Osogovo (

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 ...

/ Macedonian: ), or Osogovska Planina or Osogovski Planini (Осоговска Планина or Осоговски Планини), is a mountain range and ski resort between the south-western part 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 ...

(

Kyustendil Province Kyustendil Province ( bg, Област Кюстендил, trl ''Oblast Kyustendil'') is a province in southwestern Bulgaria, extending over an area of (constituting 2.7% of the total territory of the Republic of Bulgaria), and with a populati ...

) and the north-eastern part of

North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Socialist Feder ...

(

Kočani Kočani ( mk, Кочани ) is a town in the eastern part of North Macedonia, situated around east from Skopje. It has a population of 28,330 and is the seat of the Kočani Municipality. Geography and population The town spreads across the Nor ...

and

Kriva Palanka Kriva Palanka ( mk, Крива Паланка ) is a town located in the northeastern part of North Macedonia. It has 14,558 inhabitants. The town of Kriva Palanka is the seat of Kriva Palanka Municipality which has almost 21,000 inhabitants. ...

municipalities).

Osogovo Monastery Osogovo Monastery ( mk, Осоговски Манастир) is a Macedonian Orthodox Church, Macedonian Orthodox monastery located near Kriva Palanka, North Macedonia, from the Bulgarian border on Osogovo, Osogovo Mountain. Osogovo Monastery is ...

is situated on the mountain.

Description

The range is about long and wide, the highest peak being

Ruen Ruen ( bg, Руен, ; tr, Ulanlı) is a village in southeastern Bulgaria, part of Burgas Province. It is the administrative centre of Ruen municipality, which lies in the northern part of Burgas Province. Municipality Ruen municipality include ...

(Руен) at 2251 m, which constitutes the main orthographic knot on the very border between Bulgaria and North Macedonia. The steepest slope is in the west, stretching down from Carev Vrv (Царев Врв; "Tsar's Peak"). It is the northernmost and highest part of the Osogovo-

Belasica Belasica ( Macedonian and Bulgarian: , also translit. ''Belasitsa'' or ''Belasitza'', Ottoman Turkish: بلش Turkish: ''Beleş''), Belles ( el, Μπέλλες, ''Bélles'') or Kerkini (, ''Kerkíni'';), is a mountain range in the region of Ma ...

group and is situated between the

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, ...

and Kamenitsa Valleys, Dobro pole and

Bregalnica Bregalnica (, ) is the second largest river in North Macedonia. It starts as a spring near the mountain city of Berovo and it passes near the cities of Makedonska Kamenica, Kočani, Vinica and Štip, before joining the river Vardar on its way ...

and Kriva Reka river valleys. The western slopes are steep and the south-eastern ones are slant. The mountain itself is a granite massif of crystal rocks. It has a prominent volcanic relief made of conic peaks and volcanic tuff and is rich in

polymetal In chemistry or mining, polymetal or polymetallic is a substance composed of a combination of different metals. When the substance contains only two metals the term ''bimetal'' (''bimetallic'') is sometimes preferred. A (or ') is an ore that is ...

ore Ore is natural rock or sediment that contains one or more valuable minerals, typically containing metals, that can be mined, treated and sold at a profit.Encyclopædia Britannica. "Ore". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 7 Apr ...

Etymology

There are many legends about the origin of name Osogovo, but the most famous one is that the area was briefly settled by

Transylvanian Saxons The Transylvanian Saxons (german: Siebenbürger Sachsen; Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjer Såksen''; ro, Sași ardeleni, sași transilvăneni/transilvani; hu, Erdélyi szászok) are a people of German ethnicity who settled in Transylvania ( ...

miners who were mining gold and silver in the region in the past. According to this legend, the name originates from the

Old Germanic Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Proto-Germanic eventually developed from pre-Proto-Germanic into three Germanic bran ...

words "osso" (god) and "gov" (place) which means "a divine place".

Osogovo Bay Osogovo Bay ( bg, Осоговски залив, Osogovski zaliv, ), "named after the Osogovo region in western Bulgaria," is bounded by the south coast of Rugged Island, by Astor Island, and by the west coast of the Byers Peninsula south of La ...

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 195 ...

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 contine ...

is named after Osogovo. Osogovo-Kameninchitsa-gorge

Environment

The flora distinguishes vertical coverage: an under-mountainous zone up to 1000 m where trees like oak, elm, hornbeam, ash, hazel and others can be found; a mountainous zone (1000–1800 m) covered mostly with beech trees; and a sub-alpine zone covered with grass pastures and bushes of juniper trees. The mountain rivers and streams are a natural habitat for the barbell, the chub and the mountain trout.

Deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

and

coniferous Conifers are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All extant ...

forests dominate. The area is inhabited by the rare

Alpine Newt The alpine newt (''Ichthyosaura alpestris'') is a species of newt native to continental Europe and introduced to Great Britain and New Zealand. Adults measure and are usually dark grey to blue on the back and sides, with an orange belly and thro ...

. The nature and climate conditions allow for all-year tourism. Important towns at the foot of Osogovo are Kyustendil to the northeast in Bulgaria and Kočani and Kriva Palanka to the west and southwest in North Macedonia.

Important Bird Area

A 7,000 ha tract of the mountains has been designated an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

(IBA) by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

because it supports a population of

lanner falcon The lanner falcon (''Falco biarmicus'') is a medium-sized bird of prey that breeds in Africa, southeast Europe and just into Asia. It prefers open habitat and is mainly resident, but some birds disperse more widely after the breeding season. A l ...

References

Important Bird Areas of North Macedonia {{RMacedonia-geo-stub