(Redirected from Danubian Bulgaria)
The country of 'Bulgaria' (, ''Bălgariya'',
pronounced ), officially the 'Republic of Bulgaria' (, ''Republika Bălgariya'', pronounced ) lies in
Southeastern Europe.
One of the cradles of European civilization,
[2][3]
Bulgaria may have fostered the world's oldest known
writing system, which was found engraved on the over 6000-year-old
Gradeshnitsa tablets.
[4][5]
currently preserved in the
Vratsa Museum.
[6]
The country's proto-modern statehood roots stem from the
Thracian civilization, whilst further sculpted by the
Greek and later the
Roman worlds of
antiquity. Indeed Bulgaria's civilized history dates back more than six millennia to a
prehistoric time and place within the heart of its territory that marks the birth of Europe's and possibly the world's first literary culture.
[1]
Modern Bulgaria borders five countries:
Romania to the north (mostly along the
Danube),
Serbia and the
Republic of Macedonia to the west, and
Greece and
Turkey to the south; as well as the
Black Sea, which makes up its entire eastern border. Bulgaria is situated in a region once inhabited by the ancient
Thracians and later by
Greeks and
Romans, and is a successor of a powerful
European
medieval empire, the First Bulgarian Empire, which at times covered most of the Balkans and spread its culture and literature among the
Slavic peoples of Eastern Europe. Centuries later, during the decline of the Second Bulgarian Empire, the country fell under five centuries of
Ottoman rule. Bulgaria was reestablished as a
constitutional monarchy in 1878, also known as the birth of the Third Bulgarian Empire. Part of the
Eastern Bloc after
World War II, today Bulgaria is a
democratic,
unitary,
constitutional republic, a member of the
European Union (since January 1st 2007) and
NATO (since March 29th 2004).
In 2006 Bulgaria attracted 5 million visitors for the whole year. To date in 2007, Bulgaria has attracted 4 million visitors.
Geography
Main articles: Geography of Bulgaria
Map of Bulgaria.
Geographically and in terms of climate, Bulgaria features notable diversity, with the landscape ranging from the
Alpine snow-capped peaks in
Rila,
Pirin and the
Balkan Mountains to the mild and sunny weather of the Black Sea coast, from the typically
continental Danubian Plain (ancient
Moesia) in the north to the strong
Mediterranean influence in the valleys of
Macedonia and the lowlands in the southernmost parts of
Thrace.
Bulgaria comprises portions of the classical regions of
Thrace,
Moesia, and
Macedonia. The southwest of the country is mountainous with two alpine ranges -
Rila and
Pirin, and further east are the lower but more extensive
Rhodope Mountains.
Rila mountain includes the highest peak of the Balkan Peninsula, peak
Musala at 2,925
m (9,596
ft); the long range of the
Balkan mountains runs west-east through the middle of the country, north of the famous
Rose Valley. Hilly country and plains are found in the southeast, along the
Black Sea coast in the east, and along Bulgaria's main river, the
Danube in the north. Other major rivers include the
Struma and the
Maritsa river in the south. There are around 260 glacial lakes situated in Rila and Pirin, several large lakes on the Black Sea coast and more than 2,200 dam lakes. Mineral springs are in great abundance located mainly in the south-western and central parts of the country along the faults between the mountains.
Bulgaria has a
temperate climate, with cool and damp winters, very hot and dry summers, and
Mediterranean influence along the Black Sea coast. The barrier effect of the Balkan Mountains influences climate throughout the country: Northern Bulgaria is slightly cooler and receives more rain than the southern regions. Average
precipitation in Bulgaria is about 630 millimetres per year. The driest areas are
Dobrudzha and the northern coastal strip, while the higher parts of the mountains Rila and Stara Planina receive the highest levels of precipitation. In summer, temperatures in the south of Bulgaria often exceed 40 degrees Celsius, but remain cooler by the coast. The highest recorded temperature is 46.7c near Plovdiv.
The country possesses relatively rich mineral resources, including vast reserves of
lignite and
anthracite coal; non-ferrous ores such as
copper,
lead,
zinc and
gold. It has large deposits of
manganese ore in the north-east. There are smaller deposits of
iron,
silver,
chromite,
nickel and others. Bulgaria is rich in non-metalliferous minerals such as
rock-salt,
gypsum,
kaolin,
marble.
The
Balkan peninsula derives its name from the ''Balkan'' or ''
Stara Planina'' mountain range, which runs through the centre of Bulgaria and extends into eastern
Serbia.
Bulgaria's larger cities include:
★
Sofia (1,380,406 inhabitants)
★
Plovdiv (376,918)
★
Varna (357,752)
★
Burgas (209,985)
★
Rousse (176,118)
★
Stara Zagora (163,193)
★
Pleven (121,700)
★
Dobrich (115,861)
★
Sliven (106,434)
★
Shumen (103,016)
Bulgaria operates a scientific
base on
Livingston Island in the
South Shetland Islands off
Antarctica.
History
Main articles: History of Bulgaria
Prehistory
The territory of modern-day Bulgaria, one of the cradles of European civilization
[8][9]
fostered the world's oldest known writing system, found engraved on the
Gradeshnitsa tablets,
[4][11]
which scholars have dated to over 6000 years ago and which
currently reside in the
Vratsa Museum.
[6]
The country's proto-modern statehood roots stem from the
Thracian civilization, whilst further influenced by the
Greek and later by the
Roman worlds of
antiquity. Bulgaria's civilized history dates back more than six millennia to a
prehistoric time and place within the heart of its territory that marks the birth of Europe's and possibly the world's first literary culture.
[11]
Though relatively small in terms of territory and population, Bulgaria has preserved continuous historical wealth throughout prominent cyclical eras of growth, decline and medieval renaissance — rivalling that of the much larger and more populous countries of China, India and Egypt.
Antiquity
The
Thracians, the earliest identifiable people to inhabit present-day Bulgaria, count as direct ancestors of the modern Bulgarian nation.
[14][15]
The Thracians lived divided into numerous separate tribes until King
Teres united most of them around 500 BC in the
Odrysian kingdom, which peaked under the kings
Sitalkes and
Cotys I (383-359 BC). In 188 BC, the
Romans invaded
Thrace and the wars with them continued to
45, when Thrace became a
Roman province.
Archeologists believe that the Thracians manufactured the oldest handcrafted gold treasure in the world, the 6,500-year old
Varna treasure of Eastern Bulgaria. One of the most talented ancient commanders,
Spartacus, was a
Thracian born in the middle
Struma region.
Old Great Bulgaria
In 632 the
Bulgars, led by Khan
Kubrat, formed an independent state called
Old Great Bulgaria, bounded by the
Danube delta to the west, the
Black Sea to the south, the
Caucasus to the southeast, and
Volga River to the east.
