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Chepino
The Chepino Valley (), or Chepino (), is the largest valley in the Rhodope Mountains in southern Bulgaria. It is situated along the course of the river Chepinska reka near the Batak Mountains in the northwestern part of the Rhodopes. Located at around 750 m above sea level, it is between 4 and 7 km wide and 18 km long. The bottom of the Chepino Valley is comparatively flat, although hills can also be found. The valley's fault structure is the reason for the frequent earthquakes in the area, as well as for the high number of mineral springs, numbering more than 80 and making the Chepino Valley an important tourist destination in the Rhodopes. Due to its geographic location, the valley has a considerably milder climate than that in other parts of Bulgaria. The slopes that surround the valley are covered with venerable coniferous forests, mainly of spruce. The second highest peak of the Rhodopes, Golyama Syutkya, is located nearby, and an important city in the valley is V ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Velingrad
Velingrad ( ) is a town in Pazardzhik Province, Southern Bulgaria, located at the western end of Chepino Valley, part of the Rhodope Mountains. It is the administrative center of the homonymous Velingrad Municipality and one of the most popular Bulgarian balneological resorts. The town has a population of 22,602 inhabitants according to the 2011 census of Velingrad. History The cultural layers give grounds to claim that the Chepino region was inhabited by Thracian tribes in the 6th-5th century BC. The ancient historians Herodotus and Thucydides provide written records of this era. The authority and importance of the temple of Dionysius in the Rhodope Mountains is indicated by the fact that Alexander the Great and the father of Octavian Augustus visited it to have the prophetess divine their future. There are many tombs left from the Thracians - seven in the Batak Marsh (now the bottom of a lake), two mounds in the Yundola area and dozens elsewhere. Ruins of Thracian se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chepino Valley, Bulgaria 08
The Chepino Valley (), or Chepino (), is the largest valley in the Rhodope Mountains in southern Bulgaria. It is situated along the course of the river Chepinska reka near the Batak Mountains in the northwestern part of the Rhodopes. Located at around 750 m above sea level, it is between 4 and 7 km wide and 18 km long. The bottom of the Chepino Valley is comparatively flat, although hills can also be found. The valley's fault structure is the reason for the frequent earthquakes in the area, as well as for the high number of mineral springs, numbering more than 80 and making the Chepino Valley an important tourist destination in the Rhodopes. Due to its geographic location, the valley has a considerably milder climate than that in other parts of Bulgaria. The slopes that surround the valley are covered with venerable coniferous forests, mainly of spruce. The second highest peak of the Rhodopes, Golyama Syutkya, is located nearby, and an important city in the valley is V ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chepinska Reka
The Chepinska reka (), or Chepino river, is a 83 km-long river in southern Bulgaria, a right tributary of the river Maritsa. Geography The river takes its source as Ribna reka (''Fish river'') at an altitude of 1,990 m, about 800 m southwest of the summit of Malka Syutkya (2,079 m) in the Batak Mountain of western Rhodope mountain range. In its uppermost course, it flows in western-southwestern direction. Following the Karatepe locality, the river turns north and flows through a deep forested valley called Chepinska Bistritsa. At the town of Velingrad it enters the Chepino Valley, where the river is joined by its largest tributary, the Matnitsa. It winds around the summit of Lakatina Chuka (1,059 m) and continues in a southeastern direction. At the village of Draginovo it enters the scenic Chepino Gorge between the Rhodope ridges of Alabak to the northwest and Karkaria to the southeast. Near the village of Varvara, Chepinska reka enters the Upper T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pomaks
Pomaks (; Macedonian: Помаци ; ) are Bulgarian-speaking Muslims inhabiting Bulgaria, northwestern Turkey, and northeastern Greece. The strong ethno-confessional minority in Bulgaria is recognized officially as Bulgarian Muslims by the government. The term has also been used as a wider designation, including also the Slavic Muslim populations of North Macedonia and Albania. Most Pomaks today live in Turkey, where they have settled as muhacirs as a result of escaping previous ethnic cleansing in Bulgaria. Bulgaria recognizes their language as a Bulgarian dialect, whereas in Greece and Turkey they self-declare their language as the Pomak language. The community in Greece is commonly fluent in Greek, and in Turkey, Turkish, while the communities in these two countries, especially in Turkey, are increasingly adopting Turkish as their first language as a result of education and family links with the Turkish people. They are not officially recognized as one people with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dorkovo
Dorkovo (; ) is a village in the Rakitovo municipality, Pazardzhik Province, western Bulgaria. The population of the village is 2,955. Aromanians live in the village. Geography Dorkovo is situated in the western Rhodope Mountains on the two banks of the river Matnitsa in the north-eastern parts of the Chepino Valley. It is located at the southern foothills of the Karkariya ridge which is part of the Batak Mountain. The closest settlement is the small town of Kostandovo at only 3 km to the south. Further in southern direction is situated the municipal centre Rakitovo, while Velingrad the largest town in the area is at 14 km to the south-west. Demographics Members of the small Aromanians, Aromanian minority of Bulgaria live in Dorkovo, with this village being one of the few places in the country with an Aromanian community. Public institutions Chitalishte The ''chitalishte'' of the village is called ''St St Cyril and Methodius'' and was established in 1919 and initially ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tsepina
