Plovdiv Province

Coordinates: 42°10′N 24°45′E / 42.167°N 24.750°E / 42.167; 24.750

Plovdiv Province (Bulgarian: Област Пловдив: Oblast Plovdiv, former name Plovdiv okrug) is a province in central southern Bulgaria. It comprises 18 municipalities (общини, obshtini, sing. общинa, obshtina) on a territory of 5,972.9 km² with a population, as of February 2011, of 683,027 inhabitants. The province is named after its administrative and industrial centre — the city of Plovdiv.

Geography

Plovdiv Province includes parts of the Upper Thracian Plain, the Rhodopes, Sredna Gora, the Sub-Balkan valleys and Stara Planina, including its highest peak, Botev (2,376m). The main rivers in the province are Maritsa, Stryama, Pyasachnik. There are numerous dams, the most important of which is Pyasachnik. Mineral springs are abundant; there are several major spa resorts — Hisarya, Narechen, Banya and minor spas at Klisura, Asenovgrad, Kuklen, Rosino, Krasnovo, Stoletovo and others. There are many natural landmarks, especially in the Central Balkan National Park, including the spectacular waterfall Raysko Praskalo, the highest in the Balkans.

Plovdiv

Plovdiv (Bulgarian: Пловдив pronounced [plɔfˈdif]) is the second-largest city in Bulgaria with a population of 341,567 inhabitants as of 2015. It is the administrative center of Plovdiv Province and the municipalities of the City of Plovdiv, Maritsa municipality, and Rodopi municipality, whose municipal body had a population of 404,665 inhabitants as of 2015. It is an important economic, transport, cultural, and educational center,

Plovdiv has evidence of habitation since the 6th millennium BC. By the end of the 4th millennium BC there already was an established Neolithic settlement there. In the 12th century BC the village evolved into a real town populated by Thracians ranking it among world's oldest cities. It was possibly invaded by Persians, later by Greeks, Celts, Romans, Goths, Huns, Bulgarians, Slav-Vikings, Crusaders and Turks. On 4 January 1878, Plovdiv was liberated from Ottoman rule by the Russian army. It remained within the borders of Bulgaria until July of the same year, when it became the capital of the autonomous Ottoman region of Eastern Rumelia. In 1885, Plovdiv and Eastern Rumelia joined Bulgaria.