Bohemia, Lifestyle or Eastern European Nation?

Factual Questions
1

I was reading a rather old junk-food fiction book the other day and came upon a phrase somthing like:

From the context, it was obvious that the uncouth gutter snipe was not thought to be an immigrant from the Eastern European nation of Bohemia; the author was just finding a cute way of saying he was a “bohemian” rather than a person from the conventional straight and narrow way of life. But that got me wondering…

Since when, originally, and in what original context, does “Bohemian” mean beatnik / hippie / countercultural misfit person of questionable lifestyle &etc?

And are ethnically Bohemian people annoyed by any of this?

2

Interesting write-up here:

http://www.quinion.com/words/qa/qa-boh1.htm

3

I suppose I’m somewhat Bohemian, since my grandparents lived in Bohemia before coming to the U.S. The dictionary gives a mini-history of the term:

Apparently many inhabitants of Bohemia led a carefree Gypsy lifestyle, and the term came to be applied to anyone who was “unconventional”. The term doesn’t bother me a bit; in fact, it’s kinda nice to be able to refer to myself as “Bohemian” despite the fact that I’m a law student.

In case any of y’all didn’t know, Bohemia is a region of the former Czechoslovakia; today it’s in the Czech Republic.

4
      • Bohemia is next to Freedonia. - MC
5

It’s also a really good Mexican beer!

6

It would then be possible that “Bohemian” originally refered to Bohemian Gypsies themselves, since there has been and still is a large Sinti/Roma population there. If this explanation is correct, that is.