Batak ( bg, Батак ) is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

Pazardzhik Province Pazardzhik Province ( bg, Област Пазарджик ''Oblast Pazardzhik'', former name Pazardzhik okrug) is a province in Southern Bulgaria, named after its administrative and industrial centre - the city of Pazardzhik. The territory is ...

, 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 Macedon ...

, not far from the town of

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 ...

. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous

Batak Municipality Batak Municipality ( bg, Община Батак) is a municipality in the Pazardzhik Province of Bulgaria. Demography At the 2011 census, the population of Batak was 6,144. Most of the inhabitants (53.46%) were Bulgarians, and there were signif ...

. As of December 2009, the town has a population of 3,498 inhabitants.Bulgarian National Statistical Institute - towns in 2009

Geography

Batak is situated in the northwestern slopes of 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 in ...

, at 1036 m above sea level. It is surrounded by many peaks, clad with century-old pine and spruce forests. The climate is temperate continental with a characteristic southern warm wind. Batak was pronounced town in 1964 and has a population of 4,019 people. Batak is a centre of one of Bulgaria's largest municipalities by terms of territory - 667 km² or 15% of the Pazardzhik Province area - as well as one of the most sparsely populated ones including only the town itself and two villages - Fotinovo and

Nova Mahala A nova (plural novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", which is Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. Causes of the dramat ...

. Ninety percent of the municipal area is covered with thick forests. Batak is situated at 15 km to the south of

and 33 km to the south of the regional centre

Pazardzhik Pazardzhik ( bg, Пазарджик ) is a city situated along the banks of the Maritsa river, southern Bulgaria. It is the capital of Pazardzhik Province and centre for the homonymous Pazardzhik Municipality. The Tatars founded Pazardzhik in t ...

. The nearest railway station is in Peshtera.

History

Antiquity

There are numerous archaeological monuments of most ancient times in the region of Batak. A find of the

Old Stone Age The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek: παλαιός '' palaios'', "old" and λίθος ''lithos'', "stone"), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone too ...

was discovered in 1958. Tools, objects, ceramic vessels, ornaments as well as bones of

rhinoceros A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member of any of the extinct species ...

were found which proves that the climate was warmer in the

Quaternary The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). It follows the Neogene Period and spans from 2.58 million years ...

. Twenty

Thracian 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 t ...

, Thraco-

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

Byzantine 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 Constantinopl ...

and Slavic fortresses, churches and monasteries, as well as Thracian mounds, Roman bridges, mines, mills and other archaeological sites were registered.

Origin of the settlement and medieval history

The exact origin of Batak is unknown, since there is a lack of historical data. The earlier view that the settlement was founded by Bulgarians who escaped from the forced mass conversion into

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

in the valley of

Chepino The Chepino Valley (), or Chepino ( bg, Чепино, link=no), is the largest valley in the Rhodope Mountains in southern Bulgaria. It is situated along the course of the Chepino River near the Batak Mountains in the northwestern part of the ...

in 16th century today is rejected because it is believed that the settlement is much older. This is justified by an inscription on the fountain of Virgin Mary Monastery of Krichim built by the people of Batak in 1592, a writ of the feudal possessions of Sultan Suleiman I (1520–1566), in which the village of Batak is also mentioned, as well as the remnants of many churches and monasteries burnt down by the Ottomans during the conversion into Islam in this region. The origin of the name of Batak is not certain, too. In the old legends it is related to the

Tsepina Tsepina ( bg, Цепина) or Tzepaina ( el, Τζέπαινα) was a castle and town in the western Rhodope mountains, southern Bulgaria, now in ruins. It is from the Dorkovo village in the north-eastern part of the Chepino Valley. Tsepina is ...

chieftain Batoy, while the history professors Yordan Ivanov and Vasil Mikov suppose that Batak was Potok, a settlement of

Cuman The Cumans (or Kumans), also known as Polovtsians or Polovtsy (plural only, from the Russian exonym ), were a Turkic nomadic people comprising the western branch of the Cuman–Kipchak confederation. After the Mongol invasion (1237), many so ...

origin existing between the 11th and the 13th century. It is, however, certain that the name of the village is Bulgarian, not Turkish as some authors assert.

