Bulgaria Map

Description: This map shows governmental boundaries of countries; provinces, province capital cities, and major cities and towns in Bulgaria.

Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe, in the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula. It borders Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, and the Black Sea to the east. It covers 110,994 square kilometres, and the 2021 census recorded about 6.5 million people. Sofia is the capital and largest city. Other major cities include Plovdiv, Varna and Burgas.

History

People have lived in what is now Bulgaria since prehistoric times. The Varna Necropolis dates to the 5th millennium BC and contains some of the oldest worked gold artefacts ever found. In antiquity the region was home to the Thracians. It later came under Persian, Macedonian and Roman rule.

The First Bulgarian Empire was founded in 681 under Khan Asparuh. Christianity became the state religion in 864 under Boris I. In the late 9th and 10th centuries the state became a major centre of Slavic literature and culture, and the Cyrillic script was developed in the literary schools of Preslav and Ohrid. The Byzantine Empire conquered the empire in 1018. After an uprising led by the brothers Asen and Peter in 1185, the Second Bulgarian Empire was established. The Ottoman Empire conquered it in the late 14th century.

Bulgaria spent nearly five centuries under Ottoman rule. The Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 ended it, and the Principality of Bulgaria was established in 1878. In 1885 it unified with Eastern Rumelia, and in 1908 it declared full independence as a tsardom. Bulgaria fought in the Balkan Wars and sided with the Central Powers in World War I. In World War II it joined the Axis powers. After the Soviet army entered the country in 1944, a communist government took power, and in 1946 the country became the People's Republic of Bulgaria.

Communist rule ended in 1989. A new constitution was adopted in 1991. Bulgaria joined NATO in 2004 and the European Union on 1 January 2007.

Geography

Bulgaria's terrain is varied. The Balkan Mountains run across the country from west to east. To their north lies the Danubian Plain, and to their south the Upper Thracian Plain. The Rila, Pirin and Rhodope mountain ranges are in the south and southwest. Musala, in the Rila Mountains, rises to 2,925 metres and is the highest peak on the Balkan Peninsula. For most of its length, the Danube forms the border with Romania.

The climate is mainly temperate continental, with Mediterranean influences in the south and milder conditions along the Black Sea coast.

Politics and administration

Bulgaria is a unitary parliamentary republic. Legislative power belongs to the unicameral National Assembly, which has 240 members. The president is the head of state, and the prime minister leads the government. The country is divided into 28 provinces and 265 municipalities.

Demographics

The 2021 census found that about 84.6% of the population identified as ethnic Bulgarians. The largest minorities were Turks, at about 8.4%, and Roma, at about 4.4%. Bulgarian, a South Slavic language written in Cyrillic, is the official language. Most religious people belong to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, and there is a significant Muslim minority. Since the late 1980s the population has fallen sharply because of emigration and low birth rates.

Economy

Bulgaria has an open market economy in which services, industry and agriculture are the main sectors. Key industries include energy, mining, metallurgy, machine building and information technology. The Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant produces a large share of the country's electricity. Bulgaria is also one of the world's leading producers of rose oil, most of which comes from the Rose Valley near Kazanlak.

Culture

Bulgaria has ten UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Among them are the Rila Monastery, the Boyana Church, the Madara Rider, the Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak and the Ancient City of Nessebar. Living traditions include kukeri rituals, the martenitsa custom, celebrated on 1 March, and nestinarstvo, a fire-dancing ritual. The bacterium Lactobacillus bulgaricus, which is used to make yogurt, is named after the country.