Vidin is the westernmost important Bulgarian Danube port and is situated on one of the southernmost sections of the river. The
New Europe Bridge, completed in 2013, connects Vidin to the Romanian town of
Calafat on the opposite bank of the Danube. Previously, a ferry located from the town was in use for that purpose. == History == Vidin emerged at the place of an old
Celtic settlement known as
Dunonia. The
Romans built a
fort here (called
Bononia) on the
Danubian Limes frontier system along the
Danube and around which a Roman town developed. The town grew into one of the important centres of the province of Upper
Moesia, encompassing the territory of modern north-western Bulgaria and eastern
Serbia.
Middle Ages When
Slavs settled in the area, they called the town
Badin or
Bdin, where the modern name comes from. Similarly,
Anna Komnene refers to it as
Vidynē (Βιδύνη) in the
Alexiad. Vidin's main landmark, the
Baba Vida fortress, was built in the period from the 10th to the 14th century. In the
Middle Ages Vidin used to be an important Bulgarian city, a bishop seat and capital of a large province of the
First Bulgarian Empire (681–1018). Between 971 and 976 the town was the center of future Bulgarian emperor
Samuil's possessions while his brothers ruled to the south. In 1003 Vidin was seized by
Basil II after an eight-month siege because of the betrayal of the local bishop. Its importance once again rose during the
Second Bulgarian Empire (1185–1422) and its
despots were influential figures in the Empire and were on several occasions chosen for emperors. From the mid 13th century it was ruled by the
Shishman dynasty. By early 1290s the
Kingdom of Serbia expanded towards the vicinity of Vidin, after defeating the Bulgarian rulers of the region of Braničevo,
Darman and Kudelin. Threatened by Serbian expansion, the Bulgarian despot
Shishman of Vidin failed to repel the Serb forces, and accepted Serbian suzerainty, although in practice, Shishman continued to be independent from Serbian influence and dealt mainly with Bulgaria. Formal Serbian suzerainty lasted until Serbian king
Stefan Milutin´s death, in 1321. As Milutin left no testament, after his death, in Serbia occurred a period of civil war with
Stefan Dečanski,
Stefan Konstantin and
Stefan Vladislav II fighting for power.
Michael Shishman took advantage of this situation, set free from Serbian overlordship, and returned to the Bulgarian sphere and in 1323 was chosen to be the Bulgarian emperor (
tsar). After the death of Michael Shishman in the disastrous
battle of Velbazhd in 1330, Vidin passed under the rule of his brother
Belaur, who led un unsuccessful rebellion against the new emperor
Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria (r. 1331–1371) until his defeat in 1336. In 1356 Ivan Alexander appointed his son
Ivan Stratsimir (r. 1356–1396) as a ruler of Vidin, who governed the city and the surrounding region, the
Tsardom of Vidin, as a
de facto independent monarch.
Hungarian occupation of Vidin In 1365, the
Tsardom of Vidin was occupied by
Magyar crusaders. Under
Hungarian rule, the city became known as
Bodony, but the occupation was short-lived. In 1369,
Vladislav I of Wallachia drove out the Hungarian military and, following negotiations, Vidin was restored to Ivan Stratsimir. However in 1396 Vidin was occupied by a foreign force again this time being the
Ottoman Empire under
Bayezid I after the
Battle of Nicopolis.
Ottoman rule The Ottomans went on to conquer the
despotates of
Dobrudzha,
Prilep and
Velbazhd as well. Vidin's independence did not last long. In 1396, the Ottomans invaded and turned Vidin into a sandjak. In the late years of
Ottoman rule, Vidin was the centre of Ottoman rebel
Osman Pazvantoğlu's breakaway state. In 1853,
The Times of London reported that Widdin, as it was called, was a considerable town, with a population of about 26,000, and a garrison of 8,000 to 10,000 men. Widdin is one of the important fortified places of the military line of the Danube. It covers the approaches of
Servia, commands
Little Wallachia, the defiles of
Transylvania, and, above all, the opening of the road which leads through
Nissia and
Sophia on to
Adrianople. Its form is an irregular
pentagon; it is strongly
bastioned, possesses a fortified castle, with two redoubts in the islands, and its defences are completed by an extensive
marsh. In 1859 the English traveler
Samuel Baker happened to visit Vidin and spotted Florence Barbara Maria von Sass from Transylvania (then in
Hungary, now in Romania) being sold into slavery, by some accounts destined to be owned by the
Pasha of Vidin. Baker bribed her guards and took her with him, she eventually became
Florence Baker, his wife and partner in the exploration of Africa . Some Muslims from Belgrade, Kladovo, and Smederevo settled in Vidin due to their
expulsion from Serbia in 1862.
Third Bulgarian State After the
Liberation of Bulgaria in 1878 Vidin was included in the reestablished Bulgarian state, the
Principality of Bulgaria. The city was unsuccessfully besieged by the Serbian army during the
Serbo-Bulgarian War in 1885 and the
Second Balkan War in 1913. == Population ==