Town of Elhovo

The town of Elhovo existed in the time of the Thracians under the name Orouditsa. The Romans fortified it and called it Orudica ad Burgum, and the Slavs called it Yoanitsa and Yanitsa. During the Ottoman rule, it consecutively bore the names Yanidashli, Ernie Kazalgach and Azalea and was a farming, crafts, market and administrative centre. As a consequence of the Russian-Turkish Wars and of epidemics the settlement became depopulated. The attacks of the kurjali (field brigands) also contributed to its decline. A considerable part of the population moved to Dobrouja or immigrated to Russia. In1878, there were only 100 houses with about 900 inhabitants. Soon after the National Liberation the town was restored as a province centre. Two oil-factories for processing of sunflower seeds, five carding machines, and two sausage workshops started working. After World War I, a motor mill and a ceramics factory were built. The town bears the name Elhovo since 1925. The favourable natural conditions made human presence possible in the region as early as the Neolithic (6000-4000 BC). Evidence for that are the discovered stone and copper tools and the hand-made pottery with carved ornaments. The Bronze Age culture was that of the Thracians. There are preserved remains of Thracian fortresses, settlements and burial mounds. Most of the artifacts discovered in them are fragments of pottery, weapons, tools and votive tablets with the image of the Thracian Horseman. The Thracians also left interestingly built megalithic tombs called dolmens. It was the Thracians that built the first settlement near the present-day town, which was known as Orouditsa. The region fell under Roman rule in 72 BC. They fortified the settlement and called it Orudica ad Burgum - a road station between Cabile and Adrianopolis. The Romans left many traces of their material culture, mostly fragments of pottery and structural ceramics, coins and bronze sculptures. The town was known as Yoanitsa during the early Middle Ages. The Slavs settled permanently on the Balkan Peninsula in c. 7 AD. They pronounced the name of the town as Yanitsa.