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ОглавлениеFigure 2. Topography of Bulgaria
The Rodopi occupies the area between the Thracian Plain and the Greek border. This range is commonly described as including the Rila mountain range south of Sophia and the Pirin range in the southwestern corner of the country. As such, the Rodopi is the most outstanding topographic feature, not only of the country, but also of the entire Balkan Peninsula. The Rila contains Mount Musala—called Mount Stalin for a few years—whose 9,500-foot peak is the highest in the Balkans. About a dozen other peaks in the Rila are over 9,000 feet. They feature a few bare rocks and remote lakes above the tree line, but the lower peaks are covered with Alpine meadows, and the general aspect of the range is one of green beauty.
The Vitosha range is an outlier of the Rila. A symmetrical, 7,500-foot high, isolated peak in the range is a landmark on the outskirts of Sofia. Snow covers its conical summit most of the year, and its steep sides are forested.
The Pirin is characterized by rocky peaks and stony slopes. An impression of the landscape is provided by a local legend, which says that when the earth was being created God was flying over the peninsula with a bag of huge boulders. The rocks were too heavy for the bag, and it broke over southwestern Bulgaria.
Some Bulgarian geographers refer to the western Rodopi and the Pirin as the Thracian-Macedonian massif. In this context, the Rodopi includes only the mountains south of the Maritsa River basin. There is some basis for such a division. The Rila is largely volcanic in origin. The Pirin was formed at a different time by fracturing of the earth's crust. The uplands east of the Maritsa River are not of the same stature as the major ranges.
Sizable areas in the western and central Stara Planina and smaller areas in the Pirin and in Dobrudzha have extensive layers of limestone. There are some 2,000 caves in these deposits. The public has become more interested in the caves during the past three or four decades, but only about 400 of them have been completely explored and charted.
To the east of the higher Rodopi and east of the Maritsa River are the Sakar and Strandzha mountains. They extend the length of the Rodopi along the Turkish border to the Black Sea but are themselves comparatively insignificant. At one point they have a spot elevation of about 2,800 feet, but they rarely exceed 1,500 feet elsewhere.
Formation of the Balkan landmasses involved a number of earth crust foldings and volcanic actions that either dammed rivers or forced them into new courses. The flat basins that occur throughout the country were created when river waters receded from the temporary lakes that existed while the rivers were cutting their new channels. The largest of these is the Sofia Basin, which includes the city and the area about fifteen miles wide and sixty miles long to its northwest and southeast. Other valleys between the Stara Planina and the Sredna Gora ranges contain a series of smaller basins, and similar ones occur at intervals in the valleys of a number of the larger rivers.
Drainage
From a drainage standpoint, the country is divided into two nearly equal parts. The slightly larger one drains to the Black Sea, the other to the Aegean. The northern watershed of the Stara Planina, all of the Danubian plateau, and the thirty to fifty miles inland from the coastline drain to the Black Sea. The Thracian Plain and most of the higher lands of the south and southwest drain to the Aegean Sea. Although only the Danube is navigable, many of the other rivers and streams have a high potential for the production of hydroelectric power and are sources of irrigation water. Many are already being exploited.
Insignificant when compared with the watersheds that drain to the seas, about 125 square miles of the country drain into a few small salt lakes that have no outflowing water. The largest such lake has a surface area of 2.5 square miles.
By far the greater part of the country that drains to the Black Sea does so through the Danube. Most of its major tributaries in the country (from west to east, the Ogosta, Iskur, Vit, Osum, Yantra, and Lom) carry more water than do the combination of the Provadiyska, Kamchiya, Fakiyska, and Veleka rivers, all of which flow directly into the Black Sea. Of the Danube's Bulgarian tributaries, all but the Iskur rise in the Stara Planina. The Iskur rises in the Rila and flows northward through a narrow basin. Territory not far from the river on both sides of it drains in the opposite direction, to the south. The Iskur passes through Sofia's eastern suburbs and cuts a valley through the Stara Planina on its way to join the Danube.
