Blagoevgrad

Blagoevgrad (blägô`ĕvgrät), city (1993 pop. 72,853), SW Bulgaria, is a farming region known especially for its tobacco. The city has one of the largest tobacco-fermentation factories in the Balkans. In Thracian times a settlement was established around the warm mineral springs that still attract visitors to Blagoevgrad. The city is named for Dimiter Blagoev, founder of the Bulgarian Communist party.

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Blagoevgrad 

(until 1950, Gorna-Dzhumaia), city in southwestern Bulgaria, on the Bistritsa River near the place where it flows into the Struma River. Located near the foot of the Rila Mountains. Administrative center of Blagoevgrad Okrug. Population, 32,700 (1965). The city is a center of tobacco processing (high-grade Macedonian strains). Blagoevgrad produces cotton goods, lumber, and electrical equipment. Its hot mineral springs are used for therapy. The Parangalitsa Forest Preserve is located near Blagoevgrad on the slopes of the Rila Mountains.

The city was named in honor of the Bulgarian revolutionary D. Blagoev.