Everything about Bulgarians totally explained
}}
|region3 =
|pop3 = 60,239 - 300,000
|ref3 =
|region4 =
|pop4 = 204,600
|ref4 =
|region5 =
|pop5 = 91,265 - 95,752
|ref5 =
|region6 =
|pop6 = 65,662 - 90,000
|ref6 =
|region7 =
|pop7 = 39,053 - 90,000
|ref7 =
|region8 =
|pop8 = 5,356 - 80,000
|ref8 =
|region8 =
|pop8 = 78,981
|ref8 =
|region9 =
|pop9 = 70,000
|ref9 =
|region10 =
|pop10 = 19,924 - 70,000
|ref10 =
|region11 =
|pop11 = 31,965
|ref11 =
|region12 =
|pop12 = 31,965
|ref12 =
|region12 =
|pop12 = 15,195 - 30,000
|ref12 =
|region14 =
|pop14 = 20,497
|ref14 =
|region15 =
|pop15 = 7,460 - 20,000
|ref15 =
|region16 =
|pop16 = 15,000 - 20,000
|ref16 =
|region17 =
|pop17 = 8,092 - 12,000
|ref17 =
|region18 =
|pop18 = 8,000 - 50,000
|ref18 =
|region19 =
|pop19 = 6,915 - 30,000
|ref19 =
|region20 =
|pop20 = 5,388
|ref20 =
|region21 =
|pop21 = 2,316 - 5,000
|ref21 =
|region22 =
|pop22 = 4,383 - 5,000
|ref22 =
|region23 =
|pop23 = 5,000
|ref23 =
|region24 =
|pop24 = 4,902 - 8,000
|ref24 =
|region25 =
|pop25 = 3,508 - 4,000
|ref25 =
|region26 =
|pop26 = 628 - 4,000
|ref26 =
|region27 =
|pop27 = 2,076 - 2,202
|ref27 =
|region28 =
|pop28 = 2,000
|ref28 =
|region29 =
|pop29 = 816 - 2,000
|ref29 =
|region30 =
|pop30 = 1,500
|ref30 =
|region31 =
|pop31 = 1,700
|ref31 =
|region32 =
|pop32 = 1,422
|ref32 =
|region33 =
|pop33 = 1,200
|ref33 =
|region34 =
|pop34 = 1,112
|ref34 =
:
680 (1989)
:
650
:
138(2002)
|langs=
Bulgarian
|rels=Predominantly
Bulgarian Orthodox including
Atheist,
Muslim,
Roman Catholic minorities.
}}
The
Bulgarians (or
bǎlgari) are a
South Slavic people generally associated with the
Republic of Bulgaria and the
Bulgarian language. There are Bulgarian minorities or immigrant communities in a number of other countries, too.
Ethnogenesis
Geographically Bulgaria is situated on the bridgehead between
Europe and
Asia. The Bulgarian
DNA data suggest that a human demographic expansion occurred sequentially in the
Middle East, through
Anatolia, to the rest of Europe (Bulgaria included). The rate estimates date of this expansion in times ranging around 50,000 years ago, corresponding to the arrival of anatomically modern humans in Europe. From a historical angle, Bulgarians have descended from three main ethnic groups which mixed on the
Balkans during the 6th - 10th century: local tribes, including the
Thracians;
Slavic invaders, who gave their language to the modern Bulgarians; and the
Turkic-speaking
Bulgars, from whom the
ethnonym and the early statehood were inherited.
In physical appearance, the Bulgarian population is characterized by the features of the
eastern European anthropological type with some additional influences.
Genetically, modern Bulgarians are more closely related to other
Balkan populations (
Macedonians,
Greeks,
Romanians) than to the rest of the
Europeans. They are also related to Bosnians and Croatians.
Anthropologically Bulgarians are characterized by different ethnic elements which includes a medium to tall-statured Atlanto-Mediterranean, a partially blond Neo-Danubian, of typical snub-nosed form, a Nordic, a Dinaric, with the usual Alpine corollary and a brachycephalic central Asiatic Turkish or Tatar form. The basic element is the Atlanto-Mediterranean, which probably goes back to the Neolithic; the Neo-Danubian is probably of both Slavic and Ugrian introduction, although some of it may be older; the Nordic may be of several origins, including Thracian; the Dinaric is simply the result of Bulgarian admixture with local elements in Macedonia; the Turkic is found mostly in eastern Bulgaria, and then among townsmen and shepherds rather than among agriculturalists. Of these varied elements, the first two are the most important.
