History of Plovdiv Berlin which divided the newly liberated country into several parts. It separated the autonomous region of Eastern Rumelia from Bulgaria and Plovdiv became its capital. In three month the Ottoman Empire created an Organization Chart (Constitution) of the province and appointed a governor. At the time, it had a population of about 33,500, of which 45% were Bulgarians, 25% Greeks, 21% Turks, 6% Jews and 3% Armenians, a situation that changed rapidly in the following decades. In the spring of 1885 Zahari Stoyanov formed the Secret Bulgarian Central Revolutionary Committee in the city which actively conducted propaganda for the unification
Plovdiv the Slavic name began to appear as "Papaldiv/n Plo(v)div, Pladiv, Pladin, Plapdiv, Plovdin", which evolved from a Thracian variant "Pulpudeva". As a result, the name has lost any meaning. In British English the Bulgarian variant "Plòvdiv" has become prevalent after World War I. The Crusaders mentioned the city as "Prineople", "Sinople" and "Phinepople". The Ottomans called the city "Filibe", a corruption of "Philip", in a document from 1448. Plovdiv is located on the banks of the Maritsa river, southeast of the Bulgarian capital Sofia. The city is in the southern part of the "Plain of Plovdiv", an alluvial plain that