KOCANI

Kocani a town in eastern Macedonia lies at an altitude of 320m above sea level, first mentioned in a charter from 1337 in which Despot Jovan Oliver donated the church of St Dimitrija to Kocani. Archaeological finds in the town itself have revealed remains of a settlement here in the Roman and Byzantine periods.

Early in the 15th century it fell under Turkish rule. The travel chronicler Evliya Chelebi, who visited it in 1662, recorded that it had 600 households, a mosque, a mezjid, an inn and 15 shops. During the 18th and in the early 19th century, the town grew very slowly. It was only around 1878 that the population began to rise, at which time it had about
450 - 500 households. The town has two feudal residences in the shape of towers believed to date from the 16th - 17th century.

A monument entitled Freedom stands on a hill overlooking the town.
Today the surroundings of Kocani are well known for the cultivation of rice.
Kocani spa is in its nearby surroundings, with thermal sulphuric springs whose temperature is 58° C.

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