Bulgaria

The land was home to the ancient Thracians, famed for their gold and horsemanship, and later to Greeks and Romans. The First Bulgarian Empire was founded in 681, becoming a major power that, under rulers such as Tsar Simeon, reached a golden age of Slavic learning, where scholars developed the Cyrillic script now used across much of the Slavic and Orthodox world. After a second empire, Bulgaria fell under Ottoman rule for nearly five centuries before regaining independence in the late nineteenth century.

Bulgaria is a land of mountains and valleys. The Balkan Mountains, which give the whole peninsula its name, run east to west across the centre of the country, with the higher Rila and Pirin ranges in the southwest holding the highest peaks in the Balkans. Between and around them lie fertile plains and river valleys, including those of the Danube in the north and the rose-growing Valley of the Roses. To the east, the Black Sea coast draws visitors to its beaches and resorts.

The flag of Bulgaria has three horizontal bands of white, green, and red. The colours are commonly understood to represent peace and the love of freedom in the white, the country's fertile land and forests in the green, and the courage and blood of those who fought for independence in the red. The simple tricolour was adopted after Bulgaria's liberation from Ottoman rule and has represented the nation ever since.

The great majority of Bulgarians belong to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, one of the oldest Slavic Orthodox churches, which played a central role in preserving national identity through the long centuries of Ottoman rule. There is also a significant Muslim minority, a legacy of the Ottoman period. Orthodox monasteries, such as the famous Rila Monastery in the mountains, are among the country's greatest cultural and spiritual treasures and centres of national heritage.

Bulgarian cuisine is fresh, varied, and closely tied to the land. A national favourite is the shopska salad of tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and grated white cheese. The country is especially famous for its yogurt, made with a bacterium named for Bulgaria and credited by some with the longevity of its mountain people. Grilled meats, stuffed vegetables, and the flaky pastry banitsa are staples, and Bulgaria has a winemaking tradition reaching back to the Thracians.

Bulgaria has a strong agricultural heritage, supported by its fertile plains and warm valleys. The country grows wheat, maize, sunflowers, and an abundance of vegetables and fruit, and has a notable wine industry. Its most famous product is rose oil: the Valley of the Roses produces a large share of the world's rose oil, a precious essence distilled from rose petals and used in fine perfumes. Bulgarian yogurt and dairy are also renowned.

The Thracian civilisation, the founding of the First Bulgarian Empire in 681, and the development of the Cyrillic alphabet, which spread across the Slavic world, are sources of immense national pride. The long Ottoman period and the liberation of 1878, won with Russian help in battles such as the defence of the Shipka Pass, shaped the modern nation. In the twentieth century Bulgaria spent decades as a communist state before joining the European Union in 2007.

Bulgaria has a population of around 6.5 million people, the great majority ethnic Bulgarians, a South Slavic and Orthodox people, with Turkish and Roma minorities. The country has one of the fastest-declining populations in the world, the result of low birth rates and heavy emigration since the fall of communism. Most Bulgarians live in cities, above all the capital, Sofia, which lies in a basin at the foot of a mountain in the west of the country.