History
'History in Bulgaria is out loud in the everyday.'
To read this Personal Story, click here.
Bulgaria's lands were inhabited from earliest
times and were part of several ancient civilizations, most
notably the Thracian. Some of the
world's oldest gold artifacts point to Bulgaria's Black Sea
coast as the cradle of the world's metal production. Somewhat
later, Bulgaria was incorporated into the Roman Empire, as exemplified
by the well-preserved Roman amphitheater in Plovdiv.
The forerunner of today's Bulgarian state
was founded by the Bulgar Khans from Central Asia, who adopted Christianity
as early as 865, fought
against the Byzantine Empire and dominated the entire Balkan region on
and off for several hundred years.
Bulgaria fell under Ottoman rule in 1396 and remained part of the Ottoman
Empire for 500 years until the end of the 19th c. when the country made
rapid advances to catch up with the rest of Europe.
The country became a Communist state after the
end of World War II and was one of the staunchest supporters of the
Soviet Union. The peaceful
end to Communism in 1989 paved the way for Bulgaria's path to democracy,
joining NATO in the spring of 2004 and on track to join the EU in 2007.
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