Drazhevo ( bg, Дражево, also

transliterated Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one script to another that involves swapping letters (thus ''trans-'' + '' liter-'') in predictable ways, such as Greek → , Cyrillic → , Greek → the digraph , Armenian → or L ...

: ''Drajevo'') is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

in the southeast 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 Macedo ...

, located in the

Tundzha Municipality Tundzha Municipality ( bg, община Тунджа) is a municipality of Yambol Province, southeastern Bulgaria. The municipality has an area of 1,218.86 square kilometres, making it the second-largest by area in the country after the Capital Mun ...

of the

Yambol Province Yambol ( bg, област Ямбол, ''oblast Yambol'', former name Yambol okrug) is a province in southeastern Bulgaria, neighbouring Turkey to the south. It is named after its main city Yambol, while other towns include Straldzha, Bolyarovo ...

. It is situated near the Tundja river, near forest areas away from the

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

Yambol Yambol ( bg, Ямбол ) is a town in Southeastern Bulgaria and administrative centre of Yambol Province. It lies on both banks of the Tundzha river in the historical region of Thrace. It is occasionally spelled ''Jambol''. Yambol is the ad ...

, away from the town of

Sliven Sliven ( bg, Сливен ) is the eighth-largest city in Bulgaria and the administrative and industrial centre of Sliven Province and municipality in Northern Thrace. Sliven is famous for its heroic Haiduts who fought against the Ottoman Turk ...

, and away from the town of

Elhovo Elhovo ( bg, Елхово ) is a Bulgarian town in Yambol Province, located on the left bank of the Tundzha river, between Strandzha and Sakar mountains. Second largest city in the region after Jambol, the city is located at 36 km from bo ...

. Drajevo borders the villages of Hadjidimitrovo, Krushare (

Sliven Province Sliven Province ( bg, Област Сливен, former name Sliven okrug) is a province in southeastern Bulgaria, named after its administrative and industrial centre—the city of Sliven. It embraces a territory of Zhelio Voyvoda (Sliven Province),

Kabile Kabile ( bg, Кабиле), Cabyle, or Kabyle is a village in southeastern Bulgaria, part of the Tundzha municipality, Yambol Province. The ancient Thracian city of Kabyle was one of the most important and largest towns in Thrace and its arc ...

and town of Yambol. There is a medical centre, post office, several shops and cafés and has regular bus connections to the town of Yambol.

History

Tonzos river valley (now Tundja) was inhabited by

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 ...

tribes in the Bronze and Iron Age. The especially favourable location, which attracted settlers as early as the Stone-Copper Age, is the bight Tonzos, around the last hill "Zajchi vrah" of the mountain "

Sredna gora Sredna Gora ( bg, Средна гора ) is a mountain range in central Bulgaria, situated south of and parallel to the Balkan Mountains and extending from the Iskar to the west and the elbow of Tundzha north of Yambol to the east. Sredna Gora ...

". It is where the river changes its flow from the east to south, towards "Uskudama, Adrianopolis"(modern-day

Edirne Edirne (, ), formerly known as Adrianople or Hadrianopolis ( Greek: Άδριανούπολις), is a city in Turkey, in the northwestern part of the province of Edirne in Eastern Thrace. Situated from the Greek and from the Bulgarian borders ...

). On its way to

Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea ; tr, Ege Denizi (Greek: Αιγαίο Πέλαγος: "Egéo Pélagos", Turkish: "Ege Denizi" or "Adalar Denizi") is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans ...

, the river merges with the rivers

Maritsa Maritsa or Maritza ( bg, Марица ), also known as Meriç ( tr, Meriç ) and Evros ( ell, Έβρος ), is a river that runs through the Balkans in Southeast Europe. With a length of ,Arda Arda or ARDA may refer to: Places *Arda (Maritsa), a river in Bulgaria and Greece * Arda (Italy), a river in Italy *Arda (Douro), a river in Portugal * Arda, Bulgaria, a village in southern Bulgaria * Arda, County Fermanagh, a townland in County ...

