History of Plovdiv

During its long history it has been conquered by numerous peoples: Thracians, Macedon, Romans, Byzantines, Bulgarians, Ottoman Turks which contributed to the city's various historical heritage.

Archaeologists have discovered pottery[1] and other objects of everyday life from as early as the Neolithic Age, showing that in the end of the 7th millennium B.C there already was an established settlement there.

According to Ammianus Marcellinus, Plovdiv's post-Bronze Age history places it as a Thracian fortified settlement named Eumolpias.

Thrimontium was an important crossroad for the Roman Empire and was called "The largest and most beautiful of all cities" by Lucian.

Aime de Varennes in 1180 encountered the singing of Byzantine songs in the city that recounted the deeds of Alexander the great and his predecessors, over 1,300 years before.

[5] Byzantine rule was succeeded by the Latin Empire in 1204, and there were two short interregnum periods as the city was twice occupied by Kaloyan of Bulgaria before his death in 1207.

Plovdiv became the center of that struggle with leaders such as Nayden Gerov, Dr Valkovich, and Joakim Gruev.

[4] In 1880, a total of eight Greek educational institutions were active in the city: one for boys, two for girls, three mixed schools and two teachers seminary.

According to the Treaty of San Stefano on 3 March 1878 the Principality of Bulgaria included the lands with predominantly Bulgarian population.

[8] Great Britain and Austria-Hungary, however, did not approve that treaty and the final result of the war was concluded in the Congress of Berlin which divided the newly liberated country into several parts.

[9] At the time, it had a population of about 33,500, of which 45% were Bulgarians, 25% Greeks, 21% Turks, 6% Jews and 3% Armenians, a situation that changed rapidly in the following decades.

In the spring of 1885 Zahari Stoyanov formed the Secret Bulgarian Central Revolutionary Committee in the city which actively conducted propaganda for the unification of Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia.

In the night of 5–6 September these men led by Danail Nikolaev took control of the city and removed from office the General-Governor Gavril Krastevich.

German, French and Belgian capital was invested in the city in development of modern trade, banking and industry.

In that period Plovdiv became the birthplace of Bulgaria's movement for democratic reform, which by 1989 had garnered enough support to enter government.