| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 5,975 (2021) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Banat (Dudeștii Vechi), northernDobruja andWallachia | |
| Languages | |
| Bulgarian (Banat Bulgarian),Romanian | |
| Religion | |
| PredominatelyRoman Catholicism, with a minority ofBulgarian Orthodox followers | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Banat Bulgarians,Dobrujan Bulgarians,Krashovani |
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Bulgarians (Romanian:bulgari) are arecognized minority inRomania (Bulgarian:Румъния,Rumaniya), numbering 7,336 according to the 2011 Romanian census, down from 8,025 in 2002.[1] Despite their low census number today, Bulgarians from different confessional and regional backgrounds have had ethnic communities in various regions of Romania, and during theMiddle Ages Bulgarian culture has exerted considerable influence on its northern neighbour. According to one Bulgarian estimate, Romanian citizens of Bulgarian origin number around 250,000.[2] According to the Romanian census of 2021, among the 5,975 ethnic Bulgarians, 3,583 were Roman Catholics, 1,977 wereRomanian Orthodox and 21 wereSerbian Orthodox.[3]
Historically, Bulgarian communities in modern Romania have existed inWallachia (Bulgarian:Влашко, transliterated:Vlashko),Northern Dobruja (Bulgarian:Северна Добруджа, translit.Severna Dobrudzha) andTransylvania (Bulgarian:Седмиградско, translit.Sedmigradsko). Currently, however, the Bulgarian community in present-day Romania that has retained most efficiently its numbers, social integrity and strong ethnic identity is that of theBanat Bulgarians, aRoman Catholic minority in theBanat who account for the bulk of the Bulgarian-identifying population of Romania. In Wallachia, there are only few Bulgarians who have preserved their national identity, though the numbers of those who speak Bulgarian and affirm to have Bulgarian ancestors is still high.
Much of theTorlak-speakingRoman CatholicKrashovani who today form a part of theCroatian minority in Romania had declared themselves Bulgarian during the rule ofAustria-Hungary.[4][5]
The population of undisputed Bulgarian origin aside, Bulgarian researchers also claim that theHungarian minority of theSzékely in central Romania is ofMagyarizedBulgar (Proto-Bulgarian) origin,[2][6] and theȘchei of Transylvania wereRomanianized Bulgarians[2][7] (a view also supported byLyubomir Miletich[8] and accepted by Romanian writers).[9]
While the modern Romanian word for Bulgarians is "bulgari", throughout the history they have been known by other names.
The old Bulgarian population—which existed in Romania by the time of the founding of the principality of Wallachia and the inclusion of Transylvania in the Hungarian Kingdom—was referred asȘchei. This word, currently obsolete, derives from the Latin wordsclavis, referring to all South Slavs. Currently, the word appears in many place names in Wallachia and Transylvania, among which,Șcheii Brașovului, a neighborhood of Brașov.
The Bulgarians who migrated during the 19th century were known assârbi (Serbians).[10][11] This word may have been used by Romanians to refer to allSouth Slavs,[12] but it has also been proposed that they used this ethnic identification to prevent the Ottomans from demanding the Wallachian authorities to return the refugees to their place of origin.[13] Even today, the Bulgarians from Wallachia are called "sârbi" (Serbians) though they speak Bulgarian and define themselves as "bulgari" (Bulgarians).[14]
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In Antiquity, bothBulgaria and Romania were inhabited byThracian tribes, contributing to the ethnogenesis of theRomanian people and possibly the Bulgarian people (along withSlavs andBulgars), although this is a matter of dispute. During theMigration Period, both the Slavs and the Bulgars crossed what is today Romania to settle in the plains south of the Danube, establishing theFirst Bulgarian Empire in the 7th century. In theMiddle Ages, the lands between the Danube and theCarpathians were scarcely settled, but they were often at least nominally under Bulgarian control in the 9th and 10th century, as well as during some periods of theSecond Bulgarian Empire.
The Golden Age of Bulgarian culture underSimeon I exerted considerable influence on the empire's transdanubian possessions.Old Bulgarian was established as the language of liturgy and written communication along with theCyrillic script created in Bulgaria, which was used for the Romanian language until the 1860s; the first written text in the Romanian language,Neacşu's letter of 1512, illustrates this trend: it was written in Cyrillic, intermixed with Bulgarian sentences and phrases. To this day, a notable part of Romanian's core vocabulary is of LatinizedSouth Slavic origin, although much of it was replaced byRomance andClassical Latin loanwords in the 19th century.
