Varbitsa (town)

Varbitsa Върбица
Coat of arms
Varbitsa Location of Varbitsa
Coordinates: 42°59′42″N 26°40′23″E / 42.99500°N 26.67306°E / 42.99500; 26.67306
Country	Bulgaria
Provinces (Oblast)	Shumen
Government
• Mayor	Merdin Bayryam
Elevation	430 m (1,410 ft)
Population  (December 2009)[1]
• Total	3,585
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)
Postal Code	9870
Area code	05391

Varbitsa (Bulgarian: Върбица [vɐrˈbit͡sɐ]; lit. 'little willow'; also transliterated Vǎrbica) is a town in eastern Bulgaria, part of Shumen Province. It is the administrative centre of Varbitsa Municipality, which lies in the southwestern part of Shumen Province. As of December 2009, the town had a population of 3,585.^[1]

Varbitsa is located in the southeastern Danubian Plain, at the foot of the eastern Balkan Mountains, on both banks of the Gerila river. The area was populated in Antiquity by the Thracians and Romans, while the Slavs and Bulgars arrived in the Early Middle Ages. It is thought that the first ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire, Asparuh, settled the Severians in the region of the Varbitsa Pass in order to guard it in the 7th century. The pass was the site of the Battle of Pliska on 26 July 811, during which Krum of Bulgaria's forces routed the Byzantine army, killing and beheading Byzantine Emperor Nikephoros I.