Byzantium recognized the new state by treaty in 635.
Pressure from the
Khazars led to the loss of the eastern part of Great Bulgaria in the second half of the seventh century. Some of the Bulgars from that territory later migrated to the northeast to form a new state called
Volga Bulgaria (around the confluence of the
Volga and
Kama Rivers), which lasted until the thirteenth century.
First Bulgarian Empire
Kubrat’s successor, Khan
Asparuh, migrated with some of the Bulgarian tribes to the lower courses of the rivers
Danube,
Dniester and
Dniepr (known as ''Ongal''), and conquered
Moesia and
Scythia Minor (
Dobrudzha) from the
Byzantine Empire, expanding Great Bulgaria further into the
Balkan Peninsula. Historians consider the peace treaty with Byzantium in 681 and the establishment of the new Bulgar capital of
Pliska south of the Danube as marking the beginning of the
First Bulgarian Empire. At the same time one of his brothers,
Kuber, settled with another Bulgar group in what is now
Macedonia.
In 718 the
Bulgarians raised the
Arab siege of
Constantinople, killing some 40,000-60,000 Arab soldiers. Contemporaries referred to the Bulgarian Khan
Tervel as "The Saviour of Europe". For centuries afterward Bulgarians and their allies saw themselves as the angel warriors of Europe.
The influence and territorial expansion of Bulgaria increased further during the rule of
Khan Krum who in 811 won a decisive victory against the Byzantine army led by
Nicephorus I in the
Battle of Pliska.
In 864 Bulgaria accepted the
Orthodox faith. The country became a major European power in the ninth and the tenth centuries, while fighting with the Byzantine Empire for the control of the Balkans. This happened under the rule of
Boris I. During his reign, the
Cyrillic alphabet was developed in
Preslav and
Ohrid, adapted from the Glagolitic alphabet created by the monks Sts Cyril and Methodius. Cyrillic alphabet became a pillar for further cultural development. Centuries later, this alphabet along with the Old Bulgarian language became the intellectual written language (lingua franca) for Eastern Europe, known as Church Slavonic. The greatest territorial extension was reached under
Simeon I, the first Bulgarian
Tsar,son of Boris I,
[16] covering most of the Balkans. However, his greatest achievement was that at that time Bulgaria developed rich, unique Christian Slavonic culture, which became an example for the other Slavonic peoples in Eastern Europe and ensured the continual existence of the Bulgarian nation regardless of the centrifugal forces that threatened to tear it into pieces throughout its long, rich and war-ridden history.
Following a decline in the mid tenth century (worn out by the wars with
Croatia and by frequent Serbian rebellions sponsored by Byzantine gold) Bulgaria collapsed in the face of an assault of the ''
Rus''' in 969. The Byzantines then began campaigns to conquer Bulgaria. In 971, they seized the capital
Preslav and captured Emperor
Boris II. Resistance continued under
Tsar Samuil in the western Bulgarian lands for nearly half a century until the state was completely destroyed by the
Byzantines led by
Basil II in 1018.
Byzantine Bulgaria
In the first decade after the establishment of Byzantine rule, no evidence remains of any major attempt for resistance or uprising of the Bulgarian population or nobility. Given the existence of such irreconcilable opponents to Byzantium as
Krakra,
Nikulitsa, Dragash and others, such apparent passivity seems difficult to explain. Some historians
[17] explain this fact by concessions that
Basil II granted the Bulgarian nobility in order to gain their obedience. In the first place,
Basil II guaranteed the indivisibility of Bulgaria in its former geographic borders and did not abolish officially the local rule of the Bulgarian nobility that now became part of
Byzantine aristocracy as
archons or
strategs. Second, the
autocephaly of the
Bulgarian Archbishopric of Ohrid was recognised by virtue of special charters (royal decrees) of
Basil II that set up its boundaries,
dioceses, property and other privileges. The people of Bulgaria challenged Byzantine rule several times in the 11th and then again later in the early 12th century. The biggest
Uprising was lead by
Peter II Delyan, who was proclaimed Emperor of Bulgaria in
Belgrade in 1040. In the mid to late 11th century, the Normans, fresh from their recent conquests in southern Italy and Sicily landed in the Balkans and began advancing against the Byzantine Empire. It took the Byzantines until 1185 before the Normans were driven out but until then they posed a constant threat to Byzantine Bulgaria. In 1091 another invasion came in the form of the
Pechenegs. However, these too were crushed at
Levounion and again in 'c'. 1120 by the Byzantine Empire. After that, the Hungarians made an attempt to increase their influence beyond the Danube river; John Comnenus' campaigns along the Danube eventually drove back the Hungarians as well by 'c'.1140. It would be another 45 years before Bulgaria would attain independence. Until that time, Bulgarian nobles ruled the province in the name of the Byzantine Empire until a rebellion by the last vassal lord led to the establishment of the
Second Bulgarian Empire.
Second Bulgarian Empire
A medieval fresco depicting St. Nicholas
From 1185 the
Second Bulgarian Empire once again established Bulgaria as an important
power in Europe for two more centuries. With its capital based in
Veliko Turnovo and under the
Asen dynasty, this empire fought for dominance in the region against the Byzantine Empire, the
Crusader states and
Hungary, reaching its zenith under
Ivan Asen II (1218–1241). Аs a result of the
Tatar invasions, of internal conflicts and of the constant attacks from the Byzantines and the Hungarians, the power of the country declined until the end of the 13th century. From 1300 under Emperor
Theodore Svetoslav Bulgaria regained its strength, but by the end of the fourteenth century the country had disintegrated into several feudal principalities and was eventually conquered by the
Ottoman Empire. A
Polish-
Hungarian crusade under the rule of
Władysław III of Poland to free the Balkans was crushed in 1444 in the
battle of Varna.
Ottoman rule
The five centuries of Ottoman rule featured great violence and oppression.
[18]
The Ottomans decimated the Bulgarian population, which lost most of its cultural relics. Large towns and the areas where Ottoman power was strong were severely depopulated until the nineteenth century.
[19]
The Kingdom of Bulgaria
Following the
Russo-Turkish War, 1877-78 (when Russian forces together with a Romanian expeditionary force and volunteer Bulgarian troops defeated the Ottoman forces), the
Treaty of San Stefano of
March 3,
1878, set up an autonomous Bulgarian principality. The Western
Great Powers immediately rejected the treaty: they feared that a large Slavic country in the
Balkans would serve Russian interests. This led to the
Treaty of Berlin (1878) which provided for an autonomous Bulgarian principality comprising
Moesia and the region of
Sofia. The first Bulgarian prince was
Alexander von Battenberg. Most of
Thrace was included in the autonomous region of
Eastern Rumelia, whereas the rest of Thrace and all of
Macedonia was returned under the sovereignty of the
Ottomans. After the
Serbo-Bulgarian War and
unification with
Eastern Rumelia in 1885, the principality was proclaimed a fully independent kingdom on
October 5 (
September 22 O.S.),
1908, during the reign of
Ferdinand I of Bulgaria.
