Romanians in Bulgaria

Ethnic map of the Balkans prior to the First Balkan War by Paul Vidal de la Blache.

Ethnic map of Bulgaria according to the census results from 1892 (Blue denotes regions with a Romanian minority)

File:Romanian vlach vlasi bulgaria 1901.JPG

Romanian woman from Vidin (1901)

The Romanian minority in Bulgaria (Romanian: români or rumâni, Bulgarian: румънци/rumantsi), known as "Vlachs" (Bulgarian: власи/vlasi) is concentrated in the northwestern part of the country, in the Provinces of: Vidin, Vratsa and Pleven. They speak the Oltenian variety of the Romanian language. The Romanians from the Vidin Province are separated into 2 main groups: the "Dunăreni" (who live around the Danube river) and the "Pădureni" (who lived in the higher placed regions with many woods). In southwestern Bulgaria lives also a very small Aromanian population, such as in the village Peshtera. Most of this people declare themselves "vlasi" (= Vlachs) when asked in Bulgarian (e.g. on the census), though they use the self-designation "rumân" (= Rumanian) in their language. The Romanians in Bulgaria are not recognized as a national minority, but as an ethnic group and they don't enjoy ethnic rights in schools and churches since the Interwar period.

Census figures

Year	Vlachs	Romanians
1881	49,063
2001	10,566	1,088
2011	3,684	891

^a This number shows those who identified their native language as Vlach; the 1881 census did not have a question about ethnicity.
^b The 2001 census shows 10,566 Vlachs. Most of the Vlachs (Romanians) are Romanian-speakers, but the figure includes some Aromanian-speakers as well.

See also

• Bulgarians in Romania
• Bulgarisation
• Romanians in Serbia
• Thraco-Roman
• Eastern Romance substratum
• Romanian language
• Origin of the Romanians
• Legacy of the Roman Empire

References

• Gheorghe Zbuchea, Cezar Dobre, "Românii timoceni", Bucharest, 2005 ISBN 973-86782-2-6

External links

• History of the Romanians living on the South of the Danube (Romanian/Bulgarian textbook for Romanians from Bulgaria)

in Romanian

• Românii din Bulgaria
• 35 de sate de români de "mâna a doua"
• Romana, limba de circulaţie internaţională
• Limba română moare pe malul bulgăresc
• "Oltenii" din Bulgaria
• Interviu cu Ivo Gheorghiev, preşedintele Uniunii Etnicilor Români din Bulgaria
• Coloniştii români timoceni din Cadrilater
• Articol despre mănăstirea Bacikovo
• Zilele folclorului românesc în Bulgaria
• Etnicii românii din Bulgaria cer sprijinul Consiliului Europei