Who is the Roma Community?

Roma are an ethnic group of traditionally itinerant people who originated in northern India. They speak Romany, a language closely related to the modern Indo-European languages of northern India and the major language of the country in which they live. Roma groups left India in repeated migrations and spread to every inhabited continent by the second half of the 20th century. Many Roma refer to themselves as Rom, and to non-Roma as Gadje, a term with a pejorative connotation. Due to their migratory nature, it is difficult to estimate their population, but most Roma live in Europe, especially in the Slavic-speaking lands of central Europe and the Balkans.

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In modern times, socialist countries of Eastern Europe attempted programs of enforced settlement to end Roma migration. Traditionally, the Roma have pursued occupations that allowed them to maintain an itinerant life on the perimeters of settled society, including livestock trading, animal training, and metalworking.