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Bulgarian Peoples
Bulgaria's first recorded inhabitants were the Thracians, an ancient tribe who peopled what is now northern Greece and southern Bulgaria. They were a sophisticated people whose art and culture influenced the Greeks, who in turn founded settlements in what is now Bulgaria, and the Romans, who conquered the whole of the Balkans.
When the Roman Empire split, the Eastern or Byzantine section, with its capital at Constantinople (present-day Istanbul) grew in power to be the pre-eminent empire at the end of the 1st millennium ad. The church spread its Orthodox Christian message across Eastern Europe, a legacy that is strong to the present day in Bulgaria. This influenced the style of religious architecture and religious art until the arrival of the Ottomans.
The Byzantines fought with the Slavonic and Bulgar peoples for control of Bulgarian lands from the 5th century to 1185 and the borders were constantly changing, depending on the relative strength of either side. The majority (an estimated 85 percent) of today's Bulgarian population are said to be descended from the Slavs, who arrived in the region from the Carpathian Mountains in the north. They were a peaceful farming people who settled the land.
The Bulgars arrived in the region from the east (most anthropologists say from central Asia); a warlike people, they subjugated the Slavs and remaining Thracians and Greeks, but gradually the disparate groups grew together into a Bulgarian nationality, helped by the founding of the first Bulgarian Empire in the 7th century. The Turkish Ottoman Empire conquered and ruled Bulgaria from 1396 until 1878; around 8 per cent of the present population are Turks, direct descendants of the Ottomans. They were persecuted after the Ottoman defeat but since the fall of communism have organised themselves politically and now hold an important minority power base in today's coalition government. They are to be found mostly in the south of the country in settlements close to the Turkish border and live alongside the Pomaks in the Rodopi Mountains. The Pomaks, said to number around 250,000, are Slavs who converted (willingly or otherwise) to Islam during Ottoman rule.
The Bulgarian multi-ethnic mix is completed by the Roma, or gypsies, who constitute around 2.5 per cent of the population. These people live on the margins of society and have suffered oppression since the fall of communism; however, they have begun to organise political representation within the apparatus of the modern state which will perhaps allow them to take more control over their future.
Recent History
The Balkan Wars at the beginning of the 20th century resulted from the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. The region gained its freedom at different times and was claimed as part (if the territory of one or another fledgling Balkan state, or struggled to found its own government while at the same time the greater powers of Europe (the French, British, Germans, Austro-Hungarians and Russians) sought to gain influence or meddle in the new country's affairs. Bulgaria sought to expand its territorial boundaries (particularly in Macedonia) but was opposed by its neighbours Serbia, Romania and Greece.
During the Second World War Bulgaria entered on the Axis side when it realised thai it was powerless to stop German forces massing on its northern border in Romania, but refused to declare war on the Soviet Union. King Boris III also refused to hand over the estimated 50,000 Bulgarian Jews. The king died soon afterwards in mysterious circumstances and a national resistance was organised within the country by communists (and others) opposed to the fascist interim government set up after his death (the royal family was now in exile). In 1944 Russia declared war on Bulgaria and invaded.
In September
1944, the fascist government was replaced by a new interim government, 'The fatherland Front' - a coalition that included the communists.
In November
1945, the Fatherland Front won the first free elections but the coalition was destabilised and usurped by the communists, who gained a majority in the National Assembly. A new Soviet-style constitution was declared in September 1946. The royal family, who had returned at the end of hostilities, was forced to go into exile once again. |
