Everything about Republic Of Bulgaria totally explained
Bulgaria ( located in
Southeastern Europe, bordering five other 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. The
Black Sea defines the extent of the country to the east.
Bulgaria comprises the
classical regions of
Moesia,
Thrace, and
Macedonia.
Old European culture in the region started to produce
golden artifacts by the fifth millennium BCE.
The country preserves the traditions (in ethnic name, language, and alphabet) of the
First Bulgarian Empire (632/681 1018), which at times covered most of the Balkans and spread its alphabet, literature and culture among the
Slavic and other peoples of Eastern Europe. Centuries later, with the decline of the
Second Bulgarian Empire (1185 1396/1422), the country came under
Ottoman rule for nearly five centuries. Diplomacy re-established Bulgaria as a
constitutional monarchy in 1878, with the
Treaty of San Stefano marking the birth of the
Third Bulgarian Kingdom. After
World War II, Bulgaria became a
communist state and part of the
Eastern Bloc. In 1990, after the
Revolutions of 1989, the
Communist party gave up its monopoly on power and Bulgaria transitioned to
democracy and
free-market capitalism.
Currently Bulgaria functions as a
parliamentary
democracy under a
unitary constitutional republic. A member of the
European Union since 2007 and of
NATO since 2004, it has a population of approximately 7.7 million, with
Sofia as its
capital and largest city.
Geography
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 Black Sea coast; from the typically
continental Danubian Plain (ancient
Moesia) in the north to the strong
Mediterranean climatic influence in the valleys of
Macedonia and in the lowlands in the southernmost parts of
Thrace.
Relief
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 comprises portions of the regions known in
classical times as
Moesia,
Thrace, and
Macedonia. The mountainous southwest of the country has two alpine ranges —
Rila and
Pirin — and further east stand the lower but more extensive
Rhodope Mountains. The
Rila range includes the highest peak of the Balkan Peninsula,
Musala, at 2,925 meters (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 lie in the southeast, along the
Black Sea coast in the east, and along Bulgaria's main river, the
Danube in the north.
Mineral resources
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. Smaller deposits exist of
iron,
silver,
chromite,
nickel and others. Bulgaria has abundant non-metalliferous minerals such as
rock-salt,
gypsum,
kaolin,
marble.
Hydrography
Bulgaria has a dense network of about 540 rivers,
but with the notable exception of the Danube, most have short lengths and low water-level.
Most rivers flow through mountainous areas; fewer in the Danubian Plain,
Upper Thracian Plain and especially Dobrudzha. Two catchment basins exist: the Black Sea (57% of the territory and 42% of the rivers) and the
Aegean Sea (43% of the territory and 58% of the rivers) basins. The longest river located solely in Bulgarian territory, the
Iskar, has a length of 368 km. Other major rivers include the
Struma and the
Maritsa river in the south.
Rila and Pirin feature around 260 glacial lakes; the country also has several large lakes on the Black Sea coast and more than 2,200 dam lakes. Many mineral springs exist, located mainly in the south-western and central parts of the country along the faults between the mountains.
The Bulgarian word for
spa,
баня, transliterated as
banya, appears in some of the names of more than 50
spa towns and resorts including
Sapareva Banya,
Hisarya,
Sandanski,
Bankya,
Varshets,
Pavel Banya,
Devin,
Velingrad and many others.
Climate
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 gets slightly cooler and receives more rain than the southern regions.
Precipitation in Bulgaria averages about 630 millimetres per year. Drier areas include
Dobrudzha and the northern coastal strip, while the higher parts of the Rila and Stara Planina mountains 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. A site near Plovdiv has recorded the highest known temperature: 46.7 degrees Celsius.
Urban geography
Bulgaria's larger cities include:
Bulgaria operates a scientific station, the
St. Kliment Ohridski Base, on
Livingston Island in the
South Shetland Islands off the coast of
Antarctica.
History
Prehistory and Antiquity
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Prehistoric cultures in the Bulgarian lands include the Neolithic
Hamangia culture and
Vinča culture (6th to 3rd millennia BC), the
eneolithic Varna culture (5th millennium BC; see also
Varna Necropolis), and the Bronze Age
Ezero culture. The
Karanovo chronology serves as a gauge for the prehistory of the wider Balkans region.
