraimos - The Roma Holocaust – when hundreds of thousands of Gypsies
were murdered by the Nazis.
1990s to present Eastern Europe
Recently, since the fall of Communism in the 1990s, violence and discrimination
against Roma in Eastern Europe caused many to move West. Some Roma have
come to England.
Since even before the Second World War most governments in Europe have been
trying to get nomadic Romanies to settle down, sometimes in quite crowded and
unappealing places, where there is little water or electricity.
No one should ever be treated badly because they are different. We can all help to
protect the rights of others. To do this we need to understand different communities,
cultures, religions, lifestyles, ideas and interests.
The continued racism and persecution suffered by Romanies shows that we still have
much to learn.