Nikopol

Nikopol , town (1993 pop. 4,897), N Bulgaria, a port on the Danube River bordering Romania. Farming, viticulture, and fishing are the chief occupations. Founded in 629 by Byzantine emperor Heraclius, Nikopol (then Nicopolis) became a flourishing trade and cultural center of the second Bulgarian kingdom. In 1396 at Nikopol the Ottoman Turks under Beyazid I defeated an army of crusaders led by King Sigismund of Hungary (later Emperor Sigismund ). The Turkish victory removed the last serious obstacle to a Turkish advance on Christian Europe. However, when Timur defeated Beyazid (1402), Europe gained a respite. The Turks strongly fortified Nikopol, which was strategically important during the Russo-Turkish wars (18th-19th cent.), but the city later declined.

Nikopol', Bulgaria, Ukraine 1. Bulgaria: founded in 629 by Heraclius as Nikopolis, although to what victory it refers is not known. It is now spelt Nikopol. It has been referred to as Nikopolis Major to distinguish it from Nikopolis Minor, or the archaeological site of Nikopolis ad Istum, founded by Trajan^† in 102 further south on the Rositsa River, to commemorate his victory over the Dacians. It has also been called Nīkbūlī.2. Ukraine: founded as Slavyansk ‘Slav Town’ on a bend on the River Dnieper. It was developed and in the first half of the 17th century renamed Nikitino or Nikitin Rog ‘Nikita's Horn’ from the Russian rog ‘horn’, a reference to the promontory here, and the personal name Nikita, itself from the Greek aniketos ‘unconquered’ from nikē ‘victory’. By the latter half of the 18th century names of Greek origin were in favour and so in 1782 the town was renamed Nikopol′, the Slav version of Nikopolis ‘Town of Victory’ from the Greek nikē and polis.