The Thracians, the earliest known identifiable people to inhabit the present-day territory of Bulgaria, have left traceable marks among all the Balkan region despite its tumultuous history of many conquests.
The
Panagyuriste treasure ranks as one of the most splendid achievements of the Thracian culture.
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
Sitalces and
Cotys I (383-359 BC). In 188 BC the
Romans invaded
Thrace, and warfare continued until 45 AD when Rome finally conquered the region. The conquerors quickly
romanized the population. By the time the
Slavs arrived, the
Thracians had already lost their indigenous identity and had dwindled in number following frequent invasions.
The Slavs and Old Great Bulgaria
The Slavs emerged from their original homeland (which scholars most commonly locate in Eastern Europe) in the early 6th century, and spread to most of the eastern Central Europe, Eastern Europe and the Balkans, thus forming three main branches — the West Slavs, the East Slavs and the South Slavs. The eastern South Slavs became part of the ancestors of the modern Bulgarians. They assimilated what remained of the Thracians. Modern
Bulgarians derive much of their culture, language and self-determination from these early immigrants.
In 632, the
Bulgars, a semi-nomadic
Turkic people, originally from Central Asia, formed under the leadership of Khan
Kubrat an independent state called
Great Bulgaria, situated between the lower course of the
Danube to the west, the
Black Sea and the
Azov Sea to the south, the
Kuban River to the east, and the
Donets River to the north.
Pressure from the
Khazars led to the subjugation 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 Bulgar 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 his new khanate further into the
Balkan Peninsula. A peace treaty with Byzantium in 681 and the establishment of the Bulgar capital of
Pliska south of the Danube mark the beginning of the
First Bulgarian Empire. At the same time one of Asparuh's brothers,
Kuber, settled with another
Bulgar group in
present-day Macedonia.
In 718, the
Bulgars raised the
Arab siege of
Constantinople, killing some 40,000 to 60,000 Arab soldiers.
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
Eastern Orthodox Christianity.
Bulgaria 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 (852–889) of
Boris I. During his reign, the
Cyrillic alphabet originated in
Preslav and
Ohrid,
adapted from the Glagolitic alphabet invented by the monks
Saints Cyril and Methodius.
The Cyrillic alphabet became the basis for further cultural development. Centuries later, this alphabet, along with the
Old Bulgarian language, fostered the intellectual written language (
lingua franca) for Eastern Europe, known as
Church Slavonic. The greatest territorial extension of the Bulgarian Empire — covering most of the Balkans — occurred under
Simeon I, the first Bulgarian
Tsar (
Emperor), son of Boris I.
However, Simeon's greatest achievement consisted of Bulgaria developing a rich, unique Christian Slavonic culture, which became an example for the other Slavonic peoples in Eastern Europe and ensured the continued existence of the Bulgarian nation regardless of the centrifugal forces that threatened to tear it into pieces throughout its long and war-ridden history.
Following a decline in the mid-tenth century (worn out by wars with
Croatia, by frequent Serbian rebellions sponsored by Byzantine gold, and by disastrous Magyar and
Pecheneg invasions,)
Bulgaria collapsed in the face of an assault of the
Rus' in 969-971.
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. The country managed to recover and defeated the Byzantines in several major battles taking the control of the most of the Balkans and in 991 invaded the Serbian state.
However, the
Byzantines led by
Basil II (Basil the Bulgar-Slayer) destroyed the Bulgarian state in 1018 after their victory at
Kleidion.
Byzantine Bulgaria
In the first decade after the establishment of Byzantine rule, no evidence remains of any major attempt at resistance or any 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 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 didn't abolish officially the local rule of the Bulgarian nobility that now became part of
Byzantine aristocracy as
archons or
strategs. Second, special charters (royal decrees) of
Basil II recognised the
autocephaly of the
Bulgarian Archbishopric of Ohrid and 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 occurred under the leadership of
Peter II Delyan, (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
Ivan Asen I and
Peter IV of Bulgaria led to the establishment of the
Second Bulgarian Empire.
