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Българи
Bulgarians

Krum, John of Rila, Ivan Alexander, Vasil Levski, Hristo Botev Stefan Stambolov, Christo, Elena Yoncheva, Ludmilla Diakovska, Matey Kaziyski
Total population
9-10 million
Regions with significant populations
Bulgaria 7,327,847 (2011 census)
United States	95,568-300,000
Ukraine	204,574
Spain	172,634-300,000
United Kingdom	47,000
Italy	51,134
Germany	93,889
Greece	300,000
Moldova (incl. Transnitria)	79,520- 90,000
Argentina	70,000
Brazil	65,000
Canada	50,000
Austria	35,000
France	34,000
Russia	31,965
Serbia	18,543
Cyprus (Greek part)	19,197
South Africa	15,000 - 20,000
Netherlands	10,000 - 15,000
Poland	10,000 - 12,000
Romania	8,092
Czech Republic	7,387
Portugal	7,202 - 12,000
Kazakhstan	6,915
United Arab Emirates	5,000
Australia	4,898 - 20,000
Sweden	4,000
Hungary	3,556
Ireland	4,000
Belgium	3,500 - 4,500
Turkey	500,000
Languages
Bulgarian
Religion
Predominantly † Orthodox Christianity (Bulgarian Orthodox Church) with Sunni Islam, Catholic and Protestant minorities
Related ethnic groups
South Slavic peoples, especially Macedonians

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Bulgarians Българи
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Subgroups
Anatolian Bulgarians Banat Bulgarians Bessarabian Bulgarians Dobrujan Bulgarians Macedonian Bulgarians Pomaks Șchei Shopi Thracian Bulgarians
Religion
Bulgarian Orthodox Church Islam Catholic Church Greek-Catholics Protestant denominations
Language
Bulgarian Dialects Balkan Banat Ruptsi Torlakian
Other
List of Bulgarians People of Bulgarian descent
v t e

The Bulgarians (Template:Lang-bg, IPA: [bɤ̞ɫɡɐri]) are a South Slavic people from Bulgaria in Southeastern Europe. Emigration has resulted in immigrant communities in a number of other countries.

History

Ethnogenesis

The Bulgarians have descended mainly from three tribal groups, with different origins and numbers, which mixed themselves and formed a Slavic-speaking ethnicity in the First Bulgarian Empire:

• the 'indigenous' late Roman provincial peoples: Thraco-Romans and Thraco-Byzantines, from whom certain cultural elements were taken.
• the Early Slavs, who gave their language to the Bulgarians;
• the Bulgars, from whom the ethnonym and the early statehood were inherited;

The ancient languages of the local people had gone nearly extinct before the arrival of the Slavs, mostly due to Hellenization since antiquity and to a lesser degree to Romanization during Roman rule, accompanied by Christianisation. Their cultural influence was also highly reduced due to the repeated barbaric invasions on the Balkans during the early Middle Ages by Goths, Celts, Huns and Sarmatians and later slavicisation. However, some of their linguistic and cultural traces are present in modern Bulgarians (and Macedonians).

The Early Slavs emerged from their original homeland in the early 6th century, and spread to most of the eastern Central Europe, Eastern Europe and the Balkans, thus forming three main branches — the West Slavs, the East Slavs and the South Slavs. The Byzantines grouped the numerous Slavic tribes into two groups: the Sklavenoi and Antes. Some Bulgarian scholars suggest that the Antes became one of the ancestors of the modern Bulgarians.

The Bulgars are first mentioned in the 4th century in the vicinity of the North Caucasian steppe, although scholars speculate that their history may go back to the Central Asian nomadic confederations. Many scholars posit the origins of the Bulgars as a Turkic tribe of Central Asia (perhaps with Iranian elements). In the late 7th century, some Bulgar tribes, led by Asparukh and others, led by Kouber, permanently settled in the Balkans. It is assumed that because Balkan Bulgars were not numerous, low genetic influence was brought into the region, since the background of the local populations was not detectably modified.

During the time of the early Byzantine Empire, the lands of present-day Bulgaria had population of Romanised Getae and Hellenised Thracians. When reaching the Danube in the early 5th century, the Early Slavs commenced raiding the Byzantinum. In the middle of the 6th century, some Thraco-Romans and Thraco-Byzantines, south of the Danube River, achieved a prolonged contact with the invading Slavs and were later eventually slavicised. Subsequently, after the Bulgars' arrival, between the 8th and the 10th centuries, the remainder of the native population and the Bulgars, who were outnumbered by the Slavs gradually became absorbed by them, adopting a South Slav language.

Genetic origins

"Population genetics” studies use the evident genetic patterns in modern populations:

1. To compare the degree of relatedness (genetic distance) between different populations (eg at a continental level, or individual countries or ethnicities). Whilst studies aggregating results into a "national average" risk overlooking regional idiosyncrasies, results are relatively uncontroversial.

2. A second use is the drawing of inferences on prehistoric events such as migration, admixture, demographic growth and selection. Such an approach is only as robust as the methodology employed, and a major limitation is due to its inferential, post hoc analysis. However, conclusions are being fine-tuned by further resolution of data as well as by the recovery of ancient DNA.

The study of Y-DNA haplogroups has received the most attention. Bulgarians, like their immediate neighbours (Macedonians, Romanians) show the highest diversity of haplogroups in Europe, marked by significant (> 10%) frequencies of 5 major haplogroups (compared to Atlantic Europe, dominated by > 90% R1b, and eastern Europe, dominated by R1a1). The major haplogroups are:

• R1a: several subclades have now been identified at levels ~ 18%. The M-458 branch, which is very common in Poland and other West Slavic countries is present in Bulgaria at 7.5% (Karachanak 2013), whilst its frequency of 40% in Hungary (Carpathian basin) (Pamjav 2012). The remaining branches (10%) might belong to the older Z – 280 (“Central Eurasian”), as well as perhaps the even more ancient “Old European” branch (Klyosov 2012), although Bulgarians have not yet been formally tested for these subhaplogroup SNPs.

• R1b: Present in Bulgarians ~ 10% (Karanachuk 2013), R1b is represented by several subclades. Some show western European affinities, whilst the R-L23* branch shows a clear relationship with Anatolia and the Near East (Cruciani 2010)(Klyosov 2012).

• At present, the overall evidence suggests that the macro-haplogroup R arose somewhere in southern or central Asia, perhaps northern India. Their subsequent path into Europe, and exact timing of spread requires further fine resolution studies; however a Balkan entry into Europe seems highly probable. Their overall ages depend on which 'mutation rate' is used - the 'evolutionary effective' rate advocated by Zhivotovsky et al (and used by 'population geneticists'), versus the 'germline mutation' rate used by most genetic genealogists. The difference translates into different putative epochs of entry - Last Glacial Maximum (Underhill 2009) versus the Holocene (Klyosov 2009).

