![Map of Borino municipality (Smolyan Province)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/Map_of_Borino_municipality_%28Smolyan_Province%29.png)
Borino ( bg, Борино, tr, Karabulak) is a village of
Smolyan Province in southern
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...
. It is the administrative centre of
Borino Municipality
Borino ( bg, Борино, tr, Karabulak) is a village of Smolyan Province in southern Bulgaria. It is the administrative centre of Borino Municipality.
Borino is situated in a valley in the Western Rhodope Mountains, at an altitude of . It ...
.
Location of Borino - Falling Rain Genomics
/ref>
Borino is situated in a valley in the Western Rhodope Mountains
The Rhodopes (; bg, Родопи, ; el, Ροδόπη, ''Rodopi''; tr, Rodoplar) are a mountain range in Southeastern Europe, and the largest by area in Bulgaria, with over 83% of its area in the southern part of the country and the remainder in ...
, at an altitude of . It is a multi-ethnic village with communities of Turks
Turk or Turks may refer to:
Communities and ethnic groups
* Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic languages
* Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
* Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic ...
, Bulgarians
Bulgarians ( bg, българи, Bǎlgari, ) are a nation and South Slavic ethnic group native to Bulgaria and the rest of Southeast Europe.
Etymology
Bulgarians derive their ethnonym from the Bulgars. Their name is not completely understo ...
, Muslim Bulgarians
The Bulgarian Muslims or Muslim Bulgarians ( bg, Българи-мохамедани, ''Bǎlgari-mohamedani'', as of recently also Българи-мюсюлмани, ''Bǎlgari-mjusjulmani'', locally called '' Pomak'', ''ahryan'', ''poganets'', ' ...
, and Roma
Roma or ROMA may refer to:
Places Australia
* Roma, Queensland, a town
** Roma Airport
** Roma Courthouse
** Electoral district of Roma, defunct
** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council
*Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...
. As a municipal center, Borino includes the villages of Yagodina, Chala, Kozhari, and Buinovo.
Nearby places of interest include Yagodinska Cave, Devil's Throat Cave
Devil's Throat Cave, or Dyavolsko Garlo ( bg, Дяволското гърло ), is located in the western Rhodopes close to the village of Gyovren in Bulgaria, near its border with Greece. A popular tourist attraction, Devil's Throat branches ...
, Trigrad Gorge
The Trigrad Gorge ( bg, Триградско ждрело, ) is a canyon of vertical marble rocks in the Rhodope Mountains. It is in Smolyan Province, one of the southernmost provinces of Bulgaria.
The gorge encloses the course of the Trigradska ...
, and Buynovo Gorge, the Devil’s Bridge, The Old Roman Bridge – Kemera, Videnitsa Peak, and the Kastrakli Nature Reserve.
History
Ancient history
The Rhodopes are considered one of the cradles of European civilization. It is estimated that primitive people settled the region around 65,000 to 60,000 BC. The oldest evidence of human presence in the Rhodopes, flint
Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and start fir ...
instruments, was discovered in Borino by an archeological excavation near the current Orpheus Chalet. During fall and winter, eneolithic
The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star.
Computer scientists and mathematicians often v ...
people lived in the caves of the region. Experts have discovered hearths from this time period dating from 4000 to 3000 BC in Yagodina Cave and idyllic figures connected with the cult to the Woman-Mother and the Sun Cult in Haramiska Cave near the Devil's Throat Cave.
Two-thousand years ago in the surrounding areas of Borino lived the Thracian
The Thracians (; grc, Θρᾷκες ''Thrāikes''; la, Thraci) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Eastern and Southeastern Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied t ...
tribe of Bessi. From these tribes have been discovered Thracian burial mounds on the Turlata Peak, located near Borino, and many shrines scattered throughout the area. The Shrine of Dionysius in the Rhodopes and the musical culture of the Thracians are connected with the name of the mythological Rhodope singer Orpheus, who fascinated the wind and wild beasts with the sounds of his lyre
The lyre () is a stringed musical instrument that is classified by Hornbostel–Sachs as a member of the lute-family of instruments. In organology, a lyre is considered a yoke lute, since it is a lute in which the strings are attached to a yoke ...
