Babyak () is a village in the

Belitsa Municipality Belitsa Municipality (, ) is located in the southwestern part of Bulgaria in the northeastern part of the Blagoevgrad Province. The administrative center is the town of Belitsa and there are also 11 villages and the ski resort Semkovo. Geograph ...

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 ...

, situated 15 km southwest of

Belitsa BelitsaTown of Belitsa, Municipality Belits ...

in the foothills of the

Rhodope Mountains The Rhodopes (; , ; , ''Rodopi''; ) 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 Greece. Golyam Perelik is its highest peak ...

and dispersed in several neighborhoods. As of 2010 it had a population of 781 people.

History

sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred space, sacred place, such as a shrine, protected by ecclesiastical immunity. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This seconda ...

from the

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

in a site, called "Mitesh" and an ancient village at the site "Pshenitseninata" are the oldest traces of live near the village. A

Thracian The Thracians (; ; ) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Southeast Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied the area that today is shared between north-eastern Greece, ...

marble plates representing Bendida,

Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...

and

Hera In ancient Greek religion, Hera (; ; in Ionic Greek, Ionic and Homeric Greek) is the goddess of marriage, women, and family, and the protector of women during childbirth. In Greek mythology, she is queen of the twelve Olympians and Mount Oly ...

were found at an altar used till 5th century. A medieval

necropolis A necropolis (: necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'' (). The term usually implies a separate burial site at a distan ...

and more than 1000 copper and silver Byzantine coins have been unearthed at a site named "Gogovo". Ruins from a medieval monastery "St Ekaterina" have been found at "Babyaska chuka". The village was mentioned in an Ottoman register from 1576 year.

Population and ethnicity

In the book ''Ethnographie des Vilayets d'Andrinople, de Monastir et de Salonique'' in French the village was described as ''"village with 892 households and more than 2100 male inhabitants of

pomak 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 th ...

origin"'' as in 1873. In 1900

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 ...

wrote about a ''"village with more than 3600 people of pomak origin"''. In 1916 D. Gadzhanov noted about 4780 pomak people, living in Babyak. Since 1954 - 1955 some neighborhoods of the village have been separated from the village and the population decreased.

Religion

The population is

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

Pomak 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 th ...

origin. In 1972 started a renaming process of the people of non-Bulgarian (Islamic) names and more than 400 men formed resistance groups, who tried to reach Sofia and to protest against the renaming, but they were stopped and arrested. One old man died after the incident. There is a very old mosque from 17th century.

Education and culture

There is one primary school "St. St. Cyril and Methodius", a kindergarten, a nursery and a cultural center with library.

Transportation and utilities

The village is connected with the national road system by a fourth class municipal road through the villages Lyutovo and

Kraishte Kraishte (, sometimes with a definite article Краището, ''Kraishteto'') or Krajište () is a geographical and historical region split between southwestern Bulgaria and southeastern Serbia, with a very small part in northeastern North ...

. There are roads to the neighboring villages: Kuzyovo, Chereshovo and Ortsevo. The road between Babyak and Lyutovo is in excellent condition, but the other roads need improvement. The roads are mountainous, narrow and steep and very difficult in the winter. There are no other types of transportation. Electricity is provided to all the neighborhoods of the village by aerial wires. Home and mobile phones are provided. There is a central sewerage and local water supply. A post office and a grocery work daily. The police station is in the village hall.

External links

Information for Babyak in BulgarianBabyak satellite map
{{Belitsa Villages in Blagoevgrad Province Chech Rhodope Mountains