Evidence from the literate age indicates that the oldest native population of Eastern Thrace were the Thracians. This people, the most numerous next to the Indian one, as reported by Herodotus, provided the classical antiquity with gods and goddesses like Dionysus, Hephaestus, Artemis, Kibela, Ares... Orpheus and Spartacus are Thracians. Thracians fought in the Trojan War on the side of the Achaeans. There is no doubt that Thracian culture is part of the foundations of modern civilization.
The largest gold treasures in the Bulgarian museums today represent Thracian heritage. These gold finds are only part of the material tokens of the legacy the Bulgarians received from their great Thracian ancestors.
In the 7th-6th centuries B.C. the Hellenic colonization of the Bulgarian lands began, along the Black Sea coast in particular. Most of the today's seaboard towns were founded by Hellenic merchants and sea-farers. In the 4th century B.C. a large portion of the territory of what is now Bulgaria was conquered by the Macedonians of Philip II and his son Alexander the Great. As part of Alexander’s army, the Thracian detachments reached Egypt, Persia and India...
In the 1st century A.D. the time of the Roman Ceasars and their legions came. The major highways of modern Bulgaria often follow the beds of the roads constructed by the Romans in those times. Romans were the ones who laid the foundations of many new towns. Some of the Thracians adopted the Latin language and the culture of this Empire. After the 4th century the Balkan Peninsula fell under the power of Byzantium joining the sphere of its civilization for long centuries to pass. This, in short, is the history of Moesia, Thrace and Macedonia - the three "classical” regions comprising the ethnic area of the Bulgarian people.
Thus, the Proto-Bulgarian aristocracy became the state-forming element, whose role was analogous to the role played by Rurik’s Vikings in Kievan Russia, or the Normans of William the Conqueror in England.
In 1018 Emperor Basil II Bulgaroctonus conquered Bulgaria and made it a province of the Byzantine Empire. THE SECOND BULGARIAN KINGDOM
The Second Bulgarian Kingdom (1185-1396) was initiated after a successful uprising of the Bulgarian aristocracy. The reign of the Assen dynasty began. The city of Turnovo was chosen to become the capital. This kingdom was fated by history to play an important part in the period of Ottoman Muslim invasion. At the price of its independence, Bulgaria blocked the Sultan’s expansion to Europe.
Bulgaria was an Ottoman province in the course of five centuries. With Bulgaria's conquest, Bulgarian aristocracy was liquidated, Bulgarian administration was eliminated, and the Sultans, who, for a long time, made no difference between the individual peoples inhabiting the Balkans, deprived the Bulgarian church of its autonomy and patriarchal authority and made it subject to the dominion of the Greek Constantinople Patriarchate. During this period the ordinary Bulgarian peasants, craftsmen, tradesmen and clergymen went through hard trials, which formed in them awareness of being responsible for their own identity, nationality, faith, spiritual tradition, culture, history... The Bulgarian people maintained and backed the growth of their monasteries, restored their towns, further developed their crafts and trade, created a municipally supported educational system (remarkable in the context of its time), generated their unique folklore... They produced spiritual and political leaders * on an European scale, developed the modern Bulgarian literary language, regained their church autonomy (1870), organized their national liberation movement, which reached its peak in the April uprising of 1876. This uprising had a world-wide response. Its suppression was the immediate reason underlying a large-scale international concern that culminated in the Russian-Turkish War of 1877-78. The termination of the Ottoman rule, the Bulgarian national Revival and the struggles for national liberation found expression in the classical works of modern Bulgarian literature.
The Third Bulgarian Kingdom stemmed from the San Stephano Peace Treaty signed on 3 March 1878. This treaty re-established Bulgaria in its ethnic boundaries determined by a special international committee, but it was revised only several months later by the then Great Powers - Germany, Great Britain, France, Austria-Hungary and Russia. This took place at the Berlin Congress, as it came to be known, which harmed, in varying degrees, the interests of all the Balkan nations. It created the "knot” of complications which made the Balkans the "powder-keg” of Europe. Exactly here lie the roots of the process which in later times became internationally known as "Balkanization”. Therefore, the notorious "Balkanization” was not produced by the specific mentality or, respectively, characteristics of the Balkan peoples and countries, it was rather a direct result of the arbitrary acts of the Great Powers.
