Editing Ghetto (section)

{{Short description|Neighborhood inhabited by a minority group, usually when poor}}
{{About|a type of neighborhood|other uses|Ghetto (disambiguation)}}
A '''ghetto''' is a part of a city in which members of a [[minority group]] are concentrated, especially as a result of political, social, legal, religious, environmental or economic pressure.<ref>{{Cite web|title=ghetto|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ghetto|access-date=5 July 2017|website=Merriam-Webster}}</ref> Ghettos are often known for being more [[Poverty|impoverished]] than other areas of the city. Versions of such restricted areas have been found across the world, each with their own names, classifications, and groupings of people.

[[File:Ghetto (Venice) Panorama.jpg|thumb|The main square of what was once the [[Venetian Ghetto]] in Italy (2013)|324x324px]]The term was originally used for the [[Venetian Ghetto]] in [[Venice, Italy]], as early as 1516, to describe the part of the city where [[Jewish people]] were restricted to live and thus [[Religious segregation|segregated]] from other people.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ghettos |url=https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/ghettos |access-date=2023-11-12 |website=encyclopedia.ushmm.org |language=en}}</ref> However, other early societies may have formed their own versions of the same structure; words resembling ''ghetto'' in meaning appear in [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], [[Yiddish]], [[Italian language|Italian]], [[Germanic languages|Germanic]], [[Polish language|Polish]], Corsican, [[Old French]], and [[Latin]]. During [[the Holocaust]], more than 1,000 [[Nazi ghettos]] were established to hold the [[History of the Jews in Europe|Jewish populations of Europe]], with the goal of exploiting and killing European Jews as part of the [[Final Solution]] of [[Nazi Germany]].<ref name="H.E.">{{cite web|url=http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005059|title=Ghettos. Key Facts|author=Holocaust Encyclopedia|year=2014|publisher=[[United States Holocaust Memorial Museum]]|via=Internet Archive|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120815195917/http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005059|archive-date=August 15, 2012|access-date=28 September 2015}}</ref><ref name="YV03">"[https://www.yadvashem.org/holocaust/about/ghettos.html The Ghettos | About the Holocaust]." ''[[Yad Vashem]]''. Retrieved 19 July 2020.</ref>

The term ''ghetto'' acquired deep cultural meaning in the [[United States]], especially in the context of [[Racial segregation in the United States|segregation]] and [[Civil rights movement|civil rights]]. It has been widely used in the country since the 20th century to refer to poor neighborhoods of largely minority populations. It is also used in some European countries, such as [[Romania]] and [[Slovakia]], to refer to poor neighborhoods largely inhabited by [[Romani people]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Segregated From Its History, How 'Ghetto' Lost Its Meaning|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/04/27/306829915/segregated-from-its-history-how-ghetto-lost-its-meaning|access-date=2019-12-12|website=NPR.org|date=27 April 2014 |language=en|last1=Domonoske |first1=Camila }}</ref> The term [[slum]] is usually used to refer to areas in developing countries that suffer from [[absolute poverty]], while the term 
ghetto is used to refer to areas of developed countries that suffer from [[relative poverty]].