Revolutionary Ivan Hadzhinikolov

Ivan Atanasov Hadzhinikolov, known as Hadzhiyata, was a Bulgarian revolutionary, teacher, bookseller and one of the founders of the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organisation (IMARO).

He was born on 24 December 1861 in Kukush, southern Macedonia, now Kilkis, Greece. After Bulgaria's Liberation, Petar Shapkarev invited him to teach in Bulgaria. Ivan Hadzhinikolov began as a teacher in the villages of Rila, Kostenets and Kukush, then moved to educational establishments in Thessaloniki and Florina. He continued his education at commercial secondary schools in Vienna and Linz, completing higher commercial education in 1888.

After a period teaching in Thessaloniki, Hadzhiyata devoted himself to bookselling and revolutionary activity. In 1892 he met Kosta Shahov and Gotse Delchev in Sofia and won them over to the idea of establishing a revolutionary organisation.

In 1893 he opened a bookshop in Thessaloniki that became a centre for spreading revolutionary ideas. He was one of IMARO's founders and served on its first central committee.

In 1901 he was arrested and sentenced to 101 years in prison. Following an amnesty in 1902, he settled in Sofia and engaged in bookselling and publishing. During the Balkan Wars he volunteered in the Macedonian-Adrianople Volunteer Corps.

Ivan Hadzhinikolov continued his revolutionary activities after the First World War, when he was elected treasurer of the National Committee of the Union of Macedonian Emigrant Organisations.

He was an important figure in the history of the Macedonian revolutionary struggle and the establishment of IMARO.