Eastern Romance People
Vlach (/ˈvlɑːk/ or /ˈvlæk/) is a blanket term covering several modern Latin peoples descending from the Latinised population in Central, Eastern and Southeast Europe. English variations of the name include Wallachians, Walla, Wlachs, Wallachs, Vlahs, Olahs or Ulahs. Groups that have historically been called Vlachs include modern-day Romanians, Aromanians, Morlachs, Megleno-Romanians and Istro-Romanians. Since the creation of the Romanian state, the term in English has mostly been used for those living outside Romania.
The Vlachs, who would become the modern Romanian ethnicity, did not become easily identifiable before the High Middle Ages by George Kedrenos in the 11th century, and their prehistory during the Migration period is considered by some historians a matter of scholarly speculation but according to some linguists and scholars, the existence of the present Eastern Romance languages proves the survival of the Thraco-Romans in the low-Danube basin during the Migration period and the Vlachs are considered descendants of Romanised peoples of the area, including Thracians, Dacians and Illyrians.
The term Vlach was originally an exonym. All the Vlach groups used words derived from romanus to refer to themselves, such as Români, Rumâni, Rumâri, Aromâni, and Arumâni. The Istro-Romanians also have adopted the names Vlaşi, but still use Rumâni and Rumâri to refer to themselves. The Vlach languages, also called the Eastern Romance languages, have a common origin from the Proto-Romanian language. Over time, the Vlachs split into various Vlach groups and mixed with neighbouring populations of South Slavs, Greeks, Albanians, and others.
Almost all modern nations in central and south-eastern Europe; Hungary, Ukraine, Serbia, Croatia, Macedonia, Albania, Greece and Bulgaria have native Vlach minorities. In other countries, the native Vlach population has been completely assimilated into the Slavic population and therefore ceased to exist. Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Montenegro. Only in Romania and Moldova does the Vlach, Daco-Romanian or Romanian proper population comprise an ethnic majority today.
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“Midway the lake we took on board two manly-looking middle-aged men.... I talked with one of them, telling him that I had come all this distance partly to see where the white pine, the Eastern stuff of which our houses are built, grew, but that on this and a previous excursion into another part of Maine I had found it a scarce tree; and I asked him where I must look for it. With a smile, he answered that he could hardly tell me.”
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