. He is the creator of the philosophical study Orphism. There exists a hypothesis, that on the Videnitsa Peak was located the famous Shrine of Dionysius – visited by Gaius Octavius and by Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, wikt:Ἀλέξανδρος, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Maced ...
.
As the Thracian civilization started to fade Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
rule entered the Rhodopes. Near Borino pieces of roads and the bridge Kemera can still be seen from this time. Near Borino ran the direct road from Philipopolis (Plovdiv
Plovdiv ( bg, Пловдив, ), is the second-largest city in Bulgaria, standing on the banks of the Maritsa river in the historical region of Thrace. It has a population of 346,893 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is the c ...
) to Nicopolis ad Nestum
Nicopolis ad Nestum ( grc, Νικόπολις ἡ περὶ Νέσσον) or Nicopolis ad Mestum is a ruined Roman town in the province of Thracia (Thrace) near to the modern village of Garmen on the left bank of the Mesta river, in Garmen Municip ...
(Gotse Delchev
Georgi Nikolov Delchev (Bulgarian language, Bulgarian/Macedonian language, Macedonian: Георги/Ѓорѓи Николов Делчев; 4 February 1872 – 4 May 1903), known as Gotse Delchev or Goce Delčev (''Гоце Делчев ...
) and Macedonia.
Creation of Bulgaria
During the 6th century the Slavs
Slavs are the largest European ethnolinguistic group. They speak the various Slavic languages, belonging to the larger Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout northern Eurasia, main ...
began to settle the Balkan Peninsula
The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...
. Following the Slavs, Proto-Bulgarians
The Bulgars (also Bulghars, Bulgari, Bolgars, Bolghars, Bolgari, Proto-Bulgarians) were Turkic semi-nomadic warrior tribes that flourished in the Pontic–Caspian steppe and the Volga region during the 7th century. They became known as nomad ...
arrived in the 7th century. These two new tribes, together with the Thracians created the state of Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...
in 681 AD. From the Proto-Bulgarians they took the name for the new state, from the Slavs they took the language – Slavic, and from the Thracians their cultural heritage and traditions. At that time each of the three tribes avowed to a different religion. To unify the people of Bulgaria Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
was declared the state religion in 865 AD and Bulgaria was baptized as a Christian state. However, in the Rhodopes, Christianity has been spreading three centuries before the baptizing of Bulgaria. It is well known that the Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
was translated into the language of the Thracians – the Bible Besika.
Karabulak-Borino
In 1396 AD the Rhodopes, like all of Bulgaria, fell under the Turkish rule. From this period, in the Jumaya Duzu region near Borino, there is a medieval necropolis
A necropolis (plural necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'', literally meaning "city of the dead".
The term usually im ...
(graveyard) where the first graves are Christian and later graves are Muslim. Most of Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...
was freed from the Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
in 1878, however according to the Bulgarian-Turkish agreement of 1886 Borino remained in the Turkish Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
. After the Balkan Wars
The Balkan Wars refers to a series of two conflicts that took place in the Balkan States in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan States of Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria declared war upon the Ottoman Empire and defe ...
, in 1912 Borino was finally returned to Bulgaria according to the Treaty of Bucharest (1913)
The Treaty of Bucharest ( ro, Tratatul de la București; sr, Букурештански мир; bg, Букурещки договор; gr, Συνθήκη του Βουκουρεστίου) was concluded on 10 August 1913, by the delegates of ...
.
Until 1934, Borino carried the name Karabulak (kara bulak – translated from Turkish which means the "black fountain"). She arrived in the territory of Borino together with her four sons from the nearby village of Gjovren. Here the brothers started their families in four different places in the valley, thereby creating the four neighborhoods of the village. Unfortunately for the time period before 1934 there are no preserved written records for the naming, development, and history of the village. A large part of this information has been verbally passed down through the generations and preserved in local folklore and culture.
