Smolyan Oblast

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Basic data
Region: Southern Bulgaria
Administrative headquarters: Smolyan
Surface: 3,193 km²
Residents: 107,282 (2017)
Population density: 33.6 inhabitants per km²
NUTS: BG code: BG424
map
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About this picture

The Smolyan ( Bulgarian Област Смолян ) is a political and administrative county in the south of the Republic of Bulgaria . The administrative center is the town of the same name, Smoljan, at an altitude of 1010 meters (highest town in Bulgaria).

The district borders on Greece and is located in the Rhodope Mountains . The name goes back to the early Slavic people of the Smoljanen in southern Bulgaria. Until 1912 the region belonged to the Ottoman Empire as the administrative unit Ismilian and is still one of the centers of Islam in Bulgaria .

population

87% of the population in the province identify as Bulgarians , 4.4% as Turks and another 7% give no information.

About 42% of the population are Muslim Bulgarians ( Pomaks ) who speak Bulgarian but are often confused with the Turkish minority . From a religious point of view, 58,800 of the 140,000 inhabitants in 2001 identified themselves as Muslims , but only 6200 as Turks. The settlement area of ​​the Pomaks continues across the border to western Thrace on the Greek side.

About 30% of the population are Christian Orthodox Bulgarians and 28% of the population do not declare any religion.

In addition to Smolyan (28,000 inhabitants, 40,000 at the beginning of the 1990s), the district includes seven other cities:

city Bulgarian name Population
(December 31, 2017)
Smolyan Смолян 27,851
Slatograd Златоград 6,429
Dewin Девин 6,100
Madan Мадан 5,368
Chepelars Чепеларе 4,839
Nedelino Неделино 3,910
Rudosem Рудозем 3,399
Dospat Доспат 2.137

Communities

Location of the municipalities in Smolyan Oblast

The Smolyan Oblast is divided into the following municipalities (общини / obtschini):

  1. Banite Parish (Баните);
  2. Borino municipality (Борино);
  3. Municipality of Devin (Девин);
  4. Dospat municipality (Доспат);
  5. Madan municipality (Мадан);
  6. Municipality of Nedelino (Неделино);
  7. Rudosem Commune (Рудозем);
  8. Smolyan Commune (Смолян);
  9. Chepelare Commune (Чепеларе);
  10. Zlatograd Municipality (Златоград)

tourism

Rozhen Folklore Festival near Smolyan

The district is a popular tourist destination in the winter and summer months. The winter sports area Pamporovo has grown rapidly in recent years. In summer there are very good conditions for hiking tourism. In January 2010 the Slatograd-Thermes border crossing was opened on the Bulgarian-Greek border.

The traditional Rozhen Festival for Bulgarian folk music takes place every four years in August .

The district capital is home to the Rodopa Smolyan football club .

Web links

Commons : Smolyan Province  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

swell

  1. ↑ Smoljan (Bulgaria): Municipalities & Places - Population Statistics, Graphics and Map. Retrieved June 13, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Helmuth Weiß: Bulgaria (DuMont travel paperbacks). Cologne 1993.
  3. ↑ a b c Census from 2001: Religion , mother tongue , ethnos