Albanians of Romania

The Albanians (Shqiptarë in Albanian, Albanezi in Romanian) are an ethnic minority in Romania. As an officially recognized ethnic minority, Albanians have one seat reserved in the Romanian Chamber of Deputies to the League of Albanians of Romania (Liga Albanezilor din România).

Albanians of Romania

Shqiptarët e Rumanisë
Total population
520 (2002 census) 10,000 (estimate)
Regions with significant populations
Romania
Languages
Albanian
Religion
Islam, Catholic and Albanian Orthodox
Related ethnic groups
Albanians

Demographics

In the 2002 census 520 Romanian citizens indicated their ethnicity was Albanian, and 484 stated that their native language was Albanian.[1] The actual number of the Albanian population in Romania is unofficially estimated at around 10,000 persons.[2] Most members of the community live in Bucharest,[2] while the rest mainly live in larger urban centers such as Timișoara, Iași, Constanța and Cluj-Napoca.

Most families are Orthodox and trace their origins to the area around Korçë.[3] The other Romanian Albanians adhere to Islam.

History

Ghica family

Grigore IV Ghica, Prince of Wallachia (1822–1828)

The Ghica Palace in Comăneşti

Gheorghe Ghica, the first notable member of the Ghica family, seems to have hailed from Veles, a town in modern central North Macedonia.[4] He was born around 1598 to Matei Ghica (* 1565, Zagori; † 1620, Constantinople), the trunk of the Ghica family.[5] At the beginning of 17th century Gheorghe left his birthplace and moved to Constantinople together with his father who intended to engage in a more lucrative trading in the Ottoman capital. The young Gheorghe, advised by the Moldavian ambassador to the Sublime Porte, moved to Moldavia sometimes before October 1624, where, by means of the wealth his father managed to accumulate, he eventually entered into the ranks of court dignitaries.[4] Following the protection afforded by the Moldavian Prince Vasile Lupu, he climbed up the social ladder, first by becoming ambassador to the Porte, and then by marrying Smaragda (Smada) Lână, daughter of Stamate Lână, the Stolnic (Seneschal) of Broşteni.[4]

Following the power vacuum resulting from the failed Transylvanian-Wallachian-Moldavian anti-Ottoman uprising organized by Prince George II Rákóczi, Gheorghe Ghica managed to secure his position as Prince of Moldavia, a position he held between 1658–1659 and 1659–1660. Unable to cope with the financial burdens imposed by the Porte, he was dismissed; nonetheless, following the intervention of Postelnic (Chamberlain) Constantin Cantacuzino, the throne was given to his son Grigore I Ghica. He was Gheorghe Ghica's oldest surviving son, born in Constantinople from a relationship he had with Ecaterina Vlasto, a Catholic from Pera.[6] He had followed his father to Moldavia, where he further raised his family into the ranks of the indigenous Great Boyars, by marrying Maria Sturdza, daughter of Vistiern (Treasurer) Mateiaș Sturdza of the Sturdza family, and niece of the Moldavian Prince Gheorghe Ștefan.[4]

Grigore I Ghica's rule was also not free from disturbances due to the conflict with the Sublime Porte and especially because of the disputes between the Boyar parties. Through his political maneuvers and the assassination of his former mentor Constantine Cantacuzino, he instigated the hatred of nobility against him and his entourage. Taking advantage of the defeat of the Ottomans at the Battle of Levice (1664), Grigore fled to Poland and then to Vienna, in search of Habsburg military aid. His hopes having not been materialized, he returned to Constantinople and acquired the Moldavian throne once again in 1672. During his short second reign, the animosity of the Cantacuzinos exploded violently, and after the defeat of the Turks at Khotyn in 1673, Grigore was forced to flee to Constantinople; the hostility of his opponents lost his throne and he will die in Constantinople in 1674.[4]

Grigore I Ghica's children, most notably Matei (Grigore) Ghica, assured the continuation of the lineage. Matei Ghica lived exclusively in Greek Phanar neighborhood of Constantinople. The marriage with Ruxandra Mavrocordat, daughter of Alexander Mavrocordatos, the Dragoman of the Sublime Porte, introduced Matei to the Phanariote nucleus — now the religious, cultural and political hegemons of the Christian Ottoman subjects and vassals — and ensured a path of political ascendancy for his descendants.[4] He became Grand Drogoman of The Fleet, and in 1739 he negotiated an agreement with the Sultan whereby the key position of Grand Drogoman of the Sublime Porte would remain within the fold — i.e. among the descendants of a family pact involving the Ghicas, Mavrocordatos and Racoviţăs.[7]

