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The Czechs (Czech: Češi, Pémové, Romanian: Cehi, Pemi, Hungarian: Bánáti csehek) are an ethnic minorityinRomania,[1] numbering 3,938 people according to the 2002 census. The majority of Romanian Czechs live in the south-west of the country, with around 60% of them living in Caraș-Severin County, where they make up 0.7% of the population.
As an officially recognised ethnic minority, Czechs, together with Slovaks, have one seat reserved in the Romanian Chamber of Deputies associated within Democratic Union of Slovaks and Czechs of Romania.
The Czechs were among the last peoples colonized by the Habsburg EmpireinBanat. Their colonization took place in three main waves/stages: 1823, 1827 and 1862, as a consequence of the need to populate the sparsely populated territories, to clear the forests and to ensure, together with the inhabitants of the Romanian villages, the protection of the borders.[citation needed]
There are six villages with a Czech majority. Five are in Caraș-Severin County: Bigăr, Berzasca Commune; Gârnic, Gârnic Commune; Ravensca, Șopotu Nou Commune; Sfânta Elena, Coronini Commune; and Șumița, Lăpușnicel Commune. One is in Mehedinți County: Eibenthal, Dubova Commune.
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