Gypsy homeland?

OneUp

too small, what are they to do there? Not to mention it'd be too difficult. The only reason the jews could get one was b/c of the fact that they rarely intermarried.
 

CheBlodgett

Dude, sounds pretty cool. Make it happen man. It'd prolly be the most looked down upon nation in Europe though... even more so than Ireland...
 

Solomaxwell6

Banned
That would be very interesting. The thing is, though, it'd be a micro-state. Even if the fiefdom eventually enveloped all of Corfu, it'd still be barely bigger than Andorra. How much effect can nations that tiny have? Particularly since it's more or less in the middle of nowhere, and with one of the most historically persecuted races in history (particularly in the Balkans, where, you know, it's located)? Even if it somehow stays separate from Greece and the Ottoman Empire, there's no way it's ever going to be anything but poor, backwards, and laughed at by its neighbors.
 

Burton K Wheeler

Moderator
A very cursory glance shows that Corfu has a current population of about 100,000 and there are an estimated 9 million or so Romani worldwide. That's not even considering the issue that a lot of these ethnic "homelands" people suggest already have a population that might not like being supplanted.

How did this "independent Romani fief" work? Does anyone know anything more about it than what's in the Wikipedia article?
 

Solomaxwell6

Banned
Burton K Wheeler said:
A very cursory glance shows that Corfu has a current population of about 100,000 and there are an estimated 9 million or so Romani worldwide. That's not even considering the issue that a lot of these ethnic "homelands" people suggest already have a population that might not like being supplanted.

How did this "independent Romani fief" work? Does anyone know anything more about it than what's in the Wikipedia article?
Click to expand...

I did a quick Google search. Empress Catherine II of Constantinople authorized the leadership of Corfu to begin importing Romani from Greece in the early 14th century. By the end of the century, they were organized together in a village under a single baron. It lasted pretty late, until fuedalism was ended in Corfu in the late 19th century. There was only a small population; no more than a few hundred in one small village, and ruled by Italians. It's not at all like the entire island of Corfu was just given over to Romani to rule as we wished.
 

Burton K Wheeler

Moderator
Solomaxwell6 said:
I did a quick Google search. Empress Catherine II of Constantinople authorized the leadership of Corfu to begin importing Romani from Greece in the early 14th century. By the end of the century, they were organized together in a village under a single baron. It lasted pretty late, until fuedalism was ended in Corfu in the late 19th century. There was only a small population; no more than a few hundred in one small village, and ruled by Italians. It's not at all like the entire island of Corfu was just given over to Romani to rule as we wished.
Click to expand...

So it was an attempt at ghettoizing them?
 

Solomaxwell6

Banned
Burton K Wheeler said:
So it was an attempt at ghettoizing them?
Click to expand...

Probably, yeah.

EDIT: Actually, Roma history is ridden with stuff like this. European policy would shift, depending on the nation and time period, between "get out or we'll kill you" (which is what actually forced our nomadism in Europe to some extent in the first place) or "settle down in communities, get rid of your language and culture, and take ours. Oh, but do it in your own segregated towns, where we don't have to look at you."
 

False Dmitri

Maybe not Corfu. That seems to be a very small settlement, notable only because the Romany community had its own recognized Romany baron.

How about a 19th century style nationalist movement, followed by a few well-placed Roma who somehow are able to influence policies enough to create, years later...

A little slice given to the Romany in the breakup of Austria-Hungary?

Or a "Tsygan Autonomous Oblast" right next to the Jewish one in the Russian Far East?

Or a Republic of Romana created after the Holocaust in the Balkans somewhere? It would subsequently be turned into a Soviet satellite. And forevermore people would be getting Romana and Romania utterly confused.

Any of these would be an artificial creation with a majority non-Roma population, but some sort of "law of return" could augment that. The majority non-Roma inhabitants would, of course, be very angry about this.
 

Leo Caesius

Banned
Burton K Wheeler said:
How did this "independent Romani fief" work? Does anyone know anything more about it than what's in the Wikipedia article?
Click to expand...
I love the discussion on the Corfu Talk page.

Feudum Acinganorum

I can't find a lot on this. Is it real? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.174.68.57 05:38, 15 April 2008 (UTC)
Yes. It's here: Feudum Acinganorum. Good point. Tasoskessaris 13:56, 15 April 2008 (UTC)​
 

Burton K Wheeler

Moderator
Leo Caesius said:
I love the discussion on the Corfu Talk page.

Feudum Acinganorum

I can't find a lot on this. Is it real? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.174.68.57 05:38, 15 April 2008 (UTC)
Yes. It's here: Feudum Acinganorum. Good point. Tasoskessaris 13:56, 15 April 2008 (UTC)​
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's a pretty suspect Wikipedia article and I tend not to trust ANY ethnicity article. Case in point, while looking at their Romani pages, they claimed the Iranian Luri were somehow connected to the Romani (they were included in a list with a lot of other Romani groups).
 

Abdul Hadi Pasha

Banned
The numbers in Wikipedia are insane. I find it hard to believe that over 10% of the population of Serbia is Roma. Turkey does have a large number of them, but 5M? There is just no way.

Anyway, there is no way a Roma state is going to be established on Corfu, especially in that time frame - that Island was invasion central for centuries. Also, granting them a village fiefdom is not the same thing as a state. And Anjou rule over the island was barely nominal...
 
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