Monday, January 19, 2009

Strumica


Strumica (Macedonian: Струмица, [ˈstrumitsa] (help·info)) is a town situated in the south-east of the Republic of Macedonia (close to the Novo Selo-Petrich border crossing with Bulgaria). The population is close to 55,000 with an absolute Macedonian majority (90%). There are all together about 150,000 people living in the region surrounding the city. The city is named after the Strumica river which runs through it. The city of Strumica is the seat of Strumica Municipality.In the IX century the town became part of the First Bulgarian Empire and it remained Bulgarian until 1014. After the Battle of Kleidon Strumica was seized by the Byzantine empire.
In 1395 after another two centuries of Bulgarian control it fell under the Ottoman rule. During the National awakening in the second half of the XIX century a Bulgarian school and church opened their doors in the town. According to the 1878 Ottoman census the Strumica had 2,400 households with 3,300 Muslim and 2,120 Bulgarian citizens.[1] In 1895 a IMARO committee was founded in the town by revolutionary leader d-r Hristo Tatarchev. In 1897 Strumica became part of the Bulgarian Exarchate. The census three years later showed that the population consisted of 6,100 Bulgarians, 3,100 Turks, and 700 Jews.[2] The majority of the Christian Bulgarians though sympathised the Constantinopole Greek Patriarchy.

Strumica in the end of the XIX century
During the First Balkan War the city was liberated from the Turks and for some six years became part of Bulgaria. Following Bulgaria's defeat in World War I, under the 1919 Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine Bulgaria was forced to cede Strumica to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, later to be called Yugoslavia. Strumica was occupied by Bulgarians in World War II. Following the World War II, Strumica remained in Yugoslavia and in 1945 became a part of the newly established Federative People's Republic of Macedonia. This federal republic remained in Yugoslavia until 1991, when it declared its independence as The Republic of Macedonia.

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