History of the Romani people

The Romani people, also referred to as the Roma or Gypsies, are an ethnic group who live primarily in Europe. They are believed to have originated in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent. They began their migration to Europe and North Africa via the Iranian plateau about 1,000 years ago.

The reason for their diaspora remains unknown.

Origin

First arrival of Gypsies outside Bern in the 15th century, described by the chronicler as getoufte heiden "baptized heathens" and drawn wearing Saracene style clothes and weapons (Spiezer Schilling, p. 749).

The absence of a written history has meant that the origin and early history of the Romani people was long an enigma. Part of Indian origin was suggested on linguistic grounds as early as 200 years ago.^[1] One theory suggests that the name ultimately derives from a form ḍōmba- 'man of low caste living by singing and music', attested in Classical Sanskrit.^[2]

Linguistic evidence indicates the Romanies originated from the Rajasthani people, emigrating from India towards the northwest no earlier than the 11th century. Contemporary populations sometimes suggested as sharing a close relationship to the Romani are the Dom people of Central Asia and the Banjara of India.^[3]

Genetic evidence is connecting the Romani people and the Jat people, the descendants of groups which emigrated from India towards Central Asia during the medieval period.^[4] There are serological^[5] similarities shared with several populations that linked the two people in a 1992 study.^[6][7]

In 2007 a limited medical survey of haplotypes frequently found in the Jat Sikhs and Jats of Haryana, and those found in the Romani populations revealed no matches.^[8] However, in 2009 researchers discovered the "Jat mutation", which causes a type of glaucoma in Romani people. Their press release stated:

"An international collaboration led by Manir Ali of the Leeds Institute of Molecular Medicine, first identified the ‘Jatt’ mutation in one of four Pakistani]families. Further study amongst Roma populations in Europe showed that the same mutation accounted for nearly half of all cases of PCG [Primary congenital glaucoma] in that community. Manir Ali’s research also confirms the widely accepted view that the Roma originated from the Jatt clan of Northern India and Pakistan and not from Eastern Europe as previously believed."^[9]

Language origins

The cause of the Romani diaspora is unknown. However, the most probable conclusion is that the Romanies were part of the military in Northern India. When there were repeated raids by Mahmud of Ghazni and these soldiers were defeated, they were moved west with their families into the Byzantine Empire. This occurred between AD 1000 and 1030.^{[citation needed]}

This departure date is assumed because, linguistically speaking, the Romani language is a New Indo-Aryan language (NIA) − it has only two genders (masculine and feminine). Until around the year 1000, the Indo-Aryan languages, named Middle Indo-Aryan (MIA), had three genders (masculine, feminine and neuter). By the turn of the 2nd millennium, they changed into the NIA phase, losing the neuter gender. Most of the neuter nouns became masculine while a few became feminine. For instance, the neuter अग्नि (agni) in the Prakrit became the feminine आग (āg) in Hindi and jag in Romani. The parallels in grammatical gender evolution between Romani and other NIA languages is proposed to prove that the change occurred in the Indian subcontinent.

It is therefore not considered possible that the ancestors of the Romani people left India prior to AD 1000. They then stayed in the Byzantine Empire for several hundred years. However, the Muslim expansion, mainly made by the Seljuk Turks, into the Byzantine Empire recommenced the movement of the Romani people.^[10]

Until the mid-to-late 18th century, theories of the origin of the Romani were mostly speculative. In 1782, Johann Christian Christoph Rüdiger published his research that pointed out the relationship between the Romani language and Hindustani.^[11] Subsequent work supported the hypothesis that Romani shared a common origin with the Indo-Aryan languages of Northern India,^[12] with Romani grouping most closely with Sinhalese in a recent study.^[13]

The majority of historians accepted this as evidence of an Indian Saraiki origin for the Romanies, though some scholars maintained that the Romanies acquired the language through contact with Indian merchants.^[14]

