Greeks are a historic minority group in Romania. At times, as during the Phanariote era, this presence has amounted to hegemony; at other times (including the present), the Greeks have simply been one among the many ethnic minorities in Romania.
The Greek presence in what is now Romania dates back as far as the apoikiai (colonies) and emporia (trade stations) founded in and around Dobruja (see Colonies in antiquity and Pontic Greeks), beginning in the 7th century BC. Starting with the Milesian colony at Istros, the process reached its height after Tomis was founded in the 5th century BC. Although forever subject to the Dacian interference and easily disrupted by changes in the politics of neighbour tribal chieftains, the colonies prospered until being briefly submitted in various forms by King Burebista (late 1st century BC). Immediately after, and for the following centuries, they were stripped of their privileges by their new Roman masters, and followed the Empire into its crises.[citation needed]
In the Middle Ages, the Greek-speaking Byzantine Empire was a living presence north of the Danube, maintaining a cultural hegemony over the lands virtually until its disappearance, and for long periods exercised actual political dominance in the area of modern Dobruja (known to the Byzantines as Scythia Minor).[citation needed]
Early modern period
After the fall of the Byzantine Empire to the Ottoman Empire, the Hospodars of Moldavia and Wallachia (the Danubian Principalities) often took on the patronage of many Greek-proper cultural institutions such as several monasteries on Mount Athos, gestures guaranteed to provide prestige within Eastern Orthodox culture. To this was added the exodus of Byzantine officials and commoners to the two countries, which were at the time under a rather relaxed Ottoman tutelage. They took opportunities to advance in office, and from early on included themselves in the inner circle of power. This meant not only the reliance of Princes on a new elite (more often than not, also one to provide it with the funds needed by the administrative effort), but also the gradual ascendancy of Greeks to the thrones themselves.[citation needed]
The rapid change brought them much hostility from traditional boyars. Landowners in a rudimentary economy, accustomed to have an important say in political developments, these found themselves stripped of importance in the new structure, and became bitterly hostile to the immigrants. However, this was not the only notable trend: there were numerous cases of intermarriage at the top of the social scale (and not only), the arguably most famous of which being the ones inside the very powerful Cantacuzino family.[citation needed]
With the early 18th century emergence of Phanariote rule over the Danubian Principalities, Greek culture became a norm. On one hand, this meant a noted neglect for the institutions inside the countries; on the other, the channeling of Princes' energies into emancipation from Ottoman rule, through projects that aimed for the erasing of inner borders of the Empire, moving toward the creation of an all-Balkan, neo-Byzantine state (seen as the extended identity of Greekdom). To these was added the omnipresence and omnipotence of Greek ethnic clerics at all levels of the religious hierarchy, with many monasteries becoming directly submitted to similar institutions in Greece, after being gradually granted by successive Princes.
Thus, the emergence of Greek nationalism opened the two lands to revolution, as the main concentrations of political power available to it at the time, and the ones sharing a border with the expected supporter of the cause - Imperial Russia. The Wallachian stage of the Greek War of Independence consumed itself in a conflict between the initially supportive Anti-Ottoman Revolt led by Tudor Vladimirescu and the Philikí Etaireía, while Moldavia was under Greek occupation for a limited duration. The outcome only served to stir up animosity, and the Ottomans were receptive to the demands, putting an end to the Phanariote system in 1822.
A Greek pie-maker and his Jewish client in Bucharest, ca. 1880
19th and 20th centuries
In time, most Greeks lost their specificity and became fully integrated (for example, a sizable portion of noble families considered "Phanariote" contributed to the adopted culture more than local ones).
With new trends of migration, Romania became a less important target for exiled Greeks, and this became limited to people of lower social status—with ethnic Greeks being most visible as entrepreneurs, middlemen traders, and especially sailors (both on the Danube the Black Sea—in the case of the latter, after the integration of Dobruja in 1878, which also gave Romania a new population of Greeks, already on the spot).
The communities were largely prosperous and maintained specific cultural institutions; they attracted a new wave of arrivals when Greece was hit by the Civil War, in the late 1940s. This situation was challenged by Communist Romania, with the properties of most organizations and many individuals being confiscated, and hundreds of Greek ethnics being imprisoned on sites such as the Danube-Black Sea Canal.
