Koprivlen

The village of Koprivlen is located at the foot of the eastern slopes of the Pirin mountains, in the southwestern part of the Republic of Bulgaria, 7 km south of the town of Gotse Delchev. To the northeast the land of the village reaches the Mesta riverbed, to the southeast it borders the lands of the village of Sadovo and the town of Hadzhidimovo, to the southwest with the land of the former Greek Muslim village of Lyalevo, and to the north with the villages of Novo Leski and Musomishta.

Objects of the Thracian material culture were found in the Kozluka area. Near the village are preserved the remains of a fortress of rather large size, as well as a cult building known to the local population as the "Monastery of St. George". During the Middle Ages, the area passed periodically into Bulgarian and into Byzantine rule. This is judged by a church building west of the village and ancient coins of Bulgarian and Byzantine origin, statuettes, remains of pottery and others.

A list from 1666 for the tax paid to the Ottoman Empire by the Christian population shows that Koprivlen has 23 families.

In the "Ethnography of the Provinces of Adrianople, Monastir and Thessaloniki", published in Istanbul in 1878 and reflecting the statistics of the male population from 1873, Koprivlian is listed as a village with 50 households with 60 Muslims and 80 Bulgarians. ^[1] In 1889, Stefan Verkovic (Topographic and Ethnographic Essay of Macedonia) noted Koprivljan as a village with 22 Bulgarian and 28 Turkish houses. ^[2]

In 1891 Georgi Strezov wrote about the village:

"Koprivlen, a village two hours south of the city (Nevrokop). It is located on a flat land; the road from Nevrokop to Ser passes through it. (Most of the inhabitants are) exclusively farmers; good watermelons come out. 50 Turkish houses. Until recently, there were up to 30 Bulgarian houses that were forced to flee by Turkish population. [3] “

In the last quarter of the 19th century, the Christian population left the village and Koprivlen turned to a settlement with only a Turkish population. By 1900, according to the famous statistics of Vasil Kanchov ("Macedonia. Ethnography and Statistics"), the population of the village numbered 340 people, all Turks. ^[3]

The Balkan War in 1912 changed the ethnic composition of the village - the Turks abandoned the village and in their place came the first settlers from Libyahovo and from 18 other Bulgarian settlements left on Greek territory. The settlement process took place at different speeds in the 1920s and 1930s. Statistical data from the period after the liberation of the Pirin region show that Koprivlen is among those settlements whose inhabitants are constantly growing. When the first census was made in 1920, a total of 567 people lived in the village. Subsequent censuses registered 892 people (1926), 1207 people (1934), 1671 people in 1946, and with little difference since then, the population is still close.

The Village is situated on the international secondary road № 19 between Gotse Delchev to Serres in Greece. There are busses, connecting the village with Hadzhidimovo, Gotse Delchev, Blagoevgrad and Sofia. There aren't other types of transportation.

Agriculture is the main source of income in Koprivlen. There are also some industrial subjects - a marble processing factory and a transportation company.

There is a hotel and a guesthouse, working all seasons.

A general practitioner is providing medical services. The closest hospital is in the town of Gotse Delchev.

There is a post office. Mobile telephony from all Bulgarian providers is available.