Domari and Romani language

Main article: Domari language

Domari was once thought to be the "sister language" of Romani, the two languages having split after the departure from the Indian subcontinent, but more recent research suggests that the differences between them are significant enough to treat them as two separate languages within the Central zone (Hindustani)Saraiki language group of languages which originate from Persian language. The Dom and the Rom are therefore likely to be descendants of two different migration waves out of North West India or Pakistan, separated by several centuries.^[15][16]

Numerals in the Romani, Lomavren and Domari languages, with Hindi forms for comparison.^[17]

	Hindi	Romani	Lomavren	Domari
1	ek	ekh, jekh	yak, yek	yika
2	do	duj	lui	dī
3	tīn	trin	tərin	tærən
4	cār	štar	išdör	štar
5	pāñc	pandž	pendž	pandž
6	che	šov	šeš	šaš
7	sāt	ifta	haft	xaut
8	āţh	oxto	hašt	xaišt
9	nau	inja	nu	na
10	das	deš	las	des
20	bīs	biš	vist	wīs
100	sau	šel	saj	saj

Genetic evidence

Further evidence for the Indian origin of the Romanies came in the late 1990s. Researchers doing DNA analysis discovered that Romani populations carried large frequencies of particular Y chromosomes (inherited paternally) and mitochondrial DNA (inherited maternally) that otherwise exist only in populations from South Asia.

47.3% of Romani men carry Y chromosomes of haplogroup H-M82 which is rare outside the Indian subcontinent.^[18] Mitochondrial haplogroup M, most common in Indian subjects and rare outside Southern Asia, accounts for nearly 30% of Romani people.^[18] A more detailed study of Polish Roma shows this to be of the M5 lineage, which is specific to India.^[19] Moreover, a form of the inherited disorder congenital myasthenia is found in Romani subjects. This form of the disorder, caused by the 1267delG mutation, is otherwise known only in subjects of Indian ancestry. This is considered to be the best evidence of the Indian ancestry of the Romanies.^[20]

The Romanies have been described as "a conglomerate of genetically isolated founder populations".^[21] The number of common Mendelian disorders found among Romanies from all over Europe indicates "a common origin and founder effect".^[21] See also this table:^[22]

A study from 2001 by Gresham et al. suggests "a limited number of related founders, compatible with a small group of migrants splitting from a distinct caste or tribal group".^[23] Also the study pointed out that "genetic drift and different levels and sources of admixture, appear to have played a role in the subsequent differentiation of populations".^[23] The same study found that "a single lineage ... found across Romani populations, accounts for almost one-third of Romani males.

A 2004 study by Morar et al. concluded that the Romanies are "a founder population of common origins that has subsequently split into multiple socially divergent and geographically dispersed Gypsy groups".^[20] The same study revealed that this population "was founded approximately 32–40 generations ago, with secondary and tertiary founder events occurring approximately 16–25 generations ago".^[20]

Connection with the Burushos and Pamiris

The Burushos of Hunza have a paternal lineage genetic marker that is grouped with Pamiri speakers from Afghanistan and Tajikstan, and the Sinti Romani ethnic group. This find of shared genetic haplogroups may indicate an origin of the Romani people in or around these regions.^[24]

Possible connection with the Jat people

While the South Asian origin of the Romani people has been long considered a certitude, the exact South Asian group from whom the Romanies have descended has been a matter of debate. The recent discovery of the "Jat mutation" that causes a type of glaucoma in Romani populations suggests that the Romani people are the descendants of the Jat people found in Northern India and Pakistan.^[25]

This contradicted an earlier study that compared the most common haplotypes found in Romani groups with those found in Jats from Haryana and Punjab and found no matches, this could have been due to better scientific methods being developed.^[26] The haplogroup H, which is the most common haplogroup in Romanis, is more prevalent in central India than it is in northern India.

