Drazhevo (, also

transliterated Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one writing system, script to another that involves swapping Letter (alphabet), letters (thus ''wikt:trans-#Prefix, trans-'' + ''wikt:littera#Latin, liter-'') in predictable ways, such as ...

: ''Drajevo'') is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

in the southeast of

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 ...

, located in the

Tundzha Municipality Tundzha Municipality () is a municipality of Yambol Province, southeastern Bulgaria. The municipality has an area of 1,218.86 square kilometres, making it the second-largest by area in the country after the Capital Municipality (i.e. the city of So ...

of the

Yambol Province Yambol (, ''oblast Yambol'', former name Okrug, Yambol okrug) is a province in southeastern Bulgaria, neighbouring Turkey to the south. It is named after its main city Yambol, while other towns include Straldzha, Bolyarovo and Elhovo. The provi ...

. It is situated in the

Sliven Valley Sliven Valley () is situated in eastern central Bulgaria. It is named after the city of Sliven, its main settlement. It is the ninth of the eleven Sub-Balkan valleys in direction west–east and is the second largest of them, after the Sofia Val ...

near the

Tundzha The Tundzha ( ; ; ''Tonsus'' in antiquity) is a river in southeastern Bulgaria and northwesternmost Turkey, a left tributary of the Maritsa. With a length of 390 km, of which 350 km are in Bulgaria, it is Maritsa's longest tributary, ...

river, near forest areas away from the city of

Yambol Yambol ( ) is a city in Southeastern Bulgaria and administrative centre of Yambol Province. It lies on both banks of the Tundzha river in the historical region of Thrace. It is occasionally spelled ''Jambol''. Yambol is the administrative cente ...

, away from the city of

Sliven Sliven ( ) is List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, the eighth-largest city in Bulgaria and the administrative and industrial centre of Sliven Province and municipality in Northern Thrace. It is situated in the Sliven Valley at the foothills of th ...

, and away from the town of

Elhovo Elhovo ( ) is a Bulgarian town in Yambol Province, located on the left bank of the Tundzha river, between Strandzha and Sakar Mountain, Sakar mountains. Second largest city in the region after Jambol, the city is located at 36 km from border ...

. Drazhevo borders the villages of Hadzhidimitrovo, Krushare (

Sliven Province Sliven Province (, former name Sliven okrug) is a province in southeastern Bulgaria, named after its administrative and industrial centre—the city of Sliven. It has a territory of

), Zhelyu Voyvoda (Sliven Province),

Kabile Kabile () or Cabyle is a village in southeastern Bulgaria, part of the Tundzha municipality, Yambol Province. The Cabyle, ancient Thracian city of Kabile was one of the most important and largest towns in Thrace and its Architecture, architectu ...

and the city of Yambol. There is a medical centre, post office, several shops and cafés and has regular bus connections to the town of Yambol.

History

Tonzos river valley (now

) was inhabited by

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, ...

tribes in the Bronze and Iron Age. The especially favourable location, which attracted settlers as early as the Stone-Copper Age, is the bight Tonzos, around the last hill Zaychi vrah of the

Sredna Gora Sredna Gora ( ) is a mountain range in central Bulgaria, situated south of and parallel to the Balkan Mountains and extending from the river Iskar (river), Iskar to the west and the elbow of river Tundzha north of the city of Yambol to the east. ...

mountain range. It is where the river changes its flow from the east to south, towards "Uskudama, Adrianopolis"(modern-day

Edirne Edirne (; ), historically known as Orestias, Adrianople, is a city in Turkey, in the northwestern part of the Edirne Province, province of Edirne in Eastern Thrace. Situated from the Greek and from the Bulgarian borders, Edirne was the second c ...

). On its way to

Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans and Anatolia, and covers an area of some . In the north, the Aegean is connected to the Marmara Sea, which in turn con ...

, the river merges with the rivers

Maritsa Maritsa or Maritza ( ), also known as Evros ( ) and Meriç ( ), is a river that runs through the Balkans in Southeast Europe. With a length of ,

and

Arda Arda or ARDA may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Arda (Middle-earth), fictional world in the works of J. R. R. Tolkien * Arda (band), a Russian heavy metal band People * Arda (name) Places *Arda (Maritsa), a river in Bulgaria and Greece *A ...

