In the following periods, the city was mentioned with variants, such as Şumena, Şumna, Şumular, Sumunum, Şumnu, and Şumen.

Excavations by Raphael Popov in 1907 founded the settlement mound Kodzadermen, inhabited in the Middle and Late Chalcolithic (approximately 4500-4000 BC).

[4]Earliest reports for Shumen fortress date back to the early Iron Age.

Archaeological surveys, conducted in 1957, 1961 to 1987, determined the chronological periods, the lifestyle and the livelihood of the inhabitants of the fortress.

Khan Krum of Bulgaria encased Nicephorus's skull in silver and used it as a cup for wine drinking.

In the medieval city of Shumen the main religion was the Orthodox Christianity, evidence of which were the found in the outline of the walls, seven churches, commemorative coins with the image of crosses, angels, and numerous findings of Orthodox crosses separately, as well as their image on rings and on other artefacts, found in the graves and the homes.

[3] After Władysław Warneńczyk's unsuccessful crusade in 1444, the city was destroyed by the Ottomans and moved to its present location.

In the 17th - 18th centuries Shumen was turned into a strongly fortified military town, with a large garrison in the fortress, many Turks, Jews, Tatars, Armenians settled there.

In the same year, influential Hungarian politician and revolutionary leader Lajos Kossuth spent a part of his exile in the then-Ottoman town of Shumen.

After the Liberation of Bulgaria, the town initially declined due to the loss of markets for its crafts, the withdraw of many Ottomans and the relatively cheap and high quality western manufactured goods competing with local ones, but gradually recovered, becoming a regional and district centre.

[8] Immediately after the 1944 Bulgarian coup d'état, a serious shootout took place in the city when communists tried to take over one of the police stations.

In the 1980s, large-scale construction was underway in view of the upcoming visit of the diplomatic corps, but changes in the late 1980s halted the process.

[3] From Shumen roads radiate northwards to the Danubian cities of Rousse and Silistra and to Dobruja, southwards to the passes of the Balkans, and eastwards to Varna and Balchik.

[11]According to the latest 2011 census data, the individuals declared their ethnic identity were distributed as follows:[14][15] Total: 80,855 The population of the city is majorly Eastern Orthodox, with a significant portion of Muslims and much smaller minorities of other religions.

Basketball, volleyball and handball are also represented, and most of the games are held at the 'Mladost' sports centre and Arena Shumen, the 2,300-seater indoor hall opened in 2018.

[citation needed] The Shumen Fortress, partially restored after being destroyed by the Ottomans, is an important historical monument of the medieval Bulgarian Empire.

The Regional Historical Museum, which is a successor of the Archaeological Society created in Shumen in 1904 by Rafail Popov.

The Madara Horseman, a World Heritage Site and the only such example of medieval rock art in Europe, is an ancient (710 AD) monument usually attributed to the Bulgar culture.

The tails of the Bulgarian currency lev are the same as the seal of Shumen, showing the Madara Rider, 15 km (9 mi) away from the city.