Ferdinand, a prince from the ducal family of
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, became the Bulgarian Prince after
Alexander von Battenberg abdicated in 1886 following a ''coup d'état'' staged by pro-Russian army-officers. (Although the counter-''coup d'état'' coordinated by
Stefan Stambolov was successful, Battenberg decided not to remain Bulgarian prince without the approval of
Alexander III of Russia.) The struggle for liberation of the Bulgarians in the
Adrianople, Vilayet and Macedonia continued throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries culminating with the
Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising organised by the
Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization in 1903.
Veliko Tarnovo, the capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire (1185–1393).
The Balkan Wars and World War I
In 1912 and 1913 Bulgaria became involved in the
Balkan Wars, entering into conflict alongside Greece, Serbia and Montenegro against the Ottoman Empire. The campaign proved a success for the Bulgarian army, but unfortunately a conflict for the division of Macedonia aroused between the allies. The
Second Balkan War pitted Bulgaria against Greece and Serbia, who were joined by Romania and Turkey. After being defeated in the
Second Balkan War, Bulgaria lost considerable territory conquered in the first war, as well as
Southern Dobruja and parts of the
region of Macedonia
During
World War I, Bulgaria found itself fighting on the losing side as a result of its alliance with the
Central Powers. The defeat led to new territorial losses (the
Western Outlands to
Serbia,
Western Thrace to
Greece and the reconquered
Southern Dobruja to
Romania). The Balkan Wars and World War I led to the influx of over 250,000 Bulgarian refugees from
Macedonia,
Eastern and
Western Thrace and
Southern Dobruja. These numbers increased in the 1930s following Serbian state-sponsored aggression against its native Bulgarian population.
The interwar years
In September
1918 Tsar Ferdinand abdicated in favour of his son
Boris III in order to head off the revolutionary tendencies. Under the
Treaty of Neuilly (November
1919), Bulgaria ceded its Aegean coastline to Greece, recognized the existence of
Yugoslavia, ceded nearly all of its Macedonian territory to that new state, and had to give Dobruja back to the Romanians. The country was forced to reduce its army to 20,000 men, and pay reparations exceeding $400 million. In Bulgaria, the results of the treaty are popularly known as the Second National Catastrophe.
Elections in March
1920 gave the
Agrarians a large majority, and
Aleksandar Stamboliyski formed Bulgaria's first peasant government. He faced huge social problems, but succeeded in carrying out many social reforms, although opposition from the middle and upper classes, the landlords and the officers of the army was powerful. In March
1923 Stamboliyski signed an agreement with Yugoslavia recognising the new border and agreeing to suppress VMRO, which favoured a war to regain Macedonia for Bulgaria. This triggered a nationalist reaction, and on
9 June there was a coup after which Stamboliykski was assassinated. A right wing government under
Aleksandar Tsankov took power, backed by the army and the VMRO, who waged a
White terror against the Agrarians and the Communists. In
1926 the Tsar persuaded Tsankov to resign, a more moderate government under
Andrey Lyapchev took office and an amnesty was proclaimed, although the Communists remained banned. Popular alliance including the re-organised Agrarians won elections in
1931 under the name Popular Bloc.
In May 1934
another coup took place, removing the Popular Bloc from power and establishing an authoritarian military regime headed by
Kimon Georgiev. A year later the Tsar managed to remove the military regime from power, restoring a form of parliamentary rule without the re-establishment of the political parties and under his strict control. The Tsar's regime proclaimed neutrality but gradually Bulgaria gravitated into alliance with
Nazi Germany and
Fascist Italy.
World War II
After regaining control over
Southern Dobruja in 1940, Bulgaria became allied with the
Axis Powers, although no Bulgarian soldiers participated in the
war against the
USSR. During World War II
Nazi Germany allowed Bulgaria to occupy parts of
Greece and of
Yugoslavia, including territories long coveted by the Bulgarians. Bulgaria was one of three countries (with Finland and Denmark) that saved its entire Jewish population (around 50,000) from the
Nazi camps by refusing to comply with a
31 August 1943 resolution. But Jews in territories newly acquired from Greece and Yugoslavia were sent to death camps by the Bulgarian authorities on German request. In September 1944 the Soviet army entered Bulgaria, which enabled the Bulgarian Communists to later seize power and establish a Communist state. In 1944, Bulgaria's forces were turned against its former German ally (a 450,000 strong army in 1944, reduced to 130,000 in 1945). More than 20,000 Bulgarian soldiers and officers were killed in the war.
The People's Republic of Bulgaria
After World War II, Bulgaria fell within the Soviet sphere of influence. It became a
People's Republic in 1946 and one of the
USSR's staunchest allies. In the late 1970s it began normalizing relations with Greece, and in the 1990s with Turkey. The People's Republic ended in 1989 as many
Communist regimes in
Eastern Europe, as well as the Soviet Union itself, began to collapse. Opposition forces removed the Bulgarian Communist leader
Todor Zhivkov from power on
10 November 1989.
The Republic of Bulgaria
In February 1990 the Communist Party voluntarily gave up its monopoly on power, and in June 1990 the first free elections since 1931 took place, won by the moderate wing of the Communist Party, renamed the
Bulgarian Socialist Party. In July 1991 the country adopted a new Constitution which provided for a relatively weak elected President and for a Prime Minister accountable to the legislature.
The anti-Communist
Union of Democratic Forces took office, and between 1992 and 1994 carried through the privatization of land and industry, but faced massive unemployment and economic difficulties. The reaction against economic reform allowed BSP to take office again in 1995, but by 1996 the BSP government was also in difficulties, and in the presidential elections of that year the UDF's
Petar Stoyanov was elected. In 1997 the BSP government collapsed and the UDF came to power. Unemployment, however, remained high and the electorate became increasingly dissatisfied with both parties.
On
June 17,
2001 Simeon II, the son of Tsar Boris III and head of state as the Tsar of Bulgaria from 1943 to 1946, won a narrow victory in the democratic elections held. The king's party —
National Movement Simeon II ("NMSII") — won 120 out of 240 seats in Parliament and overturned the two pre-existing political parties. Simeon's popularity declined during his four-year rule as Prime Minister, and BSP won the elections in 2005 but could not form a single-party government and had to seek coalition.
