Kocani
Encyclopedia
Kočani is a town 120 kilometres (74.6 mi) away from Skopje
, situated in the Eastern part of the Republic of Macedonia
, with population of 28 330. The town of Kočani is the seat of Kočani Municipality
.
, along the banks of the Kočani river, right where it leaves the mountain slopes and flows through the valley. North of the town there is the Osogovo
mountain (2252 m (7,388 ft)) and 8 kilometres (5 mi) away to the south the valley is closed by the mountain Plačkovica (1754 m (5,755 ft)). The town is 350 metre above sea level.
Kočani spreads over an area of 18.6 square kilometres (7.2 sq mi) and has population of 28,330 inhabitants which makes it the third regional center in the Eastern part of the country:
. The average temperature is 12.9 °C (55.2 °F) with 538 mm (21.2 in) rainfall.
s, Meds and Thracians
.
Later on, in the 6th century the Slavs inhabited parts of the region. More precisely, in the 7th century members of the Slavic
tribe Smolyani
colonized the Kočani valley
and built a fortification. The founders of the Slavic
education, brothers Kiril and Metodij (Cyril and Methodius), stayed in the valley from the year 845 to 855 and in the Bregalnica
area (Morodvis
) started to preach Christianity
in Slavic
language.
Although the settlement existed long before that, Kočani was first mentioned in a charter from 1337 in which Despot Jovan Oliver donated the church of St. Dimitrija to Kočani.
Archaeological finds in the town itself have revealed remains of a settlement here in the Roman
and Byzantine
periods. Early in the 15th century it fell under Turkish
rule. The travel chronicler Evliya Chelebi, who visited it in 1662, recorded that it had 600 household
s, a mosque
, a mezjid, an inn and 15 handicraft
stores. During the 18th and in the early 19th century, the town growth rate stagnated. It was only around 1878 that the population
began to rise, at which time it had about 450 - 500 household
s. The town has two feudal residences in the shape of towers
believed to date from the 16th - 17th century.
times to the Middle Ages
, can be found in the vicinity of Kočani. One of them is an archeological site of Dolno Gradishte from the late antic period, and two medieval towers
at the city center.
Monastery complexes in the nearby villages Morodvis
and Panteley are world famous both for their architecture and unique frescoes.
The town green, especially along the river bed and banks of the Kočani river, is the pride of the local people. The town is very clean and neat, for which it proudly holds the prestigious title of The cleanest town in Macedonia
.
Today Kočani is a modern town with planned infrastructure, avenues, many modern buildings and blocks of flats, a hospital, a shopping centre, a park and a newly built industrial zone. All this is carefully planned and structured, according to modern standards of living and esthetics. New suburbs are mainly built to the east where the town almost reaches the first houses of Orizari
and to the West spreading over the industrial zone.
, Bulgaria
Szigetszentmiklós
, Hungary
Yenifoça
, Turkey
Križevci, Croatia
Pereyaslav, Ukraina Novi Knezevac
, Serbia
Skopje
Skopje is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Macedonia with about a third of the total population. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre...
, situated in the Eastern part of the Republic of Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
, with population of 28 330. The town of Kočani is the seat of Kočani Municipality
Kocani municipality
Kočani is a municipality in eastern Republic of Macedonia. Kočani is also the name of the town where the municipal seat is found. The municipality is part of the Eastern Statistical Region.-Geography:...
.
Geography and population
The town spreads across the Northern side of the Kočani valleyKočani valley
Kočani valley is located along the river of Bregalnica in eastern part of the Republic of Macedonia, at the latitude of 41° and 55' and longitude 22° and 25'. It covers an area of 1020 km² and extends from both sides of Bregalnica, from west-southwest to east-northeast, with the length of...
, along the banks of the Kočani river, right where it leaves the mountain slopes and flows through the valley. North of the town there is the Osogovo
Osogovo
Osogovo or Osogovska Planina is a mountain and ski resort between southwestern Bulgaria and northeastern Republic of Macedonia,...
mountain (2252 m (7,388 ft)) and 8 kilometres (5 mi) away to the south the valley is closed by the mountain Plačkovica (1754 m (5,755 ft)). The town is 350 metre above sea level.
Kočani spreads over an area of 18.6 square kilometres (7.2 sq mi) and has population of 28,330 inhabitants which makes it the third regional center in the Eastern part of the country:
- 1948 - 6,657 inhabitants
- 1994 - 26,364 inhabitants
- 2002 - 28,330 inhabitants
Ethnic structure
- MacedonianMacedonians (ethnic group)The Macedonians also referred to as Macedonian Slavs: "... the term Slavomacedonian was introduced and was accepted by the community itself, which at the time had a much more widespread non-Greek Macedonian ethnic consciousness...