Modern history
In Borino until 1930 the population was exclusively Turkish. After 1930 Bulgarians
Bulgarians ( bg, българи, Bǎlgari, ) are a nation and South Slavic ethnic group native to Bulgaria and the rest of Southeast Europe.
Etymology
Bulgarians derive their ethnonym from the Bulgars. Their name is not completely understo ...
began to settle in Borino from villages near Smolyan – Sokolovtsi, Gela, Solishta, Stoikite, and others. They bought land from local Turkish families who were emigrating to Turkey. Here they found better conditions for sheep raising and were nearer to their lands on the Aegean Sea
The Aegean Sea ; tr, Ege Denizi (Greek language, Greek: Αιγαίο Πέλαγος: "Egéo Pélagos", Turkish language, Turkish: "Ege Denizi" or "Adalar Denizi") is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It ...
(The White Sea, or Бяло море, in Bulgarian
Bulgarian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria
* Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group
* Bulgarian language, a Slavic language
* Bulgarian alphabet
* A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria
* Bul ...
) in present-day Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
.
After 1945 the village continued to develop with the major priority being infrastructure
Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and priv ...
and social-health structures – school, lyceum, and a new road to the village. In 1960 the village was supplied with electricity
Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described ...
.
One of the black spots in the most recent history of Borino is, as it was called by the government, the “Regeneration Process,” which began in December 1975 and continued until the beginning of 1990. This process is associated with the forcing of the Turkish and Bulgarian-Muslim minority in Bulgaria to change their names (both first names and family names) to "Bulgarian" names. In spite of the efforts to violently divide the ethnic groups, toleration as a whole remains.
Natural environment
In the territory of Borino there are nearly 2,000 recorded plants species. Many of these are of great ecological importance. Of these, 69 are protected species in Bulgaria and 11 are included in the European list of rare and threatened endemic plants. Some of the more interesting are:
*Alpine Clematis
''Clematis alpina'', the Alpine clematis, is a flowering deciduous vine of the genus ''Clematis''. Like many members of that genus, it is prized by gardeners for its showy flowers. It bears 1 to 3-inch spring flowers on long stalks in a wide va ...
(Clematis Alpina) – a herbaceous (grassy) perennial with climbing stems, which grows around bushes and coniferous trees. This flower is protected in Bulgaria.
*Silivriak ( Haberlea rhodopensis) – a perennial flower with dark green leaves and a violet flower which grows limestone rock. Silivriak is a Balkan relict endemic, left over from ancient flora, which withstood the Ice Ages. It can only be found in the Rhodope Mountains and is known as the symbol of the Rhodopes. According to legend, it sprouted from the blood of Orpheus. Silivriak has the unique ability to come back to life if it is put in water even after it has been pressed for years.
*Rhodopsko Omayniche ( Geum rhodopaeum) grows around damp mountain meadows, with bright orangish red blossoms. It is a Bulgarian regional endemic.
*Rhodopsko Lale ( Tulipa rhodopea) is found in limey/chalky rocky soil, blooming with large bright red flowers. This flower grows nowhere else in the world except the Rhodopes.
In the old growth forests of the Borino Municipality there is an abundance of wild fruits which have thrived for centuries in the Rhodope Mountains – wild blueberries, wild strawberries, raspberries, and rose hips. Also the Borino Municipality is well known for its delicious wild mushrooms – manatarka, maclovka, curnelka, and pachi krak.
The Borino area is also home to a wide variety of animals many of which are of national and European significance – brown bear
The brown bear (''Ursus arctos'') is a large bear species found across Eurasia and North America. In North America, the populations of brown bears are called grizzly bears, while the subspecies that inhabits the Kodiak Islands of Alaska is kno ...
s, wolves
The wolf (''Canis lupus''; plural, : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large Canis, canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of Canis lupus, subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been reco ...
, wild boar
The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is ...
s, deer
Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the reindeer ...