The Iskur and the other of the Danube's north-flowing tributaries have cut deep valleys through the Danubian plateau. The eastern banks tend to rise sharply from the rivers; the western parts of the valleys may have broad fields with alluvial soils. The peculiar, though consistent, pattern is caused by forces resulting from the earth's rotation; these forces give the water a motion that tends to undercut the right banks of the streams. Some of these rivers are sizable streams, but the Danube gets only a little more than 4 percent of its total volume from its Bulgarian tributaries. As it flows along the northern border, the Danube averages one to 1.5 miles in width. Its highest water levels are usually reached during June floods, and in normal seasons it is frozen over for about forty days.
Several major rivers flow directly to the Aegean Sea, although the Maritsa with its tributaries is by far the largest. The Maritsa drains all of the western Thracian Plain, all of the Sredna Gora, the southern slopes of the Stara Planina, and the northern slopes of the eastern Rodopi. Other than the Maritsa, the Struma in the west and the Mesta (which separates the Pirin from the main Rodopi ranges) are the two largest of the rivers that rise in Bulgaria and flow to the Aegean. Most of these streams fall swiftly from the mountains and have cut deep, scenic gorges. The Struma and Mesta reach the sea through Greece. The Maritsa forms most of the Greek-Turkish border after it leaves Bulgaria.
About 3,750 square miles of agricultural land have access to irrigation waters. Dams provide the water for about one-half of the acreage; diversions from rivers and streams serve about one-third; and water pumped from the ground and from streams accounts for the remainder.
Of the dams, ninety-two are termed large state dams. Their combined capacity is three times that of some 2,000 smaller dams. The sources of four large rivers—the Maritsa, Iskur, Mesta, and Rilska (a major tributary of the Struma)—are within a few miles of each other in the high Rila. Water from the upper courses of these and several other streams supplies the Sofia area with both water and electricity, and they have a potential for further development. There are major dams on the Tundzha, Iskur, Rositsa, and Struma rivers. The Danube is too massive a stream to harness, and damming the Maritsa along most of its course would flood too much valuable land. The rivers flowing north across the Danubian plateau also tend to be overly difficult to use in the areas where they are most needed.
The Vucha River, flowing from the Rodopi into the Maritsa River, is often used to illustrate how rivers have been effectively harnessed to provide a variety of benefits. Its cascade system of hydroelectric development employs six dams having the capacity to generate over 600,000 kilowatts of electricity. The water they back up serves the municipal water systems in Plovdiv and a number of other towns in its vicinity, and the dams provide irrigation water for nearly 250,000 acres of cropland. The reservoirs themselves are being developed as recreational areas and mountain resorts.
Where a stream is difficult to dam or to divert, water is pumped from it. This has been feasible only since about 1950, when low-cost diesel engines and sufficient hydroelectric power became available from newly constructed dams on other streams. About eighty-five huge pumping stations have been set up along the Danube River, which furnishes about three-quarters of the water acquired by this method; and in 1970 there were about 1,200 lesser stations operating on smaller streams, most of them on the Thracian Plain.
Climate
For so small an area, the climate varies widely and is unusually complex. Depending upon the depth to which they study the area, climatologists list six or more climatic subzones. The country lies on the line of transition between the strongly contrasting Eastern European continental and the Mediterranean climatic zones, and its mountains and valleys are local factors that act as barriers or channels to the air masses, contributing to sharp contrasts in weather over relatively short distances. The Black Sea, although too small to be a primary influence over much of the country's weather, also affects the immediate area along its coastline.
In general, continental systems prevail in the north. They are characterized by hot summers, cold winters, and precipitation well distributed throughout the year, a major portion of it in early summer thunderstorms. The Mediterranean climate that is influential most of the time in the south has mild, damp winters but hot, dry, rain-free summers. The Stara Planina marks the lower limits of the area in which continental air masses circulate freely in typical circumstances. In the area between them and the Danube River there is an extension of the climate that is common to east-central Europe and adjoining regions of the Soviet Union.