. At the end of the II mil. at the foot of the tip, is formed the city of

- a part of the Roman province of Thrace. Under the Avary's attacks the city was destroyed during the 6th century. The village Drazhevo has ancient beginnings. This is evident by pottery remains from an ancient Thracian settlement discovered northeast of the village huddled at the foot of the peak "Zajchi vrah". Excavations in 2004 at the hill "Dyado Sabev bair", which is located right next to the hill "Zajchi vrah", opened a unique

tumulus A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones bu ...

, (or burial mound), of the

Yamna culture The Yamnaya culture or the Yamna culture (russian: Ямная культура, ua, Ямна культура lit. 'culture of pits'), also known as the Pit Grave culture or Ochre Grave culture, was a late Copper Age to early Bronze Age archa ...

. These people were steppe nomads from the second level of the Early Bronze Age. The first mention of the village of Drazhevo was in 1666 in the old Turkish document as Ohada (Awhdy). By this time, the watercourse of the river Tonzos (

Tunja Tunja () is a city on the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes, in the region known as the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, 130 km northeast of Bogotá. In 2018 it had a population of 172,548 inhabitants. It is the capital of Boyacá departmen ...

) had been already moved 2–3 km in north. The old river bed had been covered with dense forest, which people called Kara orman (Montenegro). Old people of the village still remember the forest, part of which was kept to the end of Ottoman rule, when it was cut and turned into fields. They say that the northern part of the village has ended with a fence - a precaution against wild animals. Later people started to call the old bed of the river "Tundzhalak" due to the sand in the soil. (There is only sand in some places). Ground water is very close to the surface and is

potable Drinking water is water that is used in drink or food preparation; potable water is water that is safe to be used as drinking water. The amount of drinking water required to maintain good health varies, and depends on physical activity level, ag ...

. After 1944 the land was nationalized and turned into rice paddies During the

Ottoman rule Ottoman is the Turkish spelling of the Arabic masculine given name Uthman ( ar, عُثْمان, ‘uthmān). It may refer to: Governments and dynasties * Ottoman Caliphate, an Islamic caliphate from 1517 to 1924 * Ottoman Empire, in existence fro ...

in the village was settled moderately wealthy Turk named Atla grazing, who kept breeding horses. The people of his village had been committed as apprentices in keeping the horses. At that time the houses in the number of the houses in the village was around 17. At that time, the village began to be called Atliy (from Turkish "at" - horse). From the beginning until now the population of Drazhevo had been dealing with livestock (sheep, horses, buffaloes and cows) and

horticulture Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...

. Traditional horticultural crops were wheat, barley and rye. The planting of crop vegetables started much later. Old people from the village say that in the past, the vegetables had been purchased from "bachvandzhii" - gardeners from the Balkans. People had used their yards around the house as a stackyard - a place where the harvest was threshing in the past with "dikanya". In the 19th century, the detachment of Panajot Hitov acted in the land of the village. After the liberation of

in 1878, the population of the village was increased by a significant number of refugees from Turkish

Thrace Thrace (; el, Θράκη, Thráki; bg, Тракия, Trakiya; tr, Trakya) or Thrake is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe, now split among Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, which is bounded by the Balkan Mountains to ...

. Till the 1885 Bulgarian Crisis, the village of Atliy was a part of

Eastern Rumelia Eastern Rumelia ( bg, Източна Румелия, Iztochna Rumeliya; ota, , Rumeli-i Şarkî; el, Ανατολική Ρωμυλία, Anatoliki Romylia) was an autonomous province (''oblast'' in Bulgarian, '' vilayet'' in Turkish) in the Ott ...

. In 1890, for unclear reasons, the village was renamed as the village Borissovo - the name of King Boris I by the decree № 582. In the archives of Dr. Tabakov from Sliven, it was noted that during 30 years of the 20th century, in the village were 104 houses with 461 inhabitants.Tabakov in 1911: S. Tabakov. Experience history of the town of

. By decree № 45 of the National Assembly on February 8, 1950 the village was renamed Drazhevo - the name of George Drazhev, the chairman of Revolutionary Committee during the April Uprising for the Yambol region, who was hanged on a bridge in the town of Yambol named "Kargonskiya".

References

External links

* {{Tundzha Villages in Yambol Province