, elk
The elk (''Cervus canadensis''), also known as the wapiti, is one of the largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America and Central and East Asia. The common ...
and wild goat
The wild goat (''Capra aegagrus'') is a wild goat species, inhabiting forests, shrublands and rocky areas ranging from Turkey and the Caucasus in the west to Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan in the east. It has been listed as near threatene ...
s. Birds include wood grouse
The western capercaillie (''Tetrao urogallus''), also known as the Eurasian capercaillie, wood grouse, heather cock, cock-of-the-woods, or simply capercaillie , is a heavy member of the grouse family and the largest of all extant grouse species. ...
, golden eagle
The golden eagle (''Aquila chrysaetos'') is a bird of prey living in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the most widely distributed species of eagle. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. They are one of the best-known bird of p ...
s, falcon
Falcons () are birds of prey in the genus ''Falco'', which includes about 40 species. Falcons are widely distributed on all continents of the world except Antarctica, though closely related raptors did occur there in the Eocene.
Adult falcons ...
s, kingfisher
Kingfishers are a family, the Alcedinidae, of small to medium-sized, brightly colored birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species found in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania, ...
s, and the wallcreeper
The wallcreeper (''Tichodroma muraria'') is a small passerine bird found throughout the high mountains of the Palearctic from southern Europe to central China. It is the only extant member of both the genus ''Tichodroma'' and the family Tichodro ...
in the Trigrad Gorge.
The average elevation of the region is 1,200 meters, with brown forest soils. The forested land of the Borino Municipality is over 5,280 hectares (13,200 acres) which is predominantly spruce
A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' (), a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the Earth. ''Picea'' is the sole genus in the subfami ...
and pine
A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accep ...
forests. In the region of Kabata, there is one-of-a-kind natural hybrid tree which baffles specialists. The tree is a mix of a pine and spruce tree – the bark of a pine and the needles of a spruce.
In the territory of the Borino Municipality is located the nature reserve “Kastrakli.”
The reserve is 124 hectares and was created with the purpose to preserve the old growth black pine and natural landscape. The reserve is an extraordinarily beautiful landscape with impressive rock formations, old-growth forests of black pine, Scots pine
''Pinus sylvestris'', the Scots pine (UK), Scotch pine (US) or Baltic pine, is a species of tree in the pine family Pinaceae that is native to Eurasia. It can readily be identified by its combination of fairly short, blue-green leaves and orang ...
, and fir
Firs (''Abies'') are a genus of 48–56 species of evergreen coniferous trees in the family (biology), family Pinaceae. They are found on mountains throughout much of North America, North and Central America, Europe, Asia, and North Africa. The ...
, as well as beech
Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''Engle ...
, sycamore
Sycamore is a name which has been applied to several types of trees, but with somewhat similar leaf forms. The name derives from the ancient Greek ' (''sūkomoros'') meaning "fig-mulberry".
Species of trees known as sycamore:
* ''Acer pseudoplata ...
, hornbeam
Hornbeams are hardwood trees in the flowering plant genus ''Carpinus'' in the birch family Betulaceae. The 30–40 species occur across much of the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere.
Origin of names
The common English name ''hornbeam' ...
, and aspen
Aspen is a common name for certain tree species; some, but not all, are classified by botanists in the section ''Populus'', of the ''Populus'' genus.
Species
These species are called aspens:
*'' Populus adenopoda'' – Chinese aspen (China ...
. The average age of the trees is more than 200 years old. The average elevation of the reserve is 1,200 meters. The highest point is 1,291 meters and the lowest 911 meters. The terrain is extremely varied with parts being extremely steep and nearly inaccessible while other areas are gently sloping. The steep and long vertical cliffs are magnificent with their numerous edges and terraces. A wide variety of plant and animal life is located in the reserve. In the Kastrakli reserve there are twenty-five protected plant species, twelve endangered, and eleven categorized as rare.
As a whole the natural resources of the region have not been studied extensively. While over 2,000 plant species have been discovered there is most likely many more yet undiscovered, in particular – mushrooms, lichens, and mosses.
References
{{Smolyan Province
Villages in Smolyan Province