Septemvri (, , ) is a town in

Pazardzhik Province Pazardzhik Province ( ''Oblast Pazardzhik'', former name Pazardzhik okrug) is a province in Southern Bulgaria, named after its administrative and industrial centre: the city of Pazardzhik. The territory is that is divided into 12 municipaliti ...

, southern

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 ...

. It is the administrative center of homonymous

Septemvri Municipality Septemvri Municipality () is a municipality in the Pazardzhik Province of Bulgaria. Demography At the 2011 census, the population of Septemvri was 25,794. Most of the inhabitants (76.5%) were Bulgarians, and there were significant minorities of ...

. As of 2024 the town had a population of 8,071.

Geography

The town is situated at an altitude of about 200 m in the western part of the

Upper Thracian Plain The Upper Thracian Plain (, ''Gornotrakiyska nizina'') constitutes the northern part of the historical region of Thrace. It is located in southern Bulgaria, between Sredna Gora mountains to the north and west, a secondary mountain chain parallel ...

, where the lowlands reach 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 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 lies just south of the major river

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 ,

, close to the place, where it receives its right tributary the

Chepinska reka The Chepinska reka (), or Chepino river, is a 83 km-long river in southern Bulgaria, a right tributary of the river Maritsa. Geography The river takes its source as Ribna reka (''Fish river'') at an altitude of 1,990 m, about 800&nb ...

. Septembri falls within the transitional continental climatic zone. The annual precipitation reaches 496 mm, with a maximum in spring (139 mm) and a minimum in winter (109 mm). The soils are

alluvial Alluvium (, ) is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluvium is also sometimes called alluvial deposit. Alluvium is ...

. It is the administrative center of

, that includes two towns and 13 villages and is located in the central part of

. The town has a territory of 22.454 km². It is located 21 km west of the center

Pazardzhik Pazardzhik ( ) is a city situated along the banks of the Maritsa river, southern Bulgaria. It is the centre of Pazardzhik Province and Pazardzhik Municipality. It is located in the Upper Thracian Plain and in the Pazardzhik-Plovdiv Field, a ...

, and 50 km west of Bulgaria's second largest city

Plovdiv Plovdiv (, ) is the List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, second-largest city in Bulgaria, 144 km (93 miles) southeast of the capital Sofia. It had a population of 490,983 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is a cultural hub ...

, and 100 km southeast of the national capital

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

. The town is served by the first class I-8 road and the

Trakiya motorway The Trakia motorway (, ) or Thrace motorway, designated A1, is a motorway in Bulgaria. It connects the capital city of Sofia, the city of Plovdiv and the city of Burgas on the Black Sea coast. The motorway is named after the historical region of ...

. The second class II-82 road leading to the spa town of

Velingrad Velingrad ( ) is a town in Pazardzhik Province, Southern Bulgaria, located at the western end of Chepino Valley, part of the Rhodope Mountains. It is the administrative center of the homonymous Velingrad Municipality and one of the most po ...

and

Razlog Razlog ( ) is a town and ski resort in Razlog Municipality, Blagoevgrad Province in southwestern Bulgaria. It is situated in the Razlog Valley and was first mentioned during the reign of Byzantine emperor Basil II. The municipality The municip ...

branches off the I-8 close to Septemvri.

History

Four

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, ...

mounds and traces of two ancient settlement, the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

Pistiros Pistiros (, Ancient Greek, ''Πίστιρος'') was an inland Ancient Greek emporion, or trade center, in Ancient Thrace. It is located near the modern city of Vetren, in the westernmost part of the Maritsa River valley. The identification of ...

and a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

town that lies on the

Via Militaris Via Militaris or Via Diagonalis was an ancient Roman road, starting from Singidunum (today the Serbian capital Belgrade), passing by Danube coast to Viminacium (near modern Kostolac), through Naissus (modern Niš), Serdica (modern Sofia), Phil ...

road were discovered near Septemvri. The latter has succeeded as an old Bulgarian settlement, which was destroyed in the late 14th century during the

Bulgarian–Ottoman wars The Bulgarian–Ottoman wars were fought between the kingdoms remaining from the disintegrating Second Bulgarian Empire, and the Ottoman Empire, in the second half of the 14th century. The wars resulted in the collapse and subordination of the ...

. The town was rebuilt at the end of the 15th century under the Turkish name of ''Sara Khan bey'' or ''Saranbey''. After the

Liberation of Bulgaria The Liberation of Bulgaria is the historical process as a result of the Bulgarian Revival. In Bulgarian historiography, the liberation of Bulgaria refers to those events of the Tenth Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) that led to the re-establishme ...

in 1878 the name was changed to ''Saranyovo''. In 1949 the

Bulgarian Communist Party The Bulgarian Communist Party ( Bulgarian: Българска комунистическа партия (БΚП), Romanised: ''Bŭlgarska komunisticheska partiya''; BKP) was the founding and ruling party of the People's Republic of Bulgaria f ...

renamed the town Septemvri, the new name literally meaning "September", in honour of the

September Uprising The September Uprising (, ''Septemvriysko vastanie''), also called the September Riots (Септемврийски бунтове),Голяма енциклопедия България, том 10, Главен редактор акад. Вас ...

of 1923. Septemvri developed into a typical

railway town A railway town, or railroad town, is a settlement that originated, or was expanded, as a result of a railway line being constructed there. North America During the construction of the First transcontinental railroad in the 1860s, temporary, ...

following the construction of the

Haskovo Haskovo ( ) is a city in the region of Northern Thrace in southern Bulgaria and the administrative centre of the Haskovo Province, not far from the borders with Greece and Turkey. According to Operative Program Regional Development of Bulgaria ...

– Belovo railway line in 1873. The scenic Septemvri-Dobrinishte narrow gauge line through the

to the towns of

Dobrinishte Dobrinishte ( ) is a small town and ski resort in the Blagoevgrad Province, Bansko Municipality, southwestern Bulgaria. it had 2973 inhabitants. It is located 6 km east of Bansko, a famous winter resort. It has an altitude of 850 m and is ...

and

Bansko Bansko ( ) is a town in southwestern Bulgaria, located in Blagoevgrad Oblast near the city of Razlog. Once mainly a stockbreeding and travelling merchant community, the town is now an international centre for winter and summer tourism. More rec ...

in the

Razlog Valley The Razlog Valley () is a valley in southwestern Bulgaria, Blagoevgrad Province, containing the Razlog, Bansko, and Belitsa municipalities. It is bounded by the Rila Mountains to the north and northwest, the Pirin Mountains to the south and south ...

was constructed in 1945. The settlement was granted the status of a town on 7 September 1964.

Economy

Septemvri lies in a fertile area and has well-developed agriculture, specialised in orchards, vegetables and grapes. The most important sector is manufacturing and in particular machine building and food processing. The railway carriage factory Kolowag in Septemvri, established in 1941 as a repair shop, has grown to be among the largest producers of tank wagons,

container wagons A container is any receptacle or enclosure for holding a product used in storage, packaging, and transportation, including shipping. Things kept inside of a container are protected on several sides by being inside of its structure. The term ...

, double pocket wagons and wheelsets in Europe.

Citations

References

* * {{Authority control Towns in Bulgaria Populated places in Pazardzhik Province