An ancient Thracian settlement called Scaptopara (market town in Thracian, ?????????? in Greek) emerged on the site around 300 BC and was later conquered by the Roman Empire. The settlement was known for the hot springs in the vicinity. Although the history of the settlement in the Middle Ages is unknown, during the Ottoman rule of the Balkans it became a Muslim-majority town called Cuma-? Bala, meaning Upper Juma in Persian and Ottoman Turkish. A Bulgarian quarter called Varosha was formed during the Bulgarian National Revival, with many of its typical houses and the Church of the Presentation of the Mother of God from 1844 being preserved to this day. Achitalishte was founded in 1866 and the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913 saw the liberation of the area from Ottoman rule and its integration in the Bulgarian state. Before the Balkan Wars, Cuma-? Bala was bounded as kaza to Serez sandjak in Selanik vilayet.
Many refugees from Aegean and Vardar Macedonia arrived in the town in the subsequent decades as the town, then known as Gorna Dzhumaya (a partial translation of the Ottoman name), continued to grow in size and importance. The name Gorna Dzhumaya ("Upper Dzhumaya") contrasts the town from Dolna Dzhumaya ("Lower Dzhumaya", "Cuma-i Zir" in Turkish) to the south, today called Irakleia in Serres regional unit, Macedonia, Greece.
The town was renamed Blagoevgrad in 1950 after the founder of the Bulgarian Communist Party, Dimitar Blagoev, a refugee from Aegean Macedonia.
Blagoevgrad is known for being the birthplace of Dimitar Berbatov, a current Fulham FC Player. The town's football traditions are very respectable, as the local PFC Pirin Blagoevgrad (1922) and more recently PFC Pirin Blagoevgrad (1931) (the old Makedonska Slava fromSimitli), have both played in the A PFG and had players such as Berbatov, Petar Mihtarski, Ivaylo Andonov, Petar Zlatinov, etc.
Skaptopara Cove in Greenwich Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica is named for
