page_title: Istro-Romanians
section_title: Late Middle Ages and further
hierarchical_section_title: Istro-Romanians / History / Late Middle Ages and further
caption_attribution_description: Istrorumeni in Istria. Nei due cerchi ovali sono indicate le due ultime localita' istrorumene rimaste nel 2000 in Istria: Valdarsa (istrorumeno Şuşńeviţa / croato Šušnjevica) e Seiane (istrorumeno Jeiăn / croato Žejane). English: Inside the two circles there are the two major istrorumenian villages in the year 2000 Istria: Valdarsa (Susnevita) and Seiane (Zejane).
context_page_description: The Istro-Romanians are a Romance ethnic group native to, or associated with the Istrian Peninsula. Historically, they inhabited vast parts of it, as well as the western side of the island of Krk until 1875. However, due to several factors such as the industrialization and modernization of Istria during the socialist regime of Yugoslavia, many Istro-Romanians emigrated to other places, be they cities in Croatia like Pula and Rijeka or areas such as New York City, Trieste or Western Australia. The Istro-Romanians dwindled severely in number, being reduced to eight settlements on the Croatian side of Istria in which they do not represent the majority.
  It is known that the Istro-Romanians are actually not indigenous to Istria, since the differences between the Istro-Romanian language and the now extinct geographically close Dalmatian are notable. In addition, they count several similarities with the Transylvanian Romanians and Timok Vlachs, suggesting that the Istro-Romanians originate from the current areas west of Romania or Serbia.
context_section_description: During the following centuries, people of possible Istro-Romanian ethnicity in and around Istria will continue to be mentioned. In 1181, an abbess of the Patriarchate of Aquileia named Ermelinda reported the appearance of a person named Radul (considered a Romanian name by some) to whom lands have been attributed in what is now the Italian province of Friuli-Venezia Giulia.
  In the 14th century, Vlach shepherds are attested near the cities of Split, Trogir, Šibenik and Zadar, as well as in the islands of Rab, Pag and Krk. But the first clear and definitive attestation of the Istro-Romanian presence in Istria dates back from 1321, when a country of Vlachs was mentioned in the region where they now live. In a document of 1329 referring to Buzet in Istria, the name of one Vlach appears; Pasculus Chichio, a name derived from the exonym "Ćići" used by Croatians for Istro-Romanians. It is known that during this century the Istro-Romanians used caravans to sell their dairy products and transport other goods. In the Ragusan trade, caseus vlachescus or vlachiscus (brença, cheese, as it appears in a document from 1357) was of such importance that it was also used as a payment method, and its price was set by the authorities. They also traded with salt on the Adriatic coast.
  In the 15th century, there were epidemics of devastating plague in Istria, and the Senate of the Republic of Venice, ruler of the peninsula, favored the settlement of Morlachs, as well South Slavs who escaped from the Ottoman Empire. Due to this, in 1449, Vlachs are mentioned in the Istrian town of Buje. The word cici first appeared as a proper ethnonym in a document of 1463. Based on names and other historical objects, it has been calculated that during this century, the Istro-Romanians formed about 15% of the Istrian population.
  In addition, the governor of the island of Krk since 1451, Ivan VII Frankopan, was in need of manpower. Therefore, during the second half of the 15th century, he started to settle the less populated or uninhabited parts, such as the western zone of the island, in and around the areas of Dubašnica and Poljica. Most of the settlers were Vlachs and Morlachs, who came from the south of the Velebit mountain range and around the Dinara mountain. The Croatian linguist and onomastics expert Petar Skok affirms that this people was composed of Romanian shepherds, as they preserved Romanian numbering until the 20th century. They crossed the Podgorski Canal, in Italian, Canale della Morlacca, and settled in western Krk. Today, there are some toponyms such as Fȁreča (from Romanian ferece, fern), Fintȉra (from Romanian fîntînă, fountain) and Sekara (from Romanian secară, ryn) left in Krk. It is also known that the current Croatian dialect of Krk has a few Istro-Romanian loans, like špilišôr or špirišôr (from Romanian spin, "spine", + the suffix șor), a common name for the plant Sonchus whose leaves have small spines. It is thought that some of these Vlachs and Morlachs continued their way to Istria, where they settled, but like the other theories, this cannot be confirmed.
  By the year 1523, the Istro-Romanians were already referred to as cicerani or ciceliani by the Italian and Austrian chancelleries. Carsia, the former name of the region in which Žejane is located, was changed to Cicceria (now Ćićarija). In this century, they are spread almost everywhere inside the peninsula, especially in the areas of Žejane, Male Mune and Vele Mune, north of the Učka, as well as in Šušnjevica and other villages at the south of the mountain range, populating more than thirty settlements of varying sizes between 1510 and 1599. In a 1641 work about Istria, the scholar and bishop of Cittanova (now Novigrad) Giacomo Filippo Tomasini mentions the name morlaci, claiming that "they have their own language, which is in many words similar to Latin".
  During the 16th century, some Croatian writers saw the Istrian Vlachs as part of the same ethnic group as the Romanians from Trajanic Dacia, and considered Dacia as the "Morovlasca Zemlja" ("Morlach Country"). Also, the Italian
caption: Historical distribution of the Istro-Romanians throughout Istria, western Krk and Croatia proper (Kukuljani) based on toponymy
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