Stara Zagora (redirected from Augusta Trajana)

Stara Zagora (stä`rä zä`gôrä), city (1993 pop. 150,926), central Bulgaria. It is a railway center and the market for a fertile farm area. The city's diverse industries produce textiles, chemicals, agricultural tools, and tobacco products. Stara Zagora is the seat of an Orthodox Eastern bishopric. A Thracian settlement, it was known as Augusta Trajana under Roman rule. It was captured by the Turks in 1370 and renamed Eski-Zagra or Yeski-Zagra, from which its present name is derived. The city was destroyed in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78 and rebuilt as a planned city.

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Stara Zagora

a city in central Bulgaria: ceded to Bulgaria by Turkey in 1877. Pop.: 163 000 (2005 est.)

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Stara Zagora 

a city in Bulgaria at the foot of the Sredna Gora; administrative center of Stara Zagora District. Population, 120,000 (1975).

Stara Zagora is a railroad and highway junction. It is noted for machine building, including the production of equipment for the food-processing industry, computer equipment, and machine tools. Other local industries produce foods, condiments, and textiles. A large chemical combine producing nitrogen fertilizers is located nearby. Stara Zagora is the center of an agricultural region.

On July 19 (31), 1877, during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78, a battle was fought near Stara Zagora (Eski-Zagora in Turkish). On one side was a Russian-Bulgarian detachment, consisting of four Bulgarian druzhiny and 2½ Russian cavalry regiments—3,500 men in all, with 12 guns, under the command of Major General N. G. Stoletov. On the other side were the Turkish troops of Suleiman Pasha, from 12,000 to 15,000 strong, with 24 guns. The Turkish troops moved up from the south but were repulsed by the Bulgarians and Russians after four hours of fighting. The Turks lost 1,500 men, and the Bulgarians and Russians, about 600. Because the Turkish advance was delayed at Stara Zagora, the forward detachment of General I. V. Gurko, which had defeated the Turkish detachment of Reouf Pasha at Jurlana on July 19 (31), was able to withdraw to the Shipka Pass before the approach of Turkish troops.