21 Facts About Aromanians

Aromanians are an ethnic group native to the southern Balkans who speak Aromanian, an Eastern Romance language.

The Aromanians are known by several other names, such as "Vlachs" or "Macedo-Romanians" .

Aromanians call themselves Rraman or Arman, depending on which of the two dialectal groups they belong, and identify as part of the Fara Armaneasca or the Populu Armanescu .

Romanian research team concluded in the 1960s that Albanian Aromanians migrated to Tirana, Stan Karbunare, Skrapar, Pojan, Bilisht and Korce, and that they inhabited Karaja, Lushnje, Moscopole, Drenove and Boboshtice .

Many Romanian scholars maintain that the Aromanians were part of a Daco-Romanian migration from the north of the Danube between the 6th and 10th centuries, supporting the theory that the 'Great Romanian' population descend from the ancient Dacians and Romans.

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Consequently, many Aromanians played a prominent role in the modern history of the Balkan nations: the revolutionary Pitu Guli, Greek Prime Minister Ioannis Kolettis, Greek magnate Georgios Averoff, Greek Defence Minister Evangelos Averoff, Serbian Prime Minister Vladan Ðordevic, Patriarch Athenagoras I of Constantinople, Romanian metropolitan Andrei Saguna, the Wallachian and Moldavian rulers of the Ghica family, etc.

Nevertheless, due to the advanced assimilation of the Aromanians, this came too late to lead to the creation of a distinct Aromanian national identity; indeed, as Gustav Weigand noted in 1897, most Aromanians were not only indifferent, but actively hostile to their own national movement.

Such groups are to be found in southwestern Albania, the eastern parts of North Macedonia, the Aromanians who immigrated to Romania in 1940, and in Greece in the Veria and Grevena areas and in Athens.

Aromanians are predominantly Orthodox Christians, and follow the Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar.

Fustanella usage among Aromanians can be traced to at least the 15th century, with notable examples being seen in the Aromanian stecak of the Radimlja necropolis.

In Greece, Aromanians are not recognised as an ethnic but as a linguistic minority and, like the Arvanites, have been indistinguishable in many respects from other Greeks since the 19th century.

Greek Aromanians have long been associated with the Greek national state, actively participated in the Greek Struggle for Independence, and have obtained very important positions in government, although there was an attempt to create an autonomous Aromanian canton under the protection of Italy at the end of World War I, called Principality of the Pindus.

Aromanians have been very influential in Greek politics, business and the army.

Many of the Albanian Aromanians have immigrated to Greece, since they are considered in Greece part of the Greek minority in Albania.

On 13 October 2017, Aromanians received the official status of ethnic minority, through voting of a bill by Albanian Parliament.

Aromanians are recognized as an ethnic minority, and are hence represented in Parliament and enjoy ethnic, cultural, linguistic and religious rights and the right to education in their language.

Since the Middle Ages, due to the Turkish occupation and the destruction of their cities, such as Moscopole, Gramoshtea, Linotopi and later on Krusevo, many Aromanians fled their native homelands in the Balkans to settle the Romanian principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia, which had a similar language and a certain degree of autonomy from the Turks.

In Bulgaria, most Aromanians were concentrated in the region south-west of Sofia, in the region called Pirin, formerly part of the Ottoman Empire until 1913.

The Aromanians, known as Cincari, migrated to Serbia in the 18th and early 19th centuries.

Many Greek Aromanians came to Serbia with Alija Gusanac as krdzalije and later joined the Serbian Revolution .

In France, the Aromanians are grouped in the Tra Armanami cultural association.