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Shumen (, capital of Shumen Province . From 1950 - 1965 it was called '''Kolarovgrad'''. Other English variants include '''Shoumen''', '''Šumen''', '''Shumla''', and '''Shumna'''. The city has a population of 86,774 ( 2004 ). The town lies 80 km west of Varna and is built within a cluster of hills, northern outliers of the eastern Balkans, which curve round it on the west and north in the shape of a horse-shoe. A rugged ravine intersects the ground longitudinally within the horse-shoe ridge. From Shumen roads radiate northwards to the Danubian cities of Rousse and Silistra and to Dobruja , southwards to the passes of the Balkans , and eastwards to Varna and Balchik . Shumen has, therefore, been one of the most important military positions in the Balkan Peninsula. A broad street and rivulet divide the upper quarter, ''Gorni-Mahle'', from the lower, ''Dolni-Mahle''. In the upper quarter is the magnificent mausoleum of Jezairli Hassan Pasha , who in the 18th Century enlarged the fortifications of Shumen. The principal mosque, with a cupola of very interesting architecture, forms the centre of the Muslim quarter. HISTORY In 811 Shumen was burned by the emperor Nicephorus , and in 1087 it was besieged by Alexius I . In 1388 the sultan Murad I forced it to surrender to the Ottoman Turks . In the 18th Century it was enlarged and fortified. Three times, in 1774 , 1810 and 1828 , it was unsuccessfully attacked by Russian armies. The Turks consequently gave it the name of ''Gazi'' ("Victorious"). In 1854 it was the headquarters of Omar Pasha and the point at which the Turkish army concentrated (See Crimean War ). On the 22nd of June 1878 Shumla capitulated to the Russians. REFERENCES
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