SIIIJMLA, or SHUMNA, a fortified town in European Turkey, is situated on the northern slope of an offset of the Balkan Mountains, which, forms the watershed between the Paravati and the Akell Kainchik rivers, near the point indicated by 18' N. lat., 27° 2' E. long.; 225 miles N.N.W. from Constantinople, 65 miles S.E. from Rustschuk, 48 miles nearly due W. from Varna, and 60 miles S. by W.
from Siliatria, with all which towns it is connected by track-roads. Roads, or tracks, from the principal fortresses of the lower Danube and the Dobruscha on the north, and from the several passes of the Eastern Balkan on the south, converge upon Shumla; these advantages and Its strong position make it the ' Key of the Balkan.' And yet it is not the town that is so strong, though it is defended by a wall and a citadel ; but on the heights that command it on the south and west the Turks have formed entrenched camps, so as to prevent any enemy from reaching the passes of the Balkan by this route, and are enabled to detach forces for the defence of any point in the range that is threat ened. The place itself has little resemblance to a town or a fortress; it is more like a vast Bulgarian village, each house standing within its own yard and gate, which inclose also the stables and cowhousea.
The streets, so called, are dirty and unpaved. In 1847, when visited by General Jochmus, there were about 5000 Turkish and 1000 Christian families in Shumla, which would give a population of 30,000 ; 30 mosques and baths, one Creek and one Armenian church, and three Christian schools (in which the Bulgarian language, a Slavonic, dialect, is taught), cavalry and infant barracks, and a new hospital. Three new forts bad been built iu the plain, and one on the heights, and the garrison was only about 1000 infantry and 800 cavalry; but after the outbreak of the war with Russia the fortifications were greatly extended and completed by Omer Pasha, who made Shumla his head quarters for a considerable part of 1854.
Shumla is usually a place of some commerce; English and other foreign manufactures are exposed for sale in the bazaar. It had formerly, perhaps still has, considerable cotton, silk, and woollen manufactures, which supplied a great part of Bulgaria and Wallachia, but the Austrian trade since the establishment of steam navigation ou the Danube, has injured these branches of commerce. There is also a good trade io copper and tin wares. The mausoleum of Djezair Hassan Pasha is named as one of the most attractive objects in Shun,la. There are some Roman remains in the shape of decaying fountains and arches, and in the plain that skirts the town to the north and east there are many of the tapes, or mounds, which abound in Bulgaria. The Pararati River, which runs cast of Shumla generally in a narrow valley to the sea at Varna, is the ancient Lyginos. The Kantclark, which drains the northern and southern slopes of the Little Balkan and enters the sea 14 miles south of Varna is the ancient Pantyaus.
Shumla first came into the hands of the Turks by capitulation in 1387. The Russian armies in their attacks upon Turkey have been thrice repulsed from Shumla: in 1774 under• Rumjanzow, in 1810 under Kaminskoi, and in 1328 under Wittgenstein. Soon after how ever Marshal Diebitsch, after fighting a battle at Kulefeha, a little to the east of Shumla, marched eastward by Pravati, and, forcing the passes of the Eastern Balkan, ma le himself master of Adrianople.
(General Jochmus, in London Geographical Journal, voL sail()