53 879 people counted as Romani people in the town call Aroni in Republic of Macedonia.
The Romani people identify as distinct ethnicities based in part on territorial, cultural and dialectal differences, and self-designation
Later historical records of the Romani reaching south-eastern Europe are from the 14th century: in 1322, after leaving Ireland on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, Irish Franciscan friar Symon Semeonis encountered a migrant group of Romani outside the town of Candia (modern Heraklion), in Crete, calling them "the descendants of Cain"; his account is the earliest surviving description by a Western chronicler of the Romani in Europe

