Sofia Introduction Page

Click here for three detailed maps of Bulgaria.

Thumbnail Historical Sketch of Bulgaria
A predominantly Turkic tribe from the lower Volga River region, the Bulgars arrived in the seventh century just after the Slavs. Combining cultures, these peoples created a Bulgarian Empire that stretched from the Black Sea to the Adriatic and that gave its name to the much smaller modern country. Mostly, Orthodox Christians, Bulgarians speak one of Europe's oldest written languages, which is related to Macedonian, Serbo-Croatian, and Slovenian.

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Bulgarians and Byzantines vied for control here until Ottomans took over in 1453. As the Ottoman Empire faded, a Bulgarian state emerged in 1878, gaining full independence in 1908. It did not include the former Bulgarian territories or Macedonia or Thrace, however, and Bulgaria tried unsuccessfully for decades to regain them. In the interest of Balkan stability Bulgaria recognized all the Slavic countries seceding from Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, including Macedonia, but has not become involved in their civil strife.

Source: National Geographic Society

Thumbnail Sketches of Three Bulgaria Neighbors

Romania
In A.D. 106 Romans conquered the indigenous Dacians and created the province of Dacia which occupied the area of modern Romania. Between 271 and the tenth century a series of migrating tribes invaded the region. Finally the Magyars moved into Transylvania, and Moldavia and Walachia became feudal states. After more than three centuries of Ottoman rule, Moldavia and Walachia joined to create Romania. Disputed during the period of the World Wars, Transylvania has ended up as part of Romania.

Turkey
Events in former Ottoman territories continue to involve Turkey, once the seat of the empire. In the face of repression, some half million Turks left Bulgaria for Turkey between 1923 and 1989, creating tension between the two countries. On Cyprus in 1974 Turkey supported minority Turks in a war against Cypriot Greeks, adding to the historical Turkish-Greek rivalry. The fate of minority Muslims in countries that were part of the old Yugoslavia also concerns Turkey, which joined other NATO members and their allies in stopping the recent ethnic war in Bosnia.

Greece
The first state to break away from the Ottomans, Greece won independence in 1830. Relations with Turkey, a fellow NATO member and rival for influence in the Balkans, remain difficult. In one of the region's most contentious issues, Greece believes that the name of the ancient empire of Macedonia should not be applied to a modern country and insists of referring to its northern neighbor as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. In the Bosnian war Greece sided with Serbia, which initially supported its stand on Macedonia. Turkey-and the rest of NATO-backed the Bosnian Muslims.

Source: National Geographic Society

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