His son Grigore II Ghica initiated in the intricacies of the Ottoman politics due to his rank as Dragoman, succeeded in acquiring the Moldavian throne on 26 September 1726.[4] During his rule in Moldavia, Grigore II Ghica made proof of great diplomatic skills by leveling an unfortunate conflict with the Crimean Khanate who threatened to ravage the country. In 1733 a swap of thrones took place, with Grigore II going to Wallachia in place of his cousin Constantine Mavrocordatos. Grigore II Ghica's diplomatic skills proved even more remarkable during the Russo-Austrian-Turkish War, when the Prince of Moldavia, at the request of the Porte, acted as the intermediary and mediator between the Ottomans and Russians through correspondence and exchange of envoys with the Russian Field Marshal Burkhard Christoph von Münnich, with John Bell, the secretary of the British embassy in St. Petersburg, with the French ambassador to Constantinople, Louis Sauveur Villeneuve, as well as with the great Ottoman dignitaries.[4]

19th century

An Albanian in Wallachia (1866 watercolor by Amadeo Preziosi)

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; Călinești (a village in present-day Florești, 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.[8] The community's presence was first recorded in Bucharest around 1628.[9] In Moldavia, an ethnic Albanian, Vasile Lupu, became Prince in 1634.[8] Albanians are called by Romanians today Albanezi, but in the past they were known as Arbănasi, the old ethnonym dating back to the Middle Ages.[10]

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 Arbănași, akin to Arvanites, and its variant Arnăuți, borrowed from the Turkish Arnavut).[8][11] In 1820, a survey indicated that there were 90 traders from the Rumelian town of Arnaut Kioy present in the Wallachian capital, most of whom were probably Albanians and Aromanians.[12]

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).[8] Aleksandër 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.[8] At the time, Albanians were present, alongside other Balkan communities, in Bucharest's commercial life, where many worked as street vendors (specializing in the sale of soft drinks or confectionery items).[13]

The newspaper Sqipetari/Albanezul, published by the Albanian community (1889)

Albanian schoolbook printed in Bucharest in 1887

Among the new groups of immigrants from various Balkan regions to Romania were the families of poets Victor Eftimiu and Lasgush Poradeci.[8] At the time, the independence movement gathered momentum, and, for a while after 1905, was focused on the activities of Albert Gjika. An Albanian school was opened in 1905 in the city of Constanța — among its pupils was poet Aleksandër Stavre Drenova.[8] In 1912, at a Bucharest meeting headed by Ismail Qemali and attended by Drenova, the first resolution regarding Albania's independence was adopted.[8]

In 1893, the Albanian community in Romania numbered around 30,000 persons. In 1920 almost 20,000 Albanians lived in Bucharest.[8] A new wave of Albanian immigrants, many of them Muslims from Yugoslavia,[8] followed in the wake of World War I.[14][8] In 1921, the first translation of the Qur'an into Albanian was completed by Ilo Mitkë Qafëzezi and published in the city of Ploieşti.[14] Many Albanians settled in Transylvania, where they generally established confectionery enterprises.[8]

The community was repressed under the communist regime, starting in 1953 (when the Albanian cultural association was closed down).[3] 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.[2][3] Traditionally, members of the community have been included among a special "among others" category in the censuses.[2]

The community gained a seat in the Chamber of Deputies in 1996 when the Cultural Union of Albanians of Romania entered Parliament. In 2000 the community's seat was taken by the League of Albanians of Romania, who have held it since.

Notable Albanian-Romanians

Prime Ministers

• Victor Ponta – Romanian jurist and politician, who served as prime minister of Romania between his appointment by President Traian Băsescu in May 2012 and his resignation in November 2015.[15]
• Dimitrie Ghica – He served as prime minister between 1868 and 1870, was a Romanian politician, and a prominent member of the Conservative Party.[16]
• Ion Antonescu – Romanian soldier and authoritarian politician who, as the Prime Minister and Conducător during most of World War II.[17][18]
• Ion Ghica – Romanian revolutionary, mathematician, diplomat and politician, who was Prime Minister of Romania five times