. At the end of the II mil. at the foot of the tip, is formed the city of

- a part of the Roman province of Thrace. Under the Avary's attacks the city was destroyed during the 6th century. The village Drazhevo has ancient beginnings. This is evident by pottery remains from an ancient Thracian settlement discovered northeast of the village huddled at the foot of the peak "Zajchi vrah". Excavations in 2004 at the hill "Dyado Sabev bair", which is located right next to the hill "Zajchi vrah", opened a unique

tumulus A tumulus (: tumuli) is a mound of Soil, earth and Rock (geology), stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, mounds, howes, or in Siberia and Central Asia as ''kurgans'', and may be found through ...

, (or burial mound), of the

Yamna culture The Yamnaya ( ) or Yamna culture ( ), also known as the Pit Grave culture or Ochre Grave culture, is a late Copper Age to early Bronze Age archaeological culture of the region between the Southern Bug, Dniester, and Ural rivers (the Pontic–C ...

. These people were

steppe In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without closed forests except near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the tropical and subtropica ...

nomads from the second level of the Early Bronze Age. The first mention of the village of Drazhevo was in 1666 in the old Ottoman document as Ohada (Awhdy). By this time, the watercourse of the river Tonzos (

Tunja Tunja () is a municipality and city on the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes, in the region known as the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, 130 km northeast of Bogotá. In 2018 the municipality had a population of 172,548. It is the capital of B ...

) had been already moved 2–3 km in north. The old river bed had been covered with dense forest, which people called Kara orman (Montenegro). Old people of the village still remember the forest, part of which was kept to the end of Ottoman rule, when it was cut and turned into fields. They say that the northern part of the village has ended with a fence - a precaution against wild animals. Later people started to call the old bed of the river "Tundzhalak" due to the sand in the soil. (There is only sand in some places). Ground water is very close to the surface and is

potable Drinking water or potable water is water that is safe for ingestion, either when drunk directly in liquid form or consumed indirectly through food preparation. It is often (but not always) supplied through taps, in which case it is also calle ...

. After 1944 the land was nationalized and turned into rice paddies During the Ottoman rule in the village was settled moderately wealthy Turk named Atla grazing, who kept breeding horses. The people of his village had been committed as apprentices in keeping the horses. At that time the houses in the number of the houses in the village was around 17. At that time, the village began to be called Atliy (from Turkish "at" - horse). From the beginning until now the population of Drazhevo had been dealing with livestock (sheep, horses, buffaloes and cows) and

horticulture Horticulture (from ) is the art and science of growing fruits, vegetables, flowers, trees, shrubs and ornamental plants. Horticulture is commonly associated with the more professional and technical aspects of plant cultivation on a smaller and mo ...

. Traditional horticultural crops were wheat, barley and rye. The planting of crop vegetables started much later. Old people from the village say that in the past, the vegetables had been purchased from "bachvandzhii" - gardeners from the Balkans. People had used their yards around the house as a stackyard - a place where the harvest was threshing in the past with "dikanya". In the 19th century, the detachment of

Panayot Hitov Panayot Ivanov Hitov () (November 11, 1830 – February 22, 1918) was a Bulgarian ''haidoutin (hajduk)'', national revolutionary and voivoda. Born in 1830 in Sliven (known as İslimiye at the time), he became a haidoutin in Georgi Trankin's band ...

acted in the land of the village. After the liberation of

in 1878, the population of the village was increased by a significant number of refugees from Turkish

Thrace Thrace (, ; ; ; ) is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe roughly corresponding to the province of Thrace in the Roman Empire. Bounded by the Balkan Mountains to the north, the Aegean Sea to the south, and the Black Se ...

. Till the 1885 Bulgarian Crisis, the village of Atliy was a part of

Eastern Rumelia Eastern Rumelia (; ; ) was an autonomous province (''oblast'' in Bulgarian, ''vilayet'' in Turkish) of the Ottoman Empire with a total area of , which was created in 1878 by virtue of the Treaty of Berlin (1878), Treaty of Berlin and ''de facto'' ...

. In 1890, for unclear reasons, the village was renamed as the village Borissovo - the name of King Boris I by the decree № 582. In the archives of Dr. Tabakov from Sliven, it was noted that during 30 years of the 20th century, in the village were 104 houses with 461 inhabitants.Tabakov in 1911: S. Tabakov. Experience history of the town of

. By decree № 45 of the National Assembly on February 8, 1950 the village was renamed Drazhevo - the name of George Drazhev, the chairman of Revolutionary Committee during the April Uprising for the Yambol region, who was hanged on a bridge in the town of Yambol named "Kargonskiya".

References

External links

* {{Tundzha Villages in Yambol Province