• Haplogroup I is presented at levels ~ 25%: Evidence points to a Levantine origin for haplogroup I, or perhaps its immediate ancestor- IJ. The age of Hg I (22 kya), its exclusive and now patchy distribution within Europe suggests a very early entry in to Europe; perhaps with Palaeolithic colonization. However, subsequent events have shaped its current distribution – such as the expansion of R1b in Western Europe, R1a in Eastern Europe, as well as additional haplogroups in south-eastern Europe, almost eradicating it. Balkan Hg I belongs specifically to the P37.2, M423 branch ("Hg I2a1b3"). Its most closely related to a branch (Hg I2a1b2) is only found in the British Isles. A more distant relative, which split several thousand years ago, is the "Sardinian" haplogroup I2a1 (P37.2, M423 also). Initially Rootsi supposed a Holocene expansion of I2 in SEE (Rootsi 2004); however the homogeneity of Balkan Hg I2 and its star-like clustering suggests a far more recent expansion time. Enthusiast geneticists have long suspected this, and a recent scientific publication confirmed this suspicion (Boattini 2011).

• Haplogroup E-V68, V13 is presented at levels ~ 25%. The ultimate origin of E-V68 points to northeastern Africa, specifically near the Nile and Lake Alexandria (Cruciani 2004). Thus this haplogroup represents a more recent “out of Africa” movement into the Balkans. How and when it entered the Balkans is less clear, however Cruciani et al propose a Holocene movement into the Near East, then several thousand years ago, a movement into the Balkans (Cruciani 2004). Recent findings of V13 in a Neolithic context in Iberia (dated to ~ 7 kya) give a terminus ante quem (Lacan 2011). Like M423 above, however, it might have really begun to expand in the Balkans somewhat later, perhaps during the population growth of the Bronze Age, according to Cruciani.

• Finally, haplogroup J2 is also presented at levels ~ 10%. Whilst its origin is north Levantine, its current pattern reflects more recent events connecting the Aegean and western Anatolia during the Copper and Bronze Ages, as well as possibly historic Greek colonization. There are several subclades within J2 : J2a M410, J2b M12, M67 and M92 (Semino 2004, Di Giacomo 2003)

Complimentary evidence exists from mtDNA data. From this perspective, Bulgaria shows a very similar profile to other European countries - dominated by mitochondrial haplogroups Hg H (~42%), Hg U (~22%), Hg T (~11%), Hg J (~8%) and Hg K (~6%) (Karachanak 2012). Recent studies show greater diversity within mt Haplogroups than once thought, as sub-haplogroups are being discovered. For example, within the apparently homogeneous European presence of Hg H, subcluster H1 is more prevalent in western Europe (especially Iberia), whilst subclusters H1b and H2a are more common in Eastern Europeans (Loogvali 2004).

Overall

Further evidence from ancient DNA, reconsiderations of mutation rates, and collateral evidence from autosomal DNA growth rates suggest that the major period of European population expansion occurred after the Holocene. Thus the current geographic spread and frequency of haplogroups has been continually shaped from the time of Palaeolithic colonization to beyond the Neolithic (Pinhasi 2012)(Ricaut 2012). This process of genetic shaping continued into recorded history, such as the Slavic migrations.(Rower 2005)(Ralph 2012)

It is important to note that, whilst haploid markers such as mtDNA and Y-DNA can provide clues about past population history, they only represent a single genetic locus, compared to hundreds of thousands present in nuclear, autosomal chromosomes. Analyses of autosomal DNA markers gives the best approximation of overall 'relatedness' between populations, presenting a less skewed genetic picture compared to Y DNA haplogroups. This atDNA data shows that there are no sharp discontinuities or clusters within the European population. Rather there exists a genetic gradient, running mostly in a southeast to northwest direction. Overall, Bulgarians are closest to Macedonians, Romanians and Serbians; followed by other Balkan populations such as Croats, Albanians and Greeks. Bulgarians are more distantly related to other fellow Slavic-speaking countries such as Russians and Poles. Moreover, they were only modestly close to their immediate eastern neighbours – the Turks- suggesting the presence of certain geographic and cultural barriers (Novembre 2008)(Yanusbaev 2012).

National identity

The First Bulgarian Empire was founded in 681. After the adoption of Orthodox Christianity in 864 it became the one of the cultural centers of Slavic Europe. Its leading cultural position was consolidated with the invention of the Cyrillic script in its capital Preslav at the eve of the 10th century. The development of Old Church Slavonic literacy in the country had the effect of preventing the assimilation of the South Slavs into neighboring cultures and it stimulated also the development of distinct ethnic identity. A symbiosis was carried out between the numerically weak Bulgars and the numerous Slavic tribes in that broad area from the Danube to the north, to the Aegean Sea to the south, and from the Adriatic Sea to the west, to the Black Sea to the east, who accepted the common ethnonym "Bulgarians". During the 10th century the Bulgarians established a form of national identity, which despite was far from the modern nationalism, helped them to survive as distinct entity through the centuries.

In 1018 Bulgaria lost its independence and remained subject to Byzantium until 1185, when the Second Bulgarian Empire was created. Nevertheless, at the end of the 14th century, the Ottomans conquered the whole of Bulgaria. Under the Ottomans, Bulgarians were considered an lower class of people and Bulgarian Christian culture was suppressed. The nobility and the clergy were eliminated and the peasantry was enserfed. A process of partial Islamization took place in the course of the centuries, determined by the specific conditions of each locality. The Bulgarians, as the rest of the Orthodox Christians were included in a specific ethno-religious community under Greco-Byzantine domination, called Rum Millet. The belonging to this Orthodox commonwealth became more important to the common people, then their ethnic origins. This community became both, basic form of social organization and source of identity for all the ethnic groups inside it. In this way, ethnonyms were rarely used and between the 15th and 19th centuries, most of the local people gradually began to identify themselves simply as Christians. However, the public-spirited clergy in some isolated monasteries still kept the distinct Bulgarian identity alive, and this helped it to survive in some rural, remote areas. Despite the process of ethno-religious fusion among the Orthodox Christians, strong nationalist sentiments persisted into the Catholic community in the northwestern part of the country. At that time, a process of partial hellenisation occurred among the intelligentsia and the urban population, as result of the higher status of the Greek culture and the Greek Orthodox Church among the Balkan Christians. During the second half of the 18th century, the Enlightenment in Western Europe provided influence for the initiation of the National awakening of Bulgaria in 1762.

