MapRom - Mapping the Romani population in rural and semi-urban Wallachia in 1838

The main archival source of MapRom database is the “Census of the population or Statistics of the Principalities (Wallachia and Moldova) of 1838”, ANIC, Fond Catagrafii, part I, Inventory number 501, volumes numbered I/8 to I/107 from the Historical National Archives, Bucharest, mostly unpublished and now digitized and automatized for the first time, in regard to Romani population. This Census was conducted by the Interior Ministry in February 1838. It is the first preserved Romanian modern census of population and dwellings, which introduced new techniques of reviewing, such as the nominal lists and the great number (24) of demographic variables, including ethnicity. The unit of observation was the “household”, and the scope was to obtain detailed information about: 1) the settled population by age group, and sex; 2) the number of households and their structure; 3) the number of residential buildings and their distribution according to the material from which they are built; 4) population distribution according to their participation in economic activity; 5) distribution of population by skills and occupations. Based on this information, the MapRom database presents: statistics of the Roma households per village, number of Roms per village, number of different Romani ethnic sub-groups (Lăieș, Vătraș, Rudar, Zlătar, etc), average Romani household size per village, age distribution, sex distribution, number of Roms per skill, geographic distribution of the Roms (in uplands and lowlands), cultivated land area by Roms per village, etc. We found insignificant number of free Roms, rest of them were slaves. For more than 50% of them, we have reconstructed, from other (unpublished) sources the name of the owners (private noblemen, or Monasteries and churches). We searched for other statistical documents to complete our data from 1838 Census, such as the Statistics of the Turkish Gypsies (1833, manuscript ANIC, Vornicia temnitelor, file 354/1833), Statistics of Boyar Gypsy slaves (1832, manuscript ANIC, Diplomatice, dos. 147/1832) and Statistics of Monastery Gypsy slaves (1844, manuscript ANIC, Logofeția Pricinilor Bisericești, dos. 25/1844). etc. When we compared these statistics, we found major discrepancies leading to the important source critical conclusion that the 1838 census concerns mostly the permanently settled Gypsies and included few of the nomadic people. Further examination showed that the number of nomadic Gypsies was relatively small. We also found documents that indicated that Gypsies of the Muslim faith were not either registered in the 1838 census. Over time the nominal lists of the 1838 Census for four counties (Ialomiţa, Gorj, Mededinţi and Vâlcea) as well as some two rural sub-districts and two towns has been lost, but that for 14 Wallachian counties has been preserved and entered in MapRom. The five volumes of nominal material for the capital city Bucharest (with a very large and multi-ethnic population) was not researched in this project as the census there was complexly different from that of the rural provinces in form and execution, but it is hoped that it can be researched at a later date. We estimate that MapRom gathers information on between two-thirds and three-fourths of Wallachia’s Romani population.MapRom数据库的核心档案来源为《1838年瓦拉几亚与摩尔多瓦诸公国人口普查或统计资料》，出自罗马尼亚国家档案馆（Arhivele Naționale ale României，缩写ANIC）的卡特格拉菲档案全宗第一部分，案卷号501，卷宗编号I/8至I/107。该档案大部分尚未公开，此次首次针对罗姆人（Romani）群体完成数字化与自动化处理。本次普查于1838年2月由内务部开展，是现存最早的罗马尼亚现代人口与住宅普查，引入了姓名清单、多达24项人口统计变量（含族裔信息）等全新的普查审查方法。其观测单元为“家庭户”，旨在获取以下详细信息：1）按年龄组与性别划分的定居人口；2）家庭户数量及其结构；3）住宅建筑数量及其建筑材料分布；4）按经济活动参与情况划分的人口分布；5）按技能与职业划分的人口分布。基于上述信息，MapRom数据库呈现了以下内容：各村庄罗姆人家庭户统计数据、各村庄罗姆人数量、不同罗姆族裔亚群体（如Lăieș、Vătraș、Rudar、Zlătar等）的规模、各村庄平均罗姆人家庭户规模、年龄与性别分布、按技能划分的罗姆人数量、罗姆人的地理分布（高地与低地地区）、各村庄罗姆人耕种的耕地面积等。本次研究仅发现极少数自由罗姆人，其余均为奴隶。其中超过50%的罗姆人，我们可通过其他未公开档案还原其所有者（私人贵族、修道院与教堂）的姓名。为补充1838年普查的数据，我们还检索了其他统计文档，如《土耳其籍吉普赛人统计资料（1833年，手稿，ANIC，Vornicia temnitelor，案卷354/1833）》、《波雅尔吉普赛奴隶统计资料（1832年，手稿，ANIC，外交类，档案147/1832）》以及《修道院吉普赛奴隶统计资料（1844年，手稿，ANIC，Logofeția Pricinilor Bisericești，档案25/1844）》等。经比对上述统计资料，我们发现存在显著差异，由此得出重要的来源考证结论：1838年普查主要覆盖永久定居的吉普赛人，仅纳入极少数游牧群体。进一步核查显示，游牧吉普赛人的数量相对较少。同时我们还发现，信仰伊斯兰教的吉普赛人亦未被纳入1838年普查。随着时间推移，1838年普查中伊尔绍瓦县（Ialomiţa）、戈尔日县（Gorj）、梅代丁齐县（Mededinţi）与沃尔恰县（Vâlcea），以及两个农村分区和两座城镇的姓名清单已佚失，但瓦拉几亚14个县的普查资料均得以留存并录入MapRom数据库。本次项目未对首都布加勒斯特的五卷姓名清单资料展开研究——布加勒斯特人口规模庞大且族裔构成多元，当地普查在形式与执行流程上均与农村省份存在显著差异，但我们希望未来可对其开展相关研究。我们估算，MapRom数据库收录的信息覆盖了瓦拉几亚境内约三分之二至四分之三的罗姆人口。