Princes of Wallachia

• George Ghica – Founder of the Ghica family, was Prince of Moldavia in 1658–1659 and Prince of Wallachia in 1659–1660.[16]
• Grigore I Ghica – Prince of Wallachia between September 1660 and December 1664 and again between March 1672 and November 1673.[16]
• Grigore II Ghica – Voivode (Prince) of Moldavia at four different intervals.[16]
• Matei Ghica – Prince of Wallachia between 11 September 1752 and 22 June 1753.[16]
• Scarlat Ghica – Prince of Moldavia (2 March 1757 – 7 August 1758), and twice Prince of Wallachia (August 1758 – 5 June 1761; 18 August 1765 – 2 December 1766).[16]
• Alexandru Ghica – Voivode (Prince) of Wallachia from December 1766 to October 1768.[16]
• Grigore III Ghica – Prince of Moldavia between 29 March 1764 – 3 February 1767 and September 1774 – 10 October 1777 and of Wallachia: 28 October 1768 – November 1769.[16]
• Grigore IV Ghica – Prince of Wallachia between 1822 and 1828.[16]
• Alexandru II Ghica – Prince of Wallachia from April 1834 to 7 October 1842.[16]

Princes of Moldavia

• Vasile Lupu – Voivode of Moldavia between 1634 and 1653.[19]
• Scarlat Callimachi - Grand Dragoman of the Sublime Porte 1801–1806, Prince of Moldavia between August 24, 1806 – October 26, 1806, August 4, 1807 – June 13, 1810, September 17, 1812 – June 1819 and Prince of Wallachia between February 1821 – June 1821.[20]

People of other political affiliations

• Bonifaciu Florescu – Romanian polygraph, the illegitimate son of writer-revolutionary Nicolae Bălcescu.[21]
• Dimitrie Ghica-Comănești – Romanian nobleman, explorer, famous hunter, adventurer and politician.[16]
• Pantazi Ghica – Wallachian, later Romanian politician and lawyer.[22]
• Albert Ghica – Albanian-Romanian writer and socialite.[23][24]
• Alexandrina Cantacuzino - Romanian political activist, philanthropist and diplomat, one of her country's leading feminists in the 1920s and '30s.[25]
• Dimitrie Ghica – Romanian politician.[16]
• Vladimir Ghika – Romanian diplomat
• Ioan Grigore Ghica – Romanian politician who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Principality of Romania

Mathematicians

• Cornelia Geaboc – Romanian mathematician, founder of the Romanian school of functional analysis.[26]

Military

• Matila Ghyka – Romanian Naval officer, novelist, mathematician, historian, philosopher, diplomat and Plenipotentiary Minister in the United Kingdom during the late 1930s and until 1940.[27][28]

Arts and entertainment

• Kristaq Antoniu – Romanian operetta tenor, baritone, and actor.[29]
• Victor Eftimiu – Romanian poet and playwright.[30][31]
• Aleksandër Stavre Drenova – Well-known Albanian poet.[32]
• Lasgush Poradeci – writer and poet

Media, writers, and journalists

• N. D. Cocea – Romanian journalist, novelist, critic and left-wing political activist.[33]
• Dora d'Istria – Wallachian-born Romantic writer and feminist.
• George Magheru – Romanian poet and playwright.[34]

See also

• Names of the Albanians and Albania
• Arbanasi
• Arbëreshë
• Albanians in Ukraine

