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| Although inhabited since
ancient times, the history of modern-day Bulgaria begins with the
7th-century migration of Turkic tribes from the steppes north of the
Black Sea. After defeating the Byzantines in 680 AD, the Bulgars
settled down in the Balkans. They soon adopted the Slavic language
spoken by the local inhabitants, and converted to Orthodox Christianity in
the late 9th century. Under Tsar Simeon the Great (893-927), this
first Bulgarian empire expanded across the Balkans to the Adriatic, and
nearly to the gates of
Constantinople. |
| In 1014, Emperor Basil II (the "Bulgar-Slayer") reasserted
Byzantine control over the Balkans, crushing the Bulgarian army and
putting out the eyes of its survivors. |
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The Bulgarians established a second empire
in 1185, dominating the eastern Balkans until their conquest by the
Ottoman Turks two centuries later. |
| Periodic rebellions against
Turkish rule, often with the support of other Great Powers such as Austria
or Russia, were all brutally suppressed. The harsh Ottoman reaction
to one such uprising, in 1876, served as a pretext for a full-scale
Russian invasion. The Turks agreed to concede Bulgarian
independence, but the other Great Powers, fearful of Russian influence in
the Balkans, negotiated the less favorable Treaty of Berlin (1878), which
returned Macedonia and Thrace to the Turks. |
| Eager to expand their
territory at Ottoman expense, Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece and Montenegro
formed the Balkan League, an alliance which aimed to partition Macedonia
and Thrace. After achieving success in the First Balkan War (1912-13),
the allies fell into fighting amongst themselves over the spoils of war.
Bulgaria launched the ill-fated Second Balkan War against Greece and
Serbia, only to be ganged up on by its other neighbors, the Ottomans and
Romanians. |
| Bulgaria joined the Central
Powers during World War I in another failed bid to expand its territory.
Under the Treaty of Neuilly (1919), Bulgaria lost its Aegean coastline to
Greece, and ceded territory to
Romania and the newly-formed Yugoslavia.
Bulgaria made the same tragic mistake in World War II, siding with the
Axis Powers in the hope of regaining lost lands from its neighbors. |
| Soviet forces liberated the
country from Nazi occupation in 1944, and proceeded to engineer a
Communist takeover. After an initial flirtation with Tito's
non-aligned movement, and the inevitable Stalinist backlash, the People's
Republic of Bulgaria settled in for over three decades of rule by Party
Secretary Todor Zhivkov. The transition to democratic rule in 1990
went relatively smoothly, and the former Communist Party — now
re-designated the Bulgarian Socialist Party — remains part of the ruling
coalition. Another holdover has been the former king, Simeon II, who
regained power as prime minister from 2001-05. |
| Bulgaria and Romania joined
many of their former Warsaw Pact counterparts as members of NATO in 2004,
but were denied admission to the
European Union until
2007. |
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Bulgaria's capital is one of the oldest in Europe, dating from the 8th century
BC Thracian settlement of Serdica. |
| The Romans conquered the city in 29 AD, and
Emperor Diocletian made it capital of the province of Dacia Mediterranea
in the 3rd century. |
Although destroyed by the Huns in 447, and occasionally sacked by Slavs in
subsequent centuries, the city continued to flourish under Byzantine rule. |
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Sredets (as it was then known) was
incorporated into the Bulgarian empire in 809. It fell to the
Byzantines in 1018, and was restored to Bulgarian control in 1185. |
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| This wealthy city was renamed Sofia in
1376. |
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Its name honored the local Church of St.
Sophia. |
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The Ottomans conquered Sofia in 1382, and
made it capital of Rumelia — as they called their Balkan possessions — in
1444. Sofia had become predominantly Muslim by the 16th century. |
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| Sofia also attracted a sizeable Jewish
population. |
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Today, few traces remain of either cultural
heritage. |
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| On the other hand, Sofia is
graced by numerous notable Christian churches. |
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The oldest places of worship date
from the Roman and Byzantine era. |
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The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral was built to
honor Russian soldiers who died for Bulgarian independence, while the St.
Nedelya Church was the scene of a bloody terrorist attack in 1925. |
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The city was bombed by the Allies
during World War II, but quickly recovered. |
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One of Bulgaria's most important cultural, historical and architectural
monuments lies about 70 miles southwest of the capital, nestled in the imposing
Rila Mountains. |
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After his death in 946, his relics were
much prized by Bulgarian rulers. |
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They spent the next few centuries in Sofia,
then were moved to Veliko Tarnovo. |
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It wasn't until 1469 that his
remains were returned to his namesake monastery. |
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In the 14th century, the local feudal lord,
Hrelyo Dragovol, fortified the monastery. The residential complex
was further expanded in the mid-18th century. |
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| An 1833 fire destroyed many of the
buildings. |
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They were rebuilt over the next several
decades. |
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Practical Information
We stayed in Sofia for two nights in February
2005.
- Hotel: We stayed with A.J., a fellow Olmsted Scholar who was
attending Sofia University
at the time
- Restaurants: We had an excellent dinner at the "Under the Linden" (Подъ
Липите) restaurant with some of A.J.'s friends
- Transportation: A.J drove us everywhere we needed to go
This page was first published 8 April 2007,
and last updated
17 August 2008.
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