Serbs of Romania
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 18,076 (2011) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Banat | |
| Languages | |
| Serbian and Romanian | |
| Religion | |
| Eastern Orthodoxy (Serbian Church) | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Croats of Romania |
The Serbs of Romania (Romanian: Sârbii din România, Serbian: Срби у Румунији/Srbi u Rumiji) are a recognized ethnic minority numbering 18,076 people (0.1%) according to the 2011 census. The community is concentrated in western Romania, in the Romanian part of the Banat region (divided with Serbia), where they constitute absolute majority in two communes and relative majority in one other.
Slavic presence is attested in Romania since the Early Middle Ages. The Avar Khaganate was the dominant power of the Carpathian Basin between around 567 and 803. Most historians agree that Slavs and Bulgars, together with the remnants of the Avars, and possibly with Vlachs (or Romanians), inhabited the Banat region after the fall of the khaganate. Place names of Slavic origin recorded already in the Middle Ages show the early presence of a Slavic-speaking population.
From the late 14th- to the beginning of the 16th century a large number of Serbs lived in Wallachia and Moldavia. Following Ottoman expansion in the 15th century, Serb mass migrations ensued into Pannonia. Serbian Orthodox monasteries began to be built in the area from the 15th century, including Kusić and Senđurađ built by despot Jovan Branković, and in the 16th century including Bezdin and Hodoš built by the Jakšić family. In the Ottoman period, some thirty Serbian Orthodox monasteries were built in the territory of Romania.
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