page_title: Sliven
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Sliven / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Statue of Hadji Dimitar in Sliven, next to the town hall.
context_page_description: Sliven is the eighth-largest town in Bulgaria and the administrative and industrial centre of Sliven Province and municipality in Northern Thrace.
  Sliven is famous for its heroic Haiduts who fought against the Ottoman Turks in the 19th century and is known as the "City of the 100 Voyvodi", a Voyvoda being a leader of Haiduts.
  The famous rocky massif Sinite Kamani and the associated national park, the fresh air and the mineral springs offer diverse opportunities for leisure and tourism. Investors are exploring the opportunity to use the famous local wind for the production of electricity.
  Another point of interest and a major symbol of the city as featured on the coat of arms, is the more than thousand-year-old Stariyat Briast, a huge Smooth-leaved Elm in the center of the city. During Ottoman rule, Turkish officials used to hang Bulgarian revolutionaries on it. Today the city is helping the tree to live on by frequent evaluations and reinforcing its base. It was elected Bulgarian tree of the year in 2013. On 19 March 2014 the results of an online poll were revealed at a ceremony in the European Parliament. The Old Elm was voted European Tree of the Year 2014.
context_section_description: Remains of the oldest settlements on the territory of Sliven date back to around 6000 BCE of the Neolithic. Ruins of a Thracian settlement dating to around 5th–3rd century BCE as well as Thracian ceramics and Hellenistic coins have been discovered in the area of Hisarlaka — a small hill in Sliven. In antiquity it was known as Selymnos (Σήλυμνος in Greek). The area occupied by present-day Sliven has in the past been settled by the Thracian tribes Asti, Kabileti and Seleti. These tribes held their independence until time of Philip II of Macedon and Alexander the Great who conquered them.
  The 2nd century BCE marked the beginning of the Roman conquests of northeastern Thracia. Sliven was conquered by Rome around 72–71 BCE when the Thracian Kabile and later Greek cities of Kabile and Apolonia are conquered. With the emergence of the Roman Empire the region of the city became part of the Thracian province of the Roman Empire.
  A new stage in the city's history began around 2nd-4th century. The first written records of the settlement's name, Tuida/Suida/Tsuida date to this period. This name is most likely of Thracian origin. Its etymology is currently not understood. Known as "İslimye" by the Turks, during Ottoman rule it was a sanjak centre in first Rumelia eyalet, then Silistre (Özi) eyalet, Edirne vilayet, finally being for a short period a  centre of a department in the autonomous province of Eastern Rumelia before its inclusion in the Principality of Bulgaria in 1885. During the First World War it was the site of the Sliven prisoner of war camp, the largest such camp in the country. It was the place of internment for Greek and Serbian civilians and soldiers, with peak numbers of 19,000.
  In more modern times, Sliven became one of the most significant cultural centres during the Bulgarian National Revival, with much of its old heritage still preserved and enriched and today offers to its citizens and visitors a lot of opportunities for cultural life. It served as the birthplace of many prominent Bulgarians who contributed to the enlightenment such as Hadzhi Dimitar, Dobri Chintulov, Evgeniy Chapkanov, Ivan Seliminski and many others. Another notable native is Anton Pann who composed the Romanian national anthem. Another notable resident is Yordan Letchkov, whose goal in the 1994 World Cup eliminated defending champion Germany. Letchkov was mayor of Sliven from 2003 to 2011.
caption: The monument of Hadzhi Dimitar in Sliven
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