Early records

Many Antique historians mention a tribe by the name of Sigynnae (Tsigani) on various locations in Europe. Early records of itinerant populations from India begin as early as the Sassanid period. Donald Kenrick notes the first recorded presence of Zott in Baghdad in AD 420, Khaneikin in AD 834.^[27]

Contemporary scholars have suggested one of the first written references to the Romanies, under the term "Atsingani", (derived from the Greek ατσίγγανοι - atsinganoi), dates from the Byzantine era during a time of famine in the 9th century. In the year AD 800, Saint Athanasia gave food to "foreigners called the Atsingani" near Thrace. Later, in AD 803, Theophanes the Confessor wrote that Emperor Nikephoros I had the help of the "Atsingani" to put down a riot with their "knowledge of magic". However, the Atsingani were a Manichean sect that disappeared from chronicles in the 11th century. "Atsinganoi" was used to refer to itinerant fortune tellers, ventriloquists and wizards who visited the Emperor Constantine IX in the year 1054.^[28]

The hagiographical text, The Life of St. George the Anchorite, mentions that the "Atsingani" were called on by Constantine to help rid his forests of the wild animals which were killing off his livestock.

Europe

The migration of the Romani people through the Middle East and Northern Africa to Europe.

In 1322 a Franciscan monk named Simon Simeonis described people in likeness to the "atsingani" living in Crete and in 1350 Ludolphus of Sudheim mentioned a similar people with a unique language whom he called Mandapolos, a word which some theorize was possibly derived from the Greek word Mantipolos - Μαντιπόλος^[29] "frenzied" from mantis - μάντις (meaning "prophet, fortune teller") and poleo - πολέω.

Around 1360, a fiefdom (called the Feudum Acinganorum) was established in Corfu. It mainly used Romani serfs and the Romanies on the island were subservient.^[30][31]

By the 14th century, the Romanies had reached the Balkans and Bohemia; by the 15th century, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Portugal; and by the 16th century, Russia, Denmark, Scotland and Sweden.^[27](although DNA evidence from mid-11th century skeletons in Norwich suggest that at least a few individuals may have arrived earlier, perhaps due to Viking enslavement of Romani from the eastern Mediterranean or liaisons with the Varangians^[32]).

Some Romanies migrated from Persia through North Africa, reaching Europe via Spain in the 15th century. The two currents met in France. Romanies began immigrating to the United States in colonial times, with small groups in Virginia and French Louisiana. Larger-scale immigration began in the 1860s, with groups of Romnichal from Britain. The largest number immigrated in the early 20th century, mainly from the Vlax group of Kalderash. Many Romanies also settled in Latin America.

According to historian Norman Davies, a 1378 law passed by the governor of Nauplion in the Greek Peloponnese confirming privileges for the "atstingani" is "the first documented record of Romany Gypsies in Europe." Similar documents, again representing the Romanies as a group that had been exiled from Egypt, record them reaching Braşov, Transylvania in 1416; Hamburg, Holy Roman Empire in 1418; and Paris in 1427. A chronicler for a Parisian journal described them as dressed in a manner that the Parisians considered shabby, and reports that the Church had them leave town because they practiced palm-reading and fortune-telling.^[33]

Their early history shows a mixed reception. Although 1385 marks the first recorded transaction for a Romani slave in Wallachia, they were issued safe conduct by Sigismund of the Holy Roman Empire in 1417.^[27] Romanies were ordered expelled from the Meissen region of Germany in 1416, Lucerne in 1471, Milan in 1493, France in 1504, Catalonia in 1512, Sweden in 1525, England in 1530 (see Egyptians Act 1530), and Denmark in 1536.^[27] In 1510, any Romani found in Switzerland were ordered to be put to death, with similar rules established in England in 1554, and Denmark in 1589, whereas Portugal began deportations of Romanies to its colonies in 1538.^[27]

Later, a 1596 English statute, however, gave Romanies special privileges that other wanderers lacked; France passed a similar law in 1683. Catherine the Great of Russia declared the Romanies "crown slaves" (a status superior to serfs), but also kept them out of certain parts of the capital.^[33] In 1595, Ştefan Răzvan overcame his birth into slavery, and became the Voivode (Prince) of Moldavia.^[27]

In Wallachia, Transylvania and Moldova, Romanies were enslaved for five centuries, until abolition in the mid-19th century.