In the same fashion, the Rodopi marks the northern limits of domination by Mediterranean weather systems. The southern slopes of these mountains are sufficiently mild to merit the region's being called the Green Greece or Bulgarian California.
The area in between, which includes the Thracian Plain, is influenced by both types of climate, but more of the time by continental systems. The result is a plains climate resembling that of the corn belt in the United States, which is characterized by long summers and high humidity. The climate is generally more severe than that of Spain and the portions of Italy, France, and Soviet Georgia that are in the same latitude. Because it is a transitional area and the Mediterranean systems may prevail for most of some seasons or retreat from the scene altogether in other seasons, average temperatures and precipitation are erratic and may vary widely from year to year.
Precipitation over the country averages about twenty-five inches a year and, when it is distributed normally throughout the seasons, it is satisfactory for most agricultural crops. Dobrudzha, in the northeast, the Black Sea coastal area, and parts of the Thracian Plain usually receive less than twenty inches. The remainder of the Thracian Plain and the Danubian plateau get less than the country average. Higher elevations are the most generously watered, in some places receiving forty inches or more.
Although a low figure of 7.6 inches was recorded in Dobrudzha for one year and the normal precipitation is marginal, both Dobrudzha and the Danubian plateau are in the continental climate zone and usually receive most of their rainfall during crop-growing seasons. The Thracian Plain, however, has frequent seasons when it is under Mediterranean influences and, when this is the case, it may experience prolonged summer droughts. Irrigation is, therefore, necessary for dependable agricultural production.
A few sheltered pockets in the higher mountains may remain covered with snow all year, and much of the other higher land remains white well into springtime. Lower elevations are snow covered an average of twenty-five to thirty days a year. Average cloudiness is about 55 percent, and average relative humidity is as high as 70 to 75 percent.
The many valley basins throughout the uplands frequently have temperature inversions resulting in stagnant air. The Sofia area, for example, is occasionally troubled by smog. The city's elevation of about 1,800 feet, however, tends to moderate summer temperatures and to relieve the oppressive quality of the high humidity. It is also sheltered from the northern European winds by the mountains that ring the basin. Its temperatures in January average about 29°F, and in August they average about 70°F. Its rainfall is near the country average, and the overall result of the several contributing features is a rather unexpectedly pleasant climate.
The climate of the coast is moderated by the Black Sea, but there are many windy days and violent local storms during the winter. The area along the Danube River experiences bitterly cold winters, and sheltered valleys opening to the south along the Greek and Turkish borders may, in contrast, be as mild as though they were on the Mediterranean or Aegean coasts. The so-called Black Wind, a local phenomenon similar to the African sirocco, consists of hard-blowing, hot, very dry air and wreaks havoc on crops. It gets its name from the quantities of dust it carries, which often darken the skies.
Regions in the Rodopi and the higher elevations around Sofia feature sun and snow in a pleasant combination for about four months a year. Several places have good and reasonably dependable skiing and are being developed into holiday resorts.
Soils
Fine, dark chernozem (black earth) soils, rich in loess and humus, occur over a considerable portion of the northern Danubian plateau. They are fertile, easy to work, and compare with the best soils in Europe. Away from the river, approaching the mountains, there is a broader area that is basically similar, but the subsoils are more porous and have allowed the humus and loess to leach downward from the surface. The resulting gray soil no longer rates among the finest, but it yields good crops in some areas and, where it is less satisfactory, the land is forested.
The Thracian Plain has comparatively little of the finest soils, but it has much soil that is more than adequate to produce reasonably good crops. The best on the plain is locally called smolnitsa. It is basically a chernozem, but it is less fully matured and coarser than the darker variety along the Danube. The plain also features fairly extensive areas of good brown and brown forest soils. Meadow soils occur in large areas in the vicinity of Plovdiv. Some are irrigated and cultivated.