The ethnic contribution of the indigenous
Thracian and
Daco-
Getic population, who had lived on the territory of modern Bulgaria and established here the
Odrysian kingdom has been long debated among the scientists during the 20th century. Some recent genetic studies reveal that these peoples have indeed made a significant contribution to the genes of the modern Bulgarian population, which is however comparable, or even less than, to the contribution to other Balkan (Albanians, Greeks, Romanians) and Italian groups. This is also apparent in the
East Mediterranean anthropological type of the modern Bulgarians. The ancient languages of the local people had already gone extinct before the arrival of the Slavs, and their cultural influence was highly reduced due to the repeated barbaric invasions on the Balkans during the early
Middle Ages by
Goths,
Celts,
Huns, and
Sarmatians, accompanied by persistent
hellenization,
romanisation and later
slavicisation. The
Celts also expanded down the
Danube river and its tributaries in 3rd century BC. They had established a state on part of the territory of modern Bulgaria with capital
Tylis, which they ruled for over a century.
The Slavs emerged from their original homeland (most commonly thought to have been in
Eastern Europe) in the early 6th century, and spread to most of the eastern
Central Europe, Eastern Europe and the Balkans, thus forming three main branches - the
West Slavs, the
East Slavs and the
South Slavs. The easternmost South Slavs became part of the ancestors of the modern Bulgarians, which however, are genetically clearly separated from the tight
DNA cluster of the most Slavic peoples. This phenomenon is explained by “the genetic contribution of the people who lived in the region before the Slavic expansion” . The frequency of the proposed
Slavic Haplogroup R1a1 ranges to only 14.7% in Bulgaria.
The Bulgars were a seminomadic people thought to have spoken a
Turkic language, who during the 2nd century migrated from
Central Asia into the North
Caucasian steppe. Between
377 and
453 they took part in the
Hunnic raids on
Central and
Western Europe. After
Attila's death in
453, and the subsequent disintegration of the
Hunnic Empire, the Bulgar tribes dispersed mostly to the eastern and southeastern parts of Europe. In the late
7th century, some Bulgar tribes, led by
Asparukh and others, led by
Kouber, permanently settled in the
Balkans, and formed the ruling classe of
First Bulgarian Empire in
680-
681. The Asian genetic inflow by modern Bulgarians, probably introduced from the Bulgars and other steppe's peoples who also contributed to the Bulgarian ethnogenesis, as numbers of
Kumans,
Pechenegs and
Avars is indicated trough the limited presence of some rare
alleles and
haplotypes.
On the other hand today the neighbouring Macedonians are culturally, linguistically and genetically very closely related to Bulgarians, with both of their languages being mutually intelligible. “Ethnic” Macedonians were identified as 'Bulgarians' by the most of the ethnographers until the middle of the 20th century. The reasons for this were manifold, particularly so because of the fierce resistance of the Macedonian Bulgarians to the Servian occupation and attempts to their direct servisation in the period 1913-1941, the accompanying genocide and the relatively late beginning of the implementation of the idea of the Servian politician Stoyan Novakovich for creating a Macedonian nation, separate from Bulgarian, as a transition stage to the full servisation of the Macedonian Bulgarians. A considerable proportion of citizens of the Republic of Macedonia continue to identify as ethnic Bulgarians. Lately Bulgaria has maintained a policy of making the procedure as easy as possible for ethnic Macedonians who claim Bulgarian origin to claim citizenship.[55]. During the last few years in which Bulgaria saw rising economic prosperity and admission to the EU, around 60,000 citizens of Republic of Macedonia have applied for Bulgarian citizenship in this way [4][5][6][7] [8].
