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Kuzman Shapkarev

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Kuzman Anastasov Shapkarev (Bulgarian and Macedonian: Кузман Анастасов Шапкарев, romanized: Kuzman Anastasov Šapkarev; 1 January 1834 – 18 March 1909) was a Bulgarian[1][2][3] folklorist and ethnographer from the Ottoman region of Macedonia, author of textbooks and ethnographic studies, and a figure of the Bulgarian National Revival.

Kuzman Shapkarev
Kuzman Shapkarev decorated with the Bulgarian Order "For Civil Merit", 5th Class
Kuzman Shapkarev decorated with the Bulgarian Order "For Civil Merit", 5th Class
Native name
Кузман Шапкарев
Born(1834-02-01)1 February 1834
Ohrid, Manastir Vilayet, Ottoman Empire
Died18 March 1909(1909-03-18) (aged 75)
Sofia, Bulgaria
OccupationWriter, publicist, teacher, folklorist
LanguageBulgarian
PeriodBulgarian National Revival
SpouseElisaveta Miladinova-Shapkareva (d. 1870)
Ekaterina Shapkareva
ChildrenKliment Shapkarev, Ivan Shapkarev
The title page of the autobiography of Shapkarev "Materials on the history of the revival of the Bulgarian national idea in Macedonia."

Life

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Kuzman Shapkarev was born in Ohrid in 1834.[4] Shapkarev initially studied under his uncle Yanaki Strezov [bg].[5] He was a teacher in a number of Bulgarian schools in Ohrid, Bitola, Prilep, Kukush, Thessaloniki, (1854–1883). In these towns, he was especially active in introducing the Bulgarian language in local schools. Не initiated the establishment of two Bulgarian high schools (Bulgarian men's high school and Bulgarian girls' high school) in Thessaloniki in the 1880s.[6]

He wrote the following textbooks: "A Bulgarian Primer" (1866), "A Big Bulgarian Reader" (1868), "Mother tongue" (1874), "Short Land description (Geography)" (1868), "Short Religion Book" (1868), which were published in Istanbul.[4] Shapkarev criticized the dominance of eastern Bulgarian and even declared that it was incomprehensible in Macedonia. In his Great Bulgarian Textbook (Golema balgarska chitanka) from 1868, which he authored under the pseudonym "One Macedonian" (Edin Makedonets), he stated his intention to write in a language understandable to his compatriots, the Macedonian Bulgarians. He also announced a project of a dictionary that would contain translation from Macedonian into Upper Bulgarian and vice versa. This activity was condemned by the Bulgarian press, which even accused him of advocating the existence of a separate Macedonian language and a distinct history of the Macedonian people.[7][8] Bulgarian philologist Marin Drinov rejected his proposal for a mixed eastern and western Bulgarian (Macedonian) basis of the Bulgarian standard language.[7]

Shapkarev was a contributor of many Bulgarian newspapers and magazines – "Tsarigradski vestnik" (Constantinople newspaper), "Gayda" (Bagpipe), "Macedonia", "Pravo" (Justice), "Savetnik" (Adviser), "Balgarska pchela" (Bulgarian bee) and others. Shapkarev was a collaborator of the revolutionary Georgi Rakovski and in the field of ethnography, he assisted the Miladinov brothers.

He married Dimitar Miladinov's daughter Elisaveta Miladinova [bg] but she died in 1870.[9] After 1883 he lived in Eastern Rumelia and Bulgaria – in Plovdiv, Sliven, Stara Zagora, Vraca and Orhanie (Botevgrad). Along with his scientific and public occupation in Bulgaria, he worked as a notary and a judge.

From 1900 he was a regular member of the Bulgarian Literary Society.[5] He died in 1909.[4]

His autobiographical book is called "Materials for the Revival of Bulgarian national spirit in Macedonia".

Legacy

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His first son Kliment Shapkarev [bg] was one of the leading activists of Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization,[10] while the second – Ivan Shapkarev [bg] was a high-ranking Bulgarian Army officer. His grandson Petar Shapkarev [bg] was a prominent Bulgarian economist and chairman of the Macedonian Scientific Institute,[5] while his great-grandson Mihail Shapkarev [bg] was a prominent Bulgarian sculptor.

He is an important figure in the Bulgarian and Macedonian historical narrative.[7] Shapkarev Buttress on the Fallières Coast, Antarctica, is named after Kuzman Shapkarev. The Kuzman Shapkarev Secondary Schoo [bg], one of the first specialized high schools in Sofia, carries his name.

Works

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Scientific works

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  • Rusalii. The old and too interesting Bulgarian custom preserved in Southern Macedonia, Plovdiv, 1884
  • "The Serbian Greatideas' endeavours and our scientifists", 1888
  • "Several notes about Macedono-Slav collection of P. Draganov" 1895
  • "Collection of folk monuments (Bulgarian folk tales and beliefs), 1885
  • Collection of Bulgarian Folklore (Сборник от български народни умотворения), vol. І-ІІІ, Sofia, 1891–1894
  • Materials for the Biography of the Miladinov Brothers - Dimitar and Konstantin (Материали за животоописанието на Братя Миладинови, Димитрия и Константина), Plovdiv 1884

Textbooks

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Autobiographical books

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  • Contribution to education in Macedonia. One autobiography of Kuzman Shapkarev, Macedonian review, Sofia 1927, vol 2
  • "Materials for Revival of Bulgarian national spirit in Macedonia", Sofia 1984
 
Kuzman Shapkarev Secondary School
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References

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  1. ^ Autobiography of Kuzman Shapkarev, 1864, Macedonian review, year ІІІ, 1927, № 1, № 2.; Also in "Materials for the Revival of Bulgarian national spirit in Macedonia".
  2. ^ MacDermott, Mercia (1998). Bulgarian Folk Customs. Jessica Kingsley. p. 31. ISBN 1-85302-485-6.
  3. ^ Maria Couroucli; Tchavdar Marinov, eds. (2017). Balkan Heritages: Negotiating History and Culture. Taylor & Francis. p. 20. ISBN 9781134800759.
  4. ^ a b c Denis Š Ljuljanović (2023). Imagining Macedonia in the Age of Empire: State Policies, Networks and Violence (1878-1912). Lit Verlag. pp. 169–170. ISBN 9783643914460.
  5. ^ a b c Dimitar Bechev (2019). Historical Dictionary of North Macedonia. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 263. ISBN 9781538119624.
  6. ^ Dimitris Keridis; John Brady Kiesling, eds. (2020). Thessaloniki: A City in Transition, 1912-2012. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. pp. 67–68. ISBN 9780429201561.
  7. ^ a b c Tchavdar Marinov; Roumen Daskalov (2013). "In Defense of the Native Tongue: The Standardization of the Macedonian Language and the Bulgarian-Macedonian Linguistic Controversies". Entangled Histories of the Balkans - Volume One. Brill. pp. 285, 441–443. ISBN 9789004250765.
  8. ^ Den, June 9, 1875; Pravo, November 30, 1870.
  9. ^ Mercia MacDermott (1978). Freedom or death, the life of Gotsé Delchev. Journeyman Press. pp. 25, 27. ISBN 9780904526325.
  10. ^ Николов, Борис. ВМОРО – псевдоними и шифри 1893–1934, Звезди, 1999, стр. 6.
  11. ^ Тодор Моллов, БЕЛЕЖКА НА РЕДАКТОРА - Editor's Note to a later edition
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