Meadow and layered podzol (gray forest) soils occur in most of the higher elevations throughout the country. Intermediate elevations usually have brown forest soils, some of which are excellent. The Maritsa and Tundzha and the major rivers that flow into the Danube have wide valleys with alluvial soils. They may be coarse, but most of them are fertile, drain well, and are extensively cultivated.
Vegetation
Both the natural vegetation and the cultivated crops that have replaced it on all areas that could be put to agricultural use reflect the transitional climate of the country. North of the Stara Planina the original flora was a continuation of that on the Russian steppe. The steppe influence was greatest in the east, giving way to deciduous forests farther to the west.
Lands south of the mountains, sheltered from the colder extremes of the continental weather systems, have been able to support plant life that could not exist on the steppe. Areas along the Black Sea coast and in valleys of the Rodopi that open to the south experience further moderation. Many Mediterranean and subtropical species have existed in them naturally, and others introduced by man have thrived.
What remains of the original vegetation on the Danubian plateau is found mainly along the river, where the land has been difficult to cultivate. It includes brush grass, reeds, and licorice. The last two have commercial value. Most of the original lowland deciduous forests have been removed, and grain flourishes on the level expanses where the soils are favorable. Other food and fodder crops are grown to satisfy local requirements. The foothills of the Stara Planina are dotted with orchards; plums are the most prevalent fruit in these northern areas.
The depression, or geological trench, between the Stara Planina and the Sredna Gora ranges, which is at the near center point of the country and contains the upper valleys of the Tundzha, Stryama, and Topolnitsa rivers, is sheltered and very humid and is ideal for the raising of roses. One in particular, Rosa Alba, has become known as Bulgaria's gold. Its flower is not an especially lovely variety, but it is extremely rich in the rose oil that is the basic fragrance in many perfumes and a flavor in certain liqueurs. Fields of them flourish in the Kazanluk area, the so-called Valley of Roses.
The Thracian Plain, between the Sredna Gora and the Rodopi, originally featured a mixture of midlatitude forest and Mediterranean flora. The forests have been removed from the level lands and have been replaced by a diversification of crops, including truck vegetables, fruit orchards, strawberries, raspberries, vineyards, tobacco, and cotton. The plain also produces a variety of herbs and medicine derivatives. Digitalis is produced from foxgloves; menthol, from peppermint; opium, from a species of poppy; linseed oil, from flaxseed; laxatives, from iris and rhubarb; and castor oil, from the castor bean. All of them are grown on this plain.
Where the plain touches the Black Sea, varieties of tropical or subtropical vegetation appear. Vegetation is dense along the Kamchiya River and on the banks of a few of the smaller streams as they approach the sea. Reeds, lianas, exotic flowers, and huge old trees that grow nowhere else in the country flourish in this region.
In the southern Rodopi, where a few of the river valleys—those of the Struma, Mesta, and Maritsa, for example—open to the south, the vegetation is typically Mediterranean. Natural species include the Mediterranean scrubby underbrush, maquis, and an assortment of flowering plants and shrubs. Vineyards and subtropical fruit grow well in these valleys. Such areas produce the country's peaches, figs, and peanuts.
Mountainous regions feature Alpine meadows and pastures above the tree line, where the terrain permits, and conifer forests immediately below the tree line. Deciduous trees are native to all of the uplands of the country with tolerable elevations. Beech predominates at intermediate elevations, particularly on northern slopes, and oak, on the lower foothills. There are dense elm, oak, and ash forests at lower elevations in the Kamchiya River valley where it descends from the eastern part of the Stara Planina. Scrub and brush prevail at all upland elevations where terrain and soil conditions are poor or where the original forest has been removed and has not been replaced.
The Stara Planina has grassy meadowland and pastures on rounded summits and higher slopes. In the springtime these higher lands may also be brilliant with wild flowers and flowering shrubs. Cherry laurel, for example, grows wild over wide areas. The meadows usually give way to beech and to other mixed deciduous forests at lower elevations. Mixed forests may contain varieties of oak, chestnut, hornbeam, elm, and ash.