Since 1989 Bulgaria has held multi-party
elections and privatized its economy, but economic difficulties and a tide of corruption have led over 800,000 Bulgarians, most of them qualified professionals, to emigrate.
Politics
A fresco depicting Desislava, a 13th century patron of the Church
Sofia has functioned as a centre of Christianity since the times of the Roman Empire
Bulgaria joined
NATO on
March 29,
2004 and signed the
Treaty of Accession on
25 April 2005. It became a full member of the
European Union on
1 January 2007. The country had joined the
United Nations in 1955, and became a founding member of
OSCE in 1995. As a Consultative Party to the
Antarctic Treaty, Bulgaria takes part in the governing of the territories situated south of 60° south latitude.
Georgi Parvanov, the
President of Bulgaria since
22 January 2002, won re-election on
29 October 2006 and began his second term in office in January 2007. Bulgarian presidents are directly elected for a five-year term with the right to one re-election. The president serves as the
head of state and commander in chief of the armed forces. He is also the head of the Consultative Council for National Security and, while unable to initiate
legislation other than Constitutional amendments, the President can return a bill for further debate, although the parliament can override the President's veto by vote of a majority of all MPs.
Since
18 August 2005 Sergey Stanishev as PM has chaired the
Council of Ministers, the principal body of the executive branch, which
presently consists of 20 ministers. The Prime Minister — usually nominated by the largest parliamentary group — is given a mandate by the President to form a cabinet.
The current governmental coalition comprises the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP),
National Movement Simeon II (NMSII) and the
Movement for Rights and Freedoms (representing mainly the
Turkish minority).
The Bulgarian
unicameral parliament, the National Assembly or
Narodno Sabranie (Народно събрание), consists of 240 deputies, each elected for four-year terms by popular vote. The votes are for party or coalition lists of candidates for each of the 28 administrative divisions. A party or
coalition must garner a minimum of 4% of the vote in order to enter parliament. Parliament is responsible for enactment of laws, approval of the budget, scheduling of presidential elections, selection and dismissal of the
Prime Minister and other ministers, declaration of war, deployment of troops outside of Bulgaria, and ratification of international treaties and agreements.
The last elections took place on June 2005. The next elections should take place in summer 2009.
The Bulgarian judicial system consists of regional, district and appeal courts, as well as a Supreme Court of Cassation. In addition, Bulgaria has a Supreme Administrative Court and a system of military courts. The Presidents of the Supreme Court of Cassation, Supreme Administrative Court and the Prosecutor General are elected by a qualified majority of two-thirds from all the members of the Supreme Judicial Council and are appointed by the President of the Republic. The Supreme Judicial Council is in charge of the self-administration and organization of the Judiciary.
The Constitutional Court supervises the review of the constitutionality of laws and statutes brought before it, as well as the compliance of these laws with international treaties that the Government has signed. Parliament elects the twelve members of the Constitutional Court by a two-thirds majority, the members serve a nine-year term.
The territory of the Republic of Bulgaria subdivides into provinces and municipalities. In all, Bulgaria has 28 provinces, each headed by a provincial governor appointed by the government. In addition, there are 263 municipalities.
Military
Main articles: Military of Bulgaria
The
Military of Bulgaria consists of three services: the
Bulgarian land forces,
Bulgarian Navy and
Bulgarian Air Force. The armed forces have as their patron saint ''Sveti Georgi'' (
St. George), and his feast day,
6 May, is also celebrated nationally as Valour and Army Day. Despite active participation in all major
European wars since the end of the
nineteenth century, Bulgarian forces have never lost a flag.
[20] Bulgaria first became a major military power in Europe under
Khan Krum and
Tzar Simeon I, in a series of wars with the
Byzantine Empire for control of the
Balkan Peninsula, in the late
ninth century. By the use of approximately 12,000 heavy
cavalry in tactics representing those of feudal
knights, Simeon I's forces were able to reach as far as the Byzantine capital,
Constantinople, in
896. A formal peace treaty lasted until 912 when both sides were engaged in a war which ended with several major defeats of the Byzantines including one of the bloodiest battles in the
Middle Ages at Anchialus in
917. Bulgaria again became a significant military power under the rule of the
Asen dynasty, in the
twelfth and
thirteenth centuries. During the rule of Tzar
Kaloyan (1197-1207), Bulgaria became the first European country to defeat the Crusader knights. Since gaining total independence from the
Ottoman Empire in 1878, Bulgaria has been a small European country, frequently included in plans and wars of the
Great Powers.
In 1913, Bulgarian forces introduced aviation bombardment, in the siege of
Odrin. Following a series of reductions beginning in 1989, the active troops of Bulgaria's army number as many as 68,450, today. Reserve forces include 303,000 soldiers and officers. "PLAN 2004," an effort to modernize Bulgaria's armed forces, aims to better meet the military needs of
NATO and the
European Union.
Bulgarian military personnel have participated in international missions in
Cambodia,
Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Kosovo,
Afghanistan and
Iraq. Starting in 2008, Bulgaria will completely abolish compulsory military service. Bulgaria's naval and air forces became fully professional in 2006, with the land forces scheduled to follow suit in 2008. Bulgaria's special forces have conducted missions with the
SAS,
Delta Force,
GSG-9, and the
Spetsnaz of Russia.
In April 2006 Bulgaria and the
United States of America signed a defense-cooperation agreement providing for the development of the Bulgarian air bases at
Bezmer (near
Yambol) and
Graf Ignatievo (near
Plovdiv), the
Novo Selo training range (near
Sliven), and a logistics centre in
Aytos as
joint US-Bulgarian military facilities. Bulgaria's navy is comprised mainly of Soviet-era ships, and two submarines. With only 354 km of coastline, assault by sea is not considered a major risk for Bulgaria. In the course of recent modernization efforts, one new frigate was purchased from
Belgium, and the navy is finalizing a deal with French company
DCN for the acquisition of four Gowind corvettes. Bulgaria's air forces also use a large amount of Soviet equipment. Plans to acquire transport and
attack helicopters are underway, in addition to a major overhaul on old Soviet weapon systems. Military spending accounts for nearly 2.6% of Bulgaria's
GDP.
[21]
Provinces and municipalities
Main articles: Provinces of Bulgaria,
Municipalities of Bulgaria
Between 1987 and 1999, Bulgaria consisted of nine provinces (''oblasti'', singular ''
oblast''); since 1999, it consists of twenty-eight. All provinces take their names from their respective capital cities:
The provinces subdivide into 287
municipalities.