When during the middle of the 18th century, the Russian Army was crossing the Danube, some Bulgarians supported it. Russia worked to convince them to settle in areas recently conquered by it, especially in Bessarabia. As a consequence, many Bulgarian colonists settled there, and later they formed two military regiments, as part of the Russian military colonization of the area in 1759-1763.

Bulgarian national movement

During the Russo-Turkish Wars from (1806–1812) and (1828–1829) Bulgarian emigrants formed the Bulgarian Countrymen's Army and joined the Russian army, hoping Russia would bring Bulgarian liberation, but its imperial interests were focused then on Greece and Valachia. The rise of nationalism under the Ottoman Empire led to a struggle for cultural and religious autonomy of the Bulgarian people. The Bulgarians wanted to have their own schools and liturgy in Bulgarian, and they needed an independent ecclesiastical organisation. Discontent with the supremacy of the Greek Orthodox clergy, the struggle started to flare up in several Bulgarian dioceses in the 1820s.

It was not until the 1850 when the Bulgarians initiated a purposeful struggle against the Patriarchate of Constantinople. The struggle between the Bulgarians and the pro-Greek Phanariotes intensified throughout the 1860s. In 1861 the Vatican and the Ottoman government recognized a separate Bulgarian Uniat Church. As the Greek clerics were ousted from most Bulgarian bishoprics at the end of the decade, significant areas had been seceded from the Patriarchate's control. This movement restored the distinct Bulgarian national consciousness among the common people and led to the recognition of the Bulgarian Exarchate in 1870 by the Ottomans. As result, two armed struggle movements started to develop as late as the beginning of the 1870s: the Internal Revolutionary Organisation and the Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee. Their armed struggle reached its peak with the April Uprising which broke out in 1876. It resulted into the Russo-Turkish War from 1877–1878, and led to the foundation of the third Bulgarian state after the Treaty of San Stefano. The issue of Bulgarian nationalism gained greater significance, following the Congress of Berlin which took back the regions of Macedonia and Adrianople area, returning them under the control of the Ottoman Empire. Also an autonomous Ottoman province, called Eastern Rumelia was created in northern Thrace. Аs a consequence, the Bulgarian national movement proclaimed as its aim the inclusion of most of Macedonia, Thrace and Moesia under Greater Bulgaria.

Eastern Rumelia was annexed to Bulgaria in 1885 through bloodless revolution. During the early 1890s, two pro-Bulgarian revolutionary organizations were founded: the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization and the Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee. In 1903 they participated in the unsuccessful Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising against the Ottomans in Macedonia and the Adrianople vilayet. Macedonian Slavs were identified then predominantly as Bulgarians, and significant Bulgarophile sentiments endured up among them until the end of the Second World War.

In the early 20th century the control over Macedonia became a key point of contention between Bulgaria, Greece, and Serbia, who fought the First Balkan War of 1912 and the Second Balkan War of 1913. The area was further fought over during the World War I (1915–1918) and the World War II (1941–1944).

Demographics

Most Bulgarians live in Bulgaria, where they are around 6 million, constituting 85% of the population. There are significant Bulgarian minorities in the Serbia, Turkey, Albania, Romania (Banat Bulgarians), as well as in Ukraine and Moldova (see Bessarabian Bulgarians). Many Bulgarians also live in the diaspora, which is formed by representatives and descendants of the old (before 1989) and new (after 1989) emigration. The old emigration was made up of some 2,470,000 economic and several tens of thousands of political emigrants, and was directed for the most part to the U.S., Canada, Argentina, Brazil and Germany. The new emigration is estimated at some 970,000 people and can be divided into two major subcategories: permanent emigration at the beginning of the 1990s, directed mostly to the U.S., Canada, Austria, and Germany and labour emigration at the end of the 1990s, directed for the most part to Greece, Italy, the UK and Spain. Migrations to the West have been quite steady even in the late 1990s and early 21st century, as people continue moving to countries like the US, Canada and Australia. Most Bulgarians living in the US can be found in Chicago, Illinois. However, according to the 2000 US census most Bulgarians live in the cities of New York and Los Angeles, and the state with most Bulgarians in the US is California. Most Bulgarians living in Canada can be found in Toronto, Ontario, and the provinces with most Bulgarians in Canada are Ontario and Quebec. According to the 2001 census there were 1,124,240 Bulgarian citizens in the city of Sofia, 302,858 in Plovdiv, 300,000 in Varna and about 200,000 in Burgas. The total number of Bulgarians stood at over 9 million.

Related ethnic groups

Until the early 20th century, the ethnic Macedonians, Torlaks and Slavic-speakers of Greek Macedonia were usually self-identifying as Bulgarians.

Bulgarians are considered most closely related to the neighboring Macedonians, indeed it is sometimes said there is no discernible ethnic difference between them. The ethnic Macedonians were considered Macedonian Bulgarians by the most ethnographers until the early 20th century and beyond with a big portion of them evidently self-identifying as such. The Slavic-speakers of Greek Macedonia and most among the Torlaks in Serbia have also had a history of identifying as Bulgarians and many were members of the Bulgarian Exarchate, which included most of the territory regarded as Torlak. Greater part of these people were also considered Bulgarians by most of the ethnographers until the early 20th century and beyond.

Culture

Language

Bulgarians speak a Southern Slavic language which is mutually intelligible with the Macedonian and with the Torlak dialect. The Bulgarian language is also, to some degree, mutually intelligible with Russian on account of the influence which Russia has had on the development of Modern Bulgaria since 1878, as well as the earlier effect of Old Bulgarian on the development of Old Russian. Although related, Bulgarian and the Western and Eastern Slavic languages are not mutually intelligible.

Bulgarian demonstrates some linguistic developments that set it apart from other Slavic languages. These are shared with Romanian, Albanian and Greek (see Balkan language area) with which it is not in any case mutually intelligible. Until 1878 Bulgarian was influenced lexically by medieval and modern Greek, and to a much lesser extent, by Turkish. More recently, the language has borrowed many words from Russian, German, French and English.

The Bulgarian language is spoken by the majority of the Bulgarian diaspora, but less so by the descendants of earlier emigrants to the U.S., Canada, Argentina and Brazil).

Bulgarian linguists consider the officialized Macedonian language (since 1944) a local variation of Bulgarian, just as the most ethnographers and linguists until the early 20th century considered the local Slavic speech in the Macedonian region. The president of Bulgaria Zhelyu Zhelev, declined to recognize the Macedonian as a separate language when the Republic of Macedonia became a new independent state. The Bulgarian language is written in the Cyrillic script.