The most valuable forests are in the Rodopi, although many of them are interspersed among inaccessible craggy hills. A majority of the country's conifers, both the natural forest and those that have been planted in preference to the slower growing deciduous, are in the higher Rodopi, including the Rila and the Pirin. The most common of the conifers are pine and fir. At elevations beneath those dominated by the conifers, the mixture of broad-leaved deciduous trees is similar to that of the Stara Planina. Of the forest area, only about one-half has tall timber. Scrub on the remainder, however, serves to stabilize the soil of the forest lands against erosion and to slow the runoff of water. The rare and exotic edelweiss can be found on the higher slopes of the Pirin.
Wildlife
The clearing of forestland and the increase in human population have driven most of the larger wildlife from their natural habitats, except in the higher and more rugged terrain. Of the larger species, some bears, wild boars, wild goats, wolves, elk, and several species of deer continue to exist naturally. Foxes, wildcats, polecats, squirrels and other rodents, and hare—better able to adjust to existing conditions—are also surviving.
Quail, turtledoves, wild fowl, and other game birds are hunted in restricted seasons. Hunting seasons are also provided for some of the deer species; the seasons usually last between two and four months, depending upon the need to protect the animal, between the months of August and February. There are bounties on wolves and foxes. Wildcats, falcons, and hawks are also considered harmful and may be killed at any time. The polecat—in Europe the Mustela putorius, a fetid-smelling member of the weasel and otter family—is a bloodthirsty, insatiable hunter that terrorizes poultry. It also may be exterminated.
The many caves in limestone-dominated regions have given rise to various types of blind fauna. The largest of them are crabs, but most are insects, including mosquitoes, butterflies, spiders, locusts, and common flies. Although they are blind, exposure to light is usually fatal to such species.
Rivers contain several kinds of freshwater fish, the most plentiful of which are sturgeon, whitefish, and European carp. Mackerel account for the largest percentage of fish taken from the Black Sea. There are no sharks or other dangerous fish in these waters, but a rare Black Sea seal breeds along the rocky coast north of Varna.
Mineral Resources
The country's mountains contain a variety of metallic and nonmetallic minerals. A few are of good quality, but most of these occur in very small quantities. Iron and coal, which are basic to a metallurgical industry, are mined, but neither of them is of the proper variety or quality nor are they available in adequate quantities to be used economically.
Largest deposits of iron ore occur in the far western Stara Planina and the Strandzha mountain range. There are smaller deposits in the vicinity of Burgas, along the Black Sea coast, and near Sofia to the north and west of the city. Estimated reserves total in excess of 10 million tons.
Coal has been located in some twenty small deposits. There is an anthracite basin in the Stara Planina twenty miles north of Sofia and another in the extreme northwest end of the range. Bituminous coal occurs in a larger basin in the central Stara Planina, but brown coals and lignite are much more abundant.
Copper, lead, and zinc are mined in quantities that exceed domestic requirements. Bulgaria ranks high in the production of them among the eastern and southeastern European countries and exports small amounts of them. Among the other metallic ores, Bulgaria has three of the more important alloying metals—manganese, molybdenum, and chromium—but the manganese is of poor quality. Uranium has been discovered in several deposits near Sofia and is being extracted from one or more of them. Gold occurs in a number of locations but in small quantities.
Of the fuels, coal is by far the most abundant and most important to the economy. The search for oil and natural gas resources was intensive in the early post-World War II years, and what were hoped to be valuable fields were discovered in the early 1960s. Production, however, reached a peak in the latter part of that decade. If it becomes economic to exploit them, there are oil-bearing shales west of Sofia and in the northwestern region of the country. The extent of these shales appears to be limited, but their potential is believed to be considerably greater than that of the oil-bearing formations where the crude product is extracted by pumping.
Other minerals extracted include salt, kaolin, chalk, talc, asbestos, gypsum, mica, fluorite, quartzite, antimony, lime, sandstone, slate, and pyrites. The pyrites are plentiful and produce exportable quantities of sulfur and sulfur products. Fuel resources tend to be concentrated in basins and on lower lands; most other resources, both metal and nonmetal, are more frequently found in the Rodopi, the western Stara Planina, and in the other western highlands.
