Pazardzhik Province ( bg, Област Пазарджик ''Oblast Pazardzhik'', former name Pazardzhik okrug) is a

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...

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 Mac ...

, named after its administrative and industrial centre - the city of Pazardzhik. The territory is that is divided into 12 municipalities with a total population of 275,548 inhabitants, as of February 2011.Population on 01.02.2011 by provinces, municipalities, settlements and age; National Statistical Institute
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History

The territory of the Pazardzhik Province has been inhabited since very early times. There are more than 50 discovered Stone Age and

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

settlements. The earliest civilization to inhabit the region were the

Thracians 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 ...

. The remains of the Thracian town Besapara are located in the hills near the provincial capital Pazardzhik. The

Panagyurishte Treasure The Panagyurishte Treasure ( bg, Панагюрско златно съкровище) is a Thracian treasure. Discovery It was accidentally discovered on 8 December 1949 by three brothers, Pavel, Petko, and Michail Deikov, who worked together ...

unearthed near the northern town of the same name is known as one of the finest examples of Thracian art. The 6.164 kg of 23-karat gold treasure which consists of nine vessels has been dated back to the 4th and 3rd century BC. In the 1st century BC the region became a Roman province and remained in the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantin ...

after the fall of Rome. Most of the region became part of the Bulgarian Empire in the beginning of the 9th century and remained in Bulgarian hands until the fall of the First Empire. With the rise of the

Second Bulgarian Empire The Second Bulgarian Empire (; ) was a medieval Bulgarian state that existed between 1185 and 1396. A successor to the First Bulgarian Empire, it reached the peak of its power under Tsars Kaloyan and Ivan Asen II before gradually being conqu ...

the region once again became part of the country until it was overran by the

Ottomans The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922). Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...

in the late 14th century. Some of medieval fortresses are Tsepina near the village of Dorkovo and Krasen in the vicinities of Bata. The

April Uprising The April Uprising ( bg, Априлско въстание, Aprilsko vastanie) was an insurrection organised by the Bulgarians in the Ottoman Empire from April to May 1876. The regular Ottoman Army and irregular bashi-bazouk units brutally ...

of 1876 against the Ottoman rule was widely supported within the region and the town of

Panagyurishte Panagyurishte ( bg, Панагюрище, also transliterated ''Panagjurište'', ) is a town in Pazardzhik Province, Southern Bulgaria, situated in a small valley in the Sredna Gora mountains. It is 91 km east of Sofia, 43 km north of ...

became the center of the uprising. The Bulgarian population also rebelled to the south where the Ottoman atrocities culminated in the Batak massacre. According to the Treaty of Berlin after the

Liberation of Bulgaria The Liberation of Bulgaria is the historical process as a result of the Bulgarian Revival. In Bulgarian historiography, the liberation of Bulgaria refers to those events of the Tenth Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) that led to the re-establishme ...

in 1878 the region was included in the autonomous region

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 Otto ...

which united with the

Principality of Bulgaria The Principality of Bulgaria ( bg, Княжество България, Knyazhestvo Balgariya) was a vassal state under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire. It was established by the Treaty of Berlin in 1878. After the Russo-Turkish War e ...

on 6 September 1885.

Geography

The Pazardzhik Province is situated in central part of southern Bulgaria and borders the provinces of

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 ...

Smolyan Smolyan ( bg, Смолян) is a town and ski resort in the south of Bulgaria near the border with Greece. It is the administrative and industrial centre of the homonymous Smolyan Province. The town is built along the valley of Cherna ("Black") ...

Blagoevgrad Blagoevgrad ( bg, Благоевград ) is а town in Southwestern Bulgaria, the administrative centre of Blagoevgrad Municipality and of Blagoevgrad Province. With a population of almost inhabitants, it is the economic and cultural centr ...

and

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, 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 total area of the region is 4,458 km² which is 4% of the national territory. Forests account for more than half of the area (57.1%); the arable land is 35.6%, urban territory is 3.3%, rivers and lakes occupy 2.6%, road infrastructure - 0.6% and quarries and mines - 0,4%. Panagyurishte-library

The northern parts of the region include the middle ridges of the Sredna Gora mountain, to the south the relief flattens and forms the westernmost parts of the Upper Thracian Plain and to the south are located the

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 i ...

where most of the forests are situated. The highest point of the region is Savov Vrah at an altitude of 2,306 m while the lowest altitude is around 200 m in the plains of the central area.Official site of the Pazardzhik Province
/ref> The climate is transcontinental with milder winter than northern Bulgaria in the lowlands but with very low temperatures and high snowfall in the mountain areas. The average annual temperature is 11.3 °C. The province is abundant in

water resources Water resources are natural resources of water that are potentially useful for humans, for example as a source of drinking water supply or irrigation water. 97% of the water on the Earth is salt water and only three percent is fresh water; sligh ...

