Where and Why Was There a Lack of Economic Growth in the Bulgarian Lands during the National Revival Period

In the 18th and 19th centuries, there were regions and settlements in the central part of the Balkans that were not characterized by dynamic economic, social and public development. As examples, the regions of Pernik, Radomir, Tran, Godech, Kustendil, etc., where the processes of renewal and economic growth characteristic of the Bulgarian National Revival period are absent. The answer to the question is not one-sided. Probably the factors are many and interrelated - the absence or weak development of market relations; the lack of or the weak entrepreneurial class (of Bulgarians, Greeks, merchants from Dubrovnik, Jews) to stimulate the production and exchange of goods and services in long run (from the 15th to the 19th century); the lack of powerful local commercial houses; the lack of social/entrepreneurial networks that contribute to the exchange of goods, financial resources and information between the regions of Pernik, Radomir, Tran, Breznik, etc., and distant regions; the complete lack of or the weak contacts with nearby and distant lands; the existence of restrictive agrarian regime based on chiflik holdings; the lack of local markets and fairs where more intensive commercial exchange could take place; the existence of particular economic and social atmosphere that stimulate anachronistic way of thinking, and it serves as an obstacle to the economic growth. The idea of the presented text is to provide a more realistic view of the socio-economic transformations that took place during the Bulgarian National Revival.