Northeast of Bulgaria is the town called Dobrich, the administrative center of Dobrich province. It is located 30 kilometers west of the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and is near well known resorts like Albena, Balchik, and the Golden Sands. Dobrich is also the center of Southern Dobruja, a historical region of Bulgaria. Dobrich is located 225 meters or 738 feet above sea level. Dobrich Knoll on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica is named after Dobrich. The Dobrich TV Tower is a point of interest for the town.Keep reading
Dobrich’s inhabitants number at around 114,994. According to the 2001 census data, the inhabitants of Dobrich comprise the following: 86% of Dobrich’s inhabitants are ethnic Bulgarians, 8% are Turks, and 3.5% are Roma. The apportionment of Orthodox Christians is 86%, whereas 10% of the population are followers of the Muslim faith.
Historically, the first evidence of settlement in present-day Dobrich dates back from the fourth to the third centuries BC. A Bulgar necropolis, a large and elaborate graveyard, was found among the ruins in the center of Dobrich from the second to the fourth centuries and the seventh to the eleventh centuries. The necropolis is an important discovery as it serves as a tangible proof of the existence of pagan practices around the area during the period before the proliferation of Orthodox Christianity.
During the eleventh century, Pecheneg invasions ravaged the center of Dobruja, leaving many communities in the region deserted at the time of the Second Bulgarian Empire. Pechenegs or Partizaks were semi-nomadic Turkic people from the steppes of Central Asia. They are culturally and ethnically defined by the Pecheneg language they speak, which comes from the Turkish language family. The Pecheneg invasions are part of the town’s history because the intervention of these people paved the path towards the occupation of Dobrich by the Ottoman Empire when many of the town’s culture were cultivated from Turkish influences.
To delve deeper into the history of Dobrich, one cannot discount the history of Dobruja. Dobruja or Dobroudja is a historical and geographic region on the Balkan peninsula. It encompasses the eastern part of the Lower Danubian plane and reaches to the Black Sea eastwards and to the Danube River northwards. The region is historical in nature for two countries: Bulgaria and Romania. The Northern part of Dobruja is part of Romanian territory while Southern Dobruja is part of Bulgarian territory under the administrative regions Dobrich and Silistra. To create a distinction between the Bulgarian and Romanian territories, the Bulgarian region is named Dobrudzha and the Romanian region is called Dobrogea.
In prehistoric times, Dobroudja was inhabited by people of the Late Neolithic, Eneolithic, and the Bronze Ages. This was at around 5300 B.C. to the twelfth century B.C. These periods have revealed that cultures existed in prehistoric times. These cultures are Hamangia, Boyan, Sava, Varna, Koslogeni, and Babadag. In this region, the First Bulgarian Kingdom was established with Dobrich being the existing remnant of the founding Bulgarian tribes that migrated from the Roman Empire during the first century, when Dobruja was within Rome’s rule. Dobruja at the time was a province of Scythia Minor. During this period, Roman advancement aided the region through the construction of roads and infrastructure that became the foundations of fortresses and towns.
At the end of the fourteenth century, Dobroudja fell within the boundaries of the Ottoman Empire. During that time, intensive demographic processes occurred in the region. The Ottoman colonization from the fifteenth to the seventeenth centuries and the emigration of Bulgarian population from the eighteenth to the nineteenth centuries imposed the co-existence of various ethnic and religious communities and groups in this area.
In the sixteenth century, a Turkish merchant named Hacıoğlu Pazarcık founded another settlement in the area of Dobrich bearing his name until 1882. According to Turkish data from 1646–1650, there were over 1000 houses in the town, about 100 shops, three inns, three Turkish baths, 12 mosques, and 12 schools.
The town later became the center for the development of three primary industries, namely: handicraft, trade, and agriculture from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries. Dobrich became famous for its people’s mastery of weaving, homespun tailoring, coppersmith’s trade, leatherwork, and agricultural production. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the town’s population reached 12,000, many of whom were refugees from eastern Bulgaria after the Russo-Turkish Wars. The cultural life of the town was also formed. The first Orthodox church was built in 1843.
In the search for national liberation from Ottoman Rule and to achieve Bulgarian enlightenment, Dobrich, along with the rest of the region of Dobruja, was included in the Bulgarian National Revival. Its aim was to preserve its distinctive national culture. The cultural independence of the country was one of the factors which facilitated its true independence from the Ottoman Empire. In 1878, Dobruja was freed from Ottoman rule.
At the Berlin congress, the Great Powers separated the territory of Dobroudja, giving its northern part to Romania. During the next decades, South Dobroudja became a coin of exchange in the relations between the two neighboring countries. From 1913–1916 and 1919–1940, the region was under Romanian rule. It was returned to Bulgaria with the Kraiova Agreement in 1940.
After the Treaty of Bucharest of 1913 (confirmed by the Treaty of Neuilly of 1919), Dobrich and the whole of Southern Dobruja were incorporated in Romania for a period until 1940. During that time, the city bore the name Bazargic and was the center of Caliacra County (judeţ in Romanian). On 25 September 1940, the Bulgarian army marched into the town after signing the Treaty of Craiova in September 7, 1940; that date is celebrated as the town’s holiday.
As for Dobrich, the exact date of its liberation was on January 27, 1878. It was renamed Dobrich on February 19, 1882 after Dobrotista, a medieval ruler of Dobruja. This was done by means of a decree issued by knyaz Alexander I. The name of the town would yet again change. During the period of Communist rule, Dobrich was renamed Tolbukhin after Russian military commander Fyodor Tolbukhin. However, on 19 September 1990, a presidential decree restored the town’s old name of Dobrich.
A point of interest on Dobrich is that it has a Regional Museum of History. The Regional Museum of history in Dobrich was established in 1953. Its establishment is associated to the names of Dr. Lyubka Bobcheva, Dimo Dragnev, and Margarita Dakova. In 1960, the first exhibition was opened in the building of the former casino. During the following years, the classical museum structure was developed and a systematic and collective research work began on the territory of the recently established district.
The largest prehistoric cemetery in the world was discovered and researched on the west bank of Durankulak Lake. Antique and medieval fortresses, settlements, and cemeteries were also explored in Topola, Kamen Bryag, Kaliakra, Chirakman, Balchik, Odartsi, Kladentsi, Skala, Shabla, etc. Topographic maps of the burial mounds and cemeteries in the former Tolbuhin district were worked out. Numerous terrain expeditions and surveys were organized. As a result, the museum funds were enriched, new exhibitions were opened, and monographs and academic publications were issued.
The museum artifacts kept at the cache of the Regional Museum of History in Dobrich form part of the Bulgarian national treasure.