Delčevo Municipality ( ) — municipality in Eastern Macedonia. The center of the municipality is the city of Delchevo. The geographical area is 423 km2 (163 mi2) and has about 13,585 inhabitants. There are 22 settlements in Delchevo, as follows: the town of Delchevo and the villages: Bigla, Vetren, Virce, Vratislavci, Gabrovo, Grad, Dramche, Zvegor, Iliovo, Kiselica, Kosovo Dabje, Nov Istevnik, Ochipala, Razlovci, Selnik, Stamer, Star Istevnik, Trabotivishte, Turija, Poleto and Chiflik. The city is named after the pride of the Macedonian people – Goce Delchev. In the past, the municipality was also known as "Carevo Selo".
Location
164 km (102 mi) east of Skopje, at the foot of Mount Golak, spread on both banks of the river Bregalnica lies the town of Delchevo. It is the largest settlement in the Pijanec area, which stretches over an area of 585 km2 (226 mi2), located between the Osogovo Mountains (north) and Maleshevo (south). The city lies at an altitude of 590 m (1.940 ft) to 640 m (2.100 ft). Despite being located in the easternmost part of the country, Delchevo has a relatively good geographical position and traffic connection. It is a crossroads for eastern Macedonia. Through Pehchevo (27 km/17 mi) and Berovo (34 km/21 mi) it is connected with Strumica to the south, and through Makedonska Kamenica (24 km/15 mi) and Kocani (51 km/32 mi) it is connected with Shtip to the northwest. To the west is Vinica (39 km/24 mi), and to the east is the border crossing with Bulgaria, called "Arnautski Grob" (Arnaut's grave) (11 km/7 mi), through which you can reach the capital of Pirin Macedonia – Gorna Dzumaja (Blagoevgrad) (34 km/21 mi)
All rural settlements and the recreation center Golak are connected to the city by asphalt roads of regional and local type, while a modern national road is built to the border crossing. The farthest settlement from the municipal center is the historic village Razlovci (17.5 km/11 mi).
History
Delchevo, according to a legend in Byzantine times was called Vasilevo, which translated from Greek means Tsarevo Selo. For the first time as a settlement Carevo Selo is mentioned in a charter of Tsar Dushan from 1347 to 1350. with it he gave several places and fields from Pijanec to the Lesnovo Monastery. In Turkish times Delchevo was also called Sultanija.
Ottoman period
Until the 17th century, the settlement laid on the right side of the river Bregalnica on the present toponym Selishte, more precisely under the hill Ostrec near the road leading to Bulgaria. From the first centuries of Turkish rule there is not much information about the position of Delchevo. In the middle of the 17th century, Sultan Mehmed IV lived in its vicinity. At the time of his visit to Pijanec, mass Islamization was carried out on the population. Due to the oppression and pressure, many Macedonian settlements were deserted, including the then Tsarevo Selo. It is assumed that at the time of that sultan the settlement was moved to its present place on the left side of the river Bregalnica. The city mosque built in the 17th century is also cited as evidence.
However, it is thought-provoking that the Turkish travel writer Evliya Çelebi spent here only a few years later in 1670 and wrote in his Travelogue:
"From Vinica we climbed the Kocani mountain ore, moving through the gorge and after four hours we reached Tsarevo Selo. This is a Muslim village at the foot of a mountain and is decorated with about 100 houses and a magnificent mosque mined by a minaret."
We should also mention the folk tradition that says that the settlement under the Ostrec hill was deserted when the plague reigned and the surviving population settled on the place where Delchevo is today.
The oldest part of the city is considered to be the Turkish colony that was created around the mosque. According to Jaranov, until the 19th century Delchevo was a village, a Turkish colony, inhabited by purebred Turks and a large part of the Islamized Slavic population, called Pomaks, who did not know the Turkish language. Only a few families were Bulgarian Exarchists.
Towards the middle of the 19th century, the bazaar began to develop and the settlement to grow, and at the same time the Christian population to increase. After the space in Sredno Maalo (Middle Neighbourhood) was filled, the spread through Gocho Potok i.e. Gorno Maalo (Upper Neighbourhood) started or today's I region. In 1863 there were 75 Orthodox houses in Delchevo, and in 1873 109 Orthodox houses.