Economy
Main articles: Economy of Bulgaria
Bulgaria's economy contracted dramatically after 1989 with the dissolution of the
Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON), with which the Bulgarian economy had integrated closely. The
standard of living fell by about 40%, but it regained pre-1990 levels in June 2004.
United Nations sanctions against
Yugoslavia and
Iraq took a heavy toll on the Bulgarian economy. The first signs of recovery emerged in 1994 when the
GDP grew and
inflation fell. During the government of
Zhan Videnov's cabinet in 1996, the economy collapsed due to lack of international economic support and an unstable banking system. Since 1997, the country has been on the path to recovery, with GDP growing at a 4% – 5% rate, increasing FDI, macroeconomic stability and
European Union membership.
The former NMSII government, elected in 2001, pledged to maintain the fundamental economic policy objectives adopted by its predecessor in 1997, specifically: retaining the Currency Board, practising sound financial policies, accelerating
privatisation, and pursuing structural reforms. Economic forecasts for 2005 and 2006 predict continued growth in the economy. The annual year-on-year GDP growth for 2005 and 2006 is expected to total 5.3% and 6.0%, respectively. Industrial output for 2005 was forecast to rise by 11.9% from the previous year, and for 2006 by 15.2%. Unemployment for 2005 was projected at 11.5%, 9% for 2006 and 7.25% for 2007
[22]. As of 2006 the GDP structure is: agriculture 8.0%; industry 26,1%; services 65.9%.
Agriculture
Agricultural output has decreased overall since 1989 but production has grown in
recent years. Farming is more important than stock-breeding. The prevalence of mechanisation is higher than most other Eastern European countries but there is lack of modern equipment. Alongside
aeroplanes and other equipment, there are over 150,000
tractors and 10,000
combine harvesters. Production of the most important crops is:
wheat 4,120,000 t;
sunflower 1,080,000 t;
maize 2,120,000 t;
grapes 500,000 t;
tobacco 79,000 t;
tomatoes 530,000 t;
barley 1,180,000 t;
potatoes 650,000 t;
peppers 213,000 t;
cucumbers 110,000 t;
cherries 75,000 t;
watermelons 420,000 t;
cabbage 340,000 t;
apples 150,000 t;
plums 150,000 t;
strawberries 52,000 t.
Industry
Industry plays a key role in the Bulgarian economy. Although Bulgaria is not very rich in reserves of oil, and gas, it is a major producer of electricity and the most important exporter in the region due to the
Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant with a total capacity of 2000 MW. Construction has
started on a second plant, the
Belene Nuclear Power Plant with a capacity of 2,000 MW. There is a $1,400,000,000 project for construction of an additional 670 MW for the 500 MW
Maritza Iztok 1 Thermal Power Plant
[23] (see
Energy in Bulgaria).
Ferrous
metallurgy has major importance. The production of
steel and
pig iron is concentrated in
Kremikovtsi and
Pernik. There is also a third metallurgical base in
Debelt. In production of steel and steel products per capita the country is first in the
Balkans.
The largest refineries for
lead and
zinc operate in
Plovdiv (the biggest refinery between Italy and the Ural mountains),
Kardzhali and
Novi Iskar; for
copper in
Pirdop and
Eliseina; for
aluminium in
Shumen. In production of many metals per capita, Bulgaria is first in
South Eastern Europe and among the first in
Europe and the world.
About 14% of the total industrial production relates to machine-building and 24% of the people are employed in this field. Its importance decreased since 1989 but is growing again.
Electronics and electric equipment-production have developed to a high degree. The largest centres are
Sofia,
Plovdiv and surrounding area,
Botevgrad,
Stara Zagora,
Varna,
Pravets and many others. These plants produce
household appliances,
computers,
CDs,
telephones,
medical and scientific equipment.
Many factories producing
transportation equipment do not work at full capacity. Plants produce
trains (
Burgas,
Dryanovo),
trams (
Sofia),
trolleys (
Dupnitsa),
buses (
Botevgrad),
trucks (
Shumen), motorcars (automotive assembly plant in
Lovech). The main centre of agricultural machinery is
Ruse. Shipbuilding is concentrated in
Varna,
Burgas and
Ruse. Arms production is mainly developed in central Bulgaria (
Kazanlak,
Sopot,
Karlovo).
Foreigners seeking additional homes have
recently boosted the Bulgarian property-market. Buyers come from right across Europe, but mostly from the
United Kingdom, encouraged by relatively cheap property and because the country is more accessible through cheap air travel.
[24]
Science, technology and telecommunications
Bulgaria offer excellent conditions for high-tech and telecommunication industries and services with its strategic location, highly-qualified workforce, macroeconomic stability, growing
domestic market and well-educated specialists due to country's traditionally strong
educational system, with one of the highest rankings of youth mathematicians and informaticians in the world. For these reasons some multinational companies chose to build their regional offices and headquarters in Bulgaria — even before Bulgaria joined the EU.
To date, the most notable is
Hewlett-Packard, which built its Global Service Centre for
Europe, the
Middle East and
Africa in Sofia.
Telecommunications has arguably grown faster than any other industry in the country. Three GSM mobile operators —
Globul,
Mobiltel and
Vivatel — provide almost 100% coverage. They have hundreds of service centres throughout the country, constantly growing in number and with incredible speed and, also, improving. More than 6,245,000 Bulgarians
[25] own mobile
cellular phones. Mobikom is the only NMT 450 mobile phone operator. Internet is available in each town and lately in most villages with a fast connectivity and
VoIP;
DSL connection in bigger cities is offered by
BTK. There are around 185,000
[26] Internet hosts.
The country has some precedents for its current science industry. The inventor of the earliest known electronic computer,
John Atanasoff, had Bulgarian ancestry. Bulgaria was a major supplier of scientific and research instruments for the
Soviet space programmes, was the first European country to develop serial computer production, and has experience in pharmaceutical research and development.
Bulgarian Academy of Sciences is the leading scientific institution in the country with most of the researchers working for its numerous branches.
Bulgaria hosts two major
astronomical observatories: the
Rozhen Observatory, the biggest in
South Eastern Europe; and the
Belogradchik Observatory with three
telescopes.
Transport
Main articles: Transport in Bulgaria
Bulgaria occupies a unique and strategically important geographic location. Since ancient times, the country has served as a major crossroad between
Europe,
Asia and
Africa. Five of the ten Trans-European corridors run through its territory. The total length of the roads is 102,016 km of which 93,855 km are paved and 416 km are motorways. Several motorways are planned, under construction or partially built:
Trakiya motorway,
Hemus motorway,
Cherno More motorway,
Struma motorway,
Maritza motorway and
Lyulin motorway. Other motorways are planned but their final track is yet to be decided. They include a link between the capital
Sofia and
Vidin, a link between the Struma and Trakiya motorways south of
Rila Mountain, a link between
Rousse and
Veliko Tarnovo, and the
Sofia ringroad. Many roads have been recently reconstructed. The length of railways is 6,500 km of which more than 60% are electrified. There is a €360,000,000 project for the modernization and electrification of the
Plovdiv-
Kapitan Andreevo railway.
