Nikopol

Nikopol, town, Bulgaria

Nikopol (nēkô`pôl), town (1993 pop. 4,897), N Bulgaria, a port on the Danube River bordering Romania. Farming, viticulture, and fishing are the chief occupations. Founded in 629 by Byzantine emperor Heraclius, Nikopol (then Nicopolis) became a flourishing trade and cultural center of the second Bulgarian kingdom. In 1396 at Nikopol the Ottoman Turks under Beyazid I defeated an army of crusaders led by King Sigismund of Hungary (later Emperor Sigismund). The Turkish victory removed the last serious obstacle to a Turkish advance on Christian Europe. However, when Timur defeated Beyazid (1402), Europe gained a respite. The Turks strongly fortified Nikopol, which was strategically important during the Russo-Turkish wars (18th–19th cent.), but the city later declined.

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Nikopol, city, Ukraine

Nikopol (nyĭkô`pəl), city (1989 pop. 158,000), SE Ukraine, on the Dnieper River. It is a rail terminus and the industrial center of one of the world's richest manganese-mining areas. The city has metallurgical plants, machine tool factories, and food-processing and brewing industries. Nikopol stands on the site of one of the earliest trade routes and strategic crossing points over the Dnieper. Manganese production at Nikopol became important in the 19th cent.