In conformity with the resolutions of the Berlin Congress the territory of Moesia and the district of Sofia formed the Principality of Bulgaria. South Bulgaria was proclaimed to be an autonomous province named Eastern Rumelia. Macedonia remained within the confines of the Ottoman Empire. Until World War II the unification of the Bulgarian people continued to be a dominant concern both in the foreign and the domestic policy of the Bulgarian state.
Bulgaria succeeded in restoring South Bulgaria through a bloodless coup in 1885, as well as some part of Macedonia - after the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913. The unrealized ideal of national unification predetermined Bulgaria’s joining the Central Powers, in World War I, and Germany, in World War II. The dream of and pain for Macedonia (divided between Greece and Serbia), which are living till the present day, were paid by the Bulgarian people with two insurrections and four wars.
However, official Bulgaria, as well as the wide public, accept reality as it is today. The national question of the Bulgarian people may be settled in the context of United Europe.
CAPITALISM
In consequence of the agreements between Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt, after World War II Bulgaria fell under the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union.
Thanks to its centralized resources, Bulgaria was able to solve, with a relative success, the relevant problems of industrialization, education and social welfare. In the course of several decades the country became one of the main economic partners of the former Soviet Union. Bulgarian commodities were sold on markets stretching from the Baltic region to the Pacific. This large-scale growth, compared to the country's size, was accomplished to the detriment of citizen's rights and freedoms. The economy was militarized and unilaterally bound to the Soviet market and the Soviet raw material supplies. Non-governmental organizations did not exist. Individual enterprise was restrained. But Bulgaria takes 25 place in the world in GDP.
In several cases BCP authorities resorted to massive repressive actions, namely:
- in the elimination of their political opposition;
- in the forced (ordered by Stalin) "Macedonization” of the Bulgarian population living in the Pirin Macedonia region, when Bulgarians were forbidden to speak the literary Bulgarian language and were taught a concocted "Macedonian tongue”;
- in the nationalization of industry and large urban real estate;
- in the collectivization of agriculture;
ON THE THRESHOLD OF DEMOCRACY Following 10 November 1989…HELL______________________
Peter Parchevich (1616-1674) is a representative of a distinguished family from Chiprovtzi. He was Doctor of theological and canonical law, who had studied in Loreto and Rome. On his return to Bulgaria in 1643, Parchevich devoted his efforts to the organization of an anti-Turkish coalition of the Catholic states. To this purpose, and blessed by the Pope, he undertook a number of diplomatic missions to Austria, Hungary, Poland, Venezia, Wallachia, Moldavia; he even visited Bogdan Hmelnitzky in the Ukraine. On account of his contribution to the defence of Christianity, the Habsburgs conferred a barony on him. Peter Parchevich’ activity was not an exception among the people of Chiprovtzi. For example, the biographies of the Chiprovtzi notables, and his contemporaries, Peter Bogdan and Philip Stanislavov were much the same. Representatives of the Parcheviches, the Bogdanovs, the Stanislavovs, the Peykiches, the Marinovs (some of whom belonged to the old Bulgarian aristocracy) were politicians and diplomats, but they also distinguished as Catholic bishops, scholars, administrators, and military men. These were the families under whose guidance Bulgaria was elevated to the patriotic impulse crowned by the anti-Turk rebellion of 1688. After its defeat many members of these families emigrated to different parts of the Austrian Empire. Nowadays their descendants live in various countries around the world.
The language of the Asparukh and Kuber Bulgars, Vocabulary and grammar
Features of the old Bulgar language, preserved in the modern Bulgarian language
The Bulgar inscriptions discovered in the last decades reveal to us that some of the most characteristic features of the modern Bulgarian have their origin in the old Bulgar language. Two of the most frequent verb forms in modern Bulgarian – 'E' ('he/she/it IS') and 'BE' ('he/she/it WAS') coincide with the old Bulgar ones.
