The Ludogorie () or Deliorman (; and Bulgarian: lud - "mad", "crazy" and gora - "forest"), is a region in northeastern

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 ...

stretching over the plateau of the same name. Major cities in the region are Targovishte, Razgrad, Dulovo,

Novi Pazar Novi Pazar ( sr-cyr, Нови Пазар) is a List of cities in Serbia, city located in the Raška District of southwestern Serbia. As of the 2022 census, the urban area has 71,462 inhabitants, while the city administrative area has 106,720 inha ...

, Pliska, Preslav, and

Isperih Isperih ( ; ) is a town in northeastern Bulgaria, part of Razgrad Province, situated in the central part of the Ludogorie region. It is the administrative centre of the eponymous Isperih Municipality. As of December 2009, the town had a population ...

. 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 Dobruja or Dobrudja (; or ''Dobrudža''; , or ; ; Dobrujan Tatar: ''Tomrîğa''; Ukrainian language, Ukrainian and ) is a Geography, geographical and historical region in Southeastern Europe that has been divided since the 19th century betw ...

and the

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

to the north, with the lowest point near Yuper (). The region is bordered to the west by the Provadiya River and the Beli Lom; to the east it transitions into the

plateau. The region has a significant ethnic Turkish minority. The plateau was formed of

Karst Karst () is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble carbonate rocks such as limestone and Dolomite (rock), dolomite. It is characterized by features like poljes above and drainage systems with sinkholes and caves underground. Ther ...

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

from the Lower Cretaceous covered by

loess A loess (, ; from ) is a clastic rock, 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 loesses or similar deposition (geology), deposits. A loess ...

material. Among the region's geological resources are

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

, fireclay and

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

. The climate is temperate continental, with up to of

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls from clouds due to gravitational pull. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, rain and snow mixed ("sleet" in Commonwe ...

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, Ludogorie was inhabited by the

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 of the

Getae The Getae or Getai ( or , also Getans) were a large nation who inhabited the regions to either side of the Lower Danube in what is today northern Bulgaria and southern Romania, throughout much of Classical Antiquity. The main source of informa ...

who left behind local architectural landmarks such as the Thracian Tomb of Sveshtari, a richly decorated 3rd-century BC tomb that is a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

. 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 is located in the eastern part of the Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It is conventionally taken to begin at the peak of Vrashka Chuka on the border between Bulgaria and Serbia. It then runs f ...

(''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 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 In linguistics, a calque () or loan translation is a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal word-for-word or root-for-root translation. When used as a verb, "to calque" means to borrow a word or phrase from another language ...

of the older Turkish name ''Deliorman''; it was officially introduced in 1950. In 1942, the name had been changed to ''Polesie'', a Slavic

toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''wikt:toponym, toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. ''Toponym'' is the general term for ...

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 Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. Ludogorie mostly belongs to Razgrad, Targovishte and Shumen Provinces, while containing parts of Ruse, Silistra and Varna Provinces. The region has a mixed population of

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, ...

, Turks and Romani. Ludogorie has attained fame for its oil wrestlers throughout time, including Koca Yusuf, Katrancı Mehmet Pehlivan and Hergeleci Ibrahim. Ludogorie Peak on

Livingston Island Livingston Island (Russian name ''Smolensk'', ) is an Antarctic island in the Southern Ocean, part of the South Shetland Islands, South Shetlands Archipelago, a group of List of Antarctic and subantarctic islands, Antarctic islands north of the ...

in the

South Shetland Islands The South Shetland Islands are a group of List of Antarctic and subantarctic islands, Antarctic islands located in the Drake Passage with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the n ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

bears the name of the region.

PFC Ludogorets Razgrad Professional Football Club Ludogorets 1945 (), commonly known as Ludogorets Razgrad or simply Ludogorets, is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Razgrad, which currently competes in the First Professional Football League ...

, the football club of Razgrad, was also named after the Ludogorie region.

Notes

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 Regions of Bulgaria Geography of Bulgaria Plateaus of Europe Geographical regions of Bulgaria Turkish toponyms