Cyrillic alphabet

In the first half of the 10th century, the Cyrillic script was devised in the Preslav Literary School, Bulgaria, based on the Glagolitic, the Greek and Latin alphabets. Modern versions of the alphabet are now used to write five more Slavic languages such as Belarusian, Macedonian, Russian, Serbian and Ukrainian as well as Mongolian and some other 60 languages spoken in the former Soviet Union. Medieval Bulgaria was the most important cultural centre of the Slavic peoples at the end of the 9th and throughout the 10th century. The two literary schools of Preslav and Ohrid developed a rich literary and cultural activity with authors of the rank of Constantine of Preslav, John Exarch, Chernorizets Hrabar, Clement and Naum of Ohrid. Bulgaria exerted similar influence on her neighbouring countries in the mid- to late 14th century, at the time of the Tarnovo Literary School, with the work of Patriarch Evtimiy, Gregory Tsamblak, Constantine of Kostenets (Konstantin Kostenechki). Bulgarian cultural influence was especially strong in Wallachia and Moldova where the Cyrillic script was used until 1860, while Church Slavonic was the official language of the princely chancellery and of the church until the end of 17th century.

Name system

There are several different layers of Bulgarian names. The vast majority of them have either Christian (names like Lazar, Ivan, Anna, Maria, Ekaterina) or Slavic origin (Vladimir, Svetoslav, Velislava). After the Liberation in 1878, the names of historical Bulgar rulers like Asparuh, Krum, Kubrat and Tervel were resurrected. The old Bulgar name Boris has spread from Bulgaria to a number of countries in the world with Russian Tsar Boris Godunov, British politician Boris Johnson, and German tennis player Boris Becker being three of the examples of its use.

Most Bulgarian male surnames have an -ov surname suffix (Cyrillic: -ов). This is sometimes transcribed as -off or "-of" (John Atanasov—John Atanasoff), but more often as -ov (e.g. Boyko Borisov). The -ov suffix is the Slavic gender-agreeing suffix, thus Ivanov (Template:Lang-bg) literally means "Ivan's". Bulgarian middle names are patronymic and use the gender-agreeing suffix as well, thus the middle name of Nikola's son becomes Nikolov, and the middle name of Ivan's son becomes Ivanov. Since names in Bulgarian are gender-based, Bulgarian women have the -ova surname suffix (Cyrillic: -овa), for example, Maria Ivanova. The plural form of Bulgarian names ends in -ovi (Cyrillic: -ови), for example the Ivanovi family (Иванови).

Other common Bulgarian male surnames have the -ev surname suffix (Cyrillic: -ев), for example Stoev, Ganchev, Peev, and so on. The female surname in this case would have the -eva surname suffix (Cyrillic: -ева), for example: Galina Stoeva. The last name of the entire family then would have the plural form of -evi (Cyrillic: -еви), for example: the Stoevi family (Стоеви).

Another typical Bulgarian surname suffix, though less common, is -ski. This surname ending also gets an –a when the bearer of the name is female (Smirnenski becomes Smirnenska). The plural form of the surname suffix -ski is still -ski, e.g. the Smirnenski family (Template:Lang-bg).

The ending –in (female -ina) also appears rarely. It used to be given to the child of an unmarried woman (for example the son of Kuna will get the surname Kunin and the son of Gana – Ganin). The surname suffix -ich can be found only occasionally, primarily among the Roman Catholic Bulgarians. The surname ending –ich does not get an additional –a if the bearer of the name is female.

Religion

Most Bulgarians are at least nominally members of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church founded in 870 AD (autocephalous since 927 AD). The Bulgarian Orthodox Church is the independent national church of Bulgaria like the other national branches of the Orthodox communion and is considered an inseparable element of Bulgarian national consciousness. The church was abolished once, during the period of Ottoman rule (1396—1878), in 1873 it was revived as Bulgarian Exarchate and soon after raised again to Bulgarian Patriarchate. In 2001, the Orthodox Church at least nominally had a total of 6,552,000 members in Bulgaria (82.6% of the population), 6,300,000 of which were Bulgarians, and between one and two million members in the diaspora. The Orthodox Bulgarian minorities in the Republic of Macedonia, Serbia, Greece, Albania, Ukraine and Moldova nowadays hold allegiance to the respective national Orthodox churches.

Despite the position of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church as a unifying symbol for all Bulgarians, small groups of Bulgarians have converted to other faiths through the course of time. In the 16th and the 17th centuries Roman Catholic missionaries converted a small number of Bulgarian Paulicians in the districts of Plovdiv and Svishtov to Roman Catholicism. Nowadays there are some 40,000 Roman Catholic Bulgarians in Bulgaria, additional 10,000 in the Banat in Romania and up to 100,000 people of Bulgarian ancenstry in South America. The Roman Catholic Bulgarians of the Banat are also descendants of Paulicians who fled there at the end of the 17th century after an unsuccessful uprising against the Ottomans. Protestantism was introduced in Bulgaria by missionaries from the United States in 1857. Missionary work continued throughout the second half of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century. Nowadays there are some 25,000 Protestant Bulgarians in Bulgaria. Also, a minority group of Muslim Bulgarians live in the country.

Art and science

Boris Christoff, Nicolai Ghiaurov, Raina Kabaivanska and Ghena Dimitrova made a precious contribution to opera singing with Ghiaurov and Christoff being two of the greatest bassos in the post-war period. The name of the harpist-Anna-Maria Ravnopolska-Dean is one of the best-known harpists today.

Bulgarians have made valuable contributions to world culture in modern times as well. Julia Kristeva and Tzvetan Todorov were among the most influential European philosophers in the second half of the 20th century. The artist Christo is among the most famous representatives of environmental art with projects such as the Wrapped Reichstag.

Bulgarians in the diaspora have also been active. American scientists and inventors of Bulgarian descent include John Atanasoff, Peter Petroff, and Assen Jordanoff. Bulgarian-American Stephane Groueff wrote the celebrated book "Manhattan Project", about the making of the first atomic bomb and also penned "Crown of Thorns", a biography of Tsar Boris III of Bulgaria. According to MENSA International, Bulgaria ranks 2nd in the world in Mensa IQ test-scores and its students rate second in the world in SAT scores. Also, international MENSA IQ testing completed in 2004 identified as the world's smartest woman (and one of the smartest people in the world) Daniela Simidchieva of Bulgaria, who has an IQ of 200.As of 2007 CERN employed more than 90 Bulgarian scientists, and about 30 of them will actively participate in the Large Hadron Collider experiments.

Cuisine

Famous for its rich salads required at every meal, Bulgarian cuisine is also noted for the diversity and quality of dairy products and the variety of local wines and alcoholic beverages such as rakia, mastika and menta. Bulgarian cuisine features also a variety of hot and cold soups, an example of a cold soup being tarator. There are many different Bulgarian pastries as well such as banitsa.