Air transportation has developed relatively comprehensively. There are formally six international airports at
Sofia,
Burgas,
Varna,
Plovdiv,
Rousse and
Gorna Oryahovitsa. Massive investment plans exist for the first three. There are important domestic airports in
Vidin,
Pleven,
Silistra,
Targovishte,
Stara Zagora,
Kardzhali,
Haskovo and
Sliven. After the fall of communism in 1989, most of them are not used as the importance of domestic flights declined. There are many military airports and agricultural airfields. 128 of the 213
airports in Bulgaria are paved. The ports of
Varna and
Burgas are by far the most important and have the largest turnover. Other than Burgas,
Sozopol,
Nesebar and
Pomorie are big fishing ports. The largest ports on the Danube River are
Rousse and
Lom which serves the capital. There is well organised public transport in the cities and in many smaller towns. There are buses, trolleys (in about 20 cities) and trams (in Sofia). The
Sofia Metro in the capital is to have three lines with total length of about 48 km and 52 stations, but only a section is currently completed.
Demographics
The
Rila Monastery, one of Bulgaria's most important cultural and historical monuments
According to the 2001
census,
[27]
Bulgaria's population consists mainly of
ethnic Bulgarian (83.9%), with two sizable minorities,
Turks (9.4%) and
Roma (4.7%). Of the remaining 2.0%, 0.9% comprises some 40 smaller minorities, the most numerous of which are the
Russians,
Armenians,
Vlachs,
Jews,
Crimean Tatars and
Karakachans. The number of people who identify themselves as Macedonians ranges from 3,012 in
Blagoevgrad Province to 5,018 in the whole country according to 2001 census (see official results in Bulgarian
here). 1.1% did not declare their ethnicity.
84.8% of the population speak
Bulgarian as their mother-tongue. Bulgarian, a member of the
Slavic language group, remains the only official language, but other languages (such as
Turkish and
Romany) are spoken corresponding closely to ethnic breakdown.
The country's
Roma population is estimated at between 400,000 and 800,000.
[2]
Most Bulgarians (82.6%) belong, at least nominally, to the
Bulgarian Orthodox Church, the national
Eastern Orthodox church. Other religious denominations include
Islam (12.2%), various
Protestant denominations (0.8%),
Roman Catholicism (0.5%), with other denominations, atheists and undeclared numbering ca. 4.1%.
In the recent years Bulgaria has had one of the slowest population growth-rates in the world. Growth has been negative since the early 1990s,
[28]
due to the economic collapse and high emigration. In 1988 the population was 8,859,000 people, and in 2001 7,950,000. Now Bulgaria suffers a heavy demographic crisis .Bulgaria's fertility rate is currently 1.4 child per woman as of 2007 and is going to reach 1.7 by the end of 2050.Replacements revel fertility rate is needed to reach 2.2 to continue the natural increase in the nation.
Culture
The Roman Theatre in Plovdiv
A country often described as lying at the crossroads linking the
East and
West, Bulgaria functioned as the centre of
Slavic Europe during much of the Middle Ages, exerting considerable literary and cultural influence over the Eastern Orthodox Slavic world by means of the
Preslav and
Ohrid Literary Schools. Bulgaria is also the birthplace of the
Cyrillic alphabet, the second most widely used
alphabet in the world, which was developed in these two schools in the tenth century.
Bulgaria is well-known for its rich folklore, distinctive traditional music, rituals and tales, but the country's contribution to humanity also continued in the nineteenth and twentieth century, when individuals such as
John Atanasoff - born in USA with Bulgarian origin, regarded as the father of the
digital computer, a number of noted opera singers (
Nicolai Ghiaurov,
Boris Christoff,
Raina Kabaivanska,
Ghena Dimitrova),
Anna Veleva, and successful artists (
Christo Javacheff,
Pascin,
Vladimir Dimitrov) popularized the culture of Bulgaria abroad.
A number of ancient civilizations, most notably the
Thracians,
Greeks,
Romans,
Slavs and
Bulgars, have left their mark on the culture, history and heritage of Bulgaria. The country has nine
UNESCO World Heritage Sites:
★ two Thracian tombs (one in
Sveshtari and one in
Kazanlak)
★ three monuments of medieval Bulgarian culture (the
Boyana Church, the
Rila Monastery and the
Rock-hewn Churches of Ivanovo)
★ two examples of natural beauty: the
Pirin National Park and the
Srebarna Nature Reserve
★ the ancient city of
Nesebar, a unique combination of European cultural interaction, as well as, historically, one of the most important centres of naval trade in the Black Sea.
★ the
Varna Necropolis, a 3500-3200 BC burial site, purportedly contains the oldest examples of worked gold in the world
Tourism
Main articles: Tourism in Bulgaria
Church of St John the Baptist (11th century) in
Nessebar
In winter,
Samokov,
Borovets,
Bansko and
Pamporovo become well-attended ski-resorts. There are summer resorts on the Black Sea at
Sozopol,
Nessebur,
Golden Sands,
Sunny Beach,
Sveti Vlas,
Albena,
Saints Constantine and Helena and many others. Spa resorts such as
Bankya,
Hisarya,
Sandanski,
Velingrad,
Varshets and many others are popular all over the year. Bulgaria is becoming an attractive destination because of the quality of the resorts and prices below those found in Western Europe.
Bulgaria has enjoyed a substantial growth in income from international tourism over the
past decade. Beach resorts are popular with tourists from
Germany,
Russia,
Scandinavia, the
Netherlands and the
United Kingdom. The ski resorts are a favourite destination for
British and
Irish tourists.
Bulgaria now attracts close to 5 million visitors yearly. Tourism in Bulgaria makes a major contribution towards Bulgaria's annual economic growth of 6%-6.5%.
Sports
Main articles: Sport in Bulgaria
Football has become by far the most popular sport in the country. Many Bulgarian fans follow closely the top Bulgarian league, the
Bulgarian "A" Professional Football Group, as well as the leagues of other European countries, such as those of
Spain,
England,
Italy and
Germany. The
Bulgaria national football team achieved its greatest success with a fourth-place finish at the
1994 FIFA World Cup in the
United States. Certainly, the best known Bulgarian footballer is
Hristo Stoichkov. He is widely regarded as one of the world's finest football players in the world , at the peak of his career between 1992 and 1995, while playing for
FC Barcelona winning the
Ballon d'Or in 1994. Additionally, he was named in the
FIFA 100 ranking.
