Zahariy Stoyanov (; archaic: ) (1850 – 2 September 1889), born Dzhendo Stoyanov Dzhedev (), was a

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 ...

n revolutionary, writer, and historian. A participant in the April Uprising of 1876, he became its first historiographer with his book ''Memoirs of the Bulgarian Uprisings''. Stoyanov directed the Unification of Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia in 1885, and was one of the leaders of the

People's Liberal Party The People's Liberal Party (, ''Narodnoliberalna partiya'', NLP) was a political party in Bulgaria. History One of the four factions to emerge from the old Liberal Party, the party was established by Stefan Stambolov in 1886 as the Bulgaria fo ...

until the end of his life.

Life

Zahariy Stoyanov was born in the family of the

shepherd A shepherd is a person who tends, herds, feeds, or guards flocks of sheep. Shepherding is one of the world's oldest occupations; it exists in many parts of the globe, and it is an important part of Pastoralism, pastoralist animal husbandry. ...

Stoyan Dalakchiev in the village of Medven close to

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 ...

. He attended the religious school (after 1860 mutual and class school) in his native village between 1856 and 1862 to later become a shepherd in İnceköy (modern Topoli, Varna Province) and Podvis, Burgas Province (1866–1870). While being apprenticed to

tailor A tailor is a person who makes or alters clothing, particularly in men's clothing. The Oxford English Dictionary dates the term to the thirteenth century. History Although clothing construction goes back to prehistory, there is evidence of ...

Rousse Ruse (also transliterated as Rousse, Russe; ) is the List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, fifth-largest city in Bulgaria. Ruse is in the northeastern part of the country, on the right bank of the Danube, opposite the Romanian city of Giurgiu, ...

he joined the Rousse revolutionary committee and later worked as a clerk for Baron de Hirsch's railway in modern Simeonovgrad in 1873. He took part in the Stara Zagora Uprising of 1875 and was one of the "apostles" of the Plovdiv revolutionary district during the time of the April Uprising. After the uprising's suppression he was imprisoned in

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 later forcibly sent to Medven. He then illegally went to newly liberated Tarnovo in 1877. 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 the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78 Stoyanov was a member of the Tarnovo Regional Court in 1880. In 1881 he was a secretary of the

Court of Appeal An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to Hearing (law), hear a Legal case, case upon appeal from a trial court or other ...

and a forensic examining magistrate in Rousse, and he was an employee of the Office of Justice of Eastern Rumelia in 1882–1885. Stoyanov headed the Bulgarian Secret Central Revolutionary Committee (BSCRC) which organized the Unification of Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia in 1885. He lived in

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 ...

since 1886, where he actively participated in the activities of the People's Liberal Party. A deputy to the

National Assembly of Bulgaria The National Assembly () is the Unicameralism, unicameral parliament and Legislature, legislative body of the Republic of Bulgaria. The first National Assembly was established in 1879 with the Tarnovo Constitution. During the People's Republic ...

in 1886, he was an assistant chairman in 1887 and a chairman of the Bulgarian Parliament in 1888–1889. Zahariy Stoyanov died in

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on 2 September 1889.

Literary activity

Stoyanov was the author of a number of articles and

feuilleton A ''feuilleton'' (; a diminutive of , the leaf of a book) was originally a kind of supplement attached to the political portion of French newspapers, consisting chiefly of non-political news and gossip, literature and art criticism, a chronicle ...

s in several newspapers and under various

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...

s. He was influenced by the

political journalism Political journalism is a broad branch of journalism that includes coverage of all aspects of politics and political science, although the term usually refers specifically to coverage of civil governments and political power. Political journ ...

of Lyuben Karavelov and important

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n journalists. Another sphere he worked in were the memoirs and biographies, describing the April Uprising, the lives of

Vasil Levski Vasil Levski (, spelled in Reforms of Bulgarian orthography, old Bulgarian orthography as , ), born Vasil Ivanov Kunchev (; 18 July 1837 – 18 February 1873), was a Bulgarians, Bulgarian revolutionary who is, today, a Folk hero, national ...

, Hristo Botev, Georgi Benkovski, and other important Bulgarian revolutionary leaders. His ''Memoirs of the Bulgarian Uprisings. Eyewitness Reports. 1870–1876'' is universally accepted as his best work, the product of many years of labour, facts collection, and rationalization. Zahari Point on

Robert Island Robert Island or Mitchells Island or Polotsk Island or Roberts Island is an island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being ...

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. ...

is named for Zahariy Stoyanov.

Notes

References

Stoyanoff, Z. Pages from the autobiography of a Bulgarian insurgent. Transl. by M. W. Potter. London, 1913
*

External links

Zahari Stoyanov at Slovo.bg
(in Bulgarian) {{DEFAULTSORT:Stoyanov, Zahariy 1850 births 1889 deaths People from Sliven Province 19th-century Bulgarian people Male writers from the Ottoman Empire People's Liberal Party politicians Members of the National Assembly (Bulgaria) Bulgarian revolutionaries April Uprising of 1876 Bulgarian biographers Bulgarian memoirists Bulgarian male writers 19th-century memoirists