, its main

waterway A waterway is any navigable body of water. Broad distinctions are useful to avoid ambiguity, and disambiguation will be of varying importance depending on the nuance of the equivalent word in other languages. A first distinction is necessary ...

is the river

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 ,catchment basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, the ...

includes the Topolnitsa River and

Luda Yana River The Luda Yana ( bg, Луда Яна, "Crazy Yana") is a 74 km-long river in southern Bulgaria, a northern tributary of the Maritsa River. It runs through the towns of Panagyurishte and Strelcha, as well as a number of villages, including Popin ...

from the north and Stara Reka from the south. There are three main reservoirs all situated in the Rhodope Mountains within the municipal limits of

Batak Batak is a collective term used to identify a number of closely related Austronesian ethnic groups predominantly found in North Sumatra, Indonesia, who speak Batak languages. The term is used to include the Karo, Pakpak, Simalungun, Toba, ...

Batak Reservoir The Batak Reservoir ( bg, езеро Батак) is located in the Rhodope Mountains and is the third largest in Bulgaria. It attracts many tourists and fishermen, and the resort Tsigov Chark was built on its shore. The lake is situated around 8&n ...

, Golyam Beglik and Shiroka Polyana. A fourth large dam lake, the

Dospat Reservoir Dospat Reservoir ( bg, язовир Доспат) is situated in the western part of the Rhodope Mountains, Bulgaria. The reservoir (formed by a dam in the town of Dospat, west of Smolyan) stretches nearly northwest to the city of Sarnitsa. At ...

is only partially in the region. In Sredna Gora to the north is Topolnitsa Reservoir shared with the Sofia Province and a dam near Panagyurishte which is in initial stages of construction.

Municipalities

The Pazardzik province (област, ''oblast'') contains 12 municipalities ( bg, община, translit=obshtina - plural: , ). The following table shows the names of each municipality in English and Cyrillic, the main town or village (towns are shown in bold), and the population of each as of December 2009.

Population

The Pazardzhik province had a

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using ...

of 310,741 (310,723 also given) according to a 2001

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...

, of which were

male Male (Mars symbol, symbol: ♂) is the sex of an organism that produces the gamete (sex cell) known as sperm, which fuses with the larger female gamete, or ovum, in the process of fertilization. A male organism cannot sexual reproduction, repro ...

and were

female Female (symbol: ♀) is the sex of an organism that produces the large non-motile ova (egg cells), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete during sexual reproduction. A female has larger gametes than a male. Females a ...

.Population to 01.03.2001 by Area and Sex
fro

As of the end of 2009, the population of the province, announced by the Bulgarian National Statistical Institute, numbered 290,614 of which are inhabitants aged over 60 years.Bulgarian National Statistical Institute - Population by age in 2009
Total population (2011 census): 275,548 The following table represents the change of the population in the province after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Ethnic groups

Total population (2011 census): 275,548
Ethnic groups (2011 census): Identified themselves: 246,002 persons: *

Bulgarians Bulgarians ( bg, българи, Bǎlgari, ) are a nation and South Slavs, 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 complete ...

: 206,110 (83.78%) *

Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnicities * Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia ** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule * Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...

: 20,350 (8.27%) * Turks: 14,062 (5.72%) *Others and indefinable: 5,480 (2.23%) A further 30,000 persons in Pazardzhik Province did not declare their ethnic group at the 2011 census. Ethnic groups in the province according to 2001 census:Population to 01.03.2001 by District and Ethnic Group
fro

261,260

(),
23,970

(), 20,448 Turks () and 5,045 others and unspecified ().

Languages

Mother tongues in the province according to 2001 census:Population to 01.03.2001 by District and Mother Tongue
fro

260,817 Bulgarian (),
24,204

(), 21,902

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

() and 3800 others and unspecified ().

