The Aromanians in Contemporary Romania

Romanians are one of the native people from this part of Europe, the only heirs of the eastern Roman Empire. Romanians were born, as showed in historical and linguistic studies, on both sides of the Danube River, an ethnical continuity on both banks of the river, until the Slav people arrived in the 6th and 7th centuries AD. The political situation created after the First World War caused serious problems for the Aromanians in the newly created Balkan states. There were substantial population exchanges among the Balkanic countries (Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria). This situation led to the change of the ethnic composition in these countries There were three main emigration centers: Meglenia, Veria and Vodena. The idea of the Macedo-Romanians' migration to Cadrilater represents a consequence of the demographic pressure put on the Aromanian population living in Greece. The difficulties, which appeared, caused the migration to Cadrilater of an important Aromanian segment (more than 25 000), between 1925 and 1933. But these circumstances did not mean the end of their tragedy because they were displaced to Constan a and Tulcea when territory in Cadrilater was ceded to Bulgaria (September 1940). In Dobrudja, the Macedo-Romanians are a linguistic and cultural community, but, at the same time, south-Danubian Romanians, due to hostile historical events, were forced to settle here. In their native lands, they were in contact with other Balkan people, being separated from the body of Carpathian and Danubian Romanianhood. Looking after sheep, carrying merchandise and trading were the main issues that shaped the common ethnic and linguistic aspects of survival on both sides of the Danube River. The paper is focused upon the situation and specific problems of the Aromanians living in contemporary Romania.