Tsepina () or Tzepaina () 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 above sea level. The town was built on a steep height at above sea level. Its outer walls closed an area of 25 decares and was dominated by a citadel at the top of the cliff. The foundations of three churches have been excavated as well as four large water storage tanks up to deep. History The site was already settled in prehistoric times. Remnants of pottery from the 4th–6th century and houses and a large three-aisled church in the area of the citadel point to a settlement during early Byzantine times. The Bulgarians took the castle in the 9th century but with the end of the First Bulgarian Empire in the beginning of the 11th century the Byzantines conquered it. The other buildings and pottery found on the site date to the 12th–14th centuries, when the fortress ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Valleys Of Bulgaria
A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains and typically containing a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over a very long period. Some valleys are formed through erosion by glacial ice. These glaciers may remain present in valleys in high mountains or polar areas. At lower latitudes and altitudes, these glacially formed valleys may have been created or enlarged during ice ages but now are ice-free and occupied by streams or rivers. In desert areas, valleys may be entirely dry or carry a watercourse only rarely. In areas of limestone bedrock, dry valleys may also result from drainage now taking place underground rather than at the surface. Rift valleys arise principally from earth movements, rather than erosion. Many different types of valleys are described by geographers, using terms that may be global in use or else applied only locally. Forma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Central Europe, between the early 16th and early 18th centuries. The empire emerged from a Anatolian beyliks, ''beylik'', or principality, founded in northwestern Anatolia in by the Turkoman (ethnonym), Turkoman tribal leader Osman I. His successors Ottoman wars in Europe, conquered much of Anatolia and expanded into the Balkans by the mid-14th century, transforming their petty kingdom into a transcontinental empire. The Ottomans ended the Byzantine Empire with the Fall of Constantinople, conquest of Constantinople in 1453 by Mehmed II. With its capital at History of Istanbul#Ottoman Empire, Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul) and control over a significant portion of the Mediterranean Basin, the Ottoman Empire was at the centre of interacti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Islamization
The spread of Islam spans almost 1,400 years. The early Muslim conquests that occurred following the death of Muhammad in 632 CE led to the creation of the caliphates, expanding over a vast geographical area; conversion to Islam was boosted by Arab Muslim forces expanding over vast territories and building imperial structures over time. Most of the significant expansion occurred during the reign of the '' rāshidūn'' ("rightly-guided") caliphs from 632 to 661 CE, which were the first four successors of Muhammad. These early caliphates, coupled with Muslim economics and trading, the Islamic Golden Age, and the age of the Islamic gunpowder empires, resulted in Islam's spread outwards from Mecca towards the Indian, Atlantic, and Pacific Oceans and the creation of the Muslim world. The Islamic conquests, which culminated in the Arab empire being established across three continents (Asia, Africa, and Europe), enriched the Muslim world, achieving the economic preconditions for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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, while in Bulgarians in North Macedonia, North Macedonia, Bulgarians in Ukraine, Ukraine, Bessarabian Bulgarians, Moldova, Bulgarians in Serbia, Serbia, Bulgarians in Albania, Albania, Bulgarians in Romania, Romania, Bulgarians in Hungary, Hungary and Bulgarians in Greece, Greece they exist as historical communities. Etymology Bulgarians derive their ethnonym from the Bulgars. Their name is not completely understood and difficult to trace back earlier than the 4th century AD, but it is possibly derived from the Proto-Turkic word ''*bulģha'' ("to mix", "shake", "stir") and its derivative ''*bulgak'' ("revolt", "disorder"). Alternative etymologies include derivation from a compound of Proto-Turkic (Oghuric languages, Oghuric) ''*bel'' ("fi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexius Slav
Alexius Slav (, ; 1208–28) was a Bulgarian nobleman ('' bolyarin''), a member of the Asen dynasty, and a nephew of the first three Asen brothers. He was first probably the governor of the Rhodopes domain of the Second Bulgarian Empire, and then an autocrat in these lands. He was first mentioned as one of the nobles disputing Tsar Boril's ascension to the Bulgarian throne. He married the daughter of Latin Emperor Henry of Flanders in November 1208, leaving the Bulgarian capital of Veliko Tarnovo and establishing himself as an independent ruler over the largest part of the Rhodope Mountains. Alexius Slav became a vassal of Henry after the Bulgarian defeat near Plovdiv. Henry promised to support his aspirations for the Bulgarian throne and awarded Alexius Slav the title of despot. In 1211, he fought against Boril together with the Despotate of Epirus, extending the territory of his state and capturing the fortress of Melnik, where he moved his capital from Tsepina in 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eastern Orthodox
Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or "Canon law of the Eastern Orthodox Church, canonical") Eastern Orthodox Church is Organization of the Eastern Orthodox Church, organised into autocephalous churches independent from each other. In the 21st century, the Organization of the Eastern Orthodox Church#Autocephalous Eastern Orthodox churches, number of mainstream autocephalous churches is seventeen; there also exist Organization of the Eastern Orthodox Church#Unrecognised churches, autocephalous churches unrecognized by those mainstream ones. Autocephalous churches choose their own Primate (bishop), primate. Autocephalous churches can have Ecclesiastical jurisdiction, jurisdiction (authority) over other churches, som ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