In the late 19th century, the Romani culture inspired in their neighbors a wealth of artistic works. Among the most notable works are Carmen and La Vie de Bohème.^[33]

Settlement

In 1758, Maria Theresa of Austria began a program of assimilation to turn Romanies into ujmagyar (new Hungarians). The government built permanent huts to replace mobile tents, forbade travel, and forcefully removed children from their parents to be fostered by non-Romani.^[27] By 1894, the majority of Romanies counted in a Hungarian national census were sedentary. In 1830, Romani children in Nordhausen were taken from their families to be fostered by Germans.^[27]

Russia also encouraged settlement of all nomads in 1783, and the Polish introduced a settlement law in 1791. Bulgaria and Serbia banned nomadism in the 1880s.^[27]

In 1783, racial legislation against Romanies was repealed in the United Kingdom, and a specific "Turnpike Act" was established in 1822 to prevent nomads from camping on the roadside, strengthened in the Highways Act of 1835.^[27]

Pre-war organization

In 1879, a national meeting of Romanies was held in the Hungarian town of Kisfalu (now Pordašinci, Slovenia). Romanies in Bulgaria set up a conference in 1919 to protest for their right to vote, and a Romani journal, Istiqbal (Future) was founded in 1923.^[27]

In the Soviet Union, the All-Russian Union of Gypsies was organized in 1925 with a journal, Romani Zorya (Romani Dawn) beginning two years later. The Romengiro Lav (Romani Word) writer's circle encouraged works by authors like Nikolay Aleksandrovich Pankov and Nina Dudarova.^[27]

A General Association of the Gypsies of Romania was established in 1933 with a national conference, and two journals, Neamul Tiganesc (Gypsy Nation) and Timpul (Time). An "international" conference was organized in Bucharest the following year.^[27]

In Yugoslavia, Romani journal Romano Lil started publication in 1935.^[27]

Porajmos

Main article: Porajmos

Newly arrived Romanies at the Belzec concentration camp in 1940.

During World War II, the Nazis murdered 220,000 to 1,500,000 Romanies in an attempted genocide referred to as the Porajmos.^[34] Like the Jews, they were sentenced to forced labor and imprisonment in concentration camps. They were often killed on sight, especially by the Einsatzgruppen on the Eastern Front.

Post-war history

In Communist central and eastern Europe, Romanies experienced assimilation schemes and restrictions of cultural freedom. The Romani language and Romani music were banned from public performance in Bulgaria. In Czechoslovakia, tens of thousands of Romanies from Slovakia, Hungary and Romania were re-settled in border areas of Czech lands and their nomadic lifestyle was forbidden. In Czechoslovakia, where they were labeled as a “socially degraded stratum,” Romani women were sterilized as part of a state policy to reduce their population. This policy was implemented with large financial incentives, threats of denying future social welfare payments, misinformation, and involuntary sterilization.^[35]

In the early 1990s, Germany deported tens of thousands of migrants to central and eastern Europe. Sixty percent of some 100,000 Romanian nationals deported under a 1992 treaty were Romani.

During the 1990s and early 21st century many Romanies from central and eastern Europe attempted to migrate to western Europe or Canada. The majority of them were turned back. Several of these countries established strict visa requirements to prevent further migration.

In 2005, the Decade of Roma Inclusion was launched in nine Central and Southeastern European countries to improve the socio-economic status and social inclusion of the Romani minority across the region.

America

Romanies began immigrating to the United States in colonial times, with small groups in Virginia and French Louisiana. Larger-scale immigration began in the 1860s, with groups of Romnichal from Britain. The largest number immigrated in the early 20th century, mainly from the Vlax group of Kalderash. Many Romanies also settled in other countries of the Americas.

