The Ludogorie ( bg, Лудогорие, usually used with a definite article, Лудогорието, ''Ludogorieto'') or Deliorman (''Делиорман'', tr, Deli Orman, lit=mad forest and Bulgarian: lud - "mad", "crazy" and gora - "forest"), is a region in northeastern Bulgaria stretching over the plateau of the same name. Major cities in the region are Targovishte, Razgrad, Dulovo, Novi Pazar, Pliska, Preslav and Isperih. Part of the Danubian Plain, the region is hilly in the east, reaching up to in height near the village of Samuil, but merges with the plains of Dobruja and the Danube to the north, with the lowest point near Yuper (). The region is bordered to the west by the Provadiya River and the

Beli Lom Beli may refer to: People * Beli ap Rhun (c. 580–c. 599), king of Gwynedd * Beli I of Alt Clut (perhaps died ''c''. 627), Brittonic king * Beli II of Alt Clut (died ''c''. died 722), Brittonic king * Ljubiša Preletačević Beli (born ...

; to the east it transitions into the Dobruja plateau. The plateau was formed of

Karst Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathering-resistant ro ...

limestone from the Lower Cretaceous covered by

loess Loess (, ; from german: Löss ) is a clastic, predominantly silt-sized sediment that is formed by the accumulation of wind-blown dust. Ten percent of Earth's land area is covered by loess or similar deposits. Loess is a periglacial or aeolian ...

material. Among the region's geological resources are

kaolinite Kaolinite ( ) is a clay mineral, with the chemical composition Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4. It is an important industrial mineral. It is a layered silicate mineral, with one tetrahedral sheet of silica () linked through oxygen atoms to one octahedral ...

, fireclay and

mica Micas ( ) are a group of silicate minerals whose outstanding physical characteristic is that individual mica crystals can easily be split into extremely thin elastic plates. This characteristic is described as perfect basal cleavage. Mica is ...

. The climate is temperate continental, with up to of precipitation yearly. Although the Ludogorie is poor in overground water resources, with only a few low rivers such as the Krapinets and the Kulak, it is rich in underground waters. In ancient times, the Ludogorie was inhabited by the Thracian tribes of the

Getae The Getae ( ) or Gets ( ; grc, Γέται, singular ) were a Thracian-related tribe that once inhabited the regions to either side of the Lower Danube, in what is today northern Bulgaria and southern Romania. Both the singular form ''Get'' an ...

who left behind local architectural landmarks such as the Thracian Tomb of Sveshtari, a richly-decorated 3rd-century BC tomb that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Until the end of the 18th century, the Ludogorie was largely dominated by forests that merged with the ones of the

Balkan Mountains The Balkan mountain range (, , known locally also as Stara planina) is a mountain range in the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula in Southeastern Europe. The range is conventionally taken to begin at the peak of Vrashka Chuka on the border betw ...

(''Stara Planina'') to the south, giving the name of the region both in Bulgarian and Turkish, literally translated as "region of wild forests" in English. In recent times, the forests have been nearly completely replaced by arable land and only the woods in the

Voden Reserve Edessa ( el, Έδεσσα, ; also known as the "''City of Waters and of the 5 Senses''"), until 1923 Vodena ( el, link=no, Βοδενά), is a city in northern Greece and the capital of the Pella regional unit, in the Central Macedonia region of ...

are the reminiscent of the former larger forest area. The soil from the chopped down forests is a rich soil with

humus In classical soil science, humus is the dark organic matter in soil that is formed by the decomposition of plant and animal matter. It is a kind of soil organic matter. It is rich in nutrients and retains moisture in the soil. Humus is the Lati ...

, very eligible for agriculture. ''Ludogorie'' is a relatively new name, a Bulgarian calque of the older Turkish name ''Deliorman''; it was officially introduced in 1950. In 1942, the name had been changed to ''Polesie'', a Slavic toponym meaning "place by the woods", but this name never entered common use. The Turkish name is etymologically and semantically akin to the name of Teleorman County in southern Romania. The Ludogorie mostly belongs to

Razgrad Province Razgrad Province ( bg, Област Разград (''Oblast Razgrad''), former name Razgrad okrug) is a province in Northeastern Bulgaria, geographically part of the Ludogorie region. It is named after its administrative and industrial centre ...

, with a western part in

Ruse Province Ruse Province ( bg, Област Русе, translit=Oblast Ruse), or Rusenska Oblast ( bg, Русенска област, former name Okrug, Ruse okrug) is a Provinces of Bulgaria, province in northern Bulgaria, named after its main city, Ruse, ...

, and has a mixed population of Bulgarians, Turks and

Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnicities * Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia ** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule * Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...

. The Ludogorie has attained fame for its oil wrestlers throughout time, including Koca Yusuf and Hergeleci Ibrahim. Ludogorie Peak on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica bears the name of the region. PFC Ludogorets Razgrad, the football club of Razgrad, was also named after the Ludogorie region. Regions of Bulgaria

References

External links

Ludogorie.org
website of the Native Ludogorie Cultural and Educational Association
''Razgrad and the Ludogorie''
online news portal also offering online publications of the ''Ludogorski Vestnik'' newspaper {{in lang, bg Geography of Bulgaria Plateaus of Europe Geographical regions of Bulgaria Turkish toponyms