Second Bulgarian Empire
From 1185, the
Second Bulgarian Empire once again established Bulgaria as an important
power in
the Balkans 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
Latin Empire and
Hungary, reaching its zenith under
Ivan Asen II (1218–1241). As a result of the
Tatar invasions (beginning in the later 13th century), 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, which the
Ottoman Empire eventually conquered. 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.
During the 13th and 14th centuries, Bulgarian culture flourished. The
architecture of the Tarnovo Artistic School and the
painting of the Tarnovo Artistic School produced some splendid achievements. Emperor
Ivan Alexander won a reputation as a great
maecenas and patron of culture.
Ottoman rule
In the mid 13th century, the
Second Bulgarian Empire dominated the
Balkan Peninsula. By the end of the following century factional divisions between Bulgarian feudal landlords (
boyars) had gravely weakened the cohesion of the Empire which therefore collapsed before the invading
Ottoman armies in the 1390s. The Bulgarians, most of whom lived in the quadrilateral contained by the lower
Danube, the
Aegean coast of
Thrace, the
Black Sea and the valley of the
Vardar in the west, now entered upon five hundred years of Ottoman domination.
During the second half of the 14th century Bulgaria became an Ottoman vassalage. Ottoman Sultan
Bayezid I annexed Bulgaria following his victory against a
crusade at the
Battle of Nicopolis in 1396.
According to some historians the five centuries of Ottoman rule featured violence and oppression. The Ottomans decimated the Bulgarian population, which lost most of its cultural relics. Turkish authorities destroyed most of the medieval Bulgarian fortresses in order to prevent rebellions. Large towns and the areas where Ottoman power predominated remained severely depopulated until the nineteenth century.
The new authorities dismantled Bulgarian institutions at anything above the village or communal level, and merged the separate
Bulgarian Church into the
Orthodox Patriarchate in Constantinople (
Istanbul), although a small, semi-independent Bulgarian Church did survive until 1767. The conquerors also assumed virtual ownership of the land, though they vested legal ownership in
Allah’s representative on earth, the
Sultan. The new system of land-tenure imposed by the
Turks functioned to provide the Ottoman army with cavalry troops: the
sipahi or landlord had to provide a number of men proportionate to the amount of land he held, while maintained economically by his tenants, or
rayahs. For the Bulgarian peasant the new system offered greater security than the old Bulgarian Empire had provided and exceptional privileges accrued to peasants living on
vakif land — land with its income permanently entailed for the upkeep of a religious or charitable institution.
All tenants,
Christian or
Muslim, who lived on
vakif land had the right to such privileges, but in general the Christian subjects of the Sultan had to endure a number of disabilities; they usually paid more taxes than
Moslems, they lacked legal equality with Moslems, they couldn't carry arms, their clothes couldn't rival those of Moslems in color, nor could their churches tower as high as
mosques. The new rulers made few attempts to enforce conversion to Islam and relatively few Bulgarians felt attracted to the new ruling faith by the legal privileges its adherents enjoyed. Those who did convert, the
Pomaks, retained their native language, dress and customs, and lived primarily in the
Rhodope mountains.
In the 18th and especially during the 19th century, conditions improved in certain areas. Some towns such as
Gabrovo,
Tryavna,
Karlovo,
Lovech,
Skopie prospered. The Bulgarian peasants actually possessed their land, although it officially belonged to the
sultan. The nineteenth century also brought improved communications, transportation and trade. The first factory in the Bulgarian lands opened in
Sliven in 1834, and the first railway system started running (between
Ruse and
Varna) in 1865.
Throughout the five Ottoman centuries Bulgarian people organized many attempts to re-establish their own state. The
National awakening of Bulgaria became one of the key factors in the struggle for
liberation. In the 19th century, there came into existence the
Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee and the
Internal Revolutionary Organisation led by liberal revolutionaries such as
Vasil Levski,
Hristo Botev,
Lyuben Karavelov and many others. In 1876, the
April uprising broke out: the largest and best-organized Bulgarian rebellion against the Ottoman Empire. This rebellion, however, didn't receive the expected support from the Bulgarian masses.
