Dimitrovgrad () alternatively Caribrod () is a town and municipality located in the

Pirot District The Pirot District (, ) is one of administrative districts of Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , imag ...

of southeastern Serbia. According to 2022 census, the municipality has a population of 8,043 and the town has 5,188 inhabitants.

Name

Since 1950, the official name of the town has been ''Dimitrovgrad'' (), but the name ''Caribrod'' () is also used. In Bulgarian, the name ''Tsaribrod'' () is preferred because there is another Dimitrovgrad on the Maritsa river in Bulgaria and Tsaribrod was used before the town was named after Georgi Dimitrov, a Bulgarian Communist leader who advocated a union between the

Bulgarians Bulgarians (, ) are a nation and South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Bulgaria and its neighbouring region, who share a common Bulgarian ancestry, culture, history and language. They form the majority of the population in Bulgaria, ...

and remaining Yugoslav nations to form the Balkan Federation. The idea was abandoned when Yugoslav leader

Josip Broz Tito Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito ( ; , ), was a Yugoslavia, Yugoslav communist revolutionary and politician who served in various positions of national leadership from 1943 unti ...

failed to reach agreements with

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

( Tito–Stalin split); however, Dimitrov himself did not become unpopular in Yugoslavia from the breakdown and subsequently, the name of the town continued to be in honour of him despite many citizens themselves having preferred ''Caribrod''. There have been attempts to return the old name, ''Caribrod'', but all had less than 50% turnout and most of them were in favor of keeping the name ''Dimitrovgrad''. In 2019, local government decided to add tables with name ''Caribrod'' on several municipality's objects in order to please the needs of people who like the former name. In October 2019 municipal assembly decided to return the old name to the municipality. The document is sent to Ministry of Public Administration for further procedures.

Geography

Climate

Dimitrovgrad has an

oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen climate classification, Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of co ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

: ''Dfb'').

History

The Roman road Via Militaris was built in the 1st century AD and went through the town. In May 2010, well-preserved remains of the road were excavated during the work on Corridor 10. An Ottoman military base operated in the west of Dimitrovgrad prior to the Balkan nations full independence. During the Serbo-Bulgarian War, two battles were fought here, the 1st Battle of Caribrod and the 2nd Battle of Caribrod. The Serbian and Bulgarian Prime ministers met at the then Tsaribrod in 1912 to discuss the disputed territories in Macedonia. The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes gained parts of the Principality of Bulgaria (known in Bulgaria as Western Outlands) which included Tsaribrod following the Treaty of Neuilly, signed on November 27, 1919. From 1929 to 1941, Caribrod was part of the Morava Banovina of the

Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a country in Southeast Europe, Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 to 1929, it was officially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, but the term "Yugoslavia" () h ...

. It was occupied by Kingdom of Bulgaria between 1941 and 1944 during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Demographics

According to the 2022 census, the municipality of Dimitrovgrad has 8,043 inhabitants. Regardless of ethnic self-identification, most of the town's population speaks a South Slavic dialect usually called '' Torlak'' which includes linguistic features of both Serbian (especially phonology) and Bulgarian (postposed

definite article In grammar, an article is any member of a class of dedicated words that are used with noun phrases to mark the identifiability of the referents of the noun phrases. The category of articles constitutes a part of speech. In English, both "the" ...

s and lack of the

infinitive Infinitive ( abbreviated ) is a linguistics term for certain verb forms existing in many languages, most often used as non-finite verbs that do not show a tense. As with many linguistic concepts, there is not a single definition applicable to all ...

verb form), as well as some Macedonian language

vocabulary A vocabulary (also known as a lexicon) is a set of words, typically the set in a language or the set known to an individual. The word ''vocabulary'' originated from the Latin , meaning "a word, name". It forms an essential component of languag ...

. Ethnic composition of the municipality: Linguistic composition of the municipality:

Economy

The following table gives a preview of total number of registered people employed in legal entities per their core activity (as of 2018):

Gallery

File:Dimitrovgrad Town Hall - Serbia.jpg, ''Dimitrovgrad Town Hall'' File:Dimitrovgrad City Centre.JPG, ''Town center'' File:Cultural centre - Dimitrovgrad - Serbia.jpg, ''The cultural center on the main square'' File:Poganovo manastir.jpg, '' Poganovo Monastery''

References

External links

* {{Authority control Populated places in Pirot District Municipalities and cities of Southern and Eastern Serbia Bulgarian communities in Serbia Bulgaria–Serbia border crossings Georgi Dimitrov