Strandzha
Encyclopedia
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...
and the European part of Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, in the southeastern part of the Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
between the plains of Thrace
Thrace
Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east...
to the west, the lowlands near Burgas
Burgas
-History:During the rule of the Ancient Romans, near Burgas, Debeltum was established as a military colony for veterans by Vespasian. In the Middle Ages, a small fortress called Pyrgos was erected where Burgas is today and was most probably used as a watchtower...
to the north and the Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
to the east. Its highest peak is Mahya Dağı
Mahya Dagi
Mahya Dağı is a mountain peak in Turkey. It is the highest peak of the Strandzha massif and also the European part of Turkey.-Gallery:-External links:*...
(1031 m (3,383 ft)) in Turkey, while the highest point on Bulgarian territory is Golyamo Gradishte (710 m (2,329 ft)). The total area of the massif is approximately 10000 km² (3,861 sq mi). The name of the massif allegedly derives from Istranca, the former name of the Municipality of Binkılıç in Çatalca
Çatalca
Çatalca is a city and a rural district in Istanbul, Turkey. It is in Thrace, on the ridge between the Marmara and the Black Sea. Most people living in Çatalca are either farmers or those visiting vacation homes. Many families from Istanbul come to Çatalca during weekends to hike in the forests or...
district, Istanbul
Istanbul Province
Istanbul Province is a province located in north-west Turkey. It has an area of 5,196 km² and a population of 13,255,685. The population was 10,018,735 in 2000. It is surrounded by the provinces of Tekirdağ to the west, Kocaeli to the east, the Black Sea to the northern part and the Sea of...
province.
Geography and climate
The climate of the area is considerably influenced by the Black Sea and is predominantly humid continental in the mountains and humid subtropical at the coast. Major rivers in the area are the VelekaVeleka
The Veleka is a river in the very southeast of Bulgaria , as well as the very northeast of European Turkey. It is 147 km long, of which 123 km in Bulgaria and 25 km in Turkey, and takes it sources from a number of Karst springs in the Turkish part of the Strandzha mountain to flow...
(147 km (91 mi) long) and the border river Rezovska (112 km (70 mi) long).
Strandzha Natural Park
Strandzha Natural Park, established in 1995 in the Bulgarian part of the massif, is the largest protected areaProtected area
Protected areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognised natural, ecological and/or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the enabling laws of each country or the regulations of the international...
in Bulgaria, embracing 1161 km² (448 sq mi), or about 1% of Bulgaria's total territory.
History and culture
Inhabited by the ThraciansThracians
The ancient Thracians were a group of Indo-European tribes inhabiting areas including Thrace in Southeastern Europe. They spoke the Thracian language – a scarcely attested branch of the Indo-European language family...
in antiquity, Strandzha is an area with a large concentration of ruins of Thracian sanctuaries and sacrificial altars, dolmens and other archaeological objects.
The mountains were the site of the Bulgarian Preobrazhenie Uprising of 1903 that was crushed by 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...
troops. The current Bulgarian-Turkish border in the region was established after the Balkan Wars
Balkan Wars
The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe in 1912 and 1913.By the early 20th century, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia, the countries of the Balkan League, had achieved their independence from the Ottoman Empire, but large parts of their ethnic...
of 1912-1913, when the northern part of Strandzha became part of Bulgaria.
Culturally, the Bulgarian part of Strandzha is known for the specific architecture that can be observed in Malko Tarnovo
Malko Tarnovo
Malko Tarnovo is a town in Burgas Province, Southeastern Bulgaria, located 5 km away from the Turkish border. It is the only town in the interior of the Bulgarian Strandzha Mountains. Malko Tarnovo is the administrative centre of the homonymous Malko Tarnovo Municipality...
, Brashlyan
Brashlyan
Brashlyan is a village in southeastern Bulgaria, part of Malko Tarnovo municipality, Burgas Province. Known as Sarmashik until 1934, today the entire village is an architectural reserve displaying characteristic Strandzha wooden architecture from the mid-17th to the 19th century.Brashlyan lies in...
and most other villages, the rich folklore and distinctive rituals, such as nestinarstvo
Nestinarstvo
Nestinarstvo is a ritual originally performed in several Bulgarian- and Greek-speaking villages in the Strandzha Mountains close to the Black Sea coast in the very southeast of Bulgaria. It involves a barefooted dance on smouldering embers performed by nestinari...
(barefoot dancing on live embers), that preserve numerous pagan elements.
Flora and fauna
The Strandzha Mountains have a rich and diverse floraFlora
Flora is the plant life occurring in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring or indigenous—native plant life. The corresponding term for animals is fauna.-Etymology:...
and fauna
Fauna
Fauna or faunæ is all of the animal life of any particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is flora.Zoologists and paleontologists use fauna to refer to a typical collection of animals found in a specific time or place, e.g. the "Sonoran Desert fauna" or the "Burgess shale fauna"...
, unique within Europe. 50% of Bulgaria's flora can be observed in Strandzha Nature Park and the area has 121 habitat types. In Strandzha over 600 different species of invertebrates are found, as well as over 400 species of vertebrates, 41 species of freshwater fish
Freshwater fish
Freshwater fish are fish that spend some or all of their lives in freshwater, such as rivers and lakes, with a salinity of less than 0.05%. These environments differ from marine conditions in many ways, the most obvious being the difference in levels of salinity...
, 10 species of amphibians, over 20 different species of reptile
Reptile
Reptiles are members of a class of air-breathing, ectothermic vertebrates which are characterized by laying shelled eggs , and having skin covered in scales and/or scutes. They are tetrapods, either having four limbs or being descended from four-limbed ancestors...
, more than 130 species of breeding birds, and over 60 different species of mammals .
One of the reasons for the abundance of flora and fauna in Strandzha is the area's geographical location at a bio-geographical crossroad between the European and Asian continents.
The plant communities in Strandzha developed before Europe was separated from Asia by the formation of the Bosporus Strait that now connects the Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
with the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
. Land-ice never reached Strandzha during the ice-ages of the Pleistocene
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
and the Holocene
Holocene
The Holocene is a geological epoch which began at the end of the Pleistocene and continues to the present. The Holocene is part of the Quaternary period. Its name comes from the Greek words and , meaning "entirely recent"...
and this lack of glaciations has helped create the circumstances in which flora characteristic for the Tertiary period on the European continent has been preserved in Strandzha.
Honour
Strandzha GlacierStrandzha Glacier
Strandzha Glacier is located on Burgas Peninsula, eastern Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. Extending 1.6 km in northeast-southwest direction and 800 m in northwest-southeast firection...
on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands
South Shetland Islands
The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands, lying about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, with a total area of . By the Antarctic Treaty of 1959, the Islands' sovereignty is neither recognized nor disputed by the signatories and they are free for use by any signatory for...
, Antarctica is named after Strandzha Mountain.