The Kingdom of Bulgaria
Following the
Russo-Turkish War, 1877-1878 (when Russian soldiers together with a
Romanian expeditionary force and volunteer Bulgarian troops defeated the Ottoman armies), the
Treaty of San Stefano (
3 March 1878), set up an autonomous Bulgarian principality. The Western
Great Powers immediately rejected the treaty: they became aware that a large Slavic country in the
Balkans might 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.
Alexander von Battenberg took the position of Bulgaria's first
Prince. 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 coordinated by
Stefan Stambolov succeeded, Prince Alexander decided not to remain the Bulgarian ruler 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.
The Balkan Wars and World War I
In 1912 and 1913, Bulgaria became involved in the
Balkan Wars, first entering into conflict alongside Greece, Serbia and Montenegro against the Ottoman Empire. The
First Balkan War (1912-1913) proved a success for the Bulgarian army, but a conflict over the division of Macedonia arose amongst the victorious allies. The
Second Balkan War (1913) pitted Bulgaria against Greece and Serbia, joined by Romania and Turkey. After its defeat in the Second Balkan War, Bulgaria lost considerable territory conquered in the first war, as well as
Southern Dobrudzha 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. Defeat in 1918 led to new territorial losses (the
Western Outlands to
Serbia,
Western Thrace to
Greece and the re-conquered
Southern Dobrudzha 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 Dobrudzha.
The interwar years
In September 1918, Tsar Ferdinand abdicated in favour of his son
Boris III in order to head off 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 Dobrudzha back to the Romanians. The country had to reduce its army to 20,000 men, and to pay reparations exceeding $400 million. Bulgarians generally refer to the results of the treaty 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 reforms, although opposition from the middle and upper classes, the landlords and the officers of the army remained powerful. In March 1923 Stamboliyski signed an agreement with the
Kingdom of Yugoslavia recognising the new border and agreeing to suppress
Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (VMRO), which favoured a war to regain Macedonia from Bulgaria. This triggered a nationalist reaction, and the
Bulgarian coup d'état of
June 9,
1923 eventually resulted in Stamboliykski's assassination. A right-wing government under
Aleksandar Tsankov took power, backed by the army and the VMRO, which 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. A 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 régime headed by
Kimon Georgiev. A year later Tsar
Boris managed to remove the military régime from power, restoring a form of parliamentary rule (without the re-establishment of the political parties) and under his own 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 Dobrudzha 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. Bulgaria became one of only three countries (along with Finland and Denmark) that saved its entire Jewish population (around 50,000 people) from the
Nazi camps by refusing to comply with a
31 August 1943 resolution. The Bulgarian authorities did however send Jews in territories newly-acquired (from Greece and Yugoslavia) to death-camps in response to a direct request from Germany.
In September 1944, the Soviet army entered Bulgaria, enabling the Bulgarian Communists (the
Bulgarian Workers Party) to seize power and establish a communist state. In 1944, Bulgaria's forces turned against the country's former ally, Germany. The 450,000-man army in 1944 dwindled to 130,000 by 1945.
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. 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 and his right-hand man
Milko Balev 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 — BSP). 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 had also encountered 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.
Relations with Turkey began to normalise in the 1990s.
On
June 17 2001,
Simeon II, the son of Tsar Boris III and the former Head of state (as Tsar of Bulgaria from 1943 to 1946), won a narrow victory in democratic elections. 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 the BSP won the elections in 2005, but couldn't form a single-party government and had to seek a 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 in a "
brain drain". Since a reform package introduced in 1997, the economy has returned to growth. Bulgaria became a member of
NATO in 2004 and of the
European Union in 2007.
Politics
Bulgaria joined
NATO on
March 29 2004 and signed the
European Union 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 administration 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 voters directly elect their presidents 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 also chairs the Consultative Council for National Security. 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
17 August 2005 Sergey Stanishev as Prime Minister 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 — receives the mandate of 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 go to parties or to coalition-lists of candidates for each of the 28 administrative divisions. A party or
coalition must win a minimum of 4% of the vote in order to enter parliament. Parliament has the responsibility 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
most recent elections took place in June 2005. The
next scheduled 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. A qualified majority of two-thirds of the membership of the Supreme Judicial Council elects the Presidents of the Supreme Court of Cassation and of the Supreme Administrative Court, as well as the Prosecutor General, from among its members; the President of the Republic then appoints those elected. The Supreme Judicial Council has 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 for 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, the country includes 263 municipalities.
