Albanians of Romania
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The Albanians (Shqiptarë in Albanian, Albanezi in Romanian) are an ethnic minority in Romania, numbering around 477 members (as of 2002). Around half of all Romanian Albanians live in Bucharest, while the rest mainly live in larger urban centres such as Timişoara, Iaşi, Constanţa and Cluj-Napoca. Most families are Orthodox and trace their origins to the area around Korçë.
As an officially-recognised ethnic minority, Albanians have one seat reserved in the Romanian Chamber of Deputies to the League of Albanians of Romania (Liga Albanezilor din România).
[edit] History
An Albanian community inside the Danubian Principalities was first attested in Wallachia under Prince Michael the Brave: a report drafted by Habsburg authorities in Transylvania specified that 15,000 Albanians had been allowed to cross north of the Danube in 1595; Călineşti (a village in present-day Floreşti, Prahova County) was one of their places of settlement, as evidenced in a document issued by Michael's rival and successor, Simion Movilă, who confirmed their right to reside in the locality. The community's presence was first recorded in Bucharest around 1628.
In Moldavia, an ethnic Albanian, Vasile Lupu, became Prince in 1634.
The Albanian community was strengthened during the Phanariote epoch, when numerous immigrants opened businesses in a large number of cities and towns, and were employed as bodyguards of Wallachian princes and boyars (being usually recorded as arbănaşi, akin to Arvanites, and its variant arnăuţi, borrowed from the Turkish arnavut).
The Rilindja Kombëtare movement of Albanian nationalism inside the Ottoman Empire was present and prolific in Wallachia, the center of cultural initiatives taken by Dora d'Istria, Naim Frashëri, Jani Vreto, and Naum Veqilharxhi (the latter published the first ever Albanian primer in Bucharest, in 1844). Aleksander Stavre Drenova, a resident of Bucharest, authored the lyrics of Albania's national anthem, Hymni i Flamurit, which is sung to the tune of Pe-al nostru steag e scris Unire, composed by the Romanian Ciprian Porumbescu.
The community was repressed under the communist regime, starting in 1953 (when the Albanian cultural association was closed down). Rights lost were regained after the Romanian Revolution of 1989, but the number of people declaring themselves Albanian has decreased dramatically between 1920 and 2002.
[edit] Notable Albanian-Romanians
- Kristaq Antoniu
- Aleksander Stavre Drenova
- Victor Eftimiu
- the Ghica family
- Lasgush Poradeci
- Naum Veqilharxhi
[edit] References
- (Romanian) "Albanezii" on Divers online
- (Romanian) Albanian League of Romania
- Constantin C. Giurescu, Istoria Bucureştilor. Din cele mai vechi timpuri pînă în zilele noastre ("History of Bucharest. From the earliest times to our day"), Ed. Pentru Literatură, Bucharest, 1966, p.168, 267, 272, 307
Officially recognised minorities
Hungarians (Székely • Csángó) · Roma · Ukrainians · Germans · Lipovans · Turks · Tatars · Serbs · Slovaks · Bulgarians · Croats · Greeks · Jews · Czechs · Poles · Italians · Armenians · Macedonians · Albanians · Rusyns
Other minorities
Aromanians · Chinese · Krashovani
