Republic of Bulgaria
President: Georgi Purvanov (2002)
Prime Minister: Sergei Stanishev (2005)
Government: Parliamentary democracy
Land area: 110,549 sq km
Population (2008 est.): 7,262,675 Capital and largest city (2003 est.): Sofia, 1,088,700
Monetary unit: Lev
Languages: Bulgarian 85%, Turkish 10%, Roma 4%
Ethnicity/race: Bulgarian 83.9%, Turk 9.4%, Roma 4.7%, other (including Macedonian, Armenian, Tatar, Circassian) 2% (2001)
National Holiday: Liberation Day, March 3
Religions: Bulgarian Orthodox 83%, Islam 12%, other Christian 1% (2001)

Geography
Bulgaria shares borders with Serbia, Macedonia, Romania, Greece, and Turkey. Two mountain ranges and two great valleys mark the topography of Bulgaria,situated on the Black Sea. The Maritsa is Bulgaria's principal river, and the Danube also flows through the country.
History
    The Thracians lived in what is now known as Bulgaria from about 3500 B.C. They were incorporated into the Roman Empire by the first century A.D. At the decline of the empire, the Goths, Huns, Bulgars, and Avars invaded. The Bulgars, who crossed the Danube from the north in 679, took control of the region. Although the country bears the name of the Bulgars, the Bulgar language and culture died out, replaced by a Slavic language, writing, and religion. In 865, Boris I adopted Orthodox Christianity. The Bulgars twice conquered most of the Balkan peninsula between 893 and 1280. But in 1396 they were invaded by the Ottoman Empire, which made Bulgaria a Turkish province until 1878. Ottoman rule was harsh and inescapable. In 1878, Russia forced Turkey to give Bulgaria its independence after the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878). But the European powers, fearing Russia's and Bulgaria's dominance in the Balkans, intervened at the Congress of Berlin (1878), limiting Bulgaria's territory and fashioning it into a small principality ruled by Alexander of Battenburg, the nephew of the Russian czar.
       Alexander was succeeded in 1887 by Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, who declared a kingdom independent of the Ottoman Empire on Oct. 5, 1908. In the First Balkan War (1912–1913), Bulgaria and the other members of the Balkan League fought against Turkey to regain Balkan territory. Angered by the small portion of Macedonia it received after the battle—it considered Macedonia an integral part of Bulgaria—the country instigated the Second Balkan War (June–Aug. 1913) against Turkey as well as its former allies. Bulgaria lost the war and all the territory it had gained in the First Balkan War. Bulgaria joined Germany in World War I in the hope of again gaining Macedonia. After this second failure, Ferdinand abdicated in favor of his son in 1918. Boris III squandered Bulgaria's resources and assumed dictatorial powers in 1934–1935. Bulgaria fought on the side of the Nazis in World War II, but after Russia declared war on Bulgaria on Sept. 5, 1944, Bulgaria switched sides. Three days later, on Sept. 9, 1944, a Communist coalition took control of the country and set up a government under Kimon Georgiev.
      A Soviet-style People's Republic was established in 1947 and Bulgaria acquired the reputation of being the most slavishly loyal to Moscow of all the East European Communist countries. The general secretary of the Bulgarian Communist Party, Todor Zhikov, resigned in 1989 after 35 years in power. His successor, Peter Mladenov ended the Communist monopoly on power, and held free elections in May 1990 that led to a surprising victory for the Communist Party, renamed the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP). Mladenov was forced to resign in July 1990.
     In Oct. 1991, the Union of Democratic Forces won, forming Bulgaria's first non-Communist government since 1946. Power shifted back and forth between the pro-Western Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) and the BSP during the 1990s. The economy continued to deteriorate amid growing concern over the spread of organized crime. A new UDF government, led by Prime Minister Ivan Kostov, was elected in 1997 to overhaul the economic system and institute reforms aimed at stemming corruption. Progress on both fronts remained slow. As a result, the UDF lost the July 2001 election to the former king of Bulgaria, leader of the Simeon II National Movement (SNM). The new prime minister, Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (Simeon II), had been dethroned 55 years earlier (at age nine) during the Communist takeover of the country. Bulgaria became a member of NATO in 2004. In 2005, the EU approved its membership for 2007, subject to the implementation of reforms, especially the cleaning up of corruption and organized crime.
In June 2005 general elections, no party received a clear majority, and a coalition government was formed with Socialist Party leader Sergei Stanishev as the new prime minister. In 2007, Bulgaria joined the EU.