Most Bulgarian dishes are oven baked, steamed, or in the form of stew. Deep-frying is not very typical, but grilling – especially different kinds of meats – is very common. Pork meat is the most common meat in the Bulgarian cuisine. Oriental dishes do exist in Bulgarian cuisine with most common being moussaka, gyuvetch, and baklava. A very popular ingredient in Bulgarian cuisine is the Bulgarian white brine cheese called "sirene" (сирене). It is the main ingredient in many salads, as well as in a variety of pastries. Fish and chicken are widely eaten and while beef is less common as most cattle are bred for milk production rather than meat, veal is a natural byproduct of this process and it is found in many popular recipes. Bulgaria is a net exporter of lamb and its own consumption of the meat is prevalent during its production time in spring.

Customs

Bulgarians may wear the martenitsa (мартеница) – an adornment made of white and red yarn and worn on the wrist or pinned on the clothes – from 1 March until the end of the month. Alternatively, one can take off the martenitsa earlier if one sees a stork (considered a harbinger of spring). One can then tie the martenitsa to the blossoming branch of a tree. Family-members and friends in Bulgaria customarily exchange martenitsas, which they regard as symbols of health and longevity. The white thread represents peace and tranquility, while the red one stands for the cycles of life. Bulgarians may also refer to the holiday of 1 March as Baba Marta (Баба Марта), meaning Grandmother March. It preserves an ancient pagan tradition. Many legends exist regarding the birth of this custom, some of them dating back to the 7th-century times of Khan Kubrat, the ruler of Old Great Bulgaria. Other tales relate the martenitsa to Thracian and Zoroastrian beliefs.

The ancient ritual of kukeri (кукери), performed by costumed men, seeks to scare away evil spirits and bring good harvest and health to the community. The costumes, made of animal furs and fleeces, cover the whole of the body. A mask, adorned with horns and decoration, covers the head of each kuker, who also must have bells attached to his waist. The ritual consists of dancing, jumping and shouting in an attempt to banish all evil from the village. Some of the performers impersonate royalty, field-workers and craftsmen. The adornments on the costumes vary from one region to another.

Another characteristic custom called nestinarstvo (нестинарство), or firedancing, distinguishes the Strandzha region. This ancient custom involves dancing into fire or over live embers. Women dance into the fire with their bare feet without suffering any injury or pain.

Sport

As for most European peoples, the football became by far the most popular sport for the Bulgarians. Hristo Stoichkov was one of the best football (soccer) players in the second half of the 20th century, having played with the national team and FC Barcelona. He received a number of awards and was the joint top scorer at the 1994 World Cup. Dimitar Berbatov, currently in Fulham F.C. and formerly in Manchester United, the national team and two domestic clubs, is still the most popular Bulgarian football player of the 21st century.

In the beginning of the 20th century Bulgaria was famous for two of the best wrestlers in the world – Dan Kolov and Nikola Petroff. Stefka Kostadinova is the best female high jumper, still holding the world record from 1987, one of the oldest unbroken world records for all kind of athletics. Ivet Lalova along with Irina Privalova is currently the fastest white woman at 100 metres. Kaloyan Mahlyanov has been the first European sumo wrestler to win the Emperor's Cup in Japan. Veselin Topalov won the 2005 World Chess Championship. He was ranked No. 1 in the world from April 2006 to January 2007, and had the second highest Elo rating of all time (2813). He regained the world No. 1 ranking again in October 2008.

Symbols

The national symbols of the Bulgarians are the Flag, the Coat of Arms, the National anthem and the National Guard, as well other unofficial symbols such as the Samara flag.

The national flag of Bulgaria is a rectangle with three colors: white, green, and red, positioned horizontally top to bottom. The color fields are of same form and equal size. It is generally known that the white represents – the sky, the green – the forest and nature and the red – the blood of the people, referencing the strong bond of the nation through all the wars and revolutions that have shaken the country in the past. The Coat of Arms of Bulgaria is a state symbol of the sovereignty and independence of the Bulgarian people and state. It represents a crowned rampant golden lion on a dark red background with the shape of a shield. Above the shield there is a crown modeled after the crowns of the emperors of the Second Bulgarian Empire, with five crosses and an additional cross on top. Two crowned rampant golden lions hold the shield from both sides, facing it. They stand upon two crossed oak branches with acorns, which symbolize the power and the longevity of the Bulgarian state. Under the shield, there is a white band lined with the three national colors. The band is placed across the ends of the branches and the phrase "Unity Makes Strength" is inscribed on it.

Both the Bulgarian flag and the Coat of Arms are also used as symbols of various Bulgarian organisations, political parties and institutions.

Gallery

Notes and references

Notes:

References:

1. ^ "Chairman of Bulgaria's State Agency for Bulgarians Abroad - 3-4 million Bulgarians abroad in 2009" (in Bulgarian). 2009. Retrieved 7 March 2011. {{cite web}}: |first= missing |last= (help)
2. ^ "Bulgarian Minister without Portfolio - 4 million Bulgarians outside Bulgaria in 2010" (in Bulgarian). 2010. Retrieved 7 March 2011. {{cite web}}: |first= missing |last= (help)
3. "Bulgarian 2011 census" (PDF) (in Bulgarian). nsi.bg. p. 25. Retrieved 15 October 2012.
4. ^ "Experts for Census 2011" (in Bulgarian).
5. http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_10_1YR_B04003&prodType=table
6. "Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria - Bulgarians in the US" (in Bulgarian). mfa.bg.
7. "Bulgarian Embassy in Washington - estimate for Bulgarians in the US" (in Bulgarian). 19min.bg.
8. "Ukrainian 2001 census". ukrcensus.gov.ua. Retrieved 28 April 2008.
9. "National Institute of Statistics of Spain - 2011 Census" (PDF) (in Spanish). ine.es. Retrieved 8 February 2011.
10. "Bulgaria air" (PDF). air.bg. p. 24.
11. "UK Migration Statistics Quarterly Aug 2012 - Bulgarians in the UK" (in Bulgarian). mfa.bg. Retrieved 8 February 2011.
12. "Foreign population resident in Italy" (PDF) (in Italian). istat.it. Retrieved 23 April 2012.
13. "Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria - Bulgarians in Italy" (in Bulgarian). mfa.bg. Retrieved 8 February 2011.
14. "Federal Statistical Office of Germany - Foreigners in 2010" (PDF) (in German). www.destatis.de. Retrieved 8 February 2011.
15. "Bulgarian students in Germany". www.dw.de.
16. ^ "Ministry of Foreign Affairs" (in Bulgarian).
17. "Moldovan 2004 census". statistica.md.
18. "Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria - Bulgarians in Moldova" (in Bulgarian). mfa.bg. Retrieved 8 February 2011.
19. "Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria - Bulgarians in Argentina" (in Bulgarian). mfa.bg. Retrieved 29 April 2008.
20. IBGE 2006
21. "bTV - estimate for Bulgarians in Brazil" (in Bulgarian). btv.bg.
22. "Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria - Bulgarians in Canada" (in Bulgarian). mfa.bg. Retrieved 8 February 2011.
23. ^ "Bulgaria's State Agency for Bulgarians Abroad - Study about the number of Bulgarian immigrants as of 03.2011" (in Bulgarian). aba.government.bg.
24. "Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria - Bulgarians in France" (in Bulgarian). mfa.bg. Retrieved 8 February 2011.
25. "Russian 2002 census" (in Russian). perepis2002.ru. Retrieved 12 May 2008.
26. "Serbian 2011 census" (PDF). Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia. Retrieved 25 December 2012.
27. "Cypriot 2011 census". cystat.gov.cy.
28. "Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria - Bulgarians in South Africa" (in Bulgarian). mfa.bg. Retrieved 8 February 2011.
29. "Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria - Bulgarians in Poland" (in Bulgarian). mfa.bg.
30. "Romanian 2002 census" (in Romanian). edrc.ro.
31. "Czech Statistical Office - Foreigners in 11.2011" (PDF) (in Czech). czso.cz.
32. "National Institute of Statistics of Portugal - Foreigners in 2009" (PDF) (in Portuguese). sefstat.sef.pt. Retrieved 16 April 2011.
33. "Kazakh 1999 census". {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
34. "Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria - Bulgarians in the UAE" (in Bulgarian). mfa.bg. Retrieved 30 April 2008.
35. "Australian 2006 census" (PDF). abs.gov.au.
36. "Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria - Bulgarians in Sweden" (in Bulgarian). mfa.bg.
37. "Census of Hungary 2011" (PDF).
38. ^ Day, Alan John; East, Roger; Thomas, Richard (2002). Political and economic dictionary of Eastern Europe. Routledge. p. 96. Retrieved 13 November 2011.
39. One Europe, many nations: a historical dictionary of European national groups, James Minahan, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2000, ISBN 0-313-30984-1, pp. 134–135. Google Books. Retrieved 13 November 2011.
40. Fine, John Van Antwerp (1991). The early medieval Balkans: a critical survey from the sixth to the late twelfth century. University of Michigan Press. p. 308. ISBN 978-0-472-08149-3.
41. Kopeček, Michal (2007). Balázs Trencsényi (ed.). Discourses of collective identity in Central and Southeast Europe (1770–1945): texts and commentaries. Central European University Press. p. 240. ISBN 978-963-7326-60-8.
42. "The so-called Bulgar inscriptions are, with few exceptions, written in Greek rather than in Turkic runes; they mention officials with late antique titles, and use late Antique terminology and indictional dating.. contemporary Byzantine inscriptions are not obviously similar, implying that this (Bulgar) epigraphic habit was not imported from Constantinople but was a local Bulgar development, or rather, it was an indigenous 'Roman' inheritance." Nicopolis ad Istrium: Backward and Balkan ? M Whittow.
43. "Many Thracian survivals have been detected in the sphere of Bulgarian national costume and folk tradition." The Bulgarians: from pagan times to the Ottoman conquest, David Marshall Lang, Westview Press, 1976, ISBN 0-89158-530-3, p. 27.
44. ^ Hupchick, Dennis P. The Balkans: From Constantinople to Communism. Palgrave Macmillan, 2004. ISBN 1-4039-6417-3
45. Образуване на българската държава. проф. Петър Петров (Издателство Наука и изкуство, София, 1981)]
46. "Образуване на българската народност.проф. Димитър Ангелов (Издателство Наука и изкуство, "Векове", София, 1971)". Kroraina.com. Retrieved 13 November 2011.
47. Runciman, Steven. 1930. A history of the First Bulgarian Empire. London: G. Bell & Sons.: §I.1
48. Vassil Karloukovski. "История на българската държава през средните векове Васил Н. Златарски (I изд. София 1918; II изд., Наука и изкуство, София 1970, под ред. на проф. Петър Хр. Петров)". Kroraina.com. Retrieved 13 November 2011.
49. "''Encyclopædia Britannica Online''". Britannica.com. Retrieved 13 November 2011.
50. Rasho Rashev, Die Protobulgaren im 5.-7. Jahrhundert, Orbel, Sofia, 2005. (in Bulgarian, German summary)
51. The history of the Balkan Peninsula, Eastern Europe Collection, Ferdinand Schevill, Ayer Publishing, 1971, ISBN 0-405-02774-5, p. 92.
52. Arnaiz-Villena et al. Human Biology, Volume 75, Number 3, June 2003, E-ISSN: 1534-6617, HLA Genes in the Chuvashian Population from European Russia: Admixture of Central European and Mediterranean Populations, pp. 375–392.
53. Regna and gentes: the relationship between late antique and early medieval peoples and kingdoms in the transformation of the Roman world, Hans-Werner Goetz, Jörg Jarnut, Walter Pohl, BRILL, 2003, ISBN 90-04-12524-8, pp. 582–583.
54. An historical geography of Europe, 450 B.C.-A.D.1330, Norman John, CUP Archive, 1977, ISBN 0-521-29126-7, p. 179. Google Books. 28 January 1977. Retrieved 13 November 2011.
55. The early medieval Balkans: a critical survey from the sixth to the late twelfth century, John Van Antwerp Fine, University of Michigan Press, 1991, ISBN 0-472-08149-7 p. 68. Google Books. 15 May 1991. Retrieved 13 November 2011.
56. "The Formation of the Bulgarian Nation, Academician Dimitŭr Simeonov Angelov, Summary, Sofia-Press, 1978". Kroraina.com. Retrieved 13 November 2011.
57. L. Ivanov. Essential History of Bulgaria in Seven Pages. Sofia, 2007.
58. Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500-1250, Cambridge Medieval Textbooks, Florin Curta, Cambridge University Press, 2006, ISBN 0521815398, pp. 221-222.
59. Who are the Macedonians? Hugh Poulton, C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, 2000, ISBN 1-85065-534-0, pp. 19-20.
60. Средновековни градови и тврдини во Македониjа. Иван Микулчиќ (Скопjе, Македонска цивилизациjа, 1996), ISBN 9989756074, стр. 72.
61. An Introduction to Post-Communist Bulgaria: Political, Economic and Social Transformations, Emil Giatzidis, Manchester University Press, 2002, ISBN 0719060958, p. 11.
62. The Early Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Sixth to the Late Twelfth Century, John V. A. Fine, Jr. University of Michigan Press, 1991, ISBN 0472081497, p. 165.
63. East Central Europe in the Middle Ages, 1000-1500, Jean W. Sedlar, University of Washington Press, 1994, ISBN 0295972904, p. 364.
64. "Bulgaria – Ottoman rule". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 21 December 2011. With the capture of a rump Bulgarian kingdom centred at Bdin (Vidin) in 1396, the last remnant of Bulgarian independence disappeared. ... The Bulgarian nobility was destroyed—its members either perished, fled, or accepted Islam and Turkicization—and the peasantry was enserfed to Turkish masters.