Population
Most Bulgarians live in the Republic of
Bulgaria. There are significant traditional Bulgarian minorities in
Moldova and
Ukraine (
Bessarabian Bulgarians), as well as smaller communities in
Romania (
Banat Bulgarians),
Serbia (the
Western Outlands),
Greece, the
Republic of Macedonia,
Albania, and
Hungary. Many Bulgarians also live in the diaspora, which is formed by representatives and descendants of the old (before 1989) and new (after 1989) emigration. The old emigration was made up of some 160,000 economic and several tens of thousands of political emigrants, and was directed for the most part to the
U.S.,
Canada,
Argentina,
Brazil and
Germany. The new emigration is estimated at some 700,000 people and can be divided into two major subcategories: permanent emigration at the beginning of the 1990s, directed mostly to the
U.S.,
Canada,
Austria, and
Germany and labour emigration at the end of the 1990s, directed for the most part to
Greece,
Italy, the
UK and
Spain. Migrations to the West have been quite steady even in the late 1990s and early 21st century, as people continue moving to countries like the US, Canada and Australia. Most Bulgarians living in the US can be found in
Chicago, IL. However, according to the 2000 US census most Bulgarians live in the cities of
New York and
Los Angeles, and the state with most Bulgarians in the US is
California.
The largest urban populations of Bulgarians are to be found in
Sofia (1,241,000),
Plovdiv (378,000), and
Varna (352,000). The total number of Bulgarians thus ranges anywhere from 7 to 8 million, depending solely on the estimation used for the diaspora.
Culture
What was done in the past
Cyrillic alphabet
Medieval Bulgaria was the most important cultural centre of the
Slavic people at the end of the 9th and throughout the 10th century. The two literary schools of
Preslav and
Ohrid developed a rich literary and cultural activity with authors of the rank of
Constantine of Preslav,
John Exarch,
Chernorizets Hrabar,
Clement and
Naum of Ohrid. In the first half of the 10th century, the
Cyrillic alphabet was devised in the
Preslav Literary School based on the
Glagolitic and the
Greek alphabets. Modern versions of the alphabet are now used to write five more
Slavic languages such as
Belarusian,
Macedonian,
Russian,
Serbian and
Ukrainian as well as
Mongolian and some other 60 languages spoken in the former
Soviet Union.
Bulgaria exerted similar influence on her neighbouring countries in the mid to late 14th century, at the time of the
Turnovo Literary School, with the work of
Patriarch Evtimiy,
Grigoriy Tsamblak,
Constantine of Kostenets (Konstantin Kostenechki). Bulgarian cultural influence was especially strong in
Wallachia and
Moldova where the
Cyrillic alphabet was used until 1860, while
Slavonic was the official language of the princely and of the church until the end of 17th century.
Art and science
Boris Christoff,
Nicolai Ghiaurov,
Raina Kabaivanska and
Ghena Dimitrova made a precious contribution to
opera singing with Ghiaurov and Christoff being two of the greatest
bassos in the post-war period.
Bulgarians have made valuable contributions to world culture in modern times as well.
Julia Kristeva and
Tzvetan Todorov were among the most influential European philosophers in the second half of the 20th century. The artist
Christo is among the most famous representatives of
environmental art with projects such as the
Wrapped Reichstag.
Bulgarians in the diaspora have also been active. American scientists and inventors of Bulgarian descent include
John Atanasoff,
Peter Petroff, and
Assen Jordanoff. Bulgarian-American
Stephane Groueff wrote the celebrated book "
Manhattan Project", about the making of the first atomic bomb and also penned "Crown of Thorns", a biography of
Tsar Boris III of Bulgaria.
Sport
In the beginning of the 20th century Bulgaria was famous for two of the best wrestlers in the world -
Dan Kolov and
Nikola Petroff.
High-jumper
Stefka Kostadinova was one of the top ten female athletes of the last century and holds one of the oldest unbroken world records in athletics.
Hristo Stoichkov was one of the best football (soccer) players in the second half of the 20th century, having played with the national team and
FC Barcelona. He received a number of awards and was the joint top scorer at the
1994 World Cup.
Language
Bulgarians speak a
Southern Slavic language which is to some point similar to
Serbo-Croatian and is often (mostly words, not sentences) mutually intelligible with it. The
Bulgarian language is also, to some degree, mutually intelligible with
Russian on account of the influence which Russia has had on the development of Modern Bulgaria since 1878, as well as the earlier effect of
Old Bulgarian on the development of
Old Russian. Although related, Bulgarian and the Western and Eastern
Slavic languages are not mutually intelligible.
Bulgarian demonstrates several linguistic developments that set it apart from other Slavic languages. These are shared with
Romanian,
Albanian and
Greek (see
Balkan linguistic union). Until 1878 Bulgarian was influenced lexically by medieval and modern
Greek, and to a much lesser extent, by
Turkish. More recently, the language has borrowed many words from
Russian,
German,
French and
English.