Mineral waters are locally considered to be an important resource. The country boasts some 500 mineral springs, about one-half of which are warm or hot. Their mineral content varies, as does the concentration of the chemicals. The stronger of those considered medicinal are used for drinking only. The milder are used for drinking and bathing. Sofia has active hot springs that have been in use and have attracted people to the area for centuries. Its first settlement was built around such a spring.
BOUNDARIES AND POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS
Boundaries
Bulgaria has had nearly a century of modern independence, during which its borders have invariably been imposed upon it by others. This has been the case partly because the Balkan Peninsula was for many years a pawn in the balance-of-power politics of the more powerful European nations and also because Bulgaria has been on the losing side in three of its four major wars. It even fared badly at the peace table after the only war in which it emerged victorious (see ch. 2).
In spite of these circumstances, the country has boundaries that have many natural physical characteristics and that have imposed no serious economic hardship on any significant group of people. They also contain a large percentage of the Bulgarian people, although numerous population resettlement movements have contributed to this end. None of its borders are officially disputed.
The total boundary of Bulgaria is about 1,415 miles long. Rivers account for about 425 miles of it, the Black Sea coast for 248 miles, and a great portion of the remainder adheres to ridges in high terrain.
The western and northern boundaries are shared with Yugoslavia and Romania, respectively, and the Black Sea coastline constitutes the entire eastern border. The southern boundary is shared with Greece and Turkey.
Nationalists have territorial ambitions stemming from the size of the Middle Ages Bulgarian empire that encompassed about one-half of the Balkan Peninsula but, in the local political climate that has existed since World War II, such ambitions are not seriously considered.
The post-World War I boundaries were established in rough detail by the Treaty of Peace between the Allied and associated powers and Bulgaria, signed in 1919 at Neuilly-sur-Seine. They were demarcated by international commissions between 1919 and 1922, formalized by the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923, and reconfirmed by the Treaty of Paris in 1947.
During World War II, again as an ally of Germany, Bulgaria briefly reacquired the coveted portions of Macedonia and Thrace, but the interwar boundaries were restored without much deliberation in 1947 with the agreement of the Soviet Union as well as all of the other major victorious allies. Small deviations from the borders established in the early 1920s have been made for local reasons, but none of them have been of national significance.
The 335-mile border with Yugoslavia was drawn in an attempt to follow the high ridges separating the watersheds of the Morava and Vardar river valleys in Yugoslavia from those of the Iskur and Struma valleys in Bulgaria. The border starts in the north at the junction of the Timok River and the Danube, but it follows the river for only about ten miles. Leaving the Timok (with a few exceptions when it must cross river valleys), it remains on high ground until it reaches the tripoint with Greece. Although nationalist Bulgarians continue to feel that Bulgaria's share of Macedonia—which it shares with both Yugoslavia and Greece—is less than just, there are no overt official disputes of the boundary.
The border with Greece is 307 miles long—all but forty-nine miles of which are overland. The major portion of it follows higher elevations and ridges in the Rodopi. East of the Struma and Mesta river valleys, insofar as it is feasible, the border is at the dividing line between the Maritsa River basin and those of the streams that flow southward to the Aegean Sea.
Following an official visit by the Greek foreign minister to Sofia in 1946, the Bulgarian premier stated that "all territorial claims [between Greece and Bulgaria] are excluded forever." This statement indicates that boundary frictions that had persisted for many years were officially eliminated at that time, and as of 1973 the border was not disputed.
The Turkish border is 149 miles long. It follows small rivers and streams for more than 40 percent of its length, but neither they nor the overland sections constitute physical boundaries or barriers of any consequence.
