Samuil (village)

Samuil (Bulgarian: Самуил [sɐmuˈiɫ]; Turkish: Işıklar) is a village in northeastern Bulgaria, part of Razgrad Province, located in the geographic region of Ludogorie. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Samuil Municipality, which lies in the southeastern part of the Province. As of December 2009, the village has a population of 1,543 inhabitants.[1]

Samuil Самуил
Samuil Location of Samuil
Coordinates: 43°31′N 26°45′E
Country	Bulgaria
Provinces (Oblast)	Razgrad
Government
• Mayor	Beytula Myumyun
Elevation	501 m (1,644 ft)
Population  (December 2009)[1]
• Total	1,543
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)
Postal Code	7454
Area code	08377

Samuil lies among the Samuil Heights in the Ludogorie Plateau, near the second highest hill in the Danubian Plain (501 metres). The population consists of Bulgarians, Turks and Romani. The area was inhabited by the Getae and the Romans in Antiquity and by the Slavs and Bulgars in the Middle Ages. It was part of the First Bulgarian Empire and the Second Bulgarian Empire, but fell under Ottoman rule as early as 1388. The construction of Baron Hirsch's Rousse-Kaspichan-Varna railway line in 1867-1868 turned the small village of Ishiklar into a railway station of local importance, with the first settlers being Greek merchants and harvesters. After the Liberation of Bulgaria, many Bulgarians settled in the village, which was renamed to Gara Samuil ("Samuil Station") and then to Samuil in honour of the medieval tsar Samuil of Bulgaria.