Similarly, the post-word definitive articles, which set modern Bulgarian apart from the rest of the Slavic languages, have their analogies in the lands to the east, previously inhabited by Bulgars. The diminutive suffixes -CHO, -CHE, -CA (-CHA), which are today common to the Bulgarian names (Trajcho, Trajche, Vancho, Vanche, Vancha, etc.), are also a Bulgar legacy. All this shows that the old Bulgar played a significant part in the formation of the modern Bulgarian language.
That is why even nowadays there are preserved a number of 'double' expressions, one word of which is Slavic, and the other – Bulgar in origin. For example: the expression SURVA, SURVA GODINA! ('Happy new Year!' - at Christmas), in which SURVA comes from the old Bulgar epithet SURV (fair, pure, holy), analogies of which are widely preserved in the East. The two most frequently said words at Easter – JAJCA (eggs) and KOZUNACI (Easter cakes), also have two sources – Slavic for JAJCA, and Bulgar for KOZUNACI. – The most tasty cakes made in the Caucasus, in the land of the former Kubrat Bulgars, are called KOZU and KAZINAKI, and the origin of these words becomes clear when we compare them to the Pamirian languages, in which KOZU (KHOZU) means 'sweet'.
At those times, when many people in Bulgaria spoke both old Bulgar and Slavic, there originated one very interesting tradition – to name some things in both languages. The Bulgarian folk songs contain many such 'double' expressions – for example, the expressions ZDRAV I CHITAV ('healthy and preserved'), the first word of which is Slavic, and the second - CHITAM is old Bulgar and corresponds to the Caucasian word CHIDAM ('preserved, not hurt'). Or to take the expression STARO-KHARO ('Old-Old'), in which next to the Slavic STARO stands KHARO – from KHAR, which in the lands of the former Kubrat Bulgars in the Caucasus even nowadays means 'old, broken down with age man'.
Almost all words designating the more important things in medieval Bulgaria had two variants – old Bulgar and Slavic. The inhabited buildings were called KSHTA ('house') and DOM ('house', Slavic). The grand buildings - PALAT ('palace') and DVOREC ('palace', Slavic). The nobles were called BOLJARI and VELMOZHI (Slavic), the clerics - KOLOBRI and ZHRECI (Slavic), the idols – KUMIRI and IDOLI, etc.
The Bulgar words were used by the Slavic inhabitants of the same territory, as well, and, naturally, there was created a single language. Saying KRASIV ('beautiful') a Bulgarian would use a Slavic word, but saying KHUBAV ('beautiful'), one would use an old Bulgar word. Similarly, LJUBOV ('a love') is a Slavic word but there was also another Bulgarian word for 'a love' – OBICH, from the Caucasians OBJUCH ('a kiss').
Here is a list of some of the most important 'double' Slavo-Bulgar words in modern Bulgarian:
A phonetic model of the language of the Asparukh and Kuber Bulgars
One of the most characteristic features of the old Bulgar language is the high frequency of the sound KH, occurring in specific combinations – in words such as ALKHASI, EALKH, OLKH, ALKH, KHUMSKHI, KHONSA, DOKHS, SHEKHTEM, KAVKHAN, etc. Of the total number of 53 words from the stone inscriptions and the Nominalia, 15 of them, or nearly 30%, contain the sound of KH. This is characteristic neither for the Slavic nor for the Thracian languages. The same peculiarity is seen and in the names of the Bulgar khans and boljars: AVITOKHOL, ASPARUKH, VINEKH, ESKHACH, OKHSUN, SANDILKH, KHINIALON, and also in the names of the Bulgar clans and towns – IRTKHITUIN, TUTKHON, BIKHARJA. 6 out of 12 words known from the language of the Volga Bulgars also contain KH – the words KHALANDZH, KHADANK, KHALICHE, KHVILI, SAKHRADZH and KHUT. Similar is the situation and in the lands populated by the Kuber Bulgars, where three of the most populous towns were called OKHRID, KHIMAR and KHTETOVO.