65. Conversion to Islam in the Balkans: Kisve Bahası - Petitions and Ottoman Social Life, 1670-1730, Anton Minkov, BRILL, 2004, ISBN 9004135766, p. 193.
66. Europe and the Historical Legacies in the Balkans, Raymond Detrez, Barbara Segaert, Peter Lang, 2008, ISBN 9052013748, p. 36.
67. Studies on Ottoman Social and Political History: Selected Articles and Essays, Kemal H. Karpat, BRILL, 2002, ISBN 9004121013, p. 17.
68. "Handbook of Language and Ethnic Identity," Disciplinary and Regional Perspectives, Joshua A. Fishman, Ofelia García, Oxford University Press, 2010, ISBN 0195374924, p. 276: "There were almost no remnants of a Bulgarian ethnic identity; the population defined itself as Christians, according to the Ottoman system of millets, that is, communities of religious beliefs. The first attempts to define a Bulgarian ethnicity started at the beginning of the 19-th century."
69. Roudometof, Victor; Robertson, Roland (2001). Nationalism, globalization, and orthodoxy: the social origins of ethnic conflict in the Balkans. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 68–71. ISBN 0313319499.
70. Margins and Marginality: Marginalia and Colophons in South Slavic Manuscripts During the Ottoman Period, 1393-1878, Tatiana Nikolaeva Nikolova-Houston, The University of Texas at Austin, ProQuest, 2008, ISBN 054965075X, pp.202-206.
71. Modern Bulgaria, R. J. Crampton, Cambridge University Press, 1987, ISBN 0521273234, p. 8.
72. Religion and Power in Europe: Conflict and Convergence, Joaquim Carvalho, Edizioni Plus, 2007, ISBN 8884924642, p. 261.
73. A Comparative Study of Post-Ottoman Political Influences on Bulgarian National Identity Construction and Conflict, Spencer S. Stith, University of Kansas, ProQuest, 2008, ISBN 054968395X, pp. 22-23.
74. Two Hussar Regiments with Bulgarian participation in the system of the state military Colonization in Southern Ukraine (1759-1762/63), Historical Review (5-6/2002); Milchev, Vladimir; Issue: 5-6/2002, pp. 154-165.
75. Establishment of the Balkan National States: 1804-1918, Charles Jelavich, Barbara Jelavich, University of Washington Press, 1977, ISBN 0295964138, p. 128.
76. During the 20th century, Slavo Macedonian national feeling has shifted. At the beginning of the 20th century, Slavic patriots in Macedonia felt a strong attachment to Macedonia as a multi-ethnic homeland. They imagined a Macedonian community uniting themselves with non-Slavic Macedonians... Most of these Macedonian Slavs also saw themselves as Bulgarians. By the middle of the 20th. century, however Macedonian patriots began to see Macedonian and Bulgarian loyalties as mutually exclusive. Regional Macedonian nationalism had become ethnic Macedonian nationalism... This transformation shows that the content of collective loyalties can shift.Region, Regional Identity and Regionalism in Southeastern Europe, Ethnologia Balkanica Series, Klaus Roth, Ulf Brunnbauer, LIT Verlag Münster, 2010, ISBN 3825813878, p. 127.
77. Up until the early 20th century and beyond, the international community viewed Macedonians as regional variety of Bulgarians, i.e. Western Bulgarians.Nationalism and Territory: Constructing Group Identity in Southeastern Europe, Geographical perspectives on the human past : Europe: Current Events, George W. White, Rowman & Littlefield, 2000, ISBN 0847698092, p. 236.
78. "Most of the Slavophone inhabitants in all parts of divided Macedonia, perhaps a million and a half in all – had a Bulgarian national consciousness at the beginning of the Occupation; and most Bulgarians, whether they supported the Communists, VMRO, or the collaborating government, assumed that all Macedonia would fall to Bulgaria after the WWII. Tito was determined that this should not happen. "The struggle for Greece, 1941-1949, Christopher Montague Woodhouse, C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, 2002, ISBN 1-85065-492-1, p. 67.
79. "At the end of the WWI there were very few historians or ethnographers, who claimed that a separate Macedonian nation existed... Of those Slavs who had developed some sense of national identity, the majority probably considered themselves to be Bulgarians, although they were aware of differences between themselves and the inhabitants of Bulgaria... The question as of whether a Macedonian nation actually existed in the 1940s when a Communist Yugoslavia decided to recognize one is difficult to answer. Some observers argue that even at this time it was doubtful whether the Slavs from Macedonia considered themselves to be a nationality separate from the Bulgarians.The Macedonian conflict: ethnic nationalism in a transnational world, Loring M. Danforth, Princeton University Press, 1997, ISBN 0-691-04356-6, pp. 65-66.
80. Kaufman, Stuart J. (2001). Modern hatreds: the symbolic politics of ethnic war. New York: Cornell University Press. p. 193. ISBN 0-8014-8736-6. The key fact about Macedonian nationalism is that it is new: in the early twentieth century, Macedonian villagers defined their identity religiously—they were either "Bulgarian," "Serbian," or "Greek" depending on the affiliation of the village priest. While Bulgarian was most common affiliation then, mistreatment by occupying Bulgarian troops during WWII cured most Macedonians from their pro-Bulgarian sympathies, leaving them embracing the new Macedonian identity promoted by the Tito regime after the war.
81. ^ "Bulgarian 2001 census" (in Bulgarian). nsi.bg. Retrieved 21 July 2011.
82. Cousinéry, Esprit Marie. Voyage dans la Macédoine: contenant des recherches sur l'histoire, la géographie, les antiquités de ce pay, Paris, 1831, Vol. II, p. 15-17, one of the passages in English – , Engin Deniz Tanir, The Mid-Nineteenth century Ottoman Bulgaria from the viewpoints of the French Travelers, A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate School of Social Sciences of Middle East Technical University, 2005, p. 99, 142
83. Pulcherius, Receuil des historiens des Croisades. Historiens orientaux. III, p. 331 – a passage in English -http://promacedonia.org/en/ban/nr1.html#4
84. The struggle for Greece, 1941–1949, Christopher Montague Woodhouse, C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, 2002, ISBN 1-85065-492-1, p. 67. Books.google.bg. Retrieved 13 November 2011.
85. Who are the Macedonians? Hugh Poulton. C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, 1995, ISBN 1-85065-238-4,p. 109.
86. Felix Philipp Kanitz, (Das Konigreich Serbien und das Serbenvolk von der Romerzeit bis dur Gegenwart, 1904, in two volume) # "In this time (1872) they (the inhabitants of Pirot) did not presume that six years later the often damn Turkish rule in their town will be finished, and at least they did not presume that they will be include in Serbia, because they always feel that they are Bulgarians. ("Србија, земља и становништво од римског доба до краја XIX века", Друга књига, Београд 1986, p. 215)"And today (in the end of the 19th century) among the older generation there are many fondness to Bulgarians, that it led him to collision with Serbian government. Some hesitation can be noticed among the youngs..." ("Србија, земља и становништво од римског доба до краја XIX века", Друга књига, Београд 1986, c. 218; Serbia – its land and inhabitants, Belgrade 1986, p. 218)
87. Jérôme-Adolphe Blanqui, „Voyage en Bulgarie pendant l'année 1841" (Жером-Адолф Бланки. Пътуване из България през 1841 година. Прев. от френски Ел. Райчева, предг. Ив. Илчев. София: Колибри, 2005, 219 с. ISBN 978-954-529-367-2.) It describes a population in Nish sandjak as Bulgarian, see:
88. Social Construction of Identities: Pomaks in Bulgaria, Ali Eminov, JEMIE 6 (2007) 2 © 2007 by European Centre for Minority Issues
89. "Bulgaria- Eastern Europe's Newest Hot Spot | Offshoring Business Intelligence & Tools | EU Out-Sourcing Specialists Platform | German Market-Entry offshoring Vendor Services". Outsourcingmonitor.eu. 6 August 2006. Retrieved 15 April 2010.
91. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/05/clever_job_hunt/
92. Independent Newspapers Online (8 November 2004). "The world's 'smartest woman' can't find a job – Back Page | IOL News". IOL.co.za. Retrieved 13 November 2011.
93. "Bulgarians uncover the birth of the Universe", dir.bg, 21 December 2007
94. (April 2006). "Bulgaria Poultry and Products Meat Market Update." Thepoultrysite.com. Accessed 2011-07-01.

