Vlach - Definition and Overview

Vlachs (also called Wlachs, Wallachs, Olahs) are the Romanized population in Central and Eastern Europe, including Romanians, Aromanians, Istro-Romanians and Megleno-Romanians, but since the creation of the Romanian state, this term was mostly used for the Vlachs living south of the Danube river.

They are descendants of the Roman colonists or of the Romanized Dacian, Thracian and Illyrian local population (see Origin of Romanians for more about the dispute about the origin).

Etymology

Main article: Etymology of Vlach

The origin of the name is Germanic: the same origin led to the words "Welsh" and "Walloons" in other parts of Europe. Slavic peoples initially used the name Vlachs when referring to Romanic peoples in general. Later on, the meaning got narrower or just different. For example Italy in Polish is called Włochy. The term was originally an exonym, as the Vlachs used various words derived from romanus to refer to themselves (români, rumâni, rumâri, aromâni, arumâni etc).

Wallachia

Many Vlachs were shepherds and they always looked for better pastures. This explains the pockets of Vlachs that could be found all over the Balkans and as far north as Poland, the Czech Republic, and Croatia. These regions inhabited by Vlachs were called "Wallachia" or "Vlashka" by the Slavs.

• Wallachia Transalpina (also as Ungro-Vlachia/Hungarian Wallachia - in the 14th century it was a kingdom that was a vassal of Hungary) - the medieval principality that is now in southern Romania, north of the Danube
  • Vlaşca - part of southern Wallachia
  • Lower Wallachia ("Oltenia") - west of the Olt river
• Upper Wallachia - in Epirus
• Big Wallachia - in Thessaly
• Small Wallachia - in Etolia, Acarnania, Dorida, Locrida
• Old Wallachia ("Stara Vlaška") - in Bosnia
• White Wallachia - in Moesia
• Black Wallachia - in Dalmatia
• Sirmium Wallachia - on the Sava river
• Moravian Wallachia ("Valašský") - in the Beskidy Mountains of Czechia

Peoples

Map of Balkans with regions inhabited by Romanians/Vlachs highlighted

Romanians (also known as Daco-Romanians, speaking Romanian language) are living in:

• Romania - 20.5 millions
• Moldova - 2.8 millions

and as a minority in:

• Ukraine - 500,000; in southern Bessarabia and northern Bukovina
• Serbia and Montenegro - 75,000 (30,000 in Vojvodina)
• Hungary - 70,000 (0.7% of the total population)
• Slovakia - 9,000

Aromanians (speaking Macedoromanian language) are living as a minority in:

• Greece, mainly in the Pindus Mountains

Note: the Greek government does not recognise any ethnic divisions, so there are no exact statistics. See Demographics of Greece.

• Republic of Macedonia - 9,695 (0.5% of the total population)
• Albania - between 10,000 and 40,000
• Romania - about 50,000, mainly in Dobruja
• Bulgaria

Megleno-Romanians (speaking Megleno-Romanian language) are living in northern Greece.

Istro-Romanians (speaking Istro-Romanian language) are living in Croatia, with a population of 1,200.

Religion

The religion of the Vlachs is predominantly Eastern Orthodox Christianity, but there are some regions where they are Catholics and Protestants (in Transylvania) and a few are even Muslims (former converts from Greece, living in Turkey since the 1923 exchange of populations).

See also:

• List of Romanians - Vlachs of Romanian ethnicity
• List of Vlachs - Vlachs of Aromanian ethnicity
• History of Romania - Vlachs from north of Danube
• History of Vlachs - Vlachs from south of Danube

External links

• State statistical office, Republic of Macedonia (http://www.stat.gov.mk/)