SLIVEN, Slivno, Selimnia, Islemniye, or Islimye, an important town of East Roumelia, situated at the southern base of the Balkans, 750 feet above the sea, where several mountain streams flow south to the Tunja, a tributary of the Maritza. The luxuriant foliage of its trees and the general picturesqueness of its appearance gain in effect by the contrast which they present with the bare gneiss and porphyry summits that rise immediately to the north. On the south it is surrounded by orchards, gardens, and extensive mulberry plantations. Besides a large number of mosques, the public buildings comprise a synagogue and four Christian churches; but there is nothing of much architectural interest in the town. A Government factory for the manufacture of military clothing was established in 1834; there is a good silk industry; and Sliven red wine is famous. The population (Turks, Bulgarians, Armenians, Greeks, Jews, and Gipsies) was 22,000 in 1872.

Sliven, the Stlifanos of the Byzantine writers, owes a good deal of its importance to its strategical position on one of the trans-Balkan highways to Adrianople and the south. In early times, when it was a subject of dispute between Byzantium and Bulgaria, it generally followed the fate of Aidos and Mesembria (Misivri). After its capture by the Turks (1388) it was one of the “voinik” towns which remained exempt from taxes and were allowed to elect their own voivode; but those privileges were lost in the 16th century. On 12th August 1829 Sliven was occupied by the Russian army under Rüdiger and Gortchakoff.