: 90.3% - Roma: 5.0%
- TurksTurkish peopleTurkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...
: 3.0% - Vlachs: 0.5%
- Serbs: 0.2%
- Other: 1.0%
Religious denomination
- OrthodoxEastern Orthodox ChurchThe Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
: 96% - Muslims: 3%
- Catholic: 0.3%
- Other: 0.7%
Climate
The climate is mild-continental, influenced by altered Mediterranean climate which penetrates along the river BregalnicaBregalnica
Bregalnica is the second largest river in the Republic of Macedonia. It starts as a spring near the mountain city of Berovo and it passes near the cities of Makedonska Kamenica, Kočani, Vinica and Štip, before joining the river Vardar on its way to the Aegean Sea...
. The average temperature is 12.9 °C (55.2 °F) with 538 mm (21.2 in) rainfall.
History
Due to its favourable geographic location, together with excellent natural climate characteristics, Kočani was inhabited as early as the ancient times first by the PeonPeon
The words peon and peonage are derived from the Spanish peón . It has a range of meanings but its primary usage is to describe laborers with little control over their employment conditions.-English usage:...
s, Meds and Thracians
Thracians
The ancient Thracians were a group of Indo-European tribes inhabiting areas including Thrace in Southeastern Europe. They spoke the Thracian language – a scarcely attested branch of the Indo-European language family...
.
Later on, in the 6th century the Slavs inhabited parts of the region. More precisely, in the 7th century members of the Slavic
Slavic peoples
The Slavic people are an Indo-European panethnicity living in Eastern Europe, Southeast Europe, North Asia and Central Asia. The term Slavic represents a broad ethno-linguistic group of people, who speak languages belonging to the Slavic language family and share, to varying degrees, certain...
tribe Smolyani
Smolyani
The Smolyani were a medieval Slavic tribe that settled in the Rhodope Mountains, the valley of the Mesta River and the region around Blagoevgrad Province, possibly in the 7th-8th century...
colonized the Kočani valley
Kočani valley
Kočani valley is located along the river of Bregalnica in eastern part of the Republic of Macedonia, at the latitude of 41° and 55' and longitude 22° and 25'. It covers an area of 1020 km² and extends from both sides of Bregalnica, from west-southwest to east-northeast, with the length of...
and built a fortification. The founders of the Slavic
Slavic peoples
The Slavic people are an Indo-European panethnicity living in Eastern Europe, Southeast Europe, North Asia and Central Asia. The term Slavic represents a broad ethno-linguistic group of people, who speak languages belonging to the Slavic language family and share, to varying degrees, certain...
education, brothers Kiril and Metodij (Cyril and Methodius), stayed in the valley from the year 845 to 855 and in the Bregalnica
Bregalnica
Bregalnica is the second largest river in the Republic of Macedonia. It starts as a spring near the mountain city of Berovo and it passes near the cities of Makedonska Kamenica, Kočani, Vinica and Štip, before joining the river Vardar on its way to the Aegean Sea...
area (Morodvis
Morodvis
Morodvis is a village in Zrnovci municipality, located in the base of mountain Plačkovica, south of Kočani, Republic of Macedonia.-History:The village is the site of Crkvište-Morobizdon, a complex of late-antique and medieval localities....
) started to preach Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
in Slavic
Slavic languages
The Slavic languages , a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages, have speakers in most of Eastern Europe, in much of the Balkans, in parts of Central Europe, and in the northern part of Asia.-Branches:Scholars traditionally divide Slavic...
language.
Although the settlement existed long before that, Kočani was first mentioned in a charter from 1337 in which Despot Jovan Oliver donated the church of St. Dimitrija to Kočani.