Military
The
military of Bulgaria consists of three services: the
Bulgarian Land Forces, the
Bulgarian Navy and the
Bulgarian Air Force. The armed forces have as their patron saint
Sveti Georgi (
St. George), and Bulgarians celebrate his feast day,
6 May 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.
Bulgaria first became a major military power in Europe under
Khan Krum and
Tsar 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 resembling those of feudal
knights, Simeon I's forces reached as far as the Byzantine capital,
Constantinople, in AD 896 . A formal peace treaty lasted until 912, when both sides became 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 AD 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 Tsar
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 functioned as a minor European power, frequently included in plans and wars of the
Great Powers. In 1912, the Bulgarian forces invented the world's first aircraft-dropped bombs and soon after became the first military in the world to utilize
aviation bombardment, in the siege of
Odrin. Thus the Bulgarian Air Force, inheritor of one of the oldest traditions of powered aircraft combat in the world, became an early innovator in aviation military technology and in air-to-surface attack strategies/tactics.
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 perceived 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,
KSK, and the
Spetsnaz of Russia.
In April 2006 Bulgaria and the
United States of America signed a defence-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 comprises mainly Soviet-era ships, and two submarines. With only of coastline, Bulgaria doesn't regard assault by sea as a major risk. In the course of recent modernization efforts, Bulgaria purchased a new frigate from
Belgium, and the navy seems likely to acquire four Gowind corvettes from the French company
DCN. 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.
Provinces and municipalities
Between 1987 and 1999 Bulgaria consisted of nine provinces (
oblasti, singular
oblast); since 1999, it has consisted of twenty-eight. All take their names from their respective capital cities:
The provinces subdivide into 264
municipalities.
Economy
Bulgaria became a member of the
European Union in 2007; the
World Bank classifies it as an "upper-middle-income economy" . Bulgaria has experienced rapid economic growth
in recent years. The country still ranks as the poorest member state of the EU, but standards of living have started to rise.
Bulgaria has experienced high-profile corruption scandals — especially affecting the Interior Ministry — which have severely hindered Bulgaria's progress and development. The European Union has partly frozen EU funds of about €450 million and may freeze more if Bulgarian authorities don't show solid progress in fighting corruption and in speeding up reforms.
Bulgaria has tamed its inflation since the deep economic crisis in 1996-1997, but
latest figures show an increase in the inflation-rate to 12.5% for 2007. Unemployment declined from more than 17% in the mid 1990s to nearly 10% in 2007, but the unemployment-rate in some rural areas continues in high double-digits. An
IndustryWatch report predicts inflation rate of 5% for 2008, with unemployment dropping further to a record low of 6.5%. Due to its positive economic profile, pundits predict that Bulgaria will join the Eurozone in 2011, after having spent 3 years in ERM II (entry
currently scheduled for early 2008).
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, implementing sound financial policies, accelerating
privatisation, and pursuing structural reforms. Economic forecasts for 2005 and 2006 predicted continued growth for the economy. Economists predicted annual year-on-year GDP growth for 2005 and 2006 of 5.3% and 6.0% respectively. Forecasters expected industrial output in 2005 to rise by 11.9% from the previous year, and by 15.2% in 2006. Unemployment for 2005 was projected at 11.5%, 9% for 2006 and 7.25% for 2007. 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, and together with related industries like
food-processing it still plays a key role in the Bulgarian economy. Arable farming predominates over stock-breeding. The country has a lack of modern equipment. Alongside
aeroplanes and other equipment, Bulgarian agriculture has over 150,000
tractors and 10,000
combine harvesters.
Production of the most important crops (according to the
FAO) in 2006 (in '000 tons) amounted to:
wheat 3301.9;
sunflower 1196.6;
maize 1587.8;
grapes 266.2;
tobacco 42.0;
tomatoes 213.0;
barley 546.3;
potatoes 386.1;
peppers 156.7;
cucumbers 61.5;
cherries 18.2;
watermelons 136.0;
cabbage 72.7;
apples 26.1;
plums 18.0;
strawberries 8.8.
