Romanichals are a Romani subgroup within the United Kingdom and other parts of the English-speaking world. Most Romanichal speak Angloromani, a mixed language that blends Romani vocabulary with English syntax. Romanichals resident in England, Scotland, and Wales are part of the Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller community.
A Romanichal family in Derby, England (1910)
A Romanichal encampment in Essex, England (c. 1898)
The migration of the Romanies through the Middle East and Northern Africa to Europe
Romanichal in Warwickshire, England, 1905
The Romani, also spelled Romany or Rromani and colloquially known as the Roma, are an ethnic group of Indo-Aryan origin who traditionally lived a nomadic, itinerant lifestyle. Linguistic and genetic evidence suggests that the Romani originated in the Indian subcontinent, in particular the region of present-day Rajasthan. Their subsequent westward migration, possibly in waves, is now believed by historians to have occurred around 1000 CE. Their original name is from the Sanskrit word डोम, ḍoma and means a member of the Dom caste of travelling musicians and dancers. The Roma population moved west into the Ghaznavid Empire and later into the Byzantine Empire. The Roma are thought to have arrived in Europe around the 13th to 14th century. Although they are widely dispersed, their most concentrated populations are located in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Spain, and Turkey.
Three Finnish Romani women in Helsinki, Finland, in the 1930s
Debret, Jean-Baptiste (c. 1820), Interior of a gipsy's house in Brazil
Gypsies camping. Welsh Romanies near Swansea, 1953
Two Gypsies by Francisco Iturrino