Archaeological finds in the town itself have revealed remains of a settlement here in the Roman
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
and Byzantine
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
periods. Early in the 15th century it fell under Turkish
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
rule. The travel chronicler Evliya Chelebi, who visited it in 1662, recorded that it had 600 household
Household
The household is "the basic residential unit in which economic production, consumption, inheritance, child rearing, and shelter are organized and carried out"; [the household] "may or may not be synonymous with family"....
s, a mosque
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
, a mezjid, an inn and 15 handicraft
Handicraft
Handicraft, more precisely expressed as artisanic handicraft, sometimes also called artisanry, is a type of work where useful and decorative devices are made completely by hand or by using only simple tools. It is a traditional main sector of craft. Usually the term is applied to traditional means...
stores. During the 18th and in the early 19th century, the town growth rate stagnated. It was only around 1878 that the population
Population
A population is all the organisms that both belong to the same group or species and live in the same geographical area. The area that is used to define a sexual population is such that inter-breeding is possible between any pair within the area and more probable than cross-breeding with individuals...
began to rise, at which time it had about 450 - 500 household
Household
The household is "the basic residential unit in which economic production, consumption, inheritance, child rearing, and shelter are organized and carried out"; [the household] "may or may not be synonymous with family"....
s. The town has two feudal residences in the shape of towers
Kočani medieval towers
Kočani medieval towers are located in Kocani, Republic of Macedonia. They were probably built in the second half of the 17th century, when the city was under Ottoman administration...
believed to date from the 16th - 17th century.
Monuments
Numerous cultural and historical monuments, from ancientAncient history
Ancient history is the study of the written past from the beginning of recorded human history to the Early Middle Ages. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, with Cuneiform script, the oldest discovered form of coherent writing, from the protoliterate period around the 30th century BC...
times to the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
, can be found in the vicinity of Kočani. One of them is an archeological site of Dolno Gradishte from the late antic period, and two medieval towers
Kočani medieval towers
Kočani medieval towers are located in Kocani, Republic of Macedonia. They were probably built in the second half of the 17th century, when the city was under Ottoman administration...
at the city center.
Monastery complexes in the nearby villages Morodvis
Morodvis
Morodvis is a village in Zrnovci municipality, located in the base of mountain Plačkovica, south of Kočani, Republic of Macedonia.-History:The village is the site of Crkvište-Morobizdon, a complex of late-antique and medieval localities....
and Panteley are world famous both for their architecture and unique frescoes.
Features
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
.
Today Kočani is a modern town with planned infrastructure, avenues, many modern buildings and blocks of flats, a hospital, a shopping centre, a park and a newly built industrial zone. All this is carefully planned and structured, according to modern standards of living and esthetics. New suburbs are mainly built to the east where the town almost reaches the first houses of Orizari
Orizari
Orizari is a region within the city of Bitola, located in theRepublic of Macedonia. Orizari consistsof Gorno Orizari and Dolno Orizari .Most of the population of the Orizari regions are populated with...
and to the West spreading over the industrial zone.
Town partnerships
Kočani maintains partnership links with the following places: KazanlakKazanlak
Kazanlak, formerly Kazanlık is a Bulgarian town in Stara Zagora Province, located in the middle of the plain of the same name, at the foot of the Balkan mountain range, at the eastern end of the Rose Valley...
, Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
Szigetszentmiklós
Szigetszentmiklós
Szigetszentmiklósis a city in Pest county in Hungary with approximately 26,662 inhabitants.- Name :* Sziget – island: Szigetszentmiklós is a town in the Csepel Island* Szent Miklós – Saint Nicholas, who is the patron saint of Szigetszentmiklós...
, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
Yenifoça
Yenifoça
Yenifoça is a suburb of the Foça district, in Turkey's İzmir Province....
, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
Križevci, Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
Pereyaslav, Ukraina Novi Knezevac
Novi Kneževac
Novi Kneževac is a town and municipality in the North Banat District of Vojvodina, Serbia. The town has a population of 7,567, while the Novi Kneževac municipality has 12,952 inhabitants .-Name:...
, Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
Notable people
- Kočani OrkestarKočani OrkestarKočani orkestar also credited under the names: Kocani orkestar, Kocani Orchestra, Kochani orkestar and Kochani Orchestra is a Macedonian Romani brass band from Kočani, Macedonia led by Naat Veliov .Kočani orkestar are among the funkiest exponents of the Balkan brass band style which is found across...
, musicians - Branko Pendovski, writer
- Malina Popivanova, revolutionary
- Ljupčo Santov, revolutionary
- Rade Kratovče, revolutionary
- Stefan Popivanov, revolutionary
- Stevo TeodosievskiStevo TeodosievskiStevo Teodosievski was born in Kočani. He was a Macedonian artist, music educator and humanist. After a childhood in his hometown, he spent his youth in Belgrade, returning to Kocani after WWII...
, musician - Pavle Krošarev, pilot, (the first Macedonian civil-aviation pilot to achieve the rank of an airline captain)