Petrovo, Blagoevgrad Province is a village in the municipality of

Sandanski Sandanski ( ; , formerly known as Sveti Vrach, , until 1947) is a town and a recreation center in southwestern Bulgaria, part of Blagoevgrad Province. Named after the Macedonian Bulgarian revolutionary Yane Sandanski, it is situated in Sanda ...

, in

Blagoevgrad Province Blagoevgrad Province (, ''oblast Blagoevgrad'' or Благоевградска област, ''Blagoevgradska oblast''), also known as Pirin Macedonia or Bulgarian Macedonia (), (''Pirinska Makedoniya or Bulgarska Makedoniya'') is a province ('' ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

Geography

The village is located in a mountainous area at the northern foor of Slavyanka, close to the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

border. 6 kilometers away from the village there is an area known as Izvora, where the Petrovska river originates. The river provides drinking water for 15 villages in the region.

History

Ottoman rule

During the Ottoman rule in 19th century, the village was often part of the

kaza A kaza (, "judgment" or "jurisdiction") was an administrative divisions of the Ottoman Empire, administrative division of the Ottoman Empire. It is also discussed in English under the names district, subdistrict, and juridical district. Kazas co ...

of Demirhisar of the Sanjak of Serres. Towards the end of the 19th century, the village was visited by Alexandre Sinvet, a French cartographer who studied in the Ottoman Empire and visited various settlements in Macedonia and Thrace. He called the village ''Petrovon'' and claimed that it had population of 240

Christians. Another ethnographic study from 1878 calls the village ''Petrovo'' and claims that 120 Muslims and 200 Christian

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, ...

live there. The number of households was 200. The Bulgarian scientist Georgi Strezov, who also visited the village in 1891 and talked about its customs and manners, stated that 400 Turks and 450 Bulgarians live in Petrovo. According to

Vasil Kanchov Vasil Kanchov (26 July 1862 – 6 February 1902) was a geographer, ethnographer and teacher who served as Minister of Education of Bulgaria. Early life and education Vasil Kanchov was born in Vratsa. Upon graduating from High school i ...

's statistics, in 1900 there were 950 Bulgarian-Christians, 280 Turks and 120

Vlachs Vlach ( ), also Wallachian and many other variants, is a term and exonym used from the Middle Ages until the Modern Era to designate speakers of Eastern Romance languages living in Southeast Europe—south of the Danube (the Balkan peninsula ...

living in the village.

Balkan Wars and The Petrovo Massacre

The village came under Bulgarian control during the Balkan wars. The area was dominated by

Yane Sandanski Yane Ivanov Sandanski (, ; Originally spelled in Reforms of Bulgarian orthography, older Bulgarian orthography as (Yane Ivanov Sandanski); 18 May 1872 – 22 April 1915) was a Macedonian Bulgarians, Macedonian Bulgarian revolutionary and leader ...

. During the wars, a large part of the Muslim population fled from the incoming Christian armies. Only the Turks living in Petrovo did not leave their native village, as there was an agreement between Christians and Muslims to protect each other. When the Ottoman army retreated, no Christians were injured or killed, but when the village was captured by the Bulgarians, only a few Turkish women were left alive to be the

voivodes Voivode ( ), also spelled voivod, voievod or voevod and also known as vaivode ( ), voivoda, vojvoda, vaivada or wojewoda, is a title denoting a military leader or warlord in Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe in use since the Early Mid ...

' wives. The remaining Muslim residents were burned alive in the village cafe. Some of the orphaned children were adopted by Christian Bulgarians.The massacre happened without the knowledge of Yane Sandanski. Some of the older girls were sent to Kalimantsi to work as maids. Some of these children and their descendants, who were adopted by the Bulgarians, still remember these events and, according to them, the reason for the massacre was to seize the lands from the hands of the Turks.

Population

According to the 2011 census, 628 Bulgarians and 8 Turks live in the village of Petrovo, and three are in the category of "did not answer"

References

Villages in Blagoevgrad Province {{Blagoevgrad-geo-stub Macedonia (region) Persecution of Balkan Turks Massacres committed by Bulgaria