Georgi Asparuhov-Gundi (1943-1971), was himself extremely popular at home and abroad having had offers from clubs in Italy and Portugal. He died tragically in a car accident at the peak of his career. He was awarded Bulgarian football player №1 for the twentieth century.
PFC CSKA Sofia (champion of Bulgaria 30 times) and
PFC Levski Sofia (25 times champion of Bulgaria and 26 times holder of the National Cup as of 2007) are the most successful Bulgarian football clubs. Other popular clubs include
PFC Lokomotiv Sofia,
PFC Litex Lovech,
PFC Cherno More Varna,
PFC Lokomotiv Plovdiv and
PFC Botev Plovdiv (the oldest club in Bulgaria,est. 1912). PFC Levski Sofia is the first Bulgarian team to have participated in the modern
UEFA Champions League (after 1989) having achieved this by qualifying for the
2006/2007 competition.
Aside from football, Bulgaria boasts great achievements in a great variety of other sports.
Maria Gigova and
Maria Petrova each have a record of three world-titles in
rhythmic gymnastics. Other famous gymnasts include
Simona Peycheva,
Neshka Robeva (a highly successful coach as well) and
Yordan Yovtchev. Bulgarians also dominate in
weightlifting, with around 1,000 gold medals in different competitions, and in
wrestling;
Stefan Botev,
Nickolai Peshalov,
Demir Demirev and
Yoto Yotov figure among the most distinguished weightlifters and
Serafim Barzakov,
Armen Nazarian,
Plamen Slavov,
Kiril Sirakov and
Sergey Moreyko rank as world-class wrestlers. Bulgarians also take great pride in the country's achievements in athletics.
Stefka Kostadinova, who still holds the women's
high jump world record, jumped 209 centimetres at the
1987 World Championships in Athletics in Rome to clinch the coveted title. Presently, Bulgaria is proud of its sprinters, namely
Ivet Lalova and
Tezdzhan Naimova.
Volleyball recently marked a big resurgence. The
Bulgarian national volleyball team is one of the strongest teams in Europe, currently ranked fifth in the
FIVB ranklist. At the
2006 Volleyball World Championship, they won the bronze medal.
Chess is also very popular. One of the top chess-masters in the world,
Veselin Topalov, is Bulgarian. At the end of 2005, both men's and women's world chess champions were Bulgarian as well as the junior world champion.
Albena Denkova and
Maxim Staviski have won the ISU world figure skating championships twice in a row (2006 and 2007) for ice dance.
Religion
Main articles: Religion in Bulgaria
Most citizens of Bulgaria have associations — at least nominally — with the
Bulgarian Orthodox Church. Founded in 870 AD under the Patriarchate of Constantinople (from which it obtained its first
primate, its clergy and theological texts), the Bulgarian Orthodox Church has had
autocephalous status since 927. The Bulgarian Patriarchate was established in Sofia after the creation of the Bulgarian Exarchate, in 1870. The Bulgarian Orthodox Church is the independent national church of Bulgaria like the other national branches of
Eastern Orthodoxy and is considered an inseparable element of Bulgarian national consciousness. The church became subordinate within the
Patriarchate of Constantinople, twice during the periods of Byzantine (1018 – 1185) and Ottoman (1396 – 1878) domination but has been revived every time as a symbol of Bulgarian statehood without breaking away from the Orthodox dogma. In 2001, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church had 6,552,000 members in Bulgaria (82.6% of the population). However, many people raised during the 45 years of
communist rule are not religious, even though they may formally be members of the church.
Despite the dominant position of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church in Bulgarian cultural life, a number of Bulgarian citizens belong to other religious denominations, most notably
Islam,
Roman Catholicism and
Protestantism.
Islam came to Bulgaria at the end of the fourteenth century after the conquest of the country by the
Ottomans. It gradually gained ground throughout the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries through the introduction of
Turkish colonists and the conversion of native Bulgarians. At the time of Liberation (1878) no less than 40% of the population professed Islam, but by the end of the Liberation,
ethnic cleansing had led to a major decrease in
Muslim populations.
[29]
In 2001 Bulgaria had 967,000
Muslims, accounting for 12.2% of the total population.
In the 16th and the 17th centuries, missionaries from Rome converted Bulgarian
Paulicians in the districts of
Plovdiv and
Svishtov to
Roman Catholicism. Today, their descendants form the bulk of Bulgarian Catholics whose number stands at 44,000 in 2001.
Protestantism was introduced in Bulgaria by missionaries from the United States in 1857. Missionary work continued throughout the second half of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century. In 2001, there were some 42,000
Protestants in Bulgaria.
According to the most recent Eurostat "Eurobarometer" poll, in 2005,
[30] only 40% of Bulgarian citizens responded that "they believe there is a God", whereas 40% answered that "they believe there is some sort of spirit or life force", 13% that "they do not believe there is a God, spirit, nor life force", and 6% did not answer.
View of the Pirin National Park.
Facts
★ Founded in
681, Bulgaria ranks as the oldest existing state in
Europe in terms of internationally recognized independence (
635).
★ Bulgaria ranks third in the world according to the number of cultural and historical sites, after Greece and Italy.
★ The country produces half of the
rose oil in the world.
★ In many agricultural productions per capita, the country is among the top 10 in the world (tomatoes, peppers, tobacco, sunflower seed, lavender, strawberries and others)
★ The
first air-dropped bomb in
military history was developed by the Bulgarian Air Force during the
First Balkan War[31] and used on
16 October 1912 by Lieuts.
Radul Milkov and
Prodan Tarakchiev.
Rayna Kasabova was the first woman ever to take part in a combat air mission, accomplished on
30 October 1912.
★ A developer of the
combined oral contraceptive pill,
Carl Djerassi has Bulgarian ancestry.
★
Bulgarian Beach on
Livingston Island in the
South Shetland Islands,
Antarctica takes its name from Bulgaria.
★ World's first digital wristwatch was developed by the Bulgarian
Peter Petroff.
★ Bulgaria is the birthplace of the
Cyrillic alphabet.
★ In the modern history Bulgaria never lost a flag, captured by an enemy army.
See also
★
History of Communist Bulgaria
Notes
1. This article uses the official Bulgarian transliteration system to romanize Bulgarian Cyrillic. For details, see Romanization of Bulgarian.
