Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 24.djvu/294

Rh 270 V L A V L A a Vlach. settlement, the nucleus of which was the mountainous region of Thessaly. Benjamin of Tudela, in the succeeding century, gives an interesting account of this Great &quot;Walachia, which was then completely independent. It embraced the southern and central ranges of Pindus, and extended over part of Macedonia, thus including the region in which the Roman settlers mentioned in the Acts of St Demetrius had fixed their abode. After the Latin conquest of Constantinople Great Walachia was included in the en larged despotate of Epirus, but it soon reappears as an independent principality under its old name, which, after passing under the yoke of the Serb emperor Dushan, was finally conquered by the Turks in 1393. Many of their old privileges were still accorded to the in habitants, and their taxes were limited to an annual tribute to the sultana Valide. Since this period the Megalovlachites have been largely Hellenized, but they are still represented by the flourishing Tziutzar settlements of Pindus, and traces are at present perceptible among them of a national Rouman reaction. 3. Little Walacliia (Mi/cpa BAaxia) was a name applied by Byzantine writers to the Rouman settlements of YEtolia and Acarnania, and with it may be included &quot;Upper Walachia&quot; or Ai/oiA.axa. Its inhabitants are still represented by the Tzintzars of the Aspropotamo and the Karaguni (Black Capes) of Acarnania. 4. The Morlaclis (Mavrovlachi) of the West. These are already mentioned as Nigri Latini by the Presbyter of Dioclea (circ. 1150) in the old Dalmatian littoral and the mountains of what is now Montenegro, Herzegovina, and North Albania. Other colonies extended through a great part of the old Servian interior, where is a region still called Stara Vlaska or &quot;Old Walachia.&quot; The great commercial staple of the east Adriatic. shores, the republic of Ragusa, seems in its origin to have been a Rouman settlement, and many Vlach traces survived in its later dialect. Philippus de Diversis, who described the city as it existed in 1440, says that &quot; the various officers of the republic do not make use either of Slav or Italian, with which they converse with strangers, but a certain other dialect only partially intelligible to us Latins,&quot; and cites words with strong Rouman affinities. In the mountains above Ragusa a number of Vlach tribes are mentioned in the archives of that city, and the original relationship of the Ragusans and the nomadic Alpine representatives of the Roman provincials, who preserved a traditional knowledge of the old lines of communication throughout the peninsula, explains the extraordinary development of the Ragusan commerce. In the 14th century the Mavrovlachi or Morlaclis extended themselves towards the Croatian borders, and a large part of maritime Croatia and northern Dalmatia began to be known as &quot;Morlacchia.&quot; A &quot; Major Vlachia &quot; was formed about the triple frontier of Bosnia, Croatia, and Dalmatia, and a &quot; Little Walachia &quot; as far north as Posega. The Morlaclis have now become Slavonized. 5. Cici of Istria. The extreme Rouman offshoot to the north west is still represented by the Cici of the Val d Ar.sa and adjoining Istrian districts. They represent a 15th-century Morlach colony from the Isle of Veglia, and had formerly a wider extension to Trieste and the counties of Gradisca and Gorizia. The Cici are at present rapidly losing their native tongue, which is the last re maining representative of the old Morlach, and forms a connecting link between the Daco-Roman (or Roumanian) and the Macedo- Roman (or Tzintzar) dialects. 6. Roumans of Transylvania and Hungary. As already stated, a large part of the Hungarian plains were, at the coming of the Magyars in the 9th century, known as Pascua Romanorum.. At a later period privileged Rouman communities existed at Fogaras, where was a Siha Vladiorum, at Marmaros, Deva, Hatzeg, Hun- yad, and Lugos, and in the Banat were seven Rouman districts. Two of the greatest figures in Hungarian history John Corvinus of Hunyad, and his son King Matthias were due to this element. Oppressed by the dominant race, which had deprived them of their ancient privileges, the Roumans of Transylvania and the Banat rose in 1785 under Horia, Closca, and Crischanu. This Rouman &quot;Jacquerie &quot; was suppressed, but Joseph II. declared the peasants free. Since that date the Rouman element in this part of the old Dacian region has largely increased in numbers, though it has hitherto failed to secure its political rights. The contiguous dis trict of the Bukovina, a part of Moldavia annexed to the Haps- burg dominions in 1775, remains under the Austrian Government. The present numerical strength of the Roumanians may approxi mately be given as follows: Southern or Tzintzar branch in Pindus, &c.... 225, 000 Roumans of Tirnok district 150,000 Roumanians 4,500, 000 In Austria-Hungary 3,500,000 In Bessarabia and South Russia 600,000 Total 8,975,000 In features the Vlachs