National name Republika Bulgaria/Republic of Bulgaria
Area110,912 sq km/42,823 sq mi
Capital Sofia
Major towns/cities Plovdiv, Varna, Ruse, Burgas, Stara Zagora, Pleven
Major ports Burgas, Varna
Physical features lowland plains in north and southeast separated by mountains (Balkan and Rhodope) that cover three-quarters of the country; River Danube in north

Political system emergent democracy
Administrative divisions 28 regions divided into 278 municipalities
Population 7,897,000 (2003 est)
Currency lev
Language Bulgarian (official), Turkish
Religion Eastern Orthodox Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Roman Catholic, Protestant
In the EU since 2007

1396 Bulgaria became the first European state to be absorbed into the Turkish Ottoman Empire; the imposition of a harsh feudal system and the sacking of the monasteries followed.
1859 The Bulgarian Catholic Church re-established links with Rome.
1876 A Bulgarian nationalist revolt against Ottoman rule was crushed brutally by Ottomans, with 15,000 massacred at Plovdiv (‘Bulgarian Atrocities’).
1878 At the Congress of Berlin, concluding a Russo-Turkish war in which Bulgarian volunteers had fought alongside the Russians, the area south of the Balkans, Eastern Rumelia, remained an Ottoman province, but the area to the north became the autonomous Principality of Bulgaria, with a liberal constitution and Alexander Battenberg as prince.
1885 Eastern Rumelia annexed by the Principality; Serbia defeated in war.
1908 Full independence proclaimed from Turkish rule, with Ferdinand I as tsar.
1913 Following defeat in the Second Balkan War, King Ferdinand I abdicated and was replaced by his son Boris III.
1919 Bulgarian Agrarian Union government, led by Alexander Stamboliiski, came to power and redistributed land to poor peasants.
1923 Agrarian government was overthrown in right-wing coup and Stamboliiski murdered.

1934 A semifascist dictatorship was established by King Boris III.
1944 Soviet invasion of German-occupied Bulgaria.
1946 The monarchy was abolished and a communist-dominated people's republic proclaimed following a plebiscite.
1947 Gained South Dobruja in the northeast, along the Black Sea, from Romania; Soviet-style constitution established a one-party state; industries and financial institutions were nationalized and cooperative farming introduced.
1954 Bulgaria became a loyal and cautious satellite of the USSR.
1968 Bulgaria participated in the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia.
1971 A new constitution was introduced.
1985–89 Haphazard administrative and economic reforms, known as preustroistvo (‘restructuring’), were introduced under the stimulus of the reformist Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
1989 A programme of enforced ‘Bulgarianization’ resulted in a mass exodus of ethnic Turks to Turkey. Opposition parties were tolerated.
1991 A new liberal-democratic constitution was adopted. The first noncommunist government was formed.
1993 A voucher-based ‘mass privatization’ programme was launched.
1996 Radical economic and industrial reforms were imposed. There was mounting inflation and public protest at the state of the economy.
1997 There was a general strike. The UDF leader Ivan Kostov became prime minister. The Bulgarian currency was pegged to the Deutschmark in return for support from the International Monetary Fund. A new political group, the Real Reform Movement (DESIR), was formed.
1999 Bulgaria joined the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA).