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The Serbs of Romania (
Romanian: Sârbii din România,
Serbian: Срби у Румунији/Srbi u Rumuniji) are a recognized
ethnic minority numbering 18,076 people (0.1%) according to the 2011 census. The community is concentrated in western Romania, in the Romanian part of the
Banat region (divided with
Serbia), where they constitute the absolute majority in two
communes and the relative majority in one other.
History
Historical background
Slavic presence is attested in Romania since the Early Middle Ages. The
Avar Khaganate was the dominant power of the
Carpathian Basin between around 567 and 803.[2] Most historians agree that
Slavs and
Bulgars, together with the remnants of the
Avars, and possibly with
Vlachs , inhabited the
Banat region after the fall of the khaganate.[3] Place names of
Slavic origin recorded already in the Middle Ages show the early presence of a Slavic-speaking population.[4]
Early modern period
From the late 14th- to the beginning of the 16th century a large number of Serbs lived in
Wallachia and
Moldavia.[5] Following Ottoman expansion in the 15th century, Serb mass migrations ensued into
Pannonia.[5] Serbian Orthodox monasteries began to be built in the area from the 15th century, including Kusić and Senđurađ built by despotJovan Branković, and in the 16th century including Bezdin and Hodoš built by the
Jakšić family.[5] In the Ottoman period, some thirty Serbian Orthodox monasteries were built in the territory of Romania.[5]
Ottoman pressure traditionally forced members of several
South Slavic communities to seek refuge in
Wallachia - although under Ottoman rule as well, the latter was always subject to less requirements[clarification needed] than regions to south of the
Danube.
The Serbian
Uprising in Banat (1594) included territories that are part of modern Romania. There were reprisals, contemporary sources speaking of "the living envied the dead".[6] After the crushing of the uprising in Banat, many Serbs migrated to Transylvania under the leadership of Bishop Teodor; the territory towards
Ineu and
Teiuș was settled, where Serbs had lived since earlier – the Serbs had their eparchies, opened schools, founded churches and printing houses.[6]
Serbs-proper probably constituted the vast majority of
mercenary troops known as seimeni, given that their nucleus is attested to have been formed by "Serb seimeni" (as it was during their revolt in 1655), and that the rule of
PrinceMatei Basarab had witnessed the arrival of a large group of Serb refugees.[citation needed]
These groups are, however, hard to distinguish one from another in early Wallachian references, as the term "Serbs" is regularly applied to all Southern Slavs, no matter where they might have originated. This only changed in the 19th century, through a transition made clear by an official statistic of 1830, which reads "census of how many Serbs are resident here in the town of
Ploiești, all of them
Bulgarians" (Giurescu, p. 269).[citation needed]
The
Bărăgan deportations (1951–56) saw minorities (including Serbs) from the Banat region bordering Yugoslavia deported to south-eastern Romania due to the
deteriorating Yugoslav–USSR relations and the perceived "elements who present a danger through their presence in the area" to the Romanian Communist regime.[7]
Demographics
This section needs expansion. You can help by
adding to it. (April 2015)
According to the 2011 census, there was 18,076 people of the Serb minority,[1] down from 22,561 people in 2002.
In
Caraș-Severin County, the Serbs constitute an absolute majority in the commune of
Pojejena (52.09%)[8] and a plurality in the commune of
Socol (49.54%).[9] Serbs also constitute absolute majority in the municipality of
Svinița (87.27%) in the
Mehedinți County.[10] The region where these three municipalities are located is known as Clisura Dunării in
Romanian or Banatska Klisura (Банатска Клисура) in
Serbian.
Localities
The following localities had a Serb population greater than 1% according to the 2011 census. Serbian placenames are included in brackets.
Sveti Đurađ monastery (Манастир светог Ђорђа - Манастир свети Ђурађ / Manastir svetog Đorđa - Manastir sveti Đurađ). According to the legend, it was founded in 1485 by the Serbian
despot,
Jovan Branković. It was rebuilt in the 18th century.
Šemljug monastery (Манастир Шемљуг / Manastir Šemljug). It was founded in the 15th century.
Pavel Petrović (1818–1887), a globe-trotting artist who painted the nobility and other interesting historical figures of his day from Europe to China and from Hawaii via South and North America back to Europe again.
Ion Ivanovici (1845–1902) Romanian military bandleader and composer.
Alexandru Macedonski (1854–1920), Romanian poet, novelist, and literary critic, paternal Serb descent.[11]
Stevan Aleksic (1876–1923), Serbian painter, born in Arad.
^Engel, Pál (2001). The Realm of St Stephen: A History of Medieval Hungary, 895–1526. I.B. Tauris Publishers. pp. 2–3.
ISBN1-86064-061-3.
^Oța, Silviu (2014). The Mortuary Archaeology of Medieval Banat. Brill. p. 18.
ISBN978-90-04-21438-5.
^Györffy, György (1987). Az Árpád-kori Magyarország történeti földrajza, III: Heves, Hont, Hunyad, Keve, Kolozs, Komárom, Krassó, Kraszna, Küküllő megye és Kunság [Historical Geography of Hungary of the Árpáds, Volume I: The Counties of Heves, Hont, Hunyad, Keve, Kolozs, Komárom, Krassó, Kraszna, Küküllő, and the Kunság] (in Hungarian). Akadémiai Kiadó. pp. 306, 470.
ISBN963-05-3613-7.