Czech-Canadian Exodus

In August 1997, TV Nova, a popular television station in the Czech Republic, broadcast a documentary on the situation of Romanies who had emigrated to Canada.^[36] The short report portrayed Romanies in Canada living comfortably with support from the state, and sheltered from racial discrimination and violence.^[37] At the time, life was particularly difficult for many Romanies living in the Czech Republic. As a result of the dissolution of Czechoslovakia, many Romanies were left without citizenship in either the Czech Republic or Slovakia.^[38] Following the large flood in Moravia in July, many Romanies were left homeless yet unwelcome in other parts of the country.^[36]

Almost overnight, there were reports of Romanies preparing to emigrate to Canada. According to one report, 5,000 Romani from the city of Ostrava intended to move. Mayors in some Czech towns encouraged the exodus, offering to help pay for flights so that Romanies could leave. The following week, the Canadian Embassy in Prague was receiving hundreds of calls a day from Romanies and flights between the Czech Republic and Canada were sold out until October.^[36] In 1997, 1,285 people from the Czech Republic arrived in Canada and claimed refugee status, a rather significant jump from the 189 Czechs who did so the previous year.^[38]

Lucie Cermakova, a spokesperson at the Canadian Embassy in Prague, criticized the program, claiming it "presented only one side of the matter and picked out only nonsensical ideas." Marie Jurkovicova, a spokesperson for the Czech Embassy in Ottawa suggested that "the program was full of half-truths, which strongly distorted reality and practically invited the exodus of large groups of Czech Romanies. It concealed a number of facts."^[36]

President Václav Havel and (after some hesitation) Prime Minister Václav Klaus attempted to convince the Romanies not to leave. With the help of Romani leaders like Emil Scuka, Chairman of the Roma Civic Initiative, they urged Romanies to remain in country and work to solve their problems with the larger Czech population.

The movement of Romanies to Canada had been fairly easy because visa requirements for Czech citizens had been lifted by the Canadian government in April 1996. In response to the influx of Romanies, the Canadian government reinstated the visa requirements for all Czechs as of October 8, 1997.

Romani Nationalism

Flag of the Romani people

Roma nationalism has become an increasingly significant movement in Roma politics.

The first World Romani Congress was organized in 1971 near London, funded in part by the World Council of Churches and the Government of India. It was attended by representatives from India and 20 other countries. At the congress, the green and blue flag from the 1933 conference, embellished with the red, sixteen-spoked chakra, was reaffirmed as the national emblem of the Romani people, and the anthem, "Gelem, Gelem" was adopted.

The International Romani Union was officially established in 1977, and in 1990, the fourth World Congress declared April 8 to be International Day of the Roma, a day to celebrate Romani culture and raise awareness of the issues facing the Romani community.

The 5th World Romany Congress in 2000 issued an official declaration of the Romany non-territorial nation.

See also

• Timeline of Romani history
• Bohemianism
• Rajasthani people
• Names of the Romani people

References

• Turner, Ralph L. (1926) The Position of Romani in Indo-Aryan. In: Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society 3rd Ser. 5/4, pp. 145–188.
• Donald Kenrick (1993) From India to the Mediterranean: the migration of the Gypsies. Paris: Gypsy Research Centre (University René Descartes).
• Marushiakova, Elena and Vesselin Popov. Gypsies in the Ottoman Empire. Hatfield: University of Hertfordshire Press, 2001.
• Will Guy (2001) Between past and future: the Roma of Central and Eastern Europe. Hatfield, Hertfordshire, UK: University of Hertfordshire Press.
• Isabel Fonseca (1996) Bury me standing: the Gypsies and their journey New York: Vintage Books.
• Ian Hancock (1987) The pariah syndrome: an account of gypsy slavery and persecution. Ann Arbor: Karoma Publishers.
• Deyan D. Kolev (2004) Shaping modern identities: social and ethnic changes in Gypsy community in Bulgaria during the Communist period. Budapest: CEU Press.
• Michael Burleigh (1996) Confronting the Nazi past: new debates on modern German history. London: Collins & Brown.
• Guenter Lewy (2000) The Nazi persecution of the Gypsies. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Harish K. Thakur (2008)Silent Flows Danube, New Delhi: Radha Publications

