Bulgaria

Bulgaria, officially Republic of Bulgaria, Bulgarian Republika Bŭlgariya , Country, southeastern Europe.

Area: 42,858 sq mi (111,002 sq km). Population: (2010 est.) 7,562,000. Capital: Sofia. Bulgarians make up the great majority of the population; smaller ethnic groups include Turks, Roma (Gypsies), and Macedonians. Languages: Bulgarian (official), regional dialects. Religions: Christianity (predominantly Eastern Orthodox; also other Christians); also Islam. Currency: lev. Three major regions define the landscape. The northernmost is the Danubian Plain, a fertile area occupying one-third of the country. Immediately south lie the Balkan Mountains (Stara Planina). In the southwest and south lie the Rhodope Mountains, with the country’s highest point, Musala Peak, rising 9,596 ft (2,925 m). Smaller than the three major regions, Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast is a popular eastern European resort area. Major drainage systems include the Black and Aegean seas. Bulgaria had a planned economy modeled on the Soviet system (1946–89). Since 1991 the noncommunist government has privatized some sectors of the economy, including agriculture. Bulgaria is a unitary multiparty republic with one legislative body; its head of state is the president, and its head of government is the prime minister. Evidence of human habitation dates from prehistoric times. Thracians were the first recorded inhabitants, dating from c. 3500 bce, and their first state dates from about the 5th century bce. The area was subdued by the Romans, who divided it into the provinces of Moesia and Thrace. In the 7th century ce the Bulgars took the region south of the Danube River. The Byzantine Empire in 681 formally recognized Bulgar control over the area between the Balkans and the Danube, though it would again dominate Bulgaria from the early 11th century to the late 12th century. Late in the 14th century Bulgaria fell to the Ottoman Turks and again lost its independence. At the end of the Russo-Turkish War (1877–78), Bulgaria rebelled. The ensuing Treaty of San Stefano was unacceptable to the great powers, and the Congress of Berlin (1878) resulted. In 1908 the Bulgarian ruler, Ferdinand, declared Bulgaria’s independence. After its involvement in the Balkan Wars (1912–13), Bulgaria lost territory. It sided with the Central Powers in World War I and with Germany in World War II. A communist coalition seized power in 1944, and in 1946 a people’s republic was declared. With other eastern European countries in the late 1980s, Bulgaria experienced political unrest; its communist leader resigned in 1989. A new constitution that proclaimed a republic was implemented in 1991. Economic turmoil followed Bulgaria into the 21st century as it sought political stability; it joined NATO in 2004.

Bulgaria, officially Republic of Bulgaria, Bulgarian Republika Bŭlgariya , country occupying the eastern portion of the Balkan Peninsula in southeastern Europe. Founded in the 7th century, Bulgaria is one of the oldest states on the European continent. It is intersected by historically important routes from northern and eastern Europe to the Mediterranean basin and from western and central Europe to the Middle East. Even before the creation of the Bulgarian state, the empires of ancient Rome, Greece, and Byzantium were a strong presence, and people and goods traveled the land with frequency. Though seemingly antithetical to the emergence of independent Bulgaria, centuries of Ottoman rule were fundamental to Bulgaria’s development, and Turkish elements are visible in Bulgarian architecture and folk songs and dances.

Bulgaria gained its independence in the late 19th century, joined the losing side of several conflagrations in the first half of the 20th century, and, despite gravitating toward the Axis powers in World War II, found itself within close orbit of the Soviet Union by mid-century. This alliance had profound effects on the Bulgarian state and psyche, altering everything from land use and labour practices to religion and the arts. As communist governments fell in eastern Europe in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Bulgaria was suddenly released from the magnetic field of the Soviet giant and drifted into the uneasy terrain of postcommunism. Today its gaze is firmly fixed on the West; Bulgaria became a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 2004 and of the European Union (EU) in 2007. The members of the EU engage in the bulk of Bulgarian trade.

Bulgaria formed cultural and political ties to western Europe centuries ago, but its legacy of socialism and its halting steps toward free-market capitalism have kept the relationship somewhat distant. Similarly, Bulgaria has only recently come to good terms with its Balkan neighbours, following a series of joint treaties. In fits and starts, with some success and some failure, Bulgaria has weathered the transition to a post-Soviet world.

The country is remarkable for its variety of scenery; its rugged mountains and relaxing Black Sea resorts attract many visitors. Like other nations of the Balkan Peninsula, Bulgaria claims a mix of Eastern and Western cultures, and the mingling is evident in its cuisine, its architecture, and its religious heritage. Though located in western Bulgaria, the capital, Sofia, is neatly positioned near the geographic centre of the Balkan region, and in nearly every other respect it occupies the central position within Bulgaria. With more than one million inhabitants, Sofia has three times as many people as the next largest cities, Plovdiv and Varna. The Bulgarian writer Yordon Radichkov has placed the capital along the axis of two major transnational routes: 1) the historic man-made Silk Road that connects China and the West, and 2) a major natural path of migrating birds known as the “grand route of Aristotle.” According to Radichkov, “The universal core of Bulgaria is to be found at the crossroads of these two routes.”