Industry
Industry plays a key role in the Bulgarian economy. Although Bulgaria lacks large reserves of oil and gas, it produces significant quantities of electricity. Bulgaria formerly ranked as the most important exporter of electricity in the region due to the
Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant, which has a total capacity of, but after the closure of its 4 blocks, exports of electricity declined sharply and the country lost its leading position as an energy-supplier for the Balkans. Construction has
started on a second plant, the
Belene Nuclear Power Plant with a projected capacity of . Plans exist for a $1.4bn project for construction of an additional for the
Maritza Iztok 1 Thermal Power Plant (see
Energy in Bulgaria).
Ferrous
metallurgy has major importance. Much of the production of
steel and
pig iron takes place in
Kremikovtsi and
Pernik, with a third metallurgical base in
Debelt. In production of steel and steel products per capita the country heads the
Balkans. Recently the fate of Kremikovtsi steel factories has come under debate, because of serious pollution of the capital, Sofia.
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 ranks first in
South Eastern Europe.
About 14% of the total industrial production relates to
machine-building, and 24% of the people work in this field. Its importance has decreased since 1989.
Electronics and electric equipment-production have developed to a high degree. The largest centres include
Sofia,
Plovdiv and the surrounding area,
Botevgrad,
Stara Zagora,
Varna,
Pravets and many other cities. These plants produce
household appliances,
computers,
CDs,
telephones,
medical and scientific equipment.
Many factories producing
transportation equipment
currently don't operate at full capacity. Plants produce
trains (
Burgas,
Dryanovo),
trams (
Sofia),
trolleys (
Dupnitsa),
buses (
Botevgrad),
trucks (
Shumen),
motor trucks (Plovdiv,
Lom, Sofia, Lovech). Lovech has an automotive assembly plant.
Ruse serves as the main centre for agricultural machinery. Most Bulgarian shipbuilding takes place in
Varna,
Burgas and
Ruse. Bulgarian arms production mainly operates in central Bulgaria (
Kazanlak,
Sopot,
Karlovo).
Foreigners seeking additional homes have
recently boosted the
Bulgarian properties market. Buyers come from across Europe, but mostly from the
United Kingdom, encouraged by relatively cheap property-prices and the country's easy accessibility via air-travel.
Science, technology and telecommunications
Some multinational companies have set up regional offices and headquarters in Bulgaria, most notably
Hewlett-Packard, which built its Global Service Centre for
Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) in Sofia.
Telecommunications has become one of the growing industries in the country. Three
GSM mobile-telephone operators —
Globul,
Mobiltel and
Vivatel — provide almost 100% coverage each. They have a network of service-centers throughout the country. Bulgarians made use of some 10 million
cellular phones
as of 2006. Mobikom provides the only
NMT 450 mobile-phone service. Bulgarians in towns can access the Internet, and
recently most villages have acquired fast connectivity and
VoIP;
BTK offers
DSL connection in larger cities. Bulgaria had about 298,781
Internet hosts
as of 2007.
Bulgaria supplied many scientific and research instruments for the
Soviet space-program, and also sent two men into space:
Georgi Ivanov on
Soyuz 33 (1979) and
Alexander Alexandrov on
Soyuz TM-5 (1985). Bulgaria became one of the first European countries to develop serial production of
personal computers (
Pravetz series 8) in the beginning of the 1980s, and has experience in pharmaceutical research and development.
Asen Yordanov (1896-1967), the founder of
aeronautical engineering in Bulgaria, worked as an aviator, engineer and inventor; he also contributed to the development of
aviation in the
United States. He played a significant role in U.S. aircraft development and took part in many other
projects.
The
Bulgarian-American inventor and scientist
Peter Petroff became best known for his work in
NASA. Petroff also invented the first
digital watch (1970).
U.S. chemist
Carl Djerassi, who developed the first oral contraceptive pill (OCP), has Bulgarian ancestry.
The
Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, the leading scientific institution in the country, employs most of Bulgaria's researchers working in its numerous branches.
Bulgaria hosts two major
astronomical observatories: the
Rozhen Observatory, the largest in
Southeastern Europe, and the
Belogradchik Observatory with three
telescopes; as well as several "public astronomical observatories" with
planetariums, focused on
educationnal and
outreach activities.
