There is some debate over whether the Romani people came to Wallachia and Moldavia as free men or as slaves. In the Byzantine Empire, they were slaves of the state and it seems the situation was the same in Bulgaria and Serbia until their social organization was destroyed by the Ottoman conquest, which would suggest that they came as slaves who had a change of "ownership".Achim (2004), p.29-30 The alternative explanation, proposed by Romanian scholar P. P. Panaitescu, was that following the Crusades, an important East-West trade route passed through the Romanian states and the local feudal lords enslaved the Roma for economic gain for lack of other craftsmen. However, this theory is undermined by the fact that slavery was present before the trade route gained importance. Year Source Moldavia Wallachia 1819 Dionisie Fotino - 120,000Achim (2004), p.94-95; Djuvara, p.269 1837 Mihail Kogălniceanu 200,000Achim (2004), p.94-95; Djuvara, p.269-270 1838 Félix Colson 139,255 119,910 1844 Ferdinand Neigebaur - 180,000 1849 Paul Bataillard 250,000 1857 Jean Alexandre Vaillant 137,000 125,000 1857 Jean Henri Abdolonyme Ubicini 100,000 150,000 1859 census (emancipated slaves) 250,000Achim (2010), p.23 References Viorel Achim, The Roma in Romanian History, Central European University Press, Budapest, 2004. Viorel Achim,"Romanian Abolitionists on the Future of the Emancipated Gypsies", in Transylvanian Review, Vol. XIX, Supplement no. 4 (2010) p. 22-36 Elena Marushiakova, Vesselin Popov. 2009. "Gypsy Slavery in Wallachia and Moldavia". In: Kamusella, Tomasz and Krzysztof Jaskulowski, eds. Nationalisms Today. Oxford: Peter Lang, p. 89-124. Sam Beck, "The Origins of Gypsy Slavery in Romania", in Dialectical Anthropology, Volume 14, Number 1 / March, 1989, Springer, p. 53-61 V. Costăchel, P. P. Panaitescu, A. Cazacu, Viaţa feudală în Ţara Românească şi Moldova (secolele XIV–XVI), Editura Ştiinţifică, Bucharest, 1957 Neagu Djuvara, Între Orient şi Occident. Ţările române la începutul epocii moderne, Humanitas, Bucharest, 1995. Will Guy, Between Past and Future: The Roma of Central and Eastern Europe, University of Hertfordshire Press, Hatfield, 2001. Ştefan Ştefănescu, Istoria medie a României, Vol. I, Editura Universităţii din Bucureşti , Bucharest, 1991
There is some debate over whether the Romani people came to Wallachia and Moldavia as free men or as slaves. In the Byzantine Empire, they were slaves of the state and it seems the situation was the same in Bulgaria and Serbia until their social organization was destroyed by the Ottoman conquest, which would suggest that they came as slaves who had a change of "ownership".Achim (2004), p.29-30 The alternative explanation, proposed by Romanian scholar P. P. Panaitescu, was that following the Crusades, an important east–west trade route passed through the Romanian states and the local feudal lords enslaved the Roma for economic gain for lack of other craftsmen. However, this theory is undermined by the fact that slavery was present before the trade route gained importance. Year Source Moldavia Wallachia 1819 Dionisie Fotino – 120,000Achim (2004), p.94-95; Djuvara, p.269 1837 Mihail Kogălniceanu 200,000Achim (2004), p.94-95; Djuvara, p.269-270 1838 Félix Colson 139,255 119,910 1844 Ferdinand Neigebaur – 180,000 1849 Paul Bataillard 250,000 1857 Jean Alexandre Vaillant 137,000 125,000 1857 Jean Henri Abdolonyme Ubicini 100,000 150,000 1859 census (emancipated slaves) 250,000Achim (2010), p.23 References Viorel Achim, The Roma in Romanian History, Central European University Press, Budapest, 2004. Viorel Achim,"Romanian Abolitionists on the Future of the Emancipated Gypsies", in Transylvanian Review, Vol. XIX, Supplement no. 4 (2010) p. 22-36 Elena Marushiakova, Vesselin Popov. 2009. "Gypsy Slavery in Wallachia and Moldavia". In: Kamusella, Tomasz and Krzysztof Jaskulowski, eds. Nationalisms Today. Oxford: Peter Lang, p. 89-124. Sam Beck, "The Origins of Gypsy Slavery in Romania", in Dialectical Anthropology, Volume 14, Number 1 / March, 1989, Springer, p. 53-61 V. Costăchel, P. P. Panaitescu, A. Cazacu, Viaţa feudală în Ţara Românească şi Moldova (secolele XIV–XVI), Editura Ştiinţifică, Bucharest, 1957 Neagu Djuvara, Între Orient şi Occident. Ţările române la începutul epocii moderne, Humanitas, Bucharest, 1995. Will Guy, Between Past and Future: The Roma of Central and Eastern Europe, University of Hertfordshire Press, Hatfield, 2001. Ştefan Ştefănescu, Istoria medie a României, Vol. I, Editura Universităţii din București , Bucharest, 1991
R
East-West
east–west
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Bucureşti
București