town, north-central Bulgaria. It is situated on both banks of the Yantra River, at the foot of the Shipka Pass in the Balkan Mountains. A major industrial centre, Gabrovo has a high in-migration population from the surrounding area. Called the “Bulgarian Manchester,” the town has a large textile industry—clothes, leather goods, and accessories. Other manufactures are machine tools, footwear, electrical machinery, and textile machinery.
According to legend, the town was founded in the mid-15th century by an itinerant blacksmith, who was later joined by other craftsmen. In 1835 the first Bulgarian secular school opened there, and in 1877 the town was liberated from the Turks. In the mountains to the south, craft industries are maintained in textiles, woodworking, and carpet making. Pop. (2004 est.) 63,864.
Link to this article and share the full text with the readers of your Web site or blog-post.
If you think a reference to this article on "Gabrovo" will enhance your Web site,
blog-post, or any other web-content, then feel free to link to this article,
and your readers will gain full access to the full article, even if they do not subscribe to our service.
You may want to use the HTML code fragment provided below.
We welcome your comments. Any revisions or updates suggested for this article will be reviewed by our editorial staff. Contact us here.
Regular users of Britannica may notice that this comments feature is less robust than in the past. This is only temporary, while we make the transition to a dramatically new and richer site. The functionality of the system will be restored soon.