Reference Type:  Journal Article
Author: Constantin, I.
Year: 2006
Title: The Macedonians From Bailesti Region
Journal: Plural
Volume: 27/2006
Language: English
Keywords: Macedonians, monography
Abstract: (ENG) Below are described a few aspects of the settlement of the ethnics who came from south of the Danube to Bailesti. It is a known fact that, starting with the first half of the 19th century, new administrative units appeared in the Romanian principalities, especially in Walachia – the so-called slobozii (colonies of peasants, usually runaways, which were exempted from taxes). What did that mean? First of all, it meant a helping hand for the landowners, for boyars, but also for the royal treasury; when the peasants ran away, leaving the estates because of the hardships of their lives, the boyars and the voivode created these “slobozii”, in order to populate their estates (because it was common knowledge that the value of an estate was measured by the number of workers, not by its area), which were also a way to attract a labor force. For example, Prince Stirbei once said: “Whoever comes and settles in Bailesti will receive a free plot of land (and he was talking about more than 200 square stinjeni (fathoms) of land (a stinjen is almost two meters long, and that is why in Bailesti people’s yards are so large), he won’t have to pay taxes whatsoever for three years, and for the following seven years he will only have to pay half of the taxes”. Obviously, people began coming and settling in search of a better place to live and work.
URL: http://www.icr.ro/bucuresti/the-continent-of-romania-romania-s-national-minorities-27-2006/the-macedonians-from-bailesti-region.html