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Bulgaria
is a parliamentary republic with a National
Assembly ( One House Parliament ) of 240
national representatives. The President is
Head to State.Bulgaria, with its cultural
monuments, is situated between the spacious
beaches of the Black Sea and the fantastic
mountain chains of the Balkans. The country
connecting Asia and Europe has a history of
1300 years.
The numerous cultural and historical remains
by Thracians, proto - Bulgarians,
Byzantines, Greeks and Ottomans are buried
in the picturesque nature, hidden in deep
forests, in the numerous mountains or under
the fine sand of the Black Sea coast.
Favoured by a moderate climate, the land of
the roses is very rich in plants and forests
which to a great extent are of natural
origin. Thus one can find trees which are up
to 1650 years old and a plant variety of
3500 species.
One third of the territory of Bulgaria is
lined by mountains.
The population of the country is around 8.2
million. Besides, in the capital Sofia alone
live more than one million people. The share
of the urban population is 68 percents. In
the ethnic structure the Bulgarians
represent the greatest share of the
population. Other groups of the population
are the Bulgarian Turks, Romanies and to a
smaller extent Jews, Armenians, Russians and
Greeks. The official religion in Bulgaria is
the Orthodox church (Christian Orthodox).
Bulgaria occupies a relatively small area -
111 000 sq. km, but is nevertheless
distinguished by generous and varied nature
- a sea with a 380 km. long coastal strip
and golden beaches, mountains with their own
characteristic features, shelters valleys
and high plateaus, over 550 curative mineral
springs, dozen of unique natural phenomena
and 2000 thrilling caves, a healthy climate
and diverse flora and fauna.
Air temperatures in summer vary between 23°C
and 36°C, water temperatures between 17°C
and 25°C. There are more than 240 hours of
sunshine in May and September, and more than
300 in July and August. The deep-cutting
coves and rugged shores, wooded hills and
romantic peninsulas, vineyards and orchards,
fishing towns and secluded campsites lend a
unique fascination to the Bulgarian Black
Sea coast.
History
Today’s land of the Bulgarians is one of the
ancient springs of civilization in Europe.
The first traces of human activities in
these territories date back to the
Paleolithic Age ( Old Stone Age ) and
immutably follow their course through all
pre-historic epochs.
It was namely in Bulgarian lands that was
found – dating back far before Mesopotamia
and Egypt – the findings in the Varna
Halkolithic Necropolis of 5th millennium BC.
Among them is the most ancient golden
jewelry in the world and symbols of
authority.
During the Bronze Age ( 3100 – 1200 BC ) the
Bulgarian lands were populated the ancient
Thracians. Modern science identifies more
and more evidence that namely Ancient Thrace
was one of the centres for consolidation of
the Indo-Europeans. The most ancient
Thracian monuments date back to the same
historic period as was the Old Kingdom in
Egypt.
The historical development of the Bulgarian
lands and the people that inhabited them in
the antiquity has been determined by one
major factor - their crossroads situation
between Europe and Asia. The waves of
settlers that swept from both continents
into the south or into the north at
different times, quite often turned the
plains of Thrace, Moesia, Macedonia and the
Balkan mountains into an arena of fierce
clashes. Prior to the settlement of the
Bulgarians about fifteen hundred years ago,
this most contended land of the European
civilization had seen other people's
cultures, with markedly impressive presence
in the history of humankind on the planet
Earth come, evolve and then, tragically go.
The earliest traces of human life on the
Bulgarian lands date back to Paleolithic and
Mesolithic times. The brilliant drawings in
some Bulgarian caves and the flint labour
tools are the only remnants of the primitive
man, the homo sapiens forebearer.
Bulgaria's name is derived from a Turkic
people, the Bulgars, who originated in the
steppe north of the Caspian Sea.
In the latter part of the seventh century,
one branch of the Bulgars moved up the Volga
River, establishing the Kingdom of the Volga
Bulgars; the other branch moved westward
along the Black Sea settling near the mouth
of the Danube. Although the name Bulgaria is
not of Slavic origin, the Slavic people, who
had entered the Balkan Peninsula earlier,
absorbed the invading Turkic people and
were, in large measure, the precursors of
the present-day Bulgarians. Bulgarian
kingdoms continued to exist in the Balkan
Peninsula during the Middle Ages, following
which the Ottoman Turks ruled Bulgaria for
500 years, until 1878.
In that year, a Bulgarian principality was
established between the Danube River and the
Balkan Mountains when Russia and Romania
assisted the Bulgarians in defeating the
Ottomans. In 1885, the union of the
Principality of Bulgaria with Eastern
Rumelia south of the Balkan Mountains
created an autonomous Bulgarian state with
roughly the same borders as those of
present-day Bulgaria.
