Roma people

From the Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can change

The Roma people are a nomadic ethnic group found mainly in Eurasia, but also in the rest of the world. They are sometimes called gypsies. The Council of Europe uses the word Roma in all official communications.

This is to stop the use of insulting or bad names and to be given proper respect to the use of the name Roma, which is what the people call themselves.

The 18th century theory on the Indian origins of the Roma, is based on the similarities between Romani^[1] and languages spoken in the Indian subcontinent and is supported by genetic evidence. However the lack of close relationship to any specific language or dialect has left unresolved the question of the original ethnic composition of the proto-Roma, with both single and diverse origins proposed by linguists.

Individual groups can be classified into major metagroups: the Roma of East European extraction^[2]; the Sinti in Germany and Manouches in France and Catalonia; the Kaló in Spain, Ciganos in Portugal and Gitans of southern France; and the Romanichals of Britain^[3].

The Roma language is recognised by many countries of Europe under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages^[4].

[change] Other websites

• The situation of Roma in Spain

• The health of Gypsies Problem of caring for travellers is British

[change] Notes and references

1. ↑ glossary
2. ↑ Morar B et al. 2004. Mutation History of the Roma/Gypsies. Am. J. Hum. Genet. 75:596–609.
3. ↑ Kalaydjieva L, Gresham D, and Calafell F. 2001. BMC Medical Genetics , 2:5doi:10.1186/1471-2350-2-5
4. ↑ A Brief History of the Roma (Gypsies).mht