Ottoman rule

During the centuries of Ottoman rule, many

hajduk A hajduk ( hu, hajdúk, plural of ) is a type of irregular infantry found in Central and parts of Southeast Europe from the late 16th to mid 19th centuries. They have reputations ranging from bandits to freedom fighters depending on time, p ...

s in the region of Batak took revenge from the Turks for the outrages upon Bulgarian people – Strahil Voivoda, Deli Arshenko Payaka, Gola Voda, Todor Banchev, Beyko, Yanko Kavlakov, Mityo Vranchev, etc. From these times have remained the old rebel names, such as ''Haydushka Skala'', ''Haydushka Polyana'', ''Haydushko Kladenche'' (spring), ''Sablen Vrah'' (''"Sabre Peak"''), ''Karvav Chuchur'' (''"Bloody Spout"''), as well as many legends. Woodworking, trade and innkeeping were developed in Batak during the

National Revival National revival or national awakening is a period of ethnic self-consciousness that often precedes a political movement for national liberation but that can take place at a time when independence is politically unrealistic. In the history of Eur ...

. The prosperity of the population was conducive to the prosperity of education — a secular school was opened in 1835 and the ''St. Nedelya Church'' was built in 1813 at the Todor Balinov place (mayor of the village at the time), donated by him specifically for the construction of the church. Built for 75 days with the work of citizens of Batak.. Batak has given many eminent figures of the Bulgarian Revival, such as clerics like archimandrite Yosif, Nikifor, Kiril and others, who worked in the

Rila Monastery The Monastery of Saint John of Rila, also known as Rila Monastery "Sveti Ivan Rilski" ( bg, Рилски манастир „Свети Иван Рилски“), is the largest and most famous Eastern Orthodox monastery in Bulgaria. It is situate ...

, a centre of the

Bulgarian National Revival The Bulgarian National Revival ( bg, Българско национално възраждане, ''Balgarsko natsionalno vazrazhdane'' or simply: Възраждане, ''Vazrazhdane'', and tr, Bulgar ulus canlanması) sometimes called the Bu ...

. Famous men of letters are Georgi Busilin and Dragan Manchov.

April Uprising and Ottoman war-crimes

The population of Batak took part in 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 su ...

of 1876. The people of Batak rebelled on 22 April under the leadership of

voivoda Voivode (, also spelled ''voievod'', ''voevod'', ''voivoda'', ''vojvoda'' or ''wojewoda'') is a title denoting a military leader or warlord in Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe since the Early Middle Ages. It primarily referred to the me ...

Petar Goranov. On 30 April the village was surrounded by Ottoman irregulars called

bashi-bozouk A bashi-bazouk ( ota, باشی بوزوق , , , roughly "leaderless" or "disorderly") was an irregular military, irregular soldier of the Ottoman army, raised in times of war. The army chiefly recruited Albanians and Circassians as bashi-bazo ...

pomaks Pomaks ( bg, Помаци, Pomatsi; el, Πομάκοι, Pomáki; tr, Pomaklar) are Bulgarian-speaking Muslims inhabiting northwestern Turkey, Bulgaria and northeastern Greece. The c. 220,000 strong ethno-confessional minority in Bulgaria is ...

from the surrounding villages. The battles were carried on for five days. The last stronghold of the rebels was the St. Nedelya Church. At the end five thousand people were killed and the village was burned down to ashes. News of the atrocities spread around the world, aided in large part by

Januarius MacGahan Januarius Aloysius MacGahan əˈɡæn(June 12, 1844 – June 9, 1878) was an American journalist and war correspondent working for the ''New York Herald'' and the London ''The Daily News (UK), Daily News''. His articles describing the massac ...

's writing for the London Daily New

The public outcry created favourable conditions for Russia to declare war on Turkey. On 20 January 1878 the people of Batak who had survived the uprising enthusiastically met the advancing Russian army.

Batak today

Today Batak is a renovated modern town famous for its historical monuments and a resort and tourist centre. A key hydro power system — ''Batashki Vodnosilov Pat'' — with five dams and three hydroelectric stations was constructed in the 1950s. Rest houses, tourist complexes and villas have been built along the banks of the

Batak Dam 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&nb ...

Honour

Batak Point Batak Point ( bg, text=нос Батак, italic=no, ‘Nos Batak’ \'nos ba-'tak\) is a point on the northwest coast of Smith Island, South Shetland Islands situated 7 km north-northeast of Cape James, 2.5 km south-southwest of Lista Poin ...

on Smith Island,

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 ...

is named after Batak.

Education

*Chitalishte "4 - May" *"Otets Paisiy" Primary school *Stefan Bozhkov High School of Forestry and Wood Processing

Religion

*Orthodox Church Saint Maria

References

External links

{{Authority control Towns in Bulgaria Cities and towns in the Rhodopes Populated places in Pazardzhik Province kk:Батак