Voivode Chavdar

Chavdar the Voivode was a Bulgarian hajduk active in the Kozhuh Mountains during the sixteenth century. He was born in the village of Lakavitsa in the valley of the River Kriva Lakavitsa, in present-day North Macedonia. In the late sixteenth century, Chavdar took command of a band of 300 men operating in Macedonia and the Shopluk region. He is thought to have participated in the attack on Sofia in February 1595.

An Ottoman document from 1638 mentions a hajduk named Constantine, known as Chavdar, from the village of Sopotnitsa. According to a decision of the Bitola Sharia court dated 25 April 1638, Chavdar the Voivode was sentenced to death and beheaded following betrayal.

Chavdar the Voivode's name is celebrated in Hristo Botev's poem "Hajduks".

Chavdar Peninsula in Graham Land, Antarctica, is named in honour of Chavdar the Voivode.