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Delegates at the Petrova Niva IMARO congress

Petrova Niva (Bulgarian: Петрова нива, "Peter's field") is a historic area in the Strandzha mountains of southeastern Bulgaria where, between 11 and 13 July 1903, a group of Bulgarian Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization (IMARO) delegates announced the outbreak of an anti-Ottoman uprising aimed at liberating southern Thrace from Ottoman rule and proclaimed the Strandzha Republic.^[1]

The area lies on the land of the village of Stoilovo in Malko Tarnovo municipality, Burgas Province, within the territory of Strandzha Nature Park. It is among the 100 Tourist Sites of Bulgaria; a monument to the event was built in the 1950s and a church dedicated to Saint Petka was constructed in 2003 for the congress' centennial anniversary, as well as a museum.

The IMARO congress at Petrova Niva was attended by over 300 people, of whom 47 were official delegates. Most of the delegates came from the region of Malko Tarnovo, though the areas of Edirne and Western Thrace were also represented. The congress mostly discussed the very question of whether to organize an uprising, but discussions ceased as the IMARO leadership had already instigated a revolt in the region of Bitola. Despite the lack of enough armaments and the varying preparedness of the local committees, the delegates agreed to aid the insurgents in Macedonia. The rebellions in Macedonia and Thrace are collectively known as the Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising.

Delegates

The 47 delegates at the Petrova Niva IMARO congress were:^[2]

Name	Native place	Notes
Mihail Gerdzhikov	Plovdiv	leader of the entire Odrin (Edirne) region east of the Maritsa
Lazar Madzharov	Negovan (Xylopoli, Langadas municipality)	leader of the Lozengrad (Kırklareli) region
Stamat Ikonomov	Malko Tarnovo	Bulgarian Army captain, voivode
Georgi Kondolov	Velika	voivode
Velko Dumev	Voden (Edessa)	leader of the Odrin district committee
Vasil Paskov	Nevrokop (Gotse Delchev)	IMARO Central Committee representative for the Edirne region
Georgi Vassilev (Svilengrad)	Svilengrad	Edirne district committee member
Hristo Silyanov	Istanbul
Mihail Daev	Balchik
Nikola Stanchev	Kazanlak	Edirne district committee member
Krastyu Balgariyata	Vratsa	Bulgarian Army sergeant, voivode
Dimitar Katerinski	Svilengrad	Svilengrad district committee leader
Ivan Varnaliev	Veles
Hristo Karamandzhukov	Chokmanovo	leader of the Smolyan region
Kosta Kalkandzhiev	Varna
Diko Dzhelebov	Malko Tarnovo
Anastas Razboynikov	Svilengrad	Bunarhisar (Pınarhisar) district committee leader
Spas Tsvetkov	Evla
Nikola Kardzhiev	Lozengrad
Petar Angelov	Haskovo	Bulgarian Army sergeant, voivode
Penyu Shivarov	Chirpan	Bulgarian Army sergeant, voivode
Kiro Dimitrov Uzunov	Malak Samokov (Demirköy)
Yordan Georgiev	Malko Tarnovo
Georgi Kostadnev	Malko Tarnovo
M. Argirov	Malko Tarnovo
Nestor Ivanov	Odrin
Ivan Kalchev	Lozengrad
Dimo Yankov	Malko Tarnovo
Stoyan Petrov	Malko Tarnovo
Lefter Mechev	Malko Tarnovo
Dimitar Halachev	Malko Tarnovo
Tseno Kurtev	Zlatitsa	Bulgarian Army sergeant, voivode
Petko Zidarov	Tsiknihor by Malko Tarnovo
Dimitar Tashev	Kolibite by Bunarhisar
Georgi Kaloyanov	Malko Tarnovo
Stoyan Kamilski	Kamilite by Malko Tarnovo
Dimitar Hristakev	Raykovo (Smolyan)	surgeon's assistant at Burgas, doctor during the uprising
Georgi Tenev	Svilengrad	local leader at Lyubimets
Hristo Arnaudov Afuza	Svilengrad	local leader at Chepelare
Lazo Lazov	Lozengrad
Yani Popov	Karahadar (Karahıdır) by Lozengrad
Yanko Stoyanov	Malko Tarnovo
Georgi Todorov Doktora	Kratovo	local leader at Velika
Yani Voynov	Svilengrad

Gallery

Petrova Niva monument
Text on the monument

References

^ Йорданов, Асен (2008-08-18). "На Петрова нива падат бариерите на времето" (in Bulgarian). Фактор. Retrieved 2009-05-03.
^ Караманджуков, Христо (1986). "Конгресът на Петрова нива". Родопа през Илинденско-преображенското въстание (in Bulgarian). София: Издателство на Отечествения фронт. OCLC 159765618.