Country Bulgaria License plate CH Population 197,473 (Feb 2011) Municipalities 4 | Time zone EET (UTC+2) Website sliven.government.bg Capital Sliven Team OFC Sliven 2000 | |
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Points of interest Balkan Mountains, House‑museum Hadzhi Dimitar, Regional History Museum, Regional Historical Museum, House‑museum of the Old Sliven Po Destinations Sliven, Zheravna, Kotel, Nova Zagora, The blue stones | ||
Sliven Province (Bulgarian: Област Сливен Oblast Sliven, former name Sliven okrug) is a province in southeastern Bulgaria, named after its administrative and industrial centre — the city of Sliven. It embraces a territory of 3,544.1 km² that is divided into four municipalities, with a total population, as of December 2009, of 204,887 inhabitants and 1 Dinko Karavastev.
Contents
- Map of Sliven Province Bulgaria
- Municipalities
- Main city
- Population
- Ethnic groups
- Religion
- Nature Park Sinite Kamani The Blue Rocks
- References
Map of Sliven Province, Bulgaria
Municipalities
The Sliven province contains four municipalities. The following table shows the names of each municipality in English and Cyrillic, the main town or village (towns are shown in bold), and the population of each as of December 2009.
Main city
Sliven is situated at the foot of the unique rock massif "Sinite Kamani" (The Blue Rocks), very close to mineral springs. The town is famous for its clean fresh air, clean water sources, mild winter and cool summer.
Sliven is the only Bulgarian town that has never changed its Slavonic name, though it is one of the oldest settlements in Europe. Here lived Thracians, Romans, Slavs, and Ancient Greeks. The first Roman settlement on this place, Tuida (3rd century BC), was a famous trade centre. Sliven was mentioned as a big town for the first time in 1153 by the Arab traveler Idrisi.
Population
As of the end of 2009, the population of the province, announced by the Bulgarian National Statistical Institute, numbered 204,887 of which 7001223000000000000♠22.3% are inhabitants over 60 years old. The following table represents the change of the population in the province after World War II:
Ethnic groups
Total population (2011 census): 197 473
Ethnic groups (2011 census): Identified themselves: 173 206 persons:
A further 24,000 persons in Sliven Province did not declare their ethnic group at the 2011 census.
According to the 2001 census, the province had a population of 218 474 inhabitants, of whom 163 188 were Bulgarians, 26 777 Roma (Gypsy), 22 971 Turks, etc.
Religion
Religious adherence in the province according to 2001 census:
Nature Park Sinite Kamani - The Blue Rocks
The Sinite Kamani Nature Park is famous for its nature landmarks. Halkata — the arc-shaped rock garland, possessing, according to the legends, magic force — is one of the symbols of the town of Sliven. The forms that the nature has sculptured in the cave Zmeevi dupki – Zmeyat, Orelat and Vladishkiyat tron are amazing.
The ancient beech forest in the vicinity of the Kushbunar spring in the region of Karandila is picturesque.
The specific climate and lay conditions of the nature park determine the great diversity of flora and fauna. The plant species are more than 1000, about 900 of which are representative of high species.
The invertebrate animals are represented by 235 species — eight species of fish, nine species of amphibians, nineteen species of reptiles, 165 species of birds and 34 species of mammals.
The lay is of typical mountain type — steep and ravine slopes and at sea level between 290 and 1181 meters above the sea level. The north and northwest winds, called bora, famous as the wind of the town of Sliven and the night breeze are typical for the region. Through the park flow many rivers and their beds form numerous shoots, pools and waterfalls.