especially of the Carpathian valleys pre sent decidedly Roman characteristics, and it is not unfrequent to find types which occur in North Italy and amongst Spaniards and Provengals. They are usually short and dark. Those of Pindus have sharper-cut features and some Slovene traits in their physio gnomy. The race has a great natural capacity for trade and manu facture. The Vlachs excel as builders and artisans, but notably as workers in metal ; their financial enterprise is also remarkable, and some of the principal banking establishments in Vienna are due to members of this race. An extraordinary example of their successful enterprise in the Balkan peninsula is supplied by the history of Moschopolis on the Epirote side of Pindus, which was founded by a Vlach colony in the 16th century, and which not only became a populous commercial staple but a centre of literary culture. Moschopolis possessed a large public library, flourishing schools, and a printing press, from which issued both Greek and Rouman books of a religious and scholastic nature. Joannina, since completely Hellcnized, was also of Rouman origin. Metzovo (Minciu) is another flourishing Rouman colony in the same region, and, though Moschopolis has fallen a victim to the ravages of the wild Arnauts, a local successor has sprung up in the rising town of Gjurtza. The Roumans make good soldiers, as was seen at Plevna. In their customs and folk-lore both Latin and Slavonic traditions assert themselves as in their language. Of their Roman traditions the Trajan saga, the celebration of the Rosalia and Kalendse, the belief in the &quot;striga&quot; (witch), the names of the months and days of the week, may be taken as typical examples. Some Roman words connected with the Christian religion, like biserica (basilica) = a church, botez = baptize, duminica = Sunday, preot (presbyter) = priest, point to a continuous tradition of the Illyrian church, though most of their ecclesiastical terms, like their liturgy and alphabet, were derived from the old Slovene. In most that con cerns political organization the Slavonic element is also pre ponderant, though there are words like imparat = imperator, and domn = dominus, which point to the old stock. Many words re lating to kinship are also Latin, some like vitrig (vitricus) = father- in-law being alone preserved by this branch of the Romance family. Although of the actual vocabulary only about one-fifth is Latin, and two-fifths,^ or about double the amount, Slavonic (see Cihac, Diction- naire d Etymologic Daco-Romaine), the greater proportion of the words in common use is still Latin. Many words, however, of common and indispensable use, those even connected with ideas nearest to the heart, as for instance the Rouman iubesc = to love, and maica = a mother, are themselves of Slavonic origin. Alike in the dwellings, customs, and costumes of the Vlach race we en counter at every turn the dominating influence of the Slav peoples by whom they were surrounded. This external influence, however, has not by any means affected the strong pride of Roman origin which is the heirloom of all members of the Rouman race. Hel- lenization itself, hitherto successful among the southern Roumans, has received a check in the Pindus region, while north of the Danube the Rouman race is continually gaining at the expense of its neigh bours. A glance at the ethnographic map of eastern Europe shows that the reconquest of Trajan s Dacia by the Latin race is already practically completed, and with the triumphant progress of the principle of nationality in the Danubian lands the reunion of Dacia, Romana under a single sceptre cannot long be deferred. (A. J. E. ) VLADIKAVKAZ, a fortified town of Russia, in the province of Terek, is advantageously and picturesquely situated at the northern base of the Great Caucasus chain, on a raised plain, 2230 feet above the sea-level, where the gorge of the Terek emerges from the mountain tracts. It is the present terminus of the railway from ROSTOFF (q.v.), which is intended ultimately to cross the main ridge. The fortress, formerly but a small redoubt, erected in 1784 at the northern entrance of the pass by which the Caucasus used to be crossed, now stands higher up, and is connected by a bridge with the town proper. Vladikavkaz is now the capital of the province. It is tidily built, and its popula tion since it became an entrepot for trade between Russia and Caucasus has rapidly grown (32,340 in 1883). The transport of merchandise is the principal occupation of the place, 400,000 cwts. of goods annually arriving by rail to be forwarded to Tiflis, while 160,000 cwts. are sent from Vladikavkaz northwards. VLADIMIR, a government of middle Russia, bounded by Moscow and Tver on the W., Yarostav and Kostroma on the K, Nijniy Novgorod on the E., Tamboff and Ryazan on the S., has an area of 18,864 square miles. It extends over the eastern parts of the central plateau of middle Russia, which has an average elevation of from 800 to 950 feet above the sea, and is grooved by river valleys to a depth ranging from 300 to 450 feet below the