Early settlement (1866 watercolor by
Amadeo Preziosi) An Albanian community inside the
Danubian Principalities was first attested in
Wallachia under
Prince Michael the Brave: a report drafted by
Habsburg authorities in
Transylvania specified that 15,000 Albanians had been allowed to cross north of the
Danube in 1595; Călinești (a village in present-day
Florești,
Prahova County) was one of their places of settlement, as evidenced in a document issued by Michael's rival and successor,
Simion Movilă, who confirmed their right to reside in the locality. The community's presence was first recorded in Bucharest around 1628. Early Albanian settlers in Romania supported Mihai the Brave and saw Wallachia as a place of refuge from Ottoman control. In his return after raids in Ottoman Bulgaria, Mihai's forces were followed by Albanians who lived on the shores of the Danube, particularly in
Ruse. One the early Albanian figures in the Wallachian court was
Leca of Cătun,
postelnic of Wallachia and military commander the armies of several Wallachian princes. These Albanians came directly from Albania and the western Balkans or more frequently from older Albanian settlements in Bulgaria. In the late 16th and 17th century, representatives of these groups in Romania were figures like
Leca of Cătun and later
Vasile Lupu. Gheorghe Ghica was engaged in commerce in
Constantinople and traveled as a merchant to
Iași in the Romanian principalities. Ghica quickly moved upwards in the Romanian principalities mainly because he supported and was supported by other Albanians in the central and regional Ottoman administration. Ghica joined
Vasile Lupu, an Albanian emigre who was
Voivode of Moldavia and became his most trusted officer and representative in the
Ottoman court.
Miron Costin (1633-1691), a contemporary Romanian historian wrote about the clientelist relations in Ottoman hierarchy between figures of the same origin and noted that
being of the same origin as him [Ghica] – that is Albanian – voievode Vasile brought him to the court and entrusted him some minor offices, and later [Ghica] reached the position of the Chief Judge of Lower Moldavia. Lupu's fall brought Ghica to an alliance with another Albanian, the Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire, Köprülü Mehmed Pasha. In the Romanian principalities, Mehmed Pasha promoted an 'ethnicity-based patronage system' and chose to appoint Albanians as a means to strengthen his apparatus in the region. Gheorghe Ghica (voivode of Moldavia (1658–59), voivode of Wallachia (1859-1860)), his son Grigore (voivode of Wallachia, 1660–64), and Vasile Lupu's son,
Ștefăniță Lupu (voivode of Moldavia, 1659–61) all were appointed by Köprülü Mehmed Pasha.
Ion Neculce (1672-1745), another contemporary Romanian historian who continued the tradition of Constin recorded a tale about George Ghica and Mehmed Pasha. According to the tale, they came from poor families and had met when they were children in Constantinople. The future Mehmed Pasha promised that he would help Ghica when he became powerful. Years later when they met again Mehmed Pasha supposedly remembered their meeting and made Ghica, voivode of Moldavia. The tale is definitely a literary construction, but it has historical value because its narration highlights the existing patronage ties of its era. Ghica married Smaragda (Smada) Lână, daughter of Stamate Lână, the
Stolnic (
Seneschal) of Broşteni. Ghica rooted his family in the feudal class of Romania via the marriage of his son
Grigore I to the niece of
Gheorghe Ștefan. Grigore I Ghica's rule was also not free from disturbances due to the conflict with the Sublime Porte and especially because of the disputes between the Boyar parties. Through his political maneuvers and the assassination of his former mentor Constantine Cantacuzino, he instigated the hatred of nobility against him and his entourage. Taking advantage of the defeat of the Ottomans at the
Battle of Levice (1664), Grigore fled to Poland and then to
Vienna, in search of Habsburg military aid. His hopes having not been materialized, he returned to Constantinople and acquired the Moldavian throne once again in 1672. During his short second reign, the animosity of the
Cantacuzinos exploded violently, and after the defeat of the Turks
at Khotyn in 1673, Grigore was forced to flee to Constantinople; the hostility of his opponents lost his throne and he will die in Constantinople in 1674. His son
Grigore II Ghica, well versed in the intricacies of the Ottoman politics due to his rank as Dragoman, succeeded in acquiring the Moldavian throne on 26 September 1726. In 1820, a survey indicated that there were 90 traders from the
Rumelian town of
Arnaut Kioy present in the Wallachian capital, most of whom were probably Albanians and
Aromanians. The
Rilindja Kombëtare movement of Albanian
nationalism inside the
Ottoman Empire was present and prolific in Wallachia, the center of cultural initiatives taken by
Dora d'Istria,
Naim Frashëri,
Jani Vreto, and
Naum Veqilharxhi (the latter published the first ever Albanian
primer in Bucharest, in 1844). Among the new groups of immigrants from various
Balkan regions to Romania were the families of poets
Victor Eftimiu and
Lasgush Poradeci. In 1921, the first translation of the ''
Qur'an'' into
Albanian was completed by
Ilo Mitkë Qafëzezi and published in the city of
Ploiești. Many Albanians settled in
Transylvania, where they generally established confectionery enterprises. The community was repressed under the
communist regime, starting in 1953 (when the Albanian cultural association was closed down). Rights lost were regained after the
Romanian Revolution of 1989, but the number of people declaring themselves Albanian has decreased dramatically between 1920 and 2002. Traditionally, members of the community have been included among a special "among others" category in the censuses. The community gained a seat in the
Chamber of Deputies in 1996 when the
Cultural Union of Albanians of Romania entered Parliament. In 2000 the community's seat was taken by the
League of Albanians of Romania, who have held it since. ==Demographics==