Bulgaria has a total area of 111 000 sq. km. (43 000 sq. miles), a country the size of Tennessee. Its population is approximately 8 million. Its importance is due to its geographical position at the junction of the main roads which connect Western to Northern Europe with the Middle and Near East.
Bulgaria has a great variety of landscape: high mountains, wooded hills, wide fertile plains and valleys. The climate is temperate continental with an average temperature over the year of about 12°C (53.6°F). The long hours of sunshine and high summer temperatures are a major natural wealth and can be pleasantly spent at the beautiful seaside. The mountains are covered with snow for 3-5 months a year and they attract a large number of tourists and skiers.
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Bulgaria is a country of more than 1300 years of history. The Thracians are the earliest recorded population in the eastern half of the Balkan Peninsula. The people who endowed the world with Orpheus and Spartacus possessed and exceptionally original culture. The fertile lands of the peninsula attracted a succession of temporary settlers and provoked incessant barbaric incursions. The Ancient Greeks, the Macedonians and the Romans had their colonies here and left an enormous archaeological and cultural inheritance. Bulgarian state was found in the year 681 due to the union of the Proto-Bulgarians and, the Slavs, who belonged to the Indo-European language community and the few left Thracian inhabitants. In the year 855 Bulgarians were given their own alphabet by the two brothers Cyril and Methodius and 10 years later they adopted Christianity. In the period between 893 and 1280 they twice conquered the whole Balkan Peninsula, becoming one of Europe's strongest and culturally progressed Middle Age empires. Bulgaria lost twice its independence - it was invaded by the Byzantium Empire in the 11th-12th century and in 1396 was conquered and held under yoke by the Ottoman Empire for five centuries until the year 1878 when it regained its autonomy as a result of the Russo-Turkish War. In the period between 1887 and 1944 Bulgaria was a kingdom ruled by the Sax-Coburg-Gotha dynasty that fought on the side of Germany in the two World Wars until a communist coalition took control of the country and established a Soviet-style People's Republic of totalitarian character. In Oct. 1991 the Union of democratic Forces won the elections and since then Bulgaria heads its way to a well-developed market economy, a newly become NATO member, aiming to join the structures of the European Union in the year 2007.
Bulgaria is a multi-ethnical country - the majority of the populations are Bulgarians, there are about a million Muslims living here as well as Gypsies, Vlachs, Armenians and Jews. The official language is Bulgarian but all ethnic minorities can speak their own languages and keep their traditions all citizens of Bulgaria being entitled to equal rights and duties, regardless of their nationality.
Bulgarian people are less religious than most others, but religion is now, and has always been, an important factor in national life. Most believers in Bulgaria belong to the Eastern Orthodox Christian Church, about 13 of the population is Muslims and the remaining percentage includes Jews, Roman Catholics and Protestants.
Bulgaria is a parliamentary republic headed by the president. The supreme legislative authority is the hands of the National Assembly, while the executive one is a priority of the Council of Ministers. The monetary unit is lev. The main sectors of the Bulgarian economy are agriculture (vegetables, fruits, tobacco, livestock, wine etc.), industry (electricity, gas, water, food, machinery and equipment etc.) and tourism.
Being a land in which resorts existed since the times of ancient Thracians and Romans, nowadays Bulgaria attracts tourist with a variety of tourist assets. Its geographic position (temperate and agreeable climate, various landscape, the 380 km-long Black Sea coastline, the alpine forests and caves, the multitude of lakes, rivers and mineral springs) enabled the country to develop seaside, mountain and spa tourism with a lot of sport activities held like skiing, snowboarding, trekking, biking, rafting, surfing, yachting etc.
It also has many cultural attractions to offer the foreign tourists, such as remains of antique cities and fortresses, ancient tombs, hundreds of monasteries, well-preserved villages with unique 18th century Revival architecture and many more. Most of them have been taken under the protection of UNESCO as a part of the World Cultural Heritage.
Bulgaria is also a popular destination for the business world since it offers all the necessary facilities for congresses, symposia, conferences, bilateral and international meetings, during which business contacts are also easily combined with recreation and entertainment.