Notes

1. ^ Fraser, Angus (1995-02-01). Gypsies (Peoples of Europe) (2nd ed.). Blackwell, Oxford. ISBN 978-0631196051. 
2. ^ Cf. Ralph L. Turner, A comparative dictionary of the Indo-Aryan languages, p. 314. London: Oxford University Press, 1962-6.
3. ^ Hancock, Ian. Ame Sam e Rromane Džene/We are the Romani people. p. 13. ISBN 1902806190. 
4. ^ Mayall, David. Gypsy identities, 1500–2000: from ... - Google Books. Books.google.co.uk. ISBN 9781857289602. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=jHllbAvjX_gC&pg=PA122&lpg=PA122&dq=JAT+AND+GYPSY+CONNECTION&source=bl&ots=IcyVr9AI41&sig=wDQjHS_FMkG2YFi7yEKHWKmrdEY&hl=en&ei=r_tASp3cHtGZjAfmltyQCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3. Retrieved 2009-08-09. 
5. ^ Saul, Nicholas; Tebbutt, Susan. The role of the Romanies: images and ... - Google Books. Books.google.co.uk. ISBN 9780853236795. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=KNVhLzzIcCEC&pg=PA94&lpg=PA94&dq=JAT+AND+GYPSY+genetic&source=bl&ots=EVMH52uVF6&sig=D546esHN3VmtG-6bObsE_f7oKsU&hl=en&ei=1fxASvTLOqS8jAfYjL2QCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7. Retrieved 2009-08-09. 
6. ^ "ROMANI Project - Manchester". Romani.humanities.manchester.ac.uk. http://romani.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/db/bibliography/index.html?cat=19. Retrieved 2009-08-09. 
7. ^ Hancock, Ian. Ame Sam e Rromane Džene/We are the Romani people. p. 13. ISBN 1-902806-19-0
8. ^ "The search with the Jat Sikhs and Jats of Haryana most frequent haplotypes resulted no matches in Romani populations.". Fsijournal.org. http://www.fsijournal.org/article/S0379-0738(06)00523-8/abstract?articleId=S1872-4973%2807%2900046-4&articleTitle=Y+chromosome+haplotype+reference+database+%28YHRD%29%3A+Update&citedBy=false&medlinePmidWithoutMDLNPrefix=&overridingDateRestriction=&related=true&restrictdesc_author=&restrictDescription=&restrictterm_author=&search=&search_area=platform&search_currenturl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fsigenetics.com%2Farticle%2FPIIS1872497307000464%2Frelated&search_datecombo=&search_dateradio=combo&search_doi=&search_federated=no&search_hits=13073&search_id=&search_issue=&search_medline=no&search_monthendcombo=&search_monthstartcombo=&search_operator1=&search_operator2=&search_preview=no&search_query=Related+to%3A+Y+chromosome+haplotype+reference+database+%28YHRD%29%3A+Update&search_reqcount=20&search_reqfirst=1&search_sort=relevance&search_source=All+Periodicals&search_startpage=&search_text1=&search_text2=&search_text3=&search_text4=&search_volume=&search_within1=&search_within2=&search_within3=&search_wordsexactly=yes&search_yearend=&search_yearstart=&searchDisciplineField=all&select1=relevance&select1=relevance&select2=no&select2=no&select3=20&select3=20&terms1=&terms2=&terms3=. Retrieved 2009-08-09. 
9. ^ http://www.leeds.ac.uk/media/press_releases/current09/glaucoma.htm Leeds University Press Release
10. ^ Shastri, Vagish (2007). Migration of Aryans from India. Varanasi: Yogic Voice Consciousness Institute. 
11. ^ Johann Christian Christoph Rüdiger. "On the Indic Language and Origin of the Gypsies" (PDF). http://www.llc.manchester.ac.uk/Research/Projects/romani/downloads/1/ruediger_translation.pdf. 
12. ^ Halwachs, Dieter W. (2004-04-21). "Romani - An Attempting Overview". http://romani.uni-graz.at/romani/ling/rom_gen.en.shtml. Retrieved 2007-08-26. 
