City (pop., 2001: 340,638), south-central Bulgaria.
It is situated on the Maritsa River , north of the Philip II and was renamed Philippopolis. From AD 46 it was called Trimontium and was the capital of the Roman province of Thrace . It changed hands repeatedly during the Middle Ages until 1364, when it was captured by the Turks. After the Russo-Turkish Wars (1877–78), it became the capital of Turkish Eastern Rumelia, which united with Bulgaria in 1885. It officially assumed its present name after World War I. It is a major railroad junction and a food-processing centre with diversified industries.