Some members of the diaspora don't speak the Bulgarian language (mostly representatives of the old emigration in the
U.S.,
Canada and
Argentina) but are still considered Bulgarians by ethnic origin or descent.
The majority of the Bulgarian linguists, as well as international ones, consider the officialized
Macedonian language, since 1944, a local variation of Bulgarian, although the linguistic consensus suggests that a language is a language if its speakers define it as such.
The Bulgarian language is written in the
Cyrillic alphabet.
Name system
There are several different layers of Bulgarian names. The vast majority of them have either
Christian (names like Lazar,
Ivan, Anna, Maria, Ekaterina) or
Slavic origin (Vladimir, Svetoslav, Velislava). After the Liberation in 1878, the names of historical
Bulgar rulers like
Asparuh,
Krum,
Kubrat and
Tervel were resurrected. The old Bulgar name
Boris has spread from Bulgaria to a number of countries in the world with Russian
tsar Boris Godunov and German tennis player
Boris Becker being two of the examples of its use.
Most Bulgarian male surnames have an
-ov surname suffix (
Cyrillic:
-ов). This is sometimes
transcribed as
-off (John Atanasov —
John Atanasoff, but more often as
-ov for example
Boris Hristov). The
-ov suffix is the Slavic gender-
agreeing suffix, thus
Ivanov really means "Ivan's". Bulgarian middle names use the gender-
agreeing suffix as well, thus the middle name of Nikola's son becomes
Nikolov, and the middle name of Ivan's son becomes
Ivanov. Since names in Bulgarian are gender-based, Bulgarian women have the
-ova surname suffix (Cyrillic:
-овa), for example,
Maria Ivanova. The plural form of Bulgarian names ends in
-ovi (Cyrillic:
-ови), for example the
Ivanovi family .
Other common Bulgarian male surnames have the
-ev surname suffix (Cyrillic:
-ев), for example Stoev, Ganchev, Peev, and so on. The female surname in this case would have the
-eva surname suffix (Cyrillic:
-ева), for example:
Galina Stoeva. The last name of the entire family then would have the plural form of
-evi (Cyrillic:
-еви), for example: the
Stoevi family .
Another typical Bulgarian surname suffix, though much less common, is
-ski. This surname ending also gets an
–a when the bearer of the name is female (
Smirnenski becomes
Smirnenska). The plural form of the surname suffix
-ski is still
-ski, for example the
Smirnenski family .
The surname suffix
-ich can be found sometimes, primarily among
Catholic Bulgarians. The ending
–in (female
-ina) also appears sometimes, though rather seldom. It used to be given to the child of an unmarried woman (for example the son of
Kuna will get the surname
Kunin and the son of
Gana –
Ganin). The surname ending
–ich doesn't get an additional
–a if the bearer of the name is female.
Religion
Most Bulgarians are at least nominally members of the
Bulgarian Orthodox Church founded in 870 AD (
autocephalous since 927 AD). The
Bulgarian Orthodox Church is the independent national church of Bulgaria like the other national branches of
Eastern Orthodoxy and is considered an inseparable element of Bulgarian national consciousness. The church has been abolished twice during the periods of Byzantine (1018—1185) and Ottoman (1396—1878) domination but was revived every time as a symbol of Bulgarian statehood. In 2001, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church had a total of 6,552,000 members in Bulgaria (82.6% of the population) and between one and two million members in the diaspora. The problem with the allegiance of the Orthodox Bulgarian minorities in
Serbia,
Romania,
Moldova and
Ukraine hasn't yet been settled and Bulgarians in those countries still hold allegiance to the respective national orthodox churches.
Despite the position of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church as a unifying symbol for all Bulgarians, smaller or larger groups of Bulgarians have converted to other faiths or denominations through the course of time. In the 16th and the 17th century
Roman Catholic missionaries converted the Bulgarian
Paulicians in the districts of
Plovdiv and
Svishtov to Roman Catholicism. Nowadays there are some 40,000 Catholic Bulgarians in Bulgaria and additional 10,000 in
Banat in Romania. The Catholic Bulgarians of the Banat are also descendants of Paulicians who fled to Banat at the end of the 17th century after an unsuccessful uprising against the Ottomans.
Protestantism was introduced in Bulgaria by missionaries from the United States in 1857. Missionary work continued throughout the second half of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century. In 2001, there were some 25,000 Protestant Bulgarians in Bulgaria.
Between 15th and 20th century, during the Ottoman rule, a large number of Orthodox Bulgarians converted to
Islam. Their descendants now form the second largest religious congregation in Bulgaria. In 2001, there were 131,000
Muslim Bulgarians or
Pomaks in Bulgaria in the
Rhodope region, as well as some villages in the
Teteven region in Central North Bulgaria. Their origins are obscure, but they're generally believed to be Bulgarians who converted to Islam during the period of
Ottoman rule in the
Balkans.
.
Symbols
The national symbols of the Bulgarians are the
Flag of Bulgaria and the
Coat of Arms of Bulgaria.
The national flag of Bulgaria is a rectangle with three colors: white, green, and red, positioned horizontally top to bottom. The color fields are of same form and equal size.
The
Coat of Arms of Bulgaria is a state symbol of the sovereignty and independence of the Bulgarian people and state. It represents a crowned rampant golden lion on a dark red background with the shape of a shield. Above the shield there's a crown modeled after the crowns of the emperors of the
Second Bulgarian Empire, with five crosses and an additional cross on top. Two crowned rampant golden lions hold the shield from both sides, facing it. They stand upon two crossed oak branches with acorns, which symbolize the power and the longevity of the Bulgarian state. Under the shield, there's a white band lined with the three national colors. The band is placed across the ends of the branches and the phrase "Unity Makes Strength" is inscribed on it.
Both the Bulgarian flag and the Coat of Arms are also used as symbols of various Bulgarian organisations, political parties and institutions.
Bulgarians. Faces through history
Image:Reproduction of Thracian tomb 1.jpg|Thracians, fresco from a Thracian Tomb near Kazanlak, 4th century BC
Image:Bulgars.jpg|Bulgars slaughter Byzantines, from the Menology of Basil II
Image:Krum1.jpg|Khan Krum (803-814), led triumphant campaigns against Avar Khaganate and Byzantine Empire
Image:Omurtag1.jpg|Khan Omurtag (815-831), warrior and builder
Image:182 BG.jpg|Saint Knyaz Boris I (852–889), converted the Bulgarians into Christianity
Image:Saint Clement of Ohrid (icon, 13th-14th century).jpg|Icon of Saint Clement of Ohrid (ca. 840–916), the first bishop of Bulgarian
Image:St. Theodor.jpg|Ceramic icon of Saint Theodore dating to Tsar Simeon's reign (893–927)
Image:Desislava.jpg|A fresco from Boyana Church near Sofia depicting Desislava, a church patron (1259)
Image:
Image:Ioal backovo.jpg|Fresco of Tsar Ivan Alexander (1331-1371) from Bachkovo Monastery
Image:Bulgarian women 1586.jpg|Bulgarian women from the period of the Ottoman Empire rule (16th century)
Image:19th century Bulgarians - Mackenzie and Irby.jpg|Bulgarian peasants with Bulgarian merchant and his son in the late Ottoman Empire, 1860s'
Image:Panayot-Hitov.jpg|Panayot Hitov (1830–1918), hajduk and voivode
Image:hristo botev.gif|Hristo Botev (1848–1876), poet and revolutionary
Image:Battenburg.jpg|Knjaz Alexander Batemberg, first ruler of modern Bulgaria
Image:Pencho Slaveykov photo.gif|Pencho Slaveykov (1866-1912), modernist poet and literary theoretician
Image:Tane_Nikolov_Apostol_Petkov.jpg.jpg|Tane Nikolov and Apostol Petkov, voivodes of IMARO
Image:Yordan Radichkov.jpg|Yordan Radichkov (1929-2004), writer
Image:Valya Balkanska.jpg|Valya Balkanska, folk music singer
Image:Julia Kristeva p1200568.jpg|Julia Kristeva, literary critic, novelist, psychoanalyst, philosopher and feminist
Image:Veselin Topalov Sofia Airport 24.10.2005.pic-01.jpg|Veselin Topalov, former world chess champion
References and notes
Further Information
Get more info on 'Bulgarians'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://bulgarians.totallyexplained.com">Bulgarians Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
