Pyotr Danilovich Draganov (Russian: Пётр Данилович Драганов; Bulgarian: Петър Драганов; Macedonian: Петар Драганов; February 13 [O.S. February 1] 1857 – February 7, 1928) was a Russian philologist and slavist.
Draganov was born in Komrat, Russian Empire in 1857. He was a Bessarabian Bulgarian.[1][2][3][4] Draganov studied history and philology at the University of Saint Petersburg. From 1885 to 1887 he was working as a teacher in a Thessaloniki high school after he was invited by the Bulgarian Exarchate.[5]
He came to Thessaloniki with the claim that the Slavic speakers in Ottoman Macedonia are Bulgarians.[citation needed] However, after the huge research that he has done in Macedonia he came up with his own scientific opinion about them.[citation needed] In other words, Draganov claimed that the Macedonian Slavs are a distinct Slavic ethnic group and the Macedonian dialects form a separate language.[4][6] As a result of this claim and his personal beliefs, he was sent back to Russia, where he set the foundations of Macedonian studies.[7][non-primary source needed]
