Bogescu Mihail

The origin of romanians

The origins of the Romanian people, as a vibrant ethno-linguistic community (Romanophones), remain a captivating topic of historical discourse. Presently, the prevailing notion, drawing closer to consensus, suggests their ancestry from the Romance-speaking populations nestled in the expanse of the Lower Danube basin, specifically north of the enigmatic Jireček Line, which demarcated the sway of Hellenism to the south. Yet, this prevailing view isn't impervious to intellectual contestation. Scholars such as Nicolae Iorga, Theodor Capidan, P. P. Panaitescu, and Constantin Papanace proffer a dissenting perspective, repudiating the very existence of the Jireček Line. Instead, they cast a wide net for the genesis of the Romanian people, encompassing the entire Balkan Peninsula and the expanse north of the Danube up to the northern foothills of the Carpathian Mountains and the shores of the Dniester River. A dearth of historical sources from the first millennium, the tumultuous context of migration periods, and the political milieu of the 19th and 20th centuries, when scholarly pursuits concerning this matter burgeoned, have all engendered a plethora of divergent theories concerning the formation of the Romanian populace. Central to this ongoing debate is the question of the locale and extent of the ethno-genesis territory: was it situated north or south of the Danube, or perhaps sprawled across both riverbanks? Did it encompass a broader expanse than the present-day states (encompassing Romania and its neighbors), or was it confined to isolated pockets of land?