Present situation
Eastern Orthodox Church Metamorphosis in Constanța, with service occasionally held in Greek
Among the towns and communes in Romania with the highest proportions of Greeks as of 2011 are Izvoarele (Greek: Ιζβοάρελε; 43.82%) and Sulina (Greek: Σουλινάς; 1.69%), both in Tulcea County.
According to the Romanian census of 2002, the Greek community numbered 6,472 persons, most of whom live in Bucharest and its surrounding area. Next in line come the Dobruja counties of Tulcea and Constanța, and the Danube-facing ones of Brăila and Galați. The 1992 census however found 19,594 Greeks;[1] this shows the tendency of assimilation. According to the General Secretariat for Greeks Abroad (a dependency of the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs) the Greek community in Romania numbers 14,000.[2]
Moldavia is a historical region and former principality in Central and Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester River. An initially independent and later autonomous state, it existed from the 14th century to 1859, when it united with Wallachia as the basis of the modern Romanian state; at various times, Moldavia included the regions of Bessarabia, all of Bukovina and Hertsa. The region of Pokuttya was also part of it for a period of time.
Wallachia or Walachia is a historical and geographical region of modern-day Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians. Wallachia was traditionally divided into two sections, Muntenia and Oltenia. Dobruja could sometimes be considered a third section due to its proximity and brief rule over it. Wallachia as a whole is sometimes referred to as Muntenia through identification with the larger of the two traditional sections.
The culture of Romania is an umbrella term used to encapsulate the ideas, customs and social behaviours of the people of Romania that developed due to the country's distinct geopolitical history and evolution. It is theorized that Romanians and related peoples were formed through the admixture of the descendants of Roman colonists and the indigenous Paleo-Balkanic people who were subsequently Romanized.
Dobruja or Dobrudja is a geographical and historical region in Southeastern Europe that has been divided since the 19th century between the territories of Bulgaria and Romania. It is situated between the lower Danube River and the Black Sea, and includes the Danube Delta, Romanian coast, and the northernmost part of the Bulgarian coast. The territory of Dobruja is made up of Northern Dobruja, which is a part of Romania, and Southern Dobruja, which is a part of Bulgaria.
Isaccea is a small town in Tulcea County, in Northern Dobruja, Romania, on the right bank of the Danube, 35 km north-west of Tulcea. According to the 2021 census, it has a population of 4,408.
Sulina is a town and free port in Tulcea County, Northern Dobruja, Romania, at the mouth of the Sulina branch of the Danube. It is the easternmost point of Romania.
Phanariots, Phanariotes, or Fanariots were members of prominent Greek families in Phanar, the chief Greek quarter of Constantinople where the Ecumenical Patriarchate is located, who traditionally occupied four important positions in the Ottoman Empire: Voivode of Moldavia, Voivode of Wallachia, Grand Dragoman of the Porte and Grand Dragoman of the Fleet. Despite their cosmopolitanism and often-Western education, the Phanariots were aware of their Greek ancestry and culture; according to Nicholas Mavrocordatos' Philotheou Parerga, "We are a race completely Hellenic".
The House of Cantacuzino is a Romanian aristocratic family of Greek origin. The family gave a number of princes to Wallachia and Moldavia, and it claimed descent from a branch of the Byzantine Kantakouzenos family, specifically from Byzantine Emperor John VI Kantakouzenos. After the Russo-Ottoman War of 1710–11, a lateral branch of the family settled in Russia, receiving the princely status. In 1944, Prince Ștefan Cantacuzino settled in Sweden, where his descendants form part of the unintroduced nobility of that country.
The Danubian Principalities was a conventional name given to the Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, which emerged in the early 14th century. The term was coined in the Habsburg monarchy after the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca (1774) in order to designate an area on the lower Danube with a common geopolitical situation. The term was largely used then by foreign political circles and public opinion until the union of the two principalities in 1859. Alongside Transylvania, the United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia became the basis for the Kingdom of Romania, and by extension the modern nation-state of Romania.
The House of Caradja or Karatzas is a princely house of Byzantine and Phanariote Greek origins, present as dignitaries in the Ottoman Empire, and established as boyars and hospodars in the Danubian Principalities from the late 16th century.
John George Caradja, also known by his regnal name Ioan Gheorghe Caragea, was a Phanariote Greek Prince of Wallachia, who reigned between August 1812 and September 1818. He was the second, and last, member of the Karatzas or Caradja family to ascend to the Wallachian throne, but one of several to have also held office as Great Dragoman of the Ottoman Empire. Caradja, whose life is relatively obscure up to that point, held two terms as Dragoman. Before 1800, he also embarked on a literary career, participating in the spread of Enlightenment literature throughout the Rum Millet, and becoming noted for his translations from Carlo Goldoni. His progeny included Rallou Karatza-Argyropoulos, who was famous in her own right as a pioneer of modern Greek theater.
Islam in Romania is followed by only 0.4 percent of the population, but has 700 years of tradition in Northern Dobruja, a region on the Black Sea coast which was part of the Ottoman Empire for almost five centuries. In present-day Romania, most adherents to Islam belong to the Tatar and Turkish ethnic communities and follow the Sunni doctrine. The Islamic religion is one of the 18 rites awarded state recognition.
The Turks of Romania are ethnic Turks who form an ethnic minority in Romania. According to the 2011 census, there were 27,698 Turks living in the country, forming a minority of some 0.15% of the population. Of these, 81.1% were recorded in the Dobruja region of the country's southeast, near the Black Sea, in the counties of Constanța (21,014) and Tulcea (1,891), with a further 8.5% residing in the national capital Bucharest (2,388).
Albanians in Romania are an officially recognized ethnic minority, with one seat reserved in the Romanian Chamber of Deputies to the League of Albanians of Romania.
Nicholas Mavrocordatos was a Greek member of the Mavrocordatos family, Grand Dragoman to the Divan (1697), and consequently the first Phanariote Hospodar of the Danubian Principalities, Prince of Moldavia, and Prince of Wallachia. He was succeeded as Grand Dragoman (1709) by his brother John Mavrocordato (Ioan), who was for a short while hospodar in both Wallachia and Moldavia.
Alexandru Cantacuzino-Deleanu or Alexandros Kantakouzinos was a Phanariote Romanian-Greek magnate and politician.
Andronikos Kantakouzenos, also known as Mihaloğlu Derviş, was an Ottoman Greek entrepreneur and political figure, primarily active in Wallachia and Moldavia. He was the son of Michael Kantakouzenos Şeytanoğlu, a powerful merchant of the Ottoman Empire, executed by Murad III in 1578. Forced to honor his father's outstanding debt, and briefly imprisoned as a galley slave, he rebuilt the fortune through commerce and political intrigues. In the 1590s, he was continuing his father's involvement as kingmaker for both Wallachia and Moldavia, acting as patron for a succession of Hospodars: Stephen the Deaf, Petru Cercel, Aaron the Tyrant and Peter the Lame all benefited from his financing. From 1591, he involved himself directly in the administration of both countries. Integrated within Moldo–Wallachian boyardom, he was Vistier, and then the first-ever Ban of Oltenia to be appointed directly by the Ottomans.
The Paharnic was a historical Romanian rank, one of the non-hereditary positions ascribed to the boyar aristocracy in Moldavia and Wallachia. It was the local equivalent of a cup-bearer or cześnik, originally centered on pouring and obtaining wine for the court of Moldavian and Wallachian Princes. With time, it became a major administrative office and, in Wallachia, also had a lesser military function. The retinue of such boyars, usually called Păhărnicei, was in both countries also a private army.
Roxani Karatza-Soutzos was a Phanariote Greek cultural animator, initially active inside the Ottoman Empire; the daughter of John Caradja, sister of Rallou Karatza-Argyropoulos, and wife of Michael Soutzos, she served as Princess-consort of Moldavia in June 1819 – April 1821. This matrimonial arrangement united the powerful Caradjas with the more politically frail Soutzoses, but the two Phanariote clans were soon at odds with one another—Roxani favored her adoptive family. The break was initiated in late 1812, when Caradja was made Prince of Wallachia under Ottoman tutelage. Serving as the Great Dragoman, Michael also competed for that position, and worked to topple his father-in-law. The latter finally abandoned his throne in late 1818, but Michael lost the competition to his second-uncle, Alexandros; he was compensated with the Moldavian throne.
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