Religion

Religious adherence in the province according to 2001 census:Religious adherence in Bulgaria - census 2001

Economy

The backbone of the economy in the region is industry. The "Batashki Vodnosilov Pat" is an important hydrocomplex consisting of three hydro power plants- "Batak", "Peshtera" and "Aleko" with combined capacity of around 250 MW. Copper extracting industry is of national and European importance with major mines located around Panagyurishte (Asarel and Medet), Elshitsa,

Tsar Asen Tsar Asen ( bg, Цар Асен) is a village in Pazardzhik Municipality, Pazardzhik Province, southern Bulgaria. it has 384 inhabitants. The village is located on one of the several roads between Pazardzhik and Panagyurishte. There is a c ...

and

Mina Radka Mina may refer to: Places Iran * Minaq, East Azerbaijan * Mina, Fars * Mineh, Lorestan Province * Mina, Razavi Khorasan * Mehneh, Razavi Khorasan Province United States * Mina, California * Mina, Nevada * Mina, New York * Mina, Ohio * Mina, ...

. Machine building industry is developed in Pazardzhik (lead acid batteries),

(optical), Velingrad. There is flourishing pharmaceutical industry in

Peshtera Peshtera ( bg, Пещера , sometimes transliterated as ''Peštera''; rup, Peshtera) is a town in the Rhodope Mountains, southern Bulgaria. It is located in Pazardzhik Province near the towns of Batak and Bratsigovo. The town is the third lar ...

with more than 1 000 employees in the plant. Paper industry is developed in Belovo. Timber industry is very important in the southern part of the region (the Rhodopes)-

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. T ...

and Velingrad. The manufacturing of textiles is well developed in Pazardzhik,

and Velingrad. There is a huge footwear plant in

. Food processing industry is developed in most of the towns. Agriculture is also important, especially in the fertile central parts of the region. The most important crops are orchards (apples, plums and strawberries), grapes, wheat, barley, rye and rice. Livestock breeding is relatively well developed in the mountainous areas.

Tourism

The province has considerable opportunities to develop mountain and rural tourism, especially in the southern parts where the

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 i ...

are located. The slopes are covered with dense deciduous and higher up, coniferous forests, dotted with numerous artificial lakes. The largest one is the Batak Dam, on whose shores are built two resorts: ''Tsigov Chark'' and ''Saint Konstantin'' as well as many villas and shrines. Fish is abundant in the dams, including

carp Carp are various species of oily freshwater fish from the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish native to Europe and Asia. While carp is consumed in many parts of the world, they are generally considered an invasive species in parts of ...

, rudd, roach barbel,

perch Perch is a common name for fish of the genus ''Perca'', freshwater gamefish belonging to the family Percidae. The perch, of which three species occur in different geographical areas, lend their name to a large order of vertebrates: the Per ...

, zander and many others; the mountain streams are rich in

trout Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', '' Salmo'' and '' Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-sa ...

. There are spa resorts in Velingrad,

Strelcha Strelcha ( bg, Стрелча ) is a small Bulgarian town with a population of 4,284 . The town lies 13 km to the east of Panagyurishte and 41 km to the north of Pazardzhik. It is a capital of homonymous municipality, part of Pazardzhik ...

, Banya, Varvara. The most famous landmarks are located in

, Pazardzhik,

, Velingrad. Impressive ruins of an ancient basilica (the Belovo Basilica) rise in the hilly country, close to the town of Belovo. Numerous ruined fortresses are scattered around the province, the most famous of these are Tsepina, and the ramparts near Bata and

. The medieval Church of St Demetrius in the village of

Patalenitsa Patalenitsa ( bg, Паталеница) is a village in southwestern Bulgaria, administratively part of Pazardzhik Municipality within Pazardzhik Province. It lies southwest of Pazardzhik, at the northern foot of the Karkaria ridge of the western ...

has frescoes dating to the 12th–13th century.

Transportation and communications

The road network is not dense. The Trakiya motorway runs through the middle of the region. The main railway between

and

also runs through it. There are two other railways: to

and to

. There are several military airports. As everywhere in

, every town and village in the region is provided with electricity, drinking water and telephone network. Each town and some villages are provided with Internet connection, and the cellular phone coverage is almost 100%, as most people own GSMs. Some of the interconnecting roads, especially higher up the mountain, are currently in a very bad state following heavy downpours in 2005 and 2006.

Footnotes

External links

Official site of the Pazardzhik Province
{{Authority control Provinces of Bulgaria