Azot (or Azotija) – ethnogeographical area in the central part of Macedonia.
The Azot area is located in the valley and along the upper and middle reaches of the Babuna River. It is surrounded to the north and west by the massif of the Mokra Planina (Jakupica, Karadžica, Dautica with the Solunska Glava peak), and to the south and southeast by the northern slopes of the Babuna mountain. The area is located southwest of the city of Veles and the river Babuna flows through the entire area and the railway to Prilep and Bitola passes through.
Today, the entire area of Azot is part of the municipality of Čaška, that is, in its western part. The Azot district borders Pelagonia, i.e. the Municipality of Dolneni (Prilepsko Pole) to the south, the Poreče district (Macedonian Brod Municipality) to the west, and is open to the rest of the Veles region to the east and north. The Azot area is actually the villages in the vicinity of the village of Bogomila (all villages in the municipality of the same name that existed until 2004) in the Babuna river valley. The valley of Babuna around the village of Bogomila expands into the Bogomilsko Pole, while the rest of the area is distinctly mountainous with distinct slopes and dense deciduous and evergreen forests.
The origin of the name of this area comes from the Arabic word Has or Hasot brought by the Turks, meaning a difficult or outlaw area. This is where the words asii and azbii come from, for people who are rebels or robbers. The word has, as a difficult-to-access and poorly controlled area, was also used for several other areas of the Balkans in the Ottoman Empire, such as the Has region of Albania. The medieval name of this area was Babuna, which is recorded in written sources from 1335. The inhabitants of the Azot area are called Ashans or Babunci, recognizable by their ethno-cultural features.
The largest village in the Azot area (also one of the larger villages in the Veles region), which is actually the center of the area, is Bogomila. Other villages in Azot are the famous Papradiste, Nezhilovo, Gabrovnik, Mokreni, Teovo (with its famous monastery), Sogle, Oreshe, Kapinovo, Creshnevo, Bistrica, Oraov Dol and Plevenje. Martolci, Omorani, Stari Grad and Pomenovo (which were part of the former Municipality of Izvor) can also be considered nitrogenous villages.
Source: Wikipedia
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