Voivode Tane Nikolov

Tanyu Nikolov Zhekov, also known as Tane Voyvoda, was a Bulgarian revolutionary and active figure in the national liberation movement of the Bulgarians in Macedonia and Thrace. He was a voivode of both the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organisation and the Internal Thracian Revolutionary Organisation, and participated in the wars for national unification.

Tanyu Nikolov was the son of the Haskovo homespun-cloth tailor Nikola Angelov Zhekov and Rada Stoeva from the village of Koru Cheshme, now Gorski Izvor in the Haskovo district. After army service as a junior non-commissioned officer, Tane joined IMARO in 1902.

Early in his revolutionary career, Tane Voyvoda participated in the armed struggle in Thrace as a member of Konstantin Antonov's detachment. Gradually he became an independent voivode and played an important role in the uprising in the Preobrazhenie region in 1904, as well as in a number of other battles against Turkish and Serbian forces.

In 1906 Tane Nikolov transferred his activities to Macedonia, where he became regional voivode in the Prilep and Veles districts. He fought numerous battles against Ottoman and Serbian detachments, aiming to stop armed Serbian propaganda and protect the Bulgarian population.

Tane Nikolov distinguished himself through courage and determination in the struggle for the Bulgarian people's freedom and remained faithful to his ideals until his last day.