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Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located west of the Black Sea and south of the Danube river, Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey to the south, Serbia and North Macedonia to the west, and Romania to the north. It covers a territory of 110,994 square kilometres (42,855 sq mi) and is the 16th largest country in Europe. Sofia is the nation's capital and largest city; other major cities include Burgas, Plovdiv, and Varna.

Bulgaria has an upper-middle-income economy, ranking 70th in the Human Development Index. Its market economy is part of the European Single Market and is largely based on services, followed by industry—especially machine building and mining—and agriculture. The country faces a demographic crisis; its population peaked at 9 million in 1989, and has since decreased to under 6.4 million as of 2024. Bulgaria is a member of the European Union, the Schengen Area, NATO, and the Council of Europe. It is also a founding member of the OSCE and has taken a seat on the United Nations Security Council three times. (Full article...)

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Golden seal of Boril

Boril (Bulgarian: Борил) was the emperor (tsar) of Bulgaria from 1207 to 1218. He was the son of an unnamed sister of his predecessor, Kaloyan and Kaloyan's brothers, Peter II and Ivan Asen I, who had restored the independent Bulgarian state. After Kaloyan died unexpectedly in October 1207, Boril married his widow, a Cuman princess and seized the throne. His cousin, Ivan Asen, fled from Bulgaria, enabling Boril to strengthen his position. His other kinsmen, Strez and Alexius Slav, refused to acknowledge him as the lawful monarch. Strez took possession of the land between the Struma and Vardar rivers with the support of Stefan Nemanjić of Serbia. Alexius Slav secured his rule in the Rhodope Mountains with the assistance of Henry, the Latin Emperor of Constantinople.

Boril launched unsuccessful military campaigns against the Latin Empire and the Kingdom of Thessalonica during the first years of his reign. He convoked the synod of the Bulgarian Church in early 1211. At the assembly, the bishops condemned the Bogomils for heresy. After an uprising broke out against him in Vidin between 1211 and 1214, he sought the assistance of Andrew II of Hungary, who sent reinforcements to suppress the rebellion. He made peace with the Latin Empire in late 1213 or early 1214. After Henry died in 1216 and Andrew II left Hungary for a crusade, Ivan Asen returned to Bulgaria. He captured and blinded Boril in Tarnovo in 1218. (Full article...)

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Did you know (auto-generated)

... that one of the highest death rates in the Holocaust was in Bulgarian-occupied Greece, where 97 percent of Jews were killed in less than a month?
... that Tsvetana Jermanova survived imprisonment in two forced labour camps in communist Bulgaria?

Gallery

Image 1Varna lake is a salt lake near Black sea.
Image 2Maritsa is a river in South Bulgaria.
Image 3Danube river in Bulgaria
Image 4Rila is a mountain in West Bulgaria
Image 5A beach in Bulgaria.
Image 6Razgrad is a city in East Bulgaria.
Image 7Sofia is the biggest city in Bulgaria.

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Credit: Delianjekov

With a population of 385 Melnik (Bulgarian: Мелник), situated near the Melnik Rock Pyramids, is the smallest town in Bulgaria.

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More did You Know?

...that, in opposition to the orthodox architectural canon, a giant undulating apse occupies the entire east façade of the Church of the Holy Trinity (pictured) in Svishtov?

...that after an accident in his teens, Bulgarian poet Pencho Slaveykov had difficulty writing and speaking?

...that Bulgarian Dobri Zhelyazkov founded the first textile factory in the Ottoman Empire?

...that architectural elements akin to those of the Olympic Stadium in Munich were incorporated in the Central Railway Station in Sofia during its latest renovation?

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