Debelt ( Bulgarian: Дебелт) is a village in

Burgas Province Burgas (, formerly the Burgas okrug) is a province in southeastern Bulgaria on the southern Bulgarian Black Sea Coast. The province is named after its administrative and industrial centre, the city of Burgas, the fourth biggest town in the countr ...

in southeastern

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 ...

. It is located in the municipality of Sredets.

History

Debelt is located near the ruins of the city of Develtos. During the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-1829, the region was occupied by Russia with the support of the Christian population. However, after the Treaty of Adrianople in 1829, the Christian population of Debelt abandoned the village and travelled with the Russian army as it withdrew from Ottoman territory. Most of the former inhabitants of Debelt settled in

Bessarabia Bessarabia () is a historical region in Eastern Europe, bounded by the Dniester river on the east and the Prut river on the west. About two thirds of Bessarabia lies within modern-day Moldova, with the Budjak region covering the southern coa ...

. In 1864, the Ottoman government repopulated Debelt with

Circassians The Circassians or Circassian people, also called Cherkess or Adyghe (Adyghe language, Adyghe and ), are a Northwest Caucasian languages, Northwest Caucasian ethnic group and nation who originated in Circassia, a region and former country in t ...

, after which the village became known as Yakezli (Bulgarian: Якезли).Raychevski (2002), p. 255 Following the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, the Circassians abandoned the village. In 1903, during the

Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising The Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising (), consisting of the Ilinden Uprising (; ) and Preobrazhenie Uprising,Keith Brown (2013). Loyal Unto Death Trust and Terror in Revolutionary Macedonia. Indiana University Press. pp. 15-18. . was an organi ...

, the village served as an important logistical base of the

IMRO The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO; ; ), was a secret revolutionary society founded in the Ottoman territories in Europe, that operated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Founded in 1893 in Salonica, it init ...

and training camps were established.Karayotov et al. (2011), pp. 190-201 After the rebellion, a refugee camp was built. After the

Second Balkan War The Second Balkan War was a conflict that broke out when Kingdom of Bulgaria, Bulgaria, dissatisfied with its share of the spoils of the First Balkan War, attacked its former allies, Kingdom of Serbia, Serbia and Kingdom of Greece, Greece, on 1 ...

in 1913, 76 Bulgarian families from

East Thrace East Thrace or Eastern Thrace, also known as Turkish Thrace or European Turkey, is the part of Turkey that is geographically in Southeast Europe. Turkish Thrace accounts for 3.03% of Turkey's land area and 15% of its population. The largest c ...

settled in the village. On 14 August 1934, the village of Yakezli was renamed Debelt.Mitchev & Koledarov (1989), p. 255 Debelt Glacier on

Livingston Island Livingston Island (Russian name ''Smolensk'', ) is an Antarctic island in the Southern Ocean, part of the South Shetland Islands, South Shetlands Archipelago, a group of List of Antarctic and subantarctic islands, Antarctic islands north of the ...

in the

South Shetland Islands The South Shetland Islands are a group of List of Antarctic and subantarctic islands, Antarctic islands located in the Drake Passage with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the n ...

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

is named after Debelt.

References

Bibliography

* * * Villages in Burgas Province {{Burgas-geo-stub