Nedelya Petkova ( bg, Неделя Петкова; 1826–1894) was a

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 ...

n education pioneer. In 1859 she began teaching girls and developed this into a school system for girls across the Bulgarian part of 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) ...

, with hundreds of girls attending classes.

Biography

She was born on 13 August 1826 in

Sopot, Plovdiv Province Sopot ( bg, Сопот ) is a Bulgarian town situated in the fertile sub-Balkan mountain valley of Karlovo (which is the western part of the famous Rose Valley, Bulgaria, Rose Valley), immediately below the steep southern slopes of the Troyan ...

. Nedelya Petkova, was also known as Grandma Nedelya or Baba Nedelya. She studied in the monastery school of the “Holy presentation of the Blessed Virgin” convent in the town of

Sopot Sopot is a seaside resort city in Pomerelia on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea in northern Poland, with a population of approximately 40,000. It is located in Pomeranian Voivodeship, and has the status of the county, being the smallest ci ...

. Later she was self-educated. Nedelya Petkova began as a teacher in

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and h ...

(1858-1861),

Samokov Samokov ( bg, Самоков ) is a town in Sofia Province in the southwest of Bulgaria. It is situated in a basin between the mountains Rila and Vitosha, 55 kilometres from the capital Sofia. Due to the suitable winter sports conditions, Sam ...

(1862-1864),

Kyustendil Kyustendil ( bg, Кюстендил ) is a town in the far west of Bulgaria, the capital of the Kyustendil Province, a former bishopric and present Latin Catholic titular see. The town is situated in the southern part of the Kyustendil Valley, ...

(1864-1865),

Prilep Prilep ( mk, Прилеп ) is the fourth-largest city in North Macedonia. It has a population of 66,246 and is known as "the city under Marko's Towers" because of its proximity to the towers of Prince Marko. Name The name of Prilep appear ...

(1865-1866),

Ohrid Ohrid ( mk, Охрид ) is a city in North Macedonia and is the seat of the Ohrid Municipality. It is the largest city on Lake Ohrid and the List of cities in North Macedonia, eighth-largest city in the country, with the municipality recording ...

(1868-1869) and Veles (1870-1871). She later founded the first Bulgarian girls’ schools in Prilep,

Bitolya Bitola (; mk, Битола ) is a city in the southwestern part of North Macedonia. It is located in the southern part of the Pelagonia valley, surrounded by the Baba (North Macedonia), Baba, Nidže, and Kajmakčalan mountain ranges, north of th ...

, Veles, and

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

. After the Liberation, she lived in Kyustendil (1878) and in Sofia (1879). In 1883 she settled in

Rakitovo Rakitovo ( ) is a town in the Pazardzhik Province, Bulgaria. the population is 8 952. It is located in the northern part of the Rhodopi mountains at 12 km to the east of Velingrad and 7 km to the southwest of the Batak Reservoir. The ...

. Government officials tried to stop her and she was arrested and her home searched for seditious books. Although put on trial she was released through lack of evidence and continued her campaign to educate women until her death on 1 January 1894.

Legacy

Nedelya Point on

Livingston Island Livingston Island (Russian name ''Smolensk'', ) is an Antarctic island in the Southern Ocean, part of the South Shetlands Archipelago, a group of Antarctic islands north of the Antarctic Peninsula. It was the first land discovered south of 60 ...

in the

South Shetland Islands The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the nearest point of the South Orkney Islands. By the Antarctic Treaty of 1 ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...

is named after Nedelya Petkova.

References

19th Century Women
See 1826. Accessed March 2008
Nedelya Petkova (1826-94)
Bulgarian Tourist Information Office. Historical persons. Accessed March 2008

at Bulgaria Monasteries website. Accessed March 2008. 1826 births 1894 deaths Bulgarian educators 19th-century Bulgarian people Bulgarian feminists People from Sopot, Plovdiv Province {{Bulgaria-bio-stub