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Southeast Bulgaria > Karnobat > History
History of KarnobatThe territory of the present day town was inhabited in ancient times. A real evidence supporting this fact is the Karnobat mound and the Roman fortress called Markela (or Kroumovo Kale, Hissarluka), where in 8th century Khan Kardam won a brilliant victory over the Byzantine. Ever since the settlement has been Bulgarian.
The town fell under Turkish domination in 1372. In a document in Doubrovnik from 1595 it was registered as Karanovo, that is how the Bulgarians called it. In 1762 Bozhkovich from Doubrovnik first mentioned it using its present name Karnobat. At that time the town was an important centre of sheep breeding famous for the local breed called Karnobat sheep. Huge quantities of meat, wool, pasturma (dried thin meat), lukanka (homemade piquant sausage), candles, soap were produced. The two-week cattle fair was famous all over. After the Russian-Turkish wars in the first half of 19th century many inhabitants of the town moved to Besarabia. The first class school known as Karanovsko School was opened in 1862. During the Russian-Turkish War of Liberation (1877-1878) Karnobat was severely destroyed but consequently due to the rich agricultural resource of the region, the traditions in cattle breeding and wine manufacturing, as well as to the railway line Sofia-Bourgas it continued to develop and grow. From 1953 till 1962 the town was called Polyanovgrad, but after that it regained its present day name. It is the native place of Slav Merdzhanov who was a Macedonian and Odrin revolutionary.
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