Portal:Bulgaria

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Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located west of the Black Sea and south of the Danube river, Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey to the south, Serbia and North Macedonia to the west, and Romania to the north. It covers a territory of 110,994 square kilometres (42,855 sq mi) and is the 16th largest country in Europe. Sofia is the nation's capital and largest city; other major cities include Burgas, Plovdiv, and Varna.

Bulgaria has an upper-middle-income economy, its market economy is part of the European Single Market and is largely based on services, followed by industry—especially machine building and mining—and agriculture. The country faces a demographic crisis; its population peaked at 9 million in 1989, and has since decreased to under 6.4 million as of 2024. Bulgaria is a member of the European Union, the Schengen Area, NATO, and the Council of Europe. It is also a founding member of the OSCE and has taken a seat on the United Nations Security Council three times. (Full article...)

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Bulgaria is a country in southeastern Europe situated entirely in the Balkan peninsula. Bulgaria is inhabited by 22 autochthonous amphibian species, which makes the amphibians the least diverse class of vertebrates in the country. They include nine species of newts and salamanders from a single family, Salamandridae, as well as 13 frog and toad species from five families—Bombinatoridae, Bufonidae, Hylidae, Pelobatidae and Ranidae. The most recently classified species are the northern crested newt, identified in 2005, and the Macedonian crested newt, identified in 2007. In 2017 genetic studies suggested that the smooth newt was a species complex and was split in six species, of which three are found in Bulgaria—the smooth newt sensu lato, the Greek smooth newt and the Schmidtler's smooth newt. Some of the most common species include the European green toad, yellow-bellied toad, and marsh frog.

The foundations of Bulgarian herpetology (the study of amphibians and reptiles) were laid in the end of the 19th century by the teacher Vasil Kovachev, who published a number of articles on the subject and the 1912 book Herpetologic Fauna of Bulgaria. In the 1930s and 1940s zoologist Ivan Buresh and his associate Yordan Tsonkov conducted in-depth research on the diversity and distribution of the amphibian and reptile species in the country. In the second half of the 20th century the leading Bulgarian herpetologist was Dr. Vladimir Beshkov. (Full article...)

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... that Tsvetana Jermanova survived imprisonment in two forced labour camps in communist Bulgaria?

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Gallery

Image 1Danube river in Bulgaria
Image 2Rila is a mountain in West Bulgaria
Image 3Sofia is the biggest city in Bulgaria.
Image 4Varna lake is a salt lake near Black sea.
Image 5Razgrad is a city in East Bulgaria.
Image 6Maritsa is a river in South Bulgaria.
Image 7A beach in Bulgaria.

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Credit: sali_gyovren

The village of Gyovren in the municipality of Devin, Bulgaria. The population of Gyovren is mainly ethnic Turks, as well as a few Romani families. Devin is a popular tourist attraction, with many hot springs and spa resorts.

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