Why/How did the Bohemian ethnic group become essentially synonymous with “hippies” and a certain aesthetic? Are Gypsy, Romany, and Bohemian terms for the same group?

Question

Why/How did the Bohemian ethnic group become essentially synonymous with “hippies” and a certain aesthetic? Are Gypsy, Romany, and Bohemian terms for the same group?

In: Culture

Answer 1

Okay, first let get the ‘g’ word out of the way; it’s kind of a curse word. Think the ‘n’ word, but *they* don’t even say it for the most part. It’s that bad. They’re just Romani.[^1](https://now.org/blog/the-g-word-isnt-for-you-how-gypsy-erases-romani-women/)

And Bohemian is actually a misnomer. The Czech Republic wasn’t always a thing, so they were the Kingdom of Bohemia back then. The French later borrowed it because that’s where they thought their influx of Romani had come from. [^2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemian) [^3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemianism)

The Romani are just a nomadic group. They span a wide breadth of nationalities and cultures, but began in northern India. They are kinda what’s left of our propensity to travel, although they don’t all travel nowadays. [^4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romani_people)

You see, like most primates, we’re kinda built to eat off one section of land, travel, then eat off another. Usually in rotation so that the place we left can regrow and redevelop. This, of course, turns into… the source of most of the problems we have today, but I’m off-topic…

So college students in colleges in the 50s, 60s, and 70s find all this out and love it. A LOT. War was going on, and also we were starting to science out things surrounding our… efficient use of our planet. So in an effort to fight these things, they mimicked the style and lifestyle, and THAT became a thing. Then media moguls later took that this was their nostalgia, and now the whole Hippie thing is a major western cultural thing. I’m condensing, tremendously, but that’s the basic jist. [^5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippie)

PS: Fact-checking myself, I didn’t even know the ‘Kingdom of Bohemia’ thing, so I learned something. I just knew the ‘g’ word thing and most of the rest, and felt the need to answer… Soooo, thank *you*. :3

Edit: ~~NUMBERS~~