As the Second Bulgarian Empire fell under full-scaleOttoman rule in the 14th-15th century whereas the lands north of the Danube were still contested between the Europeans and the Ottomans and then came under Ottomansuzerainty, but retained their internal autonomy, many Bulgarian fled the Ottoman occupation in various periods and settled in what is today Romania. These included bothBulgarian Orthodox and some Roman Catholics (either formerPaulicians from the central Bulgarian north or fromChiprovtsi in the northwest). The migratory waves were particularly strong after theAustro-Turkish andRusso-Turkish Wars of the 17th-19th century. The Orthodox Bulgarians settled all around thePrincipality of Wallachia; however, many of them gradually lost their Bulgarian identity and became Romanianized.[15] Catholics primarily migrated to the Austrian-ruled Banat and Transylvania, establishing still-extant communities in modernTimiș County andArad County; some former Paulicians also settled aroundBucharest, inCioplea andPopeşti-Leordeni. The Transylvanian city ofBraşov (Kronstadt) grew into an international merchant centre attracting Bulgarian merchants ever since the 14th century (it was given trade rights in Bulgaria byBulgarian tsarIvan Sratsimir'sBraşov Charter of 1369–1380)[16] and rivalledConstantinople andThessaloniki in importance, particularly for the people from northern Bulgaria, with many Bulgarian merchants opening offices and shops in the city.[7] As early as 1392, Bulgarian settlers arrived in the city, contributing to the construction of the city church, today known as theBlack Church,[17] and populating the once-Bulgarian city neighbourhood ofȘcheii Brașovului.[9][18][19] After theGreek Civil War, thousands of Greeks andethnic Bulgarians fled Greece. Many were evacuated to Romania. A large evacuation camp was established in the Romanian town ofTulgheș.
In the mid-19th century the cities of southern Romania such as Bucharest,Craiova,Galaţi andBrăila attracted many Bulgarian revolutionary and politicalémigrés, such asSophronius of Vratsa,Petar Beron,Hristo Botev,Lyuben Karavelov,Georgi Rakovski,Panayot Hitov,Evlogi Georgiev andHristo Georgievi.[15] In his 1883 noveletteNemili-Nedragi ("Unloved and Unwanted"), Bulgarian national writerIvan Vazov (1850–1921) describes the life of poor and nostalgic Bulgarian revolutionaries in Wallachia known ashashove (хъшове). Romania also turned into a centre for the organized Bulgarian revolutionary movement seeking to overthrow Ottoman rule: theBulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee was founded in Bucharest in 1869. In the same year, the Bulgarian Literary Society (modernBulgarian Academy of Sciences) was established in Brăila. Some of theBessarabian Bulgarians were also ruled byMoldavia/Romania between 1856 and 1878 (during this time, inBolgrad the first Bulgariangymnasium has been opened: theBolhrad High School), and all of them were under Romanian rule between 1918 and 1940. Today, they live inUkraine andMoldova.
According to one estimate, the Bulgarian-originating population of theRomanian Old Kingdom and Transylvania (not including Bessarabia) by the time of theLiberation of Bulgaria in 1878 may have numbered up to one million.[20] According to official data from 1838, 11,652 Bulgarian families lived in Wallachia, meaning up to 100,000 people.[15]
Following the Liberation, members of all Bulgarian communities moved to the newly establishedPrincipality of Bulgaria, but a significant Bulgarian population remained in Romania. Although set to be ceded to Bulgarian as per theTreaty of San Stefano, the region ofNorthern Dobruja was awarded to Romania by theCongress of Berlin of 1878. The region had a compact Bulgarian population in theBabadag region, with Northern Dobruja Bulgarians numbering 35–45,000 in the late 19th century. Romania also ruled the Bulgarian-majority Southern Dobruja between 1913 and 1940, when it was ceded back to Bulgaria, with apopulation exchange between the Bulgarians of Northern Dobruja and the Romanian,Aromanian andMegleno-Romanian colonists in Southern Dobruja. Today, as an officially recognized ethnic minority, Bulgarians haveone seat reserved in the RomanianChamber of Deputies. There exist several organizations of the Bulgarians in Romania.[21][22]
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