Sliven District

an administrative and territorial unit in eastern Bulgaria. Area of 3,700 sq km. Population, 237,000 (1972). Its capital is the city of Sliven.

The northern part of the district is occupied by mountains of the Stara Planina (Balkan Mountains) and Sredna Gora, while the southern part is predominantly level. In the south, the district includes part of the eastern Maritsa coal basin.

The economy of Sliven District is based on industry and agriculture. The textile industry accounts for approximately two-fifths of the district’s entire industrial output. Woolen fabrics predominate: in 1972 the district’s output of woolen fabrics was one-third of the country’s total. The machine-building industry is important (textile equipment, farm machinery, large-lot production of parts for the USSR’s Volga Automobile Works). Other industries include woodworking, glassmaking, the production of electric lamps, and fruit canning. The principal industrial centers are the cities of Sliven and Nova Zagora; one of the country’s main centers of rug weaving is the city of Kotel.

Approximately one-fourth, of the cultivated land is irrigated, chiefly in the Tundzha River valley. There is commodity farming of grain (wheat, barley, corn). Sunflowers, cotton, and tobacco are also cultivated. Approximately 12 percent of the cultivated area is under orchards (more than one-fourth of Bulgaria’s peach orchards) and vineyards. Sheep are raised (310,000 in 1973), as are cattle (37,000 head), and swine (76,000).

Sliven District is crossed by the electrified Sofia-Sliven-Bur-gas railroad, which links Sofia with the Black Sea. The district has therapeutic mineral springs.