Panayot Ivanov Hitov (1830 – March 22, 1918) was a Bulgaria

Bulgaria

Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

n hajduk

Hajduk

Hajduk is a term most commonly referring to outlaws, highwaymen or freedom fighters in the Balkans, Central- and Eastern Europe....

, national revolutionary and band leader (voivode).

Born in 1830 in Sliven

Sliven

Sliven is the eighth-largest city in Bulgaria and the administrative and industrial centre of Sliven Province and municipality. It is a relatively large town with 89,848 inhabitants, as of February 2011....

, he became a hajduk in Georgi Trankin's band in 1858. Two years later, after the death of Trankin, Hitov succeeded him as voivode of the band, which became one of the most active in southeastern Bulgaria. Some of his subordinates included Hadzhi Dimitar

Hadzhi Dimitar

Dimitar Nikolov Asenov , better known as Hadzhi Dimitar , was one of the most prominent Bulgarian voivods and revolutionaries working for the Liberation of Bulgaria from Ottoman rule.-Early life:...

, Stoyan Papazov and Dyado Zhelyu. Around 1864–1865, Hitov began to regard his actions as part of the national liberation movement, and was in correspondence with Georgi Sava Rakovski

Georgi Sava Rakovski

Georgi Stoykov Rakovski , known also Georgi Sava Rakovski , born Sabi Stoykov Popovich , was a 19th-century Bulgarian revolutionary and writer and an important figure of the Bulgarian National Revival and resistance against Ottoman rule.- Early life:Born in Kotel to a wealthy and patriotic...

. In 1864, while in Serbia

Serbia

Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...

, he gathered band members among the Bulgarians in Kragujevac

Kragujevac

Kragujevac is the fourth largest city in Serbia, the main city of the Šumadija region and the administrative centre of Šumadija District. It is situated on the banks of the Lepenica River...

 and Belgrade

Belgrade

Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...

 and moved to the region of Berkovitsa

Berkovitsa

Berkovitsa is a town and ski resort in northwestern Bulgaria. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Berkovitsa Municipality, Montana Province and is close to the town of Varshets...

 and Pirot

Pirot

Pirot is a town and municipality located in south-eastern Serbia. According to 2011 census, the town has a total population of 38,432, while the population of the municipality is 57,911...

. According to Rakovski's plan as presented in "1867 Provisional Law on the National and Forest Bands", Hitov was to be chief Bulgarian voivode.
Following Rakovski's death on April 28, 1867, Hitov entered Bulgaria from Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

 at Tutrakan

Tutrakan

Tutrakan is a town in northeastern Bulgaria, an administrative centre of the homonymous municipality, part of Silistra Province. It is situated on the right bank of the Danube opposite the Romanian town of Olteniţa , in the very west of Southern Dobruja, 58 km east of Rousse and 62 km...

 with a band of thirty, the band's standard-bearer being Vasil Levski

Vasil Levski

Vasil Levski, born Vasil Ivanov Kunchev, , is a Bulgarian revolutionary and a national hero of Bulgaria. Dubbed the Apostle of Freedom, Levski ideologised and strategised a revolutionary movement to liberate Bulgaria from Ottoman rule...

. With his band, Hitov headed to the Balkan Mountains

Balkan Mountains

The Balkan mountain range is a mountain range in the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula. The Balkan range runs 560 km from the Vrashka Chuka Peak on the border between Bulgaria and eastern Serbia eastward through central Bulgaria to Cape Emine on the Black Sea...

 and spent some time around Kotel

Kotel, Bulgaria

Kotel is a town in central Bulgaria, part of Sliven Province. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Kotel Municipality. As of december 2009, the town has a population of 6,232 inhabitants....

 and Sliven. His band did not have the goal to organize an uprising, but to whip up support for an organized resistance against the Ottoman

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

 rule among the Bulgarians.

In August 1867, together with his band and that of Filip Totyu

Filip Totyu

Todor Todorov Topalov , better known under the pseudonym Filip Totyu , was a Bulgarian revolutionary of the Bulgarian National Revival period and the voivode of an armed band of volunteers....

, Hitov headed to Serbia along the ridge of the Balkan Mountains. After his retirement to Belgrade, Hitov lived in Belgrade as a pensioner and became a supporter of the idea that Bulgaria's liberation

Liberation of Bulgaria

In Bulgarian historiography, the term Liberation of Bulgaria is used to denote the events of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78 that led to the re-establishment of Bulgarian state with the Treaty of San Stefano of March 3, 1878, after the complete conquest of the Second Bulgarian Empire, which...

 should be co-ordinated with Serbia's anti-Ottoman actions. Between 1869 and 1871, he expressed his views to Vasil Levski, with whom he kept up a correspondence, and, without taking Levski's advice in consideration, signed an agreement with the Montenegrin

Montenegro

Montenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the...

 voivode Matanović to organize a joint uprising in Bulgaria, Bosnia

Bosnia (region)

Bosnia is a eponomous region of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It lies mainly in the Dinaric Alps, ranging to the southern borders of the Pannonian plain, with the rivers Sava and Drina marking its northern and eastern borders. The other eponomous region, the southern, other half of the country is...

, Herzegovina

Herzegovina

Herzegovina is the southern region of Bosnia and Herzegovina. While there is no official border distinguishing it from the Bosnian region, it is generally accepted that the borders of the region are Croatia to the west, Montenegro to the south, the canton boundaries of the Herzegovina-Neretva...

 and Albania

Albania

Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...

. In April 1872 Hitov became a member of the Bucharest

Bucharest

Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....

 branch of the Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee

Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee

The Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee or BRCK was a Bulgarian revolutionary organisation founded in 1869 among the Bulgarian emigrant circles in Romania. The decisive influence for the establishment of the committee was exerted by the Svoboda newspaper which Lyuben Karavelov began to...

 (BRCC).

After Levski's death in 1873, Hitov had an important role in the Bucharest committee although he continued to live in Belgrade. In August 1875, he presided the BRCC assembly which approved the proclamation of the Stara Zagora Uprising. According to the plan, Panayot Hitov was supposed to lead a band, but this was not carried out due to the Serbian government's objections. Hitov was a band leader in the Serbian-Turkish War of 1876 and the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78. After the Liberation in 1878, Hitov lived in Rousse

Rousse

Ruse is the fifth-largest city in Bulgaria. Ruse is situated in the northeastern part of the country, on the right bank of the Danube, opposite the Romanian city of Giurgiu, from the capital Sofia and from the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast...

, taking part in the political life. In 1878, he headed the Unification of Bulgaria in his native Sliven. Later, due to his opposition to Stefan Stambolov

Stefan Stambolov

Stefan Nikolov Stambolov was a Bulgarian politician, who served as Prime Minister and regent. He is considered one of the most important and popular "Founders of Modern Bulgaria", and is sometimes referred to as "the Bulgarian Bismarck".- Early years :Stambolov was born in Veliko Tarnovo...

's regime (1887–1894), he was sent to prison. He died on March 22, 1918 in Rousse.