Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, lies in the eastern Balkans of Southeastern Europe, south of the Danube River and west of the Black Sea, with Sofia as its capital and largest city. The First Bulgarian Empire was established in 681 AD after the Bulgars, led by Asparukh, invaded the region; following Byzantine conquest in 1018, a Second Bulgarian Empire was founded in 1185, and Ottoman rule then lasted roughly five centuries until the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878 created the modern Bulgarian state, which declared full independence on 5 October 1908. After communist rule from 1946 to 1989, Bulgaria transitioned to democracy following the revolutions of that year and operates today as a unitary parliamentary republic; it joined NATO in 2004 and the European Union in 2007. Covering 110,993.6 square kilometers, the tenth largest EU member state by area, Bulgaria had a population of about 6.4 million as of December 2025, roughly 85.7 percent ethnically Bulgarian per the 2021 census, and now uses the euro as its official currency.
Facts
Government TypeUnitary parliamentary republic 1 Government type (class) Classification
Status (Extant or Former) FAQs
How did modern Bulgaria become independent of the Ottoman Empire?
Bulgaria declared full independence from the Ottoman Empire on 5 October 1908.
Bulgaria revolted against Ottoman Turkish rule in 1876. The Treaty of San Stefano, which ended the Russo-Turkish War of 1877 to 1878, established a large Bulgarian state, but the Treaty of Berlin in 1878 created a smaller principality north of the Balkan Mountains instead. Bulgaria became fully independent of the Ottoman Empire on 5 October 1908, after which its reigning prince, Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg, proclaimed himself tsar.
Connections
In Era
Source Bulgaria - Wikipedia
In the Other Atlases
Government Type
Also in Society and Culture Atlas: the government type of this subject.
Sources
1. Bulgaria - Wikipedia
Infobox, Government field
Unitary parliamentary republic
Infobox, Capital field
Sofia
Bulgaria: Status
Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, lies in the eastern Balkans of Southeastern Europe, south of the Danube River and west of the Black Sea, with Sofia as its capital and largest city.
In Era: The Contemporary Period, lead paragraph and infobox, existence dates
Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeastern Europe.
View the Source2. First Bulgarian Empire - Wikipedia
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