Boyash

Boyash (or Bayash; Romanian: Băieşi, Hungarian: Beás, Slovak: Bojáš, South Slavic: Bojaši) refers to a Romani ethnic group living in Romania, southern Hungary, northeastern Croatia, western Vojvodina, Slovakia, the Balkans, but also in the Americas. Alternative names are Rudari (Ludari), Lingurari and Zlătari.

The Boyash are a branch/caste of the Roma who were forced by Hungarians to settle in the 14th century in the Apuseni Mountains, located in Transylvania, and work as slaves in mining (a regionalism for mine in Romanian: "baie," from Middle Age Slavonic). Due to their close proximity with the Romanian-speaking people in Transylvania, they lost the use of the Romani language, and started using the Romanian language. Some groups relearned Romani when they came in contact with other Romani-speaking Roma, after they later emigrated from Romania (for example, in Ecuador).

At the end of the 16th century the Boyash started migrating towards the south, in Wallachia, and the east, in Moldavia, where they were held as slaves together with other Romani groups (until the slavery was abolished in 1855-56).

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