There are not too many languages in the world with such high frequency of KH. It occurs mainly in the Pamirian languages, for example – in the Ishkashimi and Jazguljami, in which KH frequently substitutes the K or G sounds of other Indo-European languages. Even more – most of the Bulgar words containing KH are Pamirian in origin or were remodelled under a Pamirian influence. Such are the words ALKHA (from which was derived ALKHASI), KHLOBRIN, DOKHS (compare also to the Persian TOKHS), KHONSA, SHEKHTEM, KAVKHAN, as well as the personal names ASPARUKH, AVITOKHOL, SANDILKH, VINEKH, etc.
Most of the Volga Bulgar words are also found in the Pamirian languages – such as KHALICHE (‘a lake’), KHADANG (‘a white poplar’), KHALANDZH (‘a type of oak’), SAKHRADZH (‘an earthen pot’). The combinations KHS, TKH, LKH are mostly found around the Pamirs (for example the name of the town of Balkh, the mountain Balkhan, also words such as TALKH – bitter, KLF – key, CHAKHS – a blanket, PETKH – a meat, etc. in the Ishkashimi. The name of Balkh, containing the combination LKH is attested as early as in the V c. BC, while in the III-IV c. AD in that region were mentioned the names of the peoples ALKHON and VALKHON, containing the same combination of sounds.
These old Bulgar–Eastern correspondences are summarized in the table below:
| Old Bulgar word | Eastern analogy |
| ALKH | ALGKH – to help (Sarikoli) |
| ALKHASI | ALKHA – a ring (Sarikoli) |
| BEKHTI – senior, responsible | BEKHT – responsible (Khufi) |
| DOKHS – a wild boar | TOKHS – dirty (Persian) |
| TOKH – a cock | TUKH – a hen (Sarikoli) |
| TOKHOL – a son, a child | TEKHEL – a child (Sarikoli) |
| KHONSA – a thief | KHOS – a thief (Kashm.) |
The sound DZH as well as CH, SH and S were also very frequent in old Bulgar:
DZH (DZ) – DZHENTU, DZERA, HALANDZH, SAKHRADZH, SUDZHUV
CH – CHIGOT, ICHIRGU, ICHIGI, CHITEM, CHIKA
SH – SHEGOR, SHEKHTEM, KORMISOSH, SHAR, TULSHI, etc.
S – TESI, ESTROGIN, SOMOR, SARAKT, ASPARUKH
Of the 37 words in the stone inscriptions (leaving aside the Nominalia), 18, or nearly 50%, contain consonants of this type. This peculiarity – the wide use of the affricates and the spirantes is one of the most characteristic features of the Pamirian languages.
| Sound | Old Bulgar word | Eastern analogy |
| DZH | DZHENTU – a personal name | DZHENDO – violent, unruly (Talish) |
| SUDZHUV – a mead, a hydromel | SIDZHU – a sweet drink (Ishkashimi) | |
| KHALANDZH – a type of tree | KHALANDZH – a type of oak (Pashto) | |
| DZ | DZERA – a messenger | DZ |
| Z | ZABERGAN – a personal name | ZABER – a power, a strength (Talish) |
| ANZI – a personal name | ANZA – a personal name (Persian) | |
| C | COK – a personal name | COK – a dew (Sarikoli) |
| CH | CHIGOT – a swordsman | CHIKO – a sword (Sarikoli) |
| CHDAR-Bolkar (a Bulgar tribe in Caucasus) | CHIDAR – separated (Dardic) | |
| KHALICHE – a lake | KHALICHA – a lake (Pashto) | |
| SH | SHEGOR – a bull | SHEG – a calf (Khufi) |
| SHEKHTEM – sixth | SHETTEM – sixth (Sak.) | |
| S | ISPERIKH | ISPURIG (Parthian) |
| ESTROGIN | ESTRIKA – a knitting (Mundzhani) |
Thus the old Bulgar words containing the sounds of DZH, DZ, Z, C, CH, SH, S, have a number of Pamirian counterparts. The same is also true for the specific sound SHT. In Bulgaria it is attested as early as in the X c. AD in the word KSHTA (‘a house’), as well as in the old word KAPISHTE (‘[heathen] shrine’). The Pamirian and Dardic analogies of K
SHTA sound as K
SHTAJ (in Pashto) and GKHOSHT in the Dardic languages. There are more correspondences: to the Bulgar PUSHT (‘an offshoot, an offspring’) corresponds the Pamirian PUSHT (‘an offspring, a clan’); to the Bulgarian STUD (‘cold [noun]’) – the Pamirian SHTUD (in Ishkashimi); to the Bulgarian words SHTUREC (‘cricket [an insect]’) and SHTERICA (‘a barren sheep’) – the Pamirian SHTUR (‘long-legged’) and SHTERAJ (‘barren’).
