Dobri Zhelyazkov Fetisov (, ; 1800–1865) was the first Bulgarian factory-owner and

industrialist A business magnate, also known as an industrialist or tycoon, is a person who is a powerful entrepreneur and investor who controls, through personal enterprise ownership or a dominant shareholding position, a firm or industry whose goods or ser ...

, the founder of the first textile factory in Bulgaria and the

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 Centr ...

Life

Born in Sliven/İslimiye, Silistre Eyalet,

, Zhelyazkov studied at the

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school in his native town. Upon finishing, he tried several handicrafts until he discovered his talent in homespun tailoring. In the 1820s Zhelyazkov introduced an improved wool-

carding In Textile manufacturing, textile production, carding is a mechanical process that disentangles, cleans and intermixes fibres to produce a continuous web or sliver (textiles), sliver suitable for subsequent processing. This is achieved by passi ...

machine in his work, drawing down upon himself the anger of his competitors, who complained to the authorities. However, this did not stop Zhelyazkov. In 1826, Zhelyazkov co-founded the Secret Brotherhood (Тайно братство, ''Tayno bratstvo'') together with Dr Ivan Seliminski. The organization, initially a social one, would develop into a political society. Following the outbreak of the Russo-Turkish War of 1828–1829, Zhelyazkov took part in the organization of an uprising in the region of Sliven. However, after the signing of the Treaty of Adrianople in 1829, Zhelyazkov was forced to flee to

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in 1830. He settled in

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, marrying another emigrant, Mariyka Yanakieva, and became a wool and cloth merchant, touring the country and observing textile production. Fabrika-Kanitz

In 1834, Zhelyazkov returned to Sliven with his family and settled in his wife's house. There he constructed a production building (2.20 × 4.80 m, 3.80 m high), where he fitted

loom A loom is a device used to weaving, weave cloth and tapestry. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the Warp (weaving), warp threads under tension (mechanics), tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads. The precise shape of ...

s, carding and spinning machines constructed by local smiths to designs brought from Russia. Zhelyazkov hired workers (including two

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from

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) and began to produce homespun, frieze and broad cloth. While this once again angered his competitors, he also earned a number of admirers among the local citizens. To look for support for his work, Zhelyazkov went to

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and met the Sultan

Mahmud II Mahmud II (, ; 20 July 1785 – 1 July 1839) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1808 until his death in 1839. Often described as the "Peter the Great of Turkey", Mahmud instituted extensive administrative, military, and fiscal reforms ...

, a known reformer. Mahmud was impressed by Zhelyazkov's production and, in 1835, signed a contract with him officially establishing the Sliven textile factory. A sultan's

firman A firman (; ), at the constitutional level, was a royal mandate or decree issued by a sovereign in an Islamic state. During various periods such firmans were collected and applied as traditional bodies of law. The English word ''firman'' co ...

gave Zhelyazkov a number of rights, including the right to supply cloth for the

Ottoman Army The Military of the Ottoman Empire () was the armed forces of the Ottoman Empire. It was founded in 1299 and dissolved in 1922. Army The Military of the Ottoman Empire can be divided in five main periods. The foundation era covers the years ...

and administration. In the same time, the Ottoman government was obliged to provide Zhelyazkov with machines and another building, while Zhelyazkov's obligations included supplying wool, furnishing the factory, hiring and paying to workers and selling the produced cloth for the price of 22

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per arshin. Zhelyazkov's work is regarded as a historical achievement initiating the encouragement of local industry in the empire. The first to describe Zhelyazkov's factory was

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in 1837. In 1842, an expansion began, with another production building being constructed: one of the largest in Bulgaria during the period. In 1845, the factory became state property, and in 1853 Zhelyazkov's competitors libelled him and arranged his elimination from its administration. Zhelyazkov was sent to

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, where he was supposed to set up another factory. Zhelyazkov returned to Sliven in 1856 and, despite his long legal efforts to regain his rights over the Sliven factory, he died ill and in poverty in 1865.

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zhelyazkov, Dobri 1800 births 1865 deaths People from Sliven 19th-century Bulgarian businesspeople Industrialists Businesspeople from the Ottoman Empire