A ccording to Herodotus, the Thracian tribe who lived in the territory of Bulgaria was the second biggest and most developed nation only after the Indians.

BULGARIAsomething you

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According to Herodotus, the Thracian tribe who lived in the territory of Bulgaria was the second biggest and most developed nation only after the Indians.

Founded in 681, Bulgaria is Europe's oldest state with internationally recognized independence. Bulgaria is also Europe's oldest state which has not changed its name from its beginning.

It used to be land of the Thracians, and a particular hero called Spartacus was born there (the Thracian gladiator who led a slave revolt in the Roman Empire (73–71)).He came from the Pirin Mountain, which is in the South West of Bulgaria.

One of the major cities in the country, Plovdiv City, is said to have been built in the 4th Century BC by Philip Macedon.

Old Greek and Romans mythology not only borrowed some gods and heroes from Thracians but also some of their mysteries, cults and part of the holiday calendar of the Mediterranean and Black Sea regions.

The Bulgars are the only European people who have organised three states in Europe, which beared their name in one form or another:

Old Great Bulgaria (present day Southern Ukraine),

Volga Bulgaria (present day Tatarstan in the Russian Federation)

and Danubian Bulgaria (the foundation of modern Bulgaria)

Capital of Bulgaria

Area: 110,910 sq km;

Location: Southeastern Europe, bordering the Black Sea, between Romania and Turkey;

Border Countries: Greece, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Turkey;

Climate: Temperate, cold, damp winters, hot, dry summers;

Terrain: Mostly mountains with lowlands in north and southeast;

Geography: Strategic location near Turkish Straits; controls key land routes from Europe to Middle East and Asia;

Ethnic Groups: Bulgarian 83.9%, Turk 9.4%, Roma 4.7%, other 2% (including Macedonian, Armenian, Tatar, Circassian

Religions: Bulgarian Orthodox 82.6%, Muslim 12.2%, other Christian 1.2%, other 4%;

Languages: Bulgarian 84.5%, Turkish 9.6%, Roma 4.1%, other and unspecified 1.8% (2001 census)

Government Type: Parliamentary Democracy

Currency: Leva (BGL)

The Bulgarian army is the only force in the entire world which has never lost a single flag, despite actively participating in wars in Europe since the 19th century.

The first air-dropped bomb in military history was developed by the Bulgarian Air Force during the First Balkan War, which took off from Yambol and was used on 16 October 1912.

Rayna Kasabova was the first woman ever to take part in a combat air mission, accomplished on 30 October 1912.

Xenophon, a Greek, wrote that "it was known that a group of Bulgars invented the wheel in the great Steppe".

An important product of the ancient Bulgarian knowledge is the cyclical solar calendar, perfect from an astronomical point of view, in which the constellations have the names of animals. UNESCO has recognized the calendar of the ancient Bulgarians as one of the most exact from among the calendars known up to the modern age.

Orpheus was the Patriarch (Spiritual Leader) of the first Ancient Thracians. In later times a different Orpheus who lived in the Rodope Mountains, which are in the South of Bulgaria, was the legendary Thracian poet and musician whose music had the power to move inanimate objects and even raise the dead.

The world's oldest known writing system is the 7000 years old Ancient Thracian Script, which, recently decoded, shows that the first people of present day Bulgaria, which modern Bulgarians are direct descendents of, knew of Maria ('Ma-Raya', 'Ma-Re-Wa' that is 'The Place of The Word of The One (God)') and Jesus, known to them as 'The Ressurection-Jesus', that is 'Twon-Jesus' or 'Twon-Ysus' ('Twon-Isus'), and 'The Sun-of-the-souls-Jesus', that is 'Te-On-Jesus' or 'Te-On-Ysus' ('Te-On-Isus'), which name was later changed among the Greeks who called Him 'Dion-Jesus' or 'Dion-Ysus' ('Dion-Isus'), 5000 years previous to His appearance in-the-flesh.

The Bulgarians were the first people to put the Cyrillic alphabet to use after its inception in the 9th century.

With the accession of Bulgaria to the European Union on January 1, 2007, Cyrillic became the third official alphabet of the EU. ( Bulgaria is the second EU country, after Greece, that use a non-Latin alphabet).

Over 70,000 traditional bulgarian folk songs have been collected at the Folklore Institute of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

The bulgarian folk song "Izlel e Delio Haidutin" was sent in deep space on the board of the US Space Probe -Voyager I as part of a collection of our Civilization's finest cultural artefacts - a message to an alien intelligence.

The only nations in the world that use the bagpipe as an instrument are Scotland, Ireland and Bulgaria.

Old Bulgarians still shake their heads to the opposite from the other world. Be careful weather they want to say “Yes or No”.

Nestinarstvo, or dancing on live coals, is a unique Bulgarian custom preserved from most ancient times in the area of the Strandzha Highland in the Southern Black Sea region of Bulgaria. The temperature of the smouldering embers danced upon is 300-400'C. Human protein begins to disintegrate over 70'C, which transcends the nestinarstvo beyond the ordinary.

Bulgaria ranks 3rd in Europe (after Greece and Italy) for its number of archaeological treasures.

The oldest gold treasure in the world was found in Bulgaria (in 294 graves were found 3000 gold objects dating back more than 6000 years).

There is a wooden cross guarded in Rila Monastery, named the Rafail’s cross with 140 microscopic scenes from the Bible featuring more than 1,500 figurines, the largest of them no bigger than a grain of rice, was carved by a monk over a period of 12 years.

Bulgaria is the first Slavic nation that adopted Christianity.

The recognition of the autocephalous Bulgarian Patriarchate by the Patriarchate of Constantinople in 927 AD makes the Bulgarian Orthodox Church the oldest autocephalous Slavic Orthodox Church in the world.

Lactobacillus Bulgaricus, the bacterium responsible for giving Bulgarian yoghurt its unique flavour and consistency, can be found only in Bulgarian air.

The famous Bulgarian rose-oil, produced in the region of Kazanlak, is a component of the French and of other world-famous perfumes. 2 000 flowers are needed for just one single gram of the precious attar of roses whose price equals that of gold.

The inventor of the first electronic computer John Vincent Atanassoff is of Bulgarian origin.

Computer literacy and usage is on the higher stage in this country, which was once referred to as the Silicon Valley of Europe.

Bulgaria is second in the world in international IQ tests and SAT scores and fourth in the world in per capita university education after the U.S., Japan, and the United Kingdom.

Peter Petroff, a Bulgarian, developed the first digital wristwatch of the world.

The first wrestler in the world with 1500 wins and only 2 losses is the Bulgarian Dan Kolov.

Hristo Stoichkov is the most successful Bulgarian soccer player of all time. He debuted in professional football with CSKA Sofia and was later spotted by European giant FC Barcelona. Stoitchkov earned global acclaim after winning the Spanish Primera Division four consecutive times and taking his club to Champions League glory in 1992. At World Cup 1994, Hristo Stoichkov was awarded the Golden boot as the top goal scorer of the tournament as he miraculously led his country to the semi-finals.

There are around four thousand mapped caves in Bulgaria.

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