13. ^ Gray, R.D. and Atkinson, Q.D.. "Language-tree divergence times support the Anatolian theory of Indo-European origin" (PDF). http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v426/n6965/pdf/nature02029.pdf. 
14. ^ Christina Wells (2003-11-13). "Introduction to Gypsies". University of North Texas. http://www.comm.unt.edu/histofperf/christiwells/topic_one.htm. Retrieved 2007-08-26. 
15. ^ "What is Domari?". http://romani.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/files/21_domari.shtml. Retrieved 2008-07-23 
16. ^ "ON ROMANI ORIGINS AND IDENTITY". http://www.radoc.net/radoc.php?doc=art_b_history_origins&lang=en&articles=true. Retrieved 2008-07-23 
17. ^ after Ian Hancock, On Romani Origins and Identity, RADOC (2007)[1]
18. ^ ^{a b} Kalaydjieva, L.; Morar, B; Chaix, R. and Tang, H. (2005). "A Newly Discovered Founder Population: The Roma/Gypsies". BioEssays 27 (10): 1084–1094. doi:10.1002/bies.20287. PMID 16163730. 
19. ^ Malyarchuk, B.A; Grzybowski, T; Derenko, M.V; Czarny, J. and Miscicka-Slivvka, D. (2006) (2006). "Mitochondrial DNA Diversity in the Polish Roma". Annals of Human Genetics 70 (Pt 2): 195–206. doi:10.1111/j.1529-8817.2005.00222.x. PMID 16626330. 
20. ^ ^{a b c} "Mutation history of the Roma-Gypsies". http://lib.bioinfo.pl/pmid:15322984. Retrieved 2008-06-16 
21. ^ ^{a b} Kalaydjieva, Luba; Gresham, D; Calafell, F (2001). "Genetic studies of the Roma (Gypsies): A review". BMC Medical Genetics 2: 5. doi:10.1186/1471-2350-2-5. PMC 31389. PMID 11299048. http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2350/2/5. Retrieved 2008-06-16. 
22. ^ http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2350/2/5/figure/F4
23. ^ ^{a b} Gresham, D; Morar, B; Underhill, PA; Passarino, G; Lin, AA; Wise, C; Angelicheva, D; Calafell, F et al. (2001). "Origins and Divergence of the Roma (Gypsies)". American journal of human genetics 69 (6): 1314–31. doi:10.1086/324681. PMC 1235543. PMID 11704928. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pmcentrez&artid=1235543. Retrieved 2008-06-16 
24. ^ The Eurasian Heartland: A continental perspective on Y-chromosome diversity, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.
25. ^ Jatt mutation found in Romani populations
26. ^ Searching for the origin of Romanies http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=18768723
27. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n} Donald Kenrick, "Historical Dictionary of the Gypsies (Romanies)," Second Edition, Scarecrow Press, 2007.
28. ^ Indian studies
29. ^ Gypsy Culture
30. ^ Bright Balkan morning: Romani lives & the power of music in Greek Macedonia, Charles Keil et al, 2002, p.108
31. ^ The Gypsies, Angus M. Fraser, 1995, pp.50-51
32. ^ Pitts, M. (2006) DNA Surprise: Romani in England 440 years too early. British Archaeology 89 (July/August): 9
33. ^ ^{a b c} Norman Davies (1996). Europe: A History. pp. 387–388. ISBN 0-19-820171-0. 
34. ^ ROMANIES AND THE HOLOCAUST: A REEVALUATION AND AN OVERVIEW
35. ^ Silverman, Carol. “Persecution and Politicization: Roma (Gypsies) of Eastern Europe.” Cultural Survival Quarterly, Summer 1995. Helsinki Watch. Struggling for Ethnic Identity: Czechoslovakia’s Endangered Gypsies. New York, 1991.
36. ^ ^{a b c d} The Roma Exodus to Canada, romove.radio.cz
37. ^ ERRC Statement Regarding Canada as Haven for Roma, Patrin Web Journal, 17 April 1999
38. ^ ^{a b} Gypsies in Canada: The Promised Land?, CBC, December 1997