Gypsy communities have been known in Hungarian majority society for half a millennium. However, sources are poor and only provide information on a few aspects of their lives. Some scholars have attempted to define this sporadic, small group of people when their numbers have increased significantly. In the second half of the 20th century, archivists and ethnographers began to investigate their origins, their common history, the origin of their names, and the specific characteristics that shape their way of life, language, culture and beliefs. Their findings have led to their being defined as a minority, but they are now estimated to number between 10 and 12 million in Europe.  There are naïve researchers and advocates of Gypsy/Roma history who believe that the glories of the past and the persecutions of the past are to be found, but in scientific research, the view is becoming increasingly accepted that the communities of the past centuries in Europe and Hungary, known by their collective name of Gypsy/Roma, cannot be described as homogeneous, undifferentiated entities, either historically, ethnographically or sociologically. Throughout history, Roma/Gypsy people and communities have not been made Roma/Gypsy by the same criteria, and therefore they must be understood primarily in terms of their social situation, so that their integration can be made possible and the national and EU programmes of schooling, compulsory employment and the dismantling of Roma settlements can open up real paths to social advancement.