Culture

Rila Monastery, an example of Bulgarian architecture.

Bulgarian girls in traditional clothing.

       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 seaborne trade in the Black Sea
         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.

Religion

The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Sofia, one of the largest Orthodox cathedrals in Europe

Church of Christ Pantocrator, Nesebar

Catholic Cathedral of St. Joseph, Sofia

       Most citizens of Bulgaria have associations with the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. The Bulgarian Orthodox Church, as the independent national church of Bulgaria (like the other national branches of Eastern Orthodoxy in their respective countries) plays a role as an inseparable element of Bulgarian national consciousness. In 2001, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church had 6,552,000 members in Bulgaria (82.6% of the population). However, many people raised during the 45 years of communist rule are not religious, even though they may formally be members of the Church.
Despite the dominant position of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church in Bulgarian cultural life, a number of Bulgarian citizens belong to other religious denominations, most notably Islam, Roman Catholicism and Protestantism.

Literature

      The earliest Bulgarian literature was written in Old Bulgarian or Old Church Slavonic language which was later introduced into Russia and Serbia. Most of these writings, produced between the 9th and 14th centuries, consisted of historical chronicles and religious works.
During the Turkish domination (1396-1878) Bulgarian literature virtually ceased to exist. The 19th century marked The Revival in the history of Bulgaria including the literature. Later began the establishment of Bulgarian schools, publication of Bulgarian grammars and other educational works, that played a great part in developing of a new Bulgarian literature.
      Among the best known writers from this period are Hristo Botev and Ivan Vazov. Other important writers were Stoyan Mikhaylovski, Dobri Voinikov, Lyuben Karavelov, Zahari Stoyanov, Aleko Konstantinov.
In the post-liberation period, the Bulgarian writers increasingly began to emphasize on the form, style and harmony of the language. Important writers of this period are the short-story writers Elin Pelin and Yordan Yovkov; the poets Peyo Yavorov, Kiril Hristov and many others.
      The Bulgarian literature after 1940 is strong impacted by the Soviet socialist literature but despite this influence it certainly must be mentioned the remarkable novelists Dimitar Dimov and Dimitar Talev.
Modern authors include Yordan Radichkov, Nikolai Haitov, Nedyalko Yordanov, Viktor Paskov etc.

Bulgarian Folklore

       Generally, the Bulgarian folklore is an aspect of a tradition associated with the agrarian times of society and involving forms of artistic creativity. As such can be described the following: bulgarian music and folk art, bulgarian songs and dances mostly, the oral tradition in all its various forms - from popular bulgarian folk tales to proverbs and sayings - and the plastic art, which is found in embroidery, stone work, wood-carving, figures shaped on bread, etc. As a whole, this folk art developed until the 2nd half of the 19th century and it has been regarded by the Bulgarian scholars as the classical folklore of the Bulgarian people. Since the middle of 19th century other forms of folk art have appeared and developed in Bulgaria, and they have been most generally connected with the urban tradition of a modern society.

Bulgarian Cuisine

       Bulgarian Cuisine has grown out of wealth of culinary traditions, both local and foreign, combined in a way which is uniquely Bulgarian. You probably enjoy Indian food, Italian cuisine or Chinese food but don't even know what you miss - Bulgaria has the most delicious food you have ever tasted. The variety in Bulgarian cuisine is based on the long history of the country, as well as on the long-lasting migrations of the tribes that founded Bulgaria more than 1300 years ago. The close contact with Turkey and Greece cuisine have helped to form very attractive and to some extent exotic national cuisine.