2.
http://www.coronetbooks.com/books/new/bulg1763.html
3.
http://www.altours-bg.com/Altours_files/treasures.htm
4.
http://www.sofiaecho.com/article/reading-room-decoding-thracian-history-the-symbols-of-a-primitive-people/id_15359/catid_70
5.
http://arheologie.ulbsibiu.ro/publicatii/ats/ats5/2merlini.htm>
6.
http://www.omda.bg/ENGL/history/selishte21_engl.htm
7. http://www.journey.bg/bulgaria/bulgaria.php?guide=1519
8.
http://www.coronetbooks.com/books/new/bulg1763.html]
9.
http://www.altours-bg.com/Altours_files/treasures.htm]
10.
http://www.sofiaecho.com/article/reading-room-decoding-thracian-history-the-symbols-of-a-primitive-people/id_15359/catid_70
11.
http://arheologie.ulbsibiu.ro/publicatii/ats/ats5/2merlini.htm
12.
http://www.omda.bg/ENGL/history/selishte21_engl.htm
13.
http://arheologie.ulbsibiu.ro/publicatii/ats/ats5/2merlini.htm
14.
http://www.links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0009-840X(193102)1%3A45%3A1%3C41%3ADADBUD%3E2.0.CO%3B2-H
15.
http://www.legmed.ro/files/revista/2004-4/02-Cardos-%20MtDNA.pdf
16. Fine, The Early Medieval Balkans, pp. 144-148.
17. Zlatarski, vol. II, pp. 1-41
18.
http://pravoslavie.domainbg.com/20/documenti/islam_politika.html
19. Bulgaria Illustrated History, Bojidar Dimitrov, PhD., Author, BORIANA Publishing House 2002, ISBN 9545000449
20. http://www.motoroads.com/why_bul_history.html
21. http://www.theodora.com/wfbcurrent/bulgaria/bulgaria_military.html
22. http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/06/19/business/EU-FIN-ECO-Bulgaria-Growth.php
23. http://www.alstom.cz/boilers/en/enovinky.html#3
24. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/working_lunch/6172095.stm
25. http://www.theodora.com/wfbcurrent/bulgaria/bulgaria_communications.html
26. http://www.theodora.com/wfbcurrent/bulgaria/bulgaria_communications.html Statistics of Bulgarian communications
27.
National Statistical Institute of Bulgaria, retrieved July 31, 2006
28.
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2287183,00.html
29.
Death and Exile: The Ethnic Cleansing of Ottoman Muslims, 1821-1922, , J., McCarthy, Darwin Press, 1996, ISBN 0878500944
30.
Social values, science and technology
31. https://www.airforcehistory.hq.af.mil/PopTopics/histechintel.htm
Further reading
★ Raymond Detrez. ''Historical Dictionary of Bulgaria'' Second Edition. 2006. lxiv + 638 pp. Maps, bibliography, appendix, chronology. ISBN 978-0-8108-4901-3.
★ RJ Crampton. ''A Concise History of Bulgaria''
★ Lampe, John R., and Marvin R. Jackson. ''Balkan Economic History, 1550-1950: From Imperial Borderlands to Developing Nations.'' 1982.
online edition
★ Lampe, John R. ''The Bulgarian Economy in the Twentieth Century.'' 1986.
Pre 1939
★ Hall, Richard C. ''Bulgaria's Road to the First World War.'' Columbia University Press, 1996.
★ Mercia MacDermott; ''A History of Bulgaria, 1393-1885'' (1962)
online edition
★ Duncan M. Perry; ''Stefan Stambolov and the Emergence of Modern Bulgaria, 1870-1895'' (1993)
online edition
★ Steven Runciman; ''A History of the First Bulgarian Empire'' (1930)
online edition
★
Prof. Dr. (Васил Н. Златарски, История на българската държава през средните векове, Част II, II изд., Наука и изкуство, София 1970.)
World War II
★
Michael Bar-Zohar. ''Beyond Hitler's Grasp: The Heroic Rescue of Bulgaria's Jews''
★
Stephane Groueff. ''Crown of Thorns: The Reign of King Boris III of Bulgaria, 1918–1943''
★
Tzvetan Todorov ''The Fragility of Goodness: Why Bulgaria's Jews Survived the Holocaust''
Communist era
★ Tzvetan Todorov. ''Voices from the Gulag: Life and Death in Communist Bulgaria''
★ Alexenia Dimitrova. ''The Iron Fist - Inside the Bulgarian secret archives''
Contemporary
★ John D. Bell, ed. ''Bulgaria in Transition: Politics, Economics, Society, and Culture after Communism'' (1998)
online edition
Guide-books
★ ''Blue Guide: Bulgaria'' James Pettifer
★ Paul Greenway, ''Lonely Planet World Guide: Bulgaria''
★ Timothy Rice, ''Music of Bulgaria''
★ Jonathan Bousfield. ''The Rough Guide To Bulgaria''
External links
Official
★
Council of Ministers
★
Diplomatic missions Portal of Bulgaria abroad
★
European Youth Parliament - Bulgaria
★
The Presidential official site
★
Narodno Sabranie - The National Assembly
★
Ministry of Education
★
Ministry of Agriculture & Forestry
★
Ministry of Culture
★
Ministry of Defense
★
Ministry of State Policy for Disasters and Accidents
★
Ministry of Economy and Energy
★
Ministry of Environment and Water
★
Ministry of European Affairs
★
Ministry of Finance
★
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
★
Ministry of Health
★
Ministry of Interior
★
Ministry of Justice
★
Ministry of Labor & Social Policy
★
Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works
★
Ministry of Public Administration
★
Ministry of Transport
★
Ministry of Energy and Energy Resources - apparently cancelled. more official information at
this link
★
State Agency for Tourism
★
State Agency for Youth and Sport
★
State Agency for Information Technology and Communications
★
National Radio
★
Antarctic Place-names Commission of Bulgaria
English-language Bulgarian media
★
Bulgarian News Agency
★
Radio Bulgaria – the world service of the Bulgarian National Radio
★
Dnevnik News
★
The Bulgarian Post
★
Focus English News
★
Sofia News Agency
★
Southeast European Times
★
Standart (daily)
★
The Sofia Echo (weekly)
★
The Frontier Times — Bulgaria's English Language Newspaper (monthly)
★
Bulgaria Info Online Magazine — Free online monthly magazine all about BG
Other
★
Bulgarians Abroad - New website for the Bulgarian community abroad
★
Bulgaria at Wikitravel - Travel Guide and tourist information on Bulgaria
★
Bulgarian musical instruments
★
Bulgarian Folklore (Eurofolk)
★
★
Free images from bulgaria with high resolution under CC 2.5
★
Bulgarian cities, villages and resorts - Statistical information: population, area size, geo coordinates, distances, postal and phone codes
★
Treasures of the National Library of Bulgaria displayed via
The European Library
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