Great Gypsy Round-up

The Great Gypsy Round-up (Spanish: Gran Redada de Gitanos), also known as the general imprisonment of the Gypsies (prisión general de gitanos), was a raid authorized and organized by the Spanish Monarchy that led to the arrest of most Roma in the region and the genocide of 12,000 Romani people.^[1] Although a majority were released after a few months, many others spent several years imprisoned and subject to forced labor.^[2] The raid was approved by the King Ferdinand VI of Spain, and organized by the Marquis of Ensenada, and set in motion simultaneously across Spain on 30 July 1749.^[3]

Since a royal edict by Charles II in 1695, Spanish Romani had been restricted to certain towns.^[4] An official edict in 1717 restricted them to only 75 towns and districts, so that they would not be concentrated in any one region.