The Romanians in Hungary (, ) constituted a small minority. According to the most recent Hungarian census of 2011 (based on self-reporting), the population of

Romanians Romanians (, ; dated Endonym and exonym, exonym ''Vlachs'') are a Romance languages, Romance-speaking ethnic group and nation native to Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. Sharing a Culture of Romania, ...

was 35,641 or 0.3%, a significant increase from 8,482 or 0.1% of 2001. The community is concentrated in towns and villages close to the Romanian border, such as

Battonya Battonya (; ) is a town in Békés County, in the Southern Great Plain region of south-east Hungary. Residents are Hungarians, with minority of Serbs and Romanians. Geography It covers an area of 145.77 km2 and has a population of 4966 peopl ...

, Elek, Kétegyháza, Pusztaottlaka and Méhkerék, and in the city of Gyula. Romanians also live in the Hungarian capital,

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

. As of 2011, Romanians constitute one of the largest foreign communities in the country.

History

Historically, a significant part of modern day

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

was part of the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...

. The oldest extant documents from Transylvania make reference to

Vlachs Vlach ( ), also Wallachian and many other variants, is a term and exonym used from the Middle Ages until the Modern Era to designate speakers of Eastern Romance languages living in Southeast Europe—south of the Danube (the Balkan peninsula ...

too. Regardless of the subject of Romanian presence/non-presence in

Transylvania Transylvania ( or ; ; or ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjen'') is a List of historical regions of Central Europe, historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and ...

prior to the Hungarian conquest (See

Origin of the Romanians Several theories, in great extent mutually exclusive, address the issue of the origin of the Romanians. The Romanian language descends from the Vulgar Latin dialects spoken in the Roman provinces north of the "Jireček Line" (a proposed notion ...

), the first written sources about Romanian settlements derive from the 13th century, record was written about Olahteluk village in Bihar county from 1283. The 'land of Romanians', Terram Blacorum (1222,1280)Tamás Kis, Magyar nyelvjárások, Volumes 18-21, Nyelvtudományi Intézet, Kossuth Lajos Tudományegyetem (University of Kossuth Lajos). Magyar Nyelvtudományi Tanszék, 1972, p. 8

/ref> showed up in Făgăraş, Fogaras and this area was mentioned under different name (Olachi) in 1285. The first appearance of a supposed Romanian name 'Ola' in Hungary derives from a charter (1258). They were significant population in

Banat Banat ( , ; ; ; ) is a geographical and Historical regions of Central Europe, historical region located in the Pannonian Basin that straddles Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe. It is divided among three countries: the eastern part lie ...

, Máramaros (Maramureș) and Partium. In 1881, Romanian-majority settlements projected to the present-day territory of Hungary were: Bedő, Csengerújfalu, Kétegyháza, Körösszakál, Magyarcsanád, Méhkerék, Mezőpeterd, Pusztaottlaka and Vekerd. Important communities lived in

, Elek, Körösszegapáti, Létavértes, Nyíradony, Pocsaj, Sarkadkeresztúr, and Zsáka. The numbers of Romanians in Hungary increased briefly with the onset of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

when Hungary annexed parts of Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Yugoslavia. These annexations were affirmed under the

Munich Agreement The Munich Agreement was reached in Munich on 30 September 1938, by Nazi Germany, the United Kingdom, the French Third Republic, French Republic, and the Kingdom of Italy. The agreement provided for the Occupation of Czechoslovakia (1938–194 ...

(1938), two Vienna Awards (

1938 Events January * January 1 – state-owned enterprise, State-owned railway networks are created by merger, in France (SNCF) and the Netherlands (Nederlandse Spoorwegen – NS). * January 20 – King Farouk of Egypt marries Saf ...

and

1940 A calendar from 1940 according to the Gregorian calendar, factoring in the dates of Easter and related holidays, cannot be used again until the year 5280. Events Below, events related to World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January *Janu ...

). In particular, the population of

Northern Transylvania Northern Transylvania (, ) was the region of the Kingdom of Romania that during World War II, as a consequence of the August 1940 territorial agreement known as the Second Vienna Award, became part of the Kingdom of Hungary (1920-1946), Kingdom ...

, according to the Hungarian census from 1941 counted 53.5%

Hungarians Hungarians, also known as Magyars, are an Ethnicity, ethnic group native to Hungary (), who share a common Culture of Hungary, culture, Hungarian language, language and History of Hungary, history. They also have a notable presence in former pa ...

and 39.1%

.Károly Kocsis, Eszter Kocsisné Hodosi, Ethnic Geography of the Hungarian Minorities in the Carpathian Basin, Simon Publications LLC, 1998, p. 116-15

According to Romanian estimates of the region before the arbitration in 1940, there were 1,304,903 Romanians (50.2%) and 978,074 (37.1%) Hungarians. In 1950, '' Foaia Românească'' ("The Romanian Sheet"; then known by another name) was founded in Gyula. It was the first newspaper of the Romanian minority in modern Hungary and currently is the one with longest and widest level of circulation within the country.

Notable people

References

{{Ethnic groups in Hungary

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

History

Notable people

See also

References