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well as some of the largest ones—the resort villages of Aheloy (the largest village
on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast), Ravda and Sveti Vlas (which was granted a town
status in 2006).
Beside that group of Bulgarian settlements, another group is traditionally typical
for the region—that of the bi-ethnic settlements, in which Bulgarians live together
with Turks or Roma. The majority of those settlements are Bulgarian-Turkish or
Turkish-Bulgarian. Their number, however, declined through the observed period, in
favor of tri-ethnic settlements, some of which have a significant share of Roma pop-
ulation. Again, the distribution of those settlements is fairly even across the region.
In the beginning of the period in observation, the majority of settlements where
Bulgarians live together with Roma population were settlements in Dolni Chiflik
municipality, including the municipal center, while by 2001 such settlements had
spread throughout the whole region. Another significant change in the settlements
network is that if in the beginning there were no settlements in which the Roma
had the largest share, by the end of the period such settlements, although not too
many, already existed. One of those settlements—the village of Gradets, Kotel
municipality—had turned from almost entirely Bulgarian to almost entirely Roma.
The total number of Roma population in the observed area grew from 8,000 to
19,000 during the discussed period. But as mentioned earlier, that number could be
twice higher. Nevertheless, the growth of the Roma population number is signifi-
cant, as well as their spreading across the region. In the beginning of the period the
Roma lived predominantly in Dolni Chiflik and Omurtag municiplities, while by
2001 they were concentrated mostly in Kotel municipality (1/3 of all Roma in the
region), Omurtag and Varbitsa municipalities. The largest Roma population groups
are found in the towns of Kotel and Varbitsa, as well as in the village of Gradets,
Kotel municipality.
Unlike the mixed, Bulgarian-Roma or Roma-Bulgarian settlements, which are
typical for the area, settlements in which Roma live together with Turks are rare,
despite the fact that their number grew from 1 to 7 during the period between 1965
and 2001. A representative of that group of settlements is one of the municipal
centers in the region—the village of Ruen. By 2001 there were no settlements in the
region (and the country) inhabited by Roma population only.
19.4 Classification and Grouping
One of the final stages of a geographic research is the group arrangement (classifi-
cation) of similar geographic objects (in this case—settlements). Settlements have
been assigned to various groups according to their ethnic structure. Each group con-
sists of settlements with a similar structure. Because the share of the three main
ethnic groups can vary a lot, the formation of a certain group, its range, and name
is up to the researcher, and therefore a subjective process. That applies especially
for the groups consisting of settlements with mixed population. In order to avoid
an excessive variety of groups, compromise with their accuracy had to be made.
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