One of the theories says that the etymology of the name of the Bulgarian tribe, derives from burg, a Germanic word that means “castle”. Others say that it derives from Bulgarian whose meaning is unknown. The burgarii or burgarioi are the ones who guard the fortresses. A third theory derives the ethnonym of the name of the city of Balkh (at the moment in the north of Afghanistan), capital of the old state of Balkhara, from which the old Bulgarians would come.
However, a non-Indo-European origin of the primitive Bulgarian tribes has traditionally been accepted, whose ethnogenesis would be produced by the mixture of Finno-Ugric elements with other Altaic ones. After its settlement in the Balkans, the human element of Slavic origin, the majority population in this area, would prevail. Thus, the modern Bulgarian language belongs to the South Slavic family.
History
At the beginning of the 6th century the southern Slavic tribes settled in the ancient region of Thrace. At the end of the 7th century, a part of the Bulgarian hordes (a people or conglomerate of nomadic peoples of Asian origin that included Hun and Altaic elements), led by Khan Asparuh, migrated to the northeastern part of the Balkan Peninsula, settling in the Thrace region. Gradually they were integrated with the local populations, both Slavs and Thracians, to form the first Bulgarian state.
According to localcollegeexplorer, Bulgaria was a major European power during the 9th and 10th centuries, when it fought the Byzantine Empire for control of the Balkan region. The Bulgarian state was destroyed after an assault by the Varangians established in the future western Russia, in the year 969, and then totally subdued by a Byzantine attack led by the Emperor Basil II in 1018.
The Bulgarian state was re-established in 1185 and continued to be an important power in southeastern Europe for two more centuries, during which time disputes continued against nomadic peoples and especially the Tatars, the Byzantine Empire, the Kingdom of Serbia and the states. crusaders established in Greece and Hungary. At the end of the 14th century the country was definitively subdued by the Ottoman Empire.
Alexander I, first leader of modern Bulgaria, designated by the Treaty of Berlin of 1878.
Bulgaria regained its independence in 1878 as an autonomous principality and was proclaimed an independent kingdom in 1908. During 1912 and 1913 Bulgaria was involved in the Balkan Wars, a series of conflicts with neighboring countries, during which the Bulgarian territory varied in size, acquiring access to the Aegean coast west of European Turkey. During the first and second world wars, Bulgaria allied with the sides that were defeated, the Central Empires first and the Rome-Berlin- Tokyo Axis later.
The History of Bulgaria during the Second World War covers the period 1939 – 1945. Until 1 as March as 1941, Bulgaria remains neutral. On that date, it became an ally of the Axis forces until September 9, 1944, when it changed sides to join the Allies until the end of the war. Unlike other countries such as Hungary or Romania, which are, like Bulgaria itself, satellite states of Nazi Germany, Bulgaria maintained diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union at all times. At the end of the war, Bulgaria fell within the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union and became a people’s republic. The communist government of the country ended in 1990, the year in which multi-party elections were held again, and in 1991 it left the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance of which it had been a member since 1949.
Bulgaria joined the NATO on 29 March of the 2004 and the European Union (EU) on January 1st of 2007.
Government and politics
Bulgaria is a parliamentary republic. By direct universal suffrage, Parliament is elected every 4 years. The party with the most votes is given the mandate to form a government. Under the unwritten rule, the leader of the winning party is appointed as the Prime Minister, who holds the highest authority in both domestic affairs and international relations. Unlike the Presidential and semi-presidential states (USA, France etc.), in Bulgaria the president has only representative and protocol functions, but no executive or legislative powers.
The President of Bulgaria is elected by vote for a period of 5 years with the right to re-election. The President holds the position of Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. The President is the head of National Security and can return an initiative to parliament for debate. Parliament can override this veto with the approval of more than half of the members of the National Assembly.
The Bulgarian Parliament is made up of a chamber, the National Assembly, made up of 240 deputies elected by popular vote for 4-year terms. Candidate lists are voted for the nine administrative divisions. A party must obtain 4% of the votes cast in order to join parliament. Parliament is responsible for enacting laws, approving the national budget, scheduling presidential elections, electing the Prime Minister and other ministers, making declarations of war, authorizing the deployment of Bulgarian troops outside the country, and ratifying international treaties and agreements without the right to it.
In the 2005 elections, Sergei Stanishev won, obtaining 31% of the vote. His main opponent, Simeon Saxcoburggotsky, had to be content with 20% of the vote, while the Movement for Rights and Freedoms obtained 12%. However, these three political forces have formed a coalition government.
Political-administrative organization
Since 1999, Bulgaria has been divided into 28 provinces that correspond roughly to the 28 okrugs that existed before 1987. Between 1987 and 1999 it was divided into 9 oblasts.
All provinces are named after their capital. The capital Sofia is the capital of both the country and the Province of Sofia.