More correspondences are listed in the table below:
| Sound | Old Bulgar word | Eastern analogy | |
| G | SHEGOR | SHEG (Khufi) | |
| B | BOILA | BOIL – a name of a village (Wakhi) | |
| V | VER – a dragon | WARAN – a dragon (Tadzhik) | |
| DV | DVAN – a hare | DVAK – a type of hare (Ishkashimi) | |
| STR | ESTROGIN | ESTRIKA – a knitting (Mundzhani) | |
| ND | VANAND – a personal name | WANANDO – a victor (Kushan) | |
Another table lists the vowel correspondences:
| Sound | Old Bulgar word | Eastern analogy |
| A | DZERA | DZ |
| ASO – mortal remains | ASO – dust, ash (noun) | |
| DVAN | DWAK, DWANCHI | |
| O | DOKHS | TOKHS |
| OLKH | OLKKH | |
| BOILA | BOIL, BOLO – high | |
| E | SHEGOR | SHEG |
| DZHENTU | DZHENDO | |
| TEKU – a horse | TEKU – a donkey (Sarikoli) | |
| I | BIRI-BAGAIN | BIR – (cavalry) squadron (Pashto) |
| CHIT – to honour | CHIT – to honour (Wakhi) | |
| GILS – a urn | GILOS – a urn | |
| U | BORU – a stronghold | BORU (Persian) |
| KHUMSHI – a cast armour | KHUNCHA – a cast tray | |
| JU | JUK BOILA | JUG – a team (of horses, oxen) (Mundzhani) |
One of the most characteristic features here is the high frequency of the sound I – it occurs 21 times in the 37 words from the inscriptions. Next to it according to their frequency come A and O, while E and U are least frequent – they appear in only a quarter of all words. A similar frequency picture is characteristic for the Pamirian languages – in them I is the most frequent vowel, while E and U are the rarest. The reason for that is the frequent use in the Pamirian languages of the suffixes -I and -GI. Similar is the situation in the old Bulgar – BIRI BAGAIN, TAGROGI ITSIGI TAISI, etc. The low frequency of the sound E is a general feature of the languages of the Iranian plateau and the Hindu-Kush. In the easternmost languages of that group, such as the Sogdian and the Saka languages, E appeared only around the I c. BC – I c. AD from the transformation of the combinations AKHI and AI.
The most interesting and most important feature of old Bulgar was, however, the sound . It appears even in the name of the Asparukh Bulgars (B
LGAR), but as the Greek alphabet lacks a letter for this sound, it was represented by U. For sure, the Bulgarian
is of old origin. It is present in many words which are distinctively Bulgarian and occur in non-Slavic words: K
SHTA (‘a house’), K
T (‘a nook, a corner’), K
S (‘short’) KH
SH (‘an outcast, a [former] hero’), TR
S (‘trot’), etc., some of them (K
SHTA) attested as early as the X c. AD. Even more interesting is that these special words are found in almost the same form in the Pamirs and the Hindu-Kush mountains:
|
Modern Bulgarian word |
Pamirian word |
|
K |
K |
|
K |
KH |
|
K |
K |
|
T |
T |
|
B |
B |
|
TR |
TR |
|
KH |
KH |
|
Bulgarian interjection |
Pamirian interjection |
Cluster_user's ottoman parallels |
|
R |
R |
|
|
K |
K |
|
|
P |
P |
|
|
K |
KUCHA, K |
cognate with (?) turk. kuc,u kuc,u |
|
DR |
DR |
|
|
PR |
PR |
|
|
C |
C |
|