Notes

1. (in Romanian) Recensământ 2002. Rezultate: Populația după etnie. Populația după limba maternă Archived 2009-04-18 at the Wayback Machine at the 2002 Census official site Archived 2010-02-08 at the Wayback Machine; retrieved February 22, 2008
2. (in Romanian) "Albanezi – Date demografice" Archived 2010-08-11 at the Wayback Machine at Divers online Archived 2018-04-21 at the Wayback Machine; retrieved February 26, 2008
3. (in Romanian) "Albanezii – Perioada contemporană" Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine at Divers online Archived 2018-04-21 at the Wayback Machine; retrieved July 16, 2007
4. Paul Cernovodeanu, La Famille Ghika – court historique. Online at Ghika.net. Retrieved on 7 October 2010.
5. Matei Ghika — Fiche individuelle at Ghika.net. Retrieved on 8 October 2010.
6. Gheorghe Ghika Vodã I — Fiche individuelle at Ghika.net. Retrieved on 8 October 2010.
7. Christopher Long, Prince Mattheos (Gregorios) Ghika — Family Group Sheet. Online at Mavrogordato / Mavrocordato Family Archived 12 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved on 7 October 2010.
8. (in Romanian) "Albanezii – Scurt istoric" Archived 2008-05-19 at the Wayback Machine at Divers online Archived 2018-04-21 at the Wayback Machine; retrieved February 26, 2008
9. Giurescu, p. 272.
10. Kamusella, Tomasz (2009). The politics of language and nationalism in modern Central Europe. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 241. "Prior to the emergence of the modern self-ethnonym Shqiptarë in the mid-16th century (for the first time it was recorded in 1555 by the Catholic Gheg, Gjon Buzuku, in his missal), North Albanians (Ghegs) referred to themselves as Arbën, and South Albanians (Tosks) Arbër. Hence, the self-ethnonym Arbëreshë of the present-day Italo-Albanians (numbering about 100,000) in southern Italy and Sicily, whose ancestors, in the wake of the Ottoman wars, emigrated from their homeland in the 14th century. These self-ethnonyms perhaps influenced the Byzantine Greek Arvanites for ‘Albanians,’ which was followed by similar ones in Bulgarian and Serbian (Arbanasi), Ottoman (Arnaut), Romanian (Arbănas), and Aromanian (Arbineş).
11. Giurescu, pp. 267, 272.
12. Giurescu, p. 267.
13. Giurescu, pp. 168, 307.
14. George Grigore, "Muslims in Romania" Archived 2007-09-26 at the Wayback Machine, in International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World (ISIM) Newsletter 3, July 1999, p. 34; retrieved July 16, 2007.
15. (in Romanian) Mircea Marian, "Aflat la Tirana, Ponta a spus că familia bunicului său a venit în România din satul albanez Moscopole" ("While in Tirana, Ponta Says His Grandfather's Family Came to Romania from Albanian Village of Moscopole"), Evenimentul Zilei, 18 March 2014; accessed 17 November 2014
16. Sturdza, Alexandru A. C. (1904). La terre et la race roumaines depuis leurs origines jusqu'à nos jours. L. Laveur. p. 718. musat moldavie albanie.
17. Neagu Djuvara (25 January 2018). "Neagu Djuvara despre Regele Mihai şi Monarhie". Radio România Cultural.
18. "Portret: Ion Teodorescu, târgovişteanul care a scris despre istoria Albaniei". Adevarul. 23 January 2010.
19. Entangled Histories of the Balkans: Volume One: National Ideologies and Language Policies. BRILL. 13 June 2013. pp. 94–. ISBN 978-90-04-25076-5.
20. Christopher A. Long. "Family Group Sheet". Retrieved January 1, 2019.
21. Grigore Lăcusteanu (contributor: Radu Crutzescu), Amintirile colonelului Lăcusteanu. Text integral, editat după manuscris. Iași: Polirom, 2015. ISBN 978-973-46-4083-6
22. Neagu Djuvara, Între Orient şi Occident. Ţările române la începutul epocii moderne, Humanitas, Bucharest, 1995, p. 90-91. ISBN 973-28-0523-4
23. Elsie, Robert (2012). A Biographical Dictionary of Albanian History. I.B.Tauris. p. 167. ISBN 9781780764313.
24. Skendi, Stavro (1967). The Albanian national awakening. Princeton: Princeton University Press. pp. 325–331. ISBN 9781400847761.
25. (in Romanian) Narcis Dorin Ion, "Destinul unor reședințe aristocratice în primul deceniu al regimului comunist (1945–1955)" Archived 2017-05-17 at the Wayback Machine, in Revista Monumentul, Vol. IX: Monumentele si istoria lor, 2008, p. 276.
26. Family tree, at ghika.org
27. Arbre généalogique de la famille Ghyka
28. GEN-ROYAL-L Archives, rootsweb.ancestry.com; accessed 20 March 2016.
29. Një nga yjet artit shqiptar, Kristaq Antoniu [One of the Albanian art stars, Kristaq Antoniu] (in Albanian), Gazeta Vatra, 2015-12-24, retrieved 2016-01-29
30. Robert Elsie. A Biographical Dictionary of Albanian History. p. 55. He was also the author of translations of plays and short stories from Russian and Romanian, in particular of the works of Victor Eftimiu (1889–1972), a Romanian dramatist of Albanian origin.
31. Institutul de Construcții București. Buletinul științific. p. 116. We had great Romanian writers of Albanian origin like Victor Eftimiu, great literary critics like Garabet Ibraileanu,...
32. QMKSH (April 11, 2018). "11 April 1872, Was Born The Poet Asdreni, Aleksandër Stavre Drenova". Archived from the original on January 3, 2019. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
33. Stelian Tănase, "N.D. Cocea, un boier amoral/N.D. Cocea, an Immoral Boyar" (I), in Sfera Politicii, Nr. 136
34. Aurel Sasu (ed.), Dicționarul biografic al literaturii române, vol. II, p. 12-13. Pitești: Editura Paralela 45, 2004. ISBN 973-697-758-7

References

• Constantin C. Giurescu, Istoria Bucureștilor. Din cele mai vechi timpuri pînă în zilele noastre ("History of Bucharest. From the Earliest Times to Our Day"), Editura Pentru Literatură, Bucharest, 1966

External links

• (in Romanian) Albanian League of Romania