See also

• List of Bulgarians
• Bulgarian diaspora
• Bulgarian Americans
• Bulgarian Canadians
• Bulgarians in South America
• Bulgarian Australian
• Bulgarians in the Republic of Macedonia
• Bulgarians in Serbia
• Bulgarians in Greece
• Bulgarians in Turkey
• Bulgarians in Albania
• Bessarabian Bulgarians (Bulgarians in Ukraine)
• Banat Bulgarians (Bulgarians in Romania)
• Bulgars
• Bulgarian cuisine
• Bulgarian months
• Macedonians (Bulgarians)
• Macedonians (ethnic group)

v t e Bulgarian diaspora
Europe	Southeast Europe Albania Bulgaria Croatia Hungary Macedonia Greece North Macedonia Moldova Romania Banat Dobruja Șchei Serbia Banat Turkey Bulgarian Turks Ukraine Bessarabia Crimea Austria Czech Rep. & Slovakia France Germany Italy Spain United Kingdom
Americas	Argentina [es] Canada Honduras Mexico [es] South America Brazil United States
Asia and Oceania	Australia Israel Kazakhstan Lebanon

v t e Slavic ethnic groups
East Slavs	Alaskan Creoles Belarusians Belarusian Latvians Belarusian Lithuanians Belarusian Poles Belarusian Russians Boykos Cossacks Albazinians Baikal Cossacks Don Cossacks Kuban Cossacks Nekrasov Cossacks Siberian Cossacks Terek Cossacks Greben Cossacks Zaporozhian Cossacks Kuban Cossacks Gurans Hutsuls Karyms Lemkos Molokans Podlashuks Poleshuks Russians Doukhobors Goryuns Harbin Russians Kamchadals Kamenschiks Lipovans Polekhs Pomors Semeiskie Siberians Starozhily Rusyns Pannonian Rusyns Rusyn Romanians Ukrainians Podolyans Litvins
West Slavs	Czechs Chods Gorals Silesian Gorals Kashubians Gochans Krubans Slovincians Lechites Masurians Moravians Poles Bambers Borderlands Poles Bug River Poles Greater Poland people Kaliszans Kuyavians Taśtaks Kociewians Kurpies Lasovians Łęczycans Lesser Poland people Masovians Łowiczans Międzyrzec Boyars Poborzans Polish Uplanders Russian Poles Sącz Lachs Sieradzans Warmians Obotrites Ruhrpolen Silesians Cieszyn Vlachs Slovaks Sorbs Lower Sorbs Wends Texas Wends Upper Sorbs
South Slavs	Bosniaks Bosniak Albanians Bosniak Croatians Bosniak Kosovars Bosniak Montenegrins Bosniak Serbians Bulgarians Anatolian Bulgarians Banat Bulgarians Bessarabian Bulgarians Bulgarian Albanians Bulgarian Croatians Bulgarian Hungarians Bulgarian Italians Macedonian Bulgarians Pomaks Thracian Bulgarians Croats Bunjevci Burgenland Croats Croat Muslims Janjevci Krashovani Molise Croats Šokci Gorani Macedonians Albanian Macedonians Bulgarian Macedonians Mijaks Torbeši Montenegrins Ethnic Muslims Resians Serbs Bosnian and Herzegovinian Serbs Kosovo Serbs Macedonian Serbs Montenegrin Serbs Croatian Serbs Vojvodina Serbs Serb Muslims Shopi Slavic speakers of Greek Macedonia Slovenes Carinthian Slovenes Croatian Slovenes Hungarian Slovenes Italian Slovenes Prekmurje Slovenes Venetian Slavs Yugoslavs

• Use dmy dates from November 2011
• Bulgarian people
• Ethnic groups in Europe
• Ethnic groups in Bulgaria
• Slavic ethnic groups
• South Slavs
• Ethnic groups in Macedonia
• Ethnic groups in the Republic of Macedonia
• Ethnic groups in Serbia
• Ethnic groups in Greece
• Ethnic groups in Turkey
• Ethnic groups in Albania
• Ethnic groups in Ukraine
• Ethnic groups in Moldova