Transport
Bulgaria occupies a unique and strategically important geographic location. Since ancient times, the country has served as a major crossroads between
Europe,
Asia and
Africa. Five of the ten
Trans-European corridors run through its territory. Bulgaria's roads have a total length of, of them paved and of them 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 planned motorways await finalisation of their routes. 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
recently undergone reconstruction. Bulgaria has of railway track, more than 60% electrified. A €360,000,000 project exists for the modernisation and electrification of the
Plovdiv-
Kapitan Andreevo railway.
Air transportation has developed relatively comprehensively. Bulgaria has five official international airports — at
Sofia,
Burgas,
Varna,
Plovdiv and
Gorna Oryahovitsa. Massive investment plans exist for the first three. Important domestic airports include those of
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. The cities and many smaller towns have well-organised public transport systems, using buses, trolleys (in about 20 cities) and trams (in Sofia). The
Sofia Metro in the capital has three planned lines with total length of about and 52 stations, but much
currently remains uncompleted.
Demographics
According to the 2001
census,
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, most prominently in numbers the
Russians,
Armenians,
Vlachs,
Jews,
Crimean Tatars and
Sarakatsani (historically known also as Karakachans). 1.1% of the population didn't declare their ethnicity in the latest census in 2001.
96.3% of the population speak
Bulgarian as their
mother tongue. Bulgarian, a member of the
Slavic language group, remains the only official language, but numbers of speakers of other languages (such as
Turkish and
Romany) correspond closely to ethnic proportions.
The country has a
Roma population estimated at between 200,000 and 450,000.
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%) and
Roman Catholicism (0.5%); with other denominations, atheists and undeclared totalling approximately 4.1%.
In recent years, Bulgaria has had one of the slowest population growth-rates in the world. Negative population growth has occurred since the early 1990s,
due to economic collapse and high emigration. In 1989 the population comprised 9,009,018 people, in 2001 7,950,000 and in 2008 7,640,000.
Now Bulgaria faces a severe demographic crisis . Bulgaria has a fertility-rate of 1.4 children per woman as of 2007, with a predicted rate of 1.7 by the end of 2050. The fertility-rate will need to reach 2.2 to restore natural growth in population.
Culture
A country often described as lying at the crossroads linking the
East and
West, Bulgaria functioned as the hub 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 also gave the world the
Cyrillic alphabet, the second most-widely used
alphabet in the world, which originated in these two schools in the tenth century AD.
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:
The early medieval large rock relief Madara Rider.
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 sea-borne trade in the Black Sea
Note also the Varna Necropolis, a 3500-3200 BC burial-site, purportedly containing the oldest examples of worked gold in the world.
Bulgaria's contribution to humanity continued throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, with individuals such as John Atanasoff — a United States citizen of Bulgarian descent, regarded as the father of the digital computer. A number of noted opera-singers (Nicolai Ghiaurov, Boris Christoff, Raina Kabaivanska, Ghena Dimitrova), Anna Veleva, the world-famous harpist Anna-Maria Ravnopolska-Dean and successful artists (Christo Yavashev, Pascin, Vladimir Dimitrov) popularized the culture of Bulgaria abroad.
One of the best internationally-known artists, Valya Balkanska sang the song Izlel e Delyu Haydutin, part of the Voyager Golden Record selection of music included in the two Voyager spacecraft launched in 1977. The Bulgarian State Television Female Vocal Choir also known as Mystery of Bulgarian voices has also attained a considerable degree of fame.
A unique custom called nestinarstvo distinguishes the Strandja region. Customs include dancing into fire or over live embers.
Tourism
In the northern-hemisphere winter, Samokov, Borovets, Bansko and Pamporovo become well-attended ski-resorts. Summer resorts exist 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 attract visitors throughout the year. Bulgaria has started to become an attractive tourist 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 attract 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 7 million visitors yearly. Tourism in Bulgaria makes a major contribution towards the country's annual economic growth of 6% to 6.5%.
Sports
Football has become by far the most popular sport in Bulgaria. Many Bulgarian fans closely follow the top Bulgarian league, the 