A fully independent Bulgarian kingdom,
proclaimed September 22, 1908, participated
in an anti-Ottoman coalition that defeated
the Ottoman Empire in the First Balkan War
(1912). The coalition soon dissolved over
territorial disputes, however, and Bulgaria
was isolated and defeated quickly in the
Second Balkan War (1913) by Greece, Serbia,
Montenegro, Romania, and Turkey. It later
allied itself with Germany in World Wars I
and II and suffered defeats twice more.
Bulgaria's involvement in these wars was
partly due to its ambitions for an outlet to
the Aegean Sea and its desire to annex
Macedonian and Thracian territory held by
Greece, Yugoslavia, and Turkey.
Although Bulgaria declared war on the United
States and the United Kingdom during World
War II, it did not declare war on the Soviet
Union. In August 1944, Bulgarian emissaries
opened talks in Cairo with Allied
representatives, seeking to take Bulgaria
out of the war. On September 5, 1944, while
these talks were still under way, the Soviet
Union declared war on Bulgaria.
Communist rule in Bulgaria began September
9, 1944, when a communist-dominated
coalition, called the Fatherland Front,
seized power from the coalition government
formed to arrange an armistice with the
Allies. At the same time, Soviet forces were
marching into the country without
resistance. Communist power, consolidated in
the next 3 years, led to the adoption on
December 4, 1947, of the so-called Dimitrov
Constitution, modeled after that of the
U.S.S.R.
Yugoslavia's expulsion from the Cominform (a
Soviet-led international socialist
organization) in June 1948 and the
subsequent Moscow-dictated persecution of
"national communists" throughout Eastern
Europe also led to arrests and trials in
Bulgaria. In 1949, Traicho Kostov, a
Bulgarian communist leader, was executed on
charges of conspiring with the Yugoslavs. He
had remained in Bulgaria during the war and
was second in rank only to Georgi Dimitrov,
who had spent the war years in Moscow. Vulko
Chervenkov, Dimitrov's brother-in-law, who
also had spent the war years in Moscow,
emerged as the "Stalin of Bulgaria" after
Dimitrov's death in 1949. In 1954, following
Stalin's death and separation in the
U.S.S.R. of the positions of party leader
and head of government, Chervenkov yielded
the position of party chief to Todor
Zhivkov. In the next 7 years, Zhivkov
superseded his one-time mentor, blaming him
for the "Stalinist excesses" and "violations
of socialist legality" which had
characterized the 1948-53 period. Chervenkov
was ousted finally from his last leadership
position in November 1961, and shortly
thereafter Zhivkov took on the additional
post of premier, thus recombining the
positions of party leader and head of
government.
In 1971, he gave up the premiership and took
on the newly created and more prestigious
position of Chairman of the State Council
(chief of state). He held this position and
that of Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP)
Secretary General until November 1989. Petur
Mladenov, who led the Politburo in its
effort to oust Zhivkov, now also holds both
these positions, despite his declarations
favoring separation of party and State
powers. Mladenov is leading the BCP in its
efforts to maintain a credible claim to
political leadership in the country, despite
a high level of opposition to the Communist
Party which is now appearing.
Geography
The Republic of Bulgaria covers a territory
of 110 993 square kilometers. The average
altitude of the country is 470 meters above
sea level. The biggest mountain range – 750
kilometers long – Stara Planina Mountain
occupies central position and serves as a
natural dividing line from the west to the
east. It reaches the Black Sea to the east
and turns to the north along the Bulgarian –
Yugoslavian border.
The natural boundary with Romania is the
Danube River, which is navigable all along
for cargo and passenger vessels.
The Black Sea is the natural eastern border
of Bulgaria and its coastline is 378
kilometers long. There are clearly cut bays,
the biggest two being those of Varna and
Bourgas. About 25 % of the coastline are
covered with sand and host the seaside
resorts.
Many European travelers claim that Bulgaria
is Eden on Earth. It has everything – a sea,
rivers and lakes, high mountains, virgin
forests, hot and cold mineral springs.
Climate
Bulgaria as a whole is situated in the
moderate climatic zone. Winters are colder
in Northern Bulgaria and much milder in the
Southern part of the country. Winter
temperatures vary between 0 and 7 C below
zero.
Typical continental climate in spring.
Summer is hot and sweltering in Northern
Bulgaria. Autumns are mild and pleasant in
Bulgaria.
The multi- coloured forests in autumn add
the picturesque landscape. Autumn showers in
principle are more frequent than in spring.
May, October and November are the rainiest
months.
Population
The last census ( in 2001 ) showed that
7 973 673 people live in Bulgaria. The
average life expectancy for women is 74, and
for men – 67. Most of the Bulgarian
population lives in cities. There are many
ethnic groups living in Bulgaria ( Turks,
Armenians, Jews, Greeks ) as a consequence
of its historical and geographical
specifics. All minorities live in harmony
with the Bulgarian population without any
social or ethnic pressure. In the past few
years many foreigners from West Europe
relocated in Bulgaria, looking for slower
rhythm of life, calmness and coziness, which
they find here.
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