The Romanian border follows the Danube River for about 290 miles from the northwestern corner of the country to the city of Silistra and then cuts to the east-southeast for about eighty-five miles across the old province of Dobrudzha. The Danube, with steep bluffs on the Bulgarian side and a wide area of swamps and marshes along much of the Romanian, is one of the better natural river boundaries in Europe. Most of the river islands that might be expected to bridge the gap between the countries are damp and covered with marsh vegetation. They are subject to regular inundation by floodwaters and, therefore, are uninhabited. The line across Dobrudzha is arbitrary and has been redrawn on several occasions. The population of the area that has changed hands is mixed, but most of those who have strong national preferences have been resettled in the country of their choice.
A joint resolution adopted between Bulgaria and Romania in April 1971 allowed somewhat easier transit of their border. A passport was still required, but residents of the twelve-mile-wide zone on each side of the border became able to make one crossing each month without a visa. Each visit was limited to six days, and the destination and residence to be visited were subject to the approval of local police. The agreement made no changes in custom regulations and was not, therefore, intended to change trade relations between the countries.
Political Subdivisions
The country is subdivided into twenty-eight okruzi (sing., okrug), which are usually translated as districts, and has some 200 towns and cities and approximately 5,500 villages or settlements. The cities and larger towns are subdivided into rayoni (sing., rayon), and the smaller villages are grouped together into obshtini (sing., obshtina). The rayoni and obshtini are the urban boroughs and village communes that are the smallest units of local government, that is, those that have people's councils (see fig. 3).
The twenty-eight okruzi include one for the city of Sofia and its immediate vicinity as well as one for a larger Sofia district. Each okrug is named for the city that is its administrative center. They have areas ranging from 794 to 2,916 square miles and populations of about 130,000 to about 650,000.
Figure 3. Political Subdivisions of Bulgaria, 1973
The number of okruzi has been changed only at times of major governmental reorganization, the most recent of which was in 1959. The obshtini, on the other hand, are in a state of relatively constant change. Cities grow, towns become cities, new enterprises are set up and attract population, and other factors affect the need for local administration. Since the reorganization of 1959, when the obshtini were reduced by nearly one-half—from about 1,950 to just over 1,000—their number has tended to grow again. By the late 1960s there were about 1,150 of them.
SETTLEMENT PATTERNS
The Bulgarians, who were mounted archers from the steppes of central Asia, rode into the area between the Danube River and the Stara Planina in the seventh and eighth centuries A.D. They interbred with the Slavs and adopted a Slavic language and many Slavic customs, but they retained enough individuality to remain readily identifiable. In spite of horrifying defeats and treatment at the hands of Byzantines and Ottomans, they were in the land to stay and never relinquished their title to a share of the peninsula.
For several centuries before their independence from the Turks, the people preferred to live in the hills, motivated by the sheer necessity of having to escape the notice of their oppressive occupiers. They returned to the fertile plains and valleys in large numbers only after independence in 1878. Since 1945 there has been a major movement of people to the cities as the country has become industrialized, and there has been a lesser movement of the rural population resulting from the collectivization of agricultural lands.
Each major movement has brought about some improvement over the conditions of the period that preceded it. Settlement in the back hills was particularly necessary during the last years of Turkish control, when the Ottoman Empire was in decline and its local controls and taxation became increasingly oppressive. To avoid attracting attention to themselves, the people settled into small hamlets and built their homes as bare and unattractive as possible.
With independence life on the plains was safer and easier. For a time there was plenty of good land available but, as the population grew, inevitably the land became occupied, and the size of individual landholdings decreased. Between the turn of the century and the mid-1980s, for example, the average landholding decreased from 18.2 to 12.2 acres, a size that was agriculturally uneconomic and that overpopulated the rural areas. People remained poor and, although it was no longer necessary to keep them plain, peasant homes amounted to little more than small, bare, essential shelter.
Under the communist government, the first near-complete collectivization program served to increase the size of farmland units in collective and state farms to an average of about 10,000 acres each. In 1970, with an average of less than 1,100 fully employed farmers at each of the larger units, the ratio of farmers to acres of arable land had fallen sharply. In 1973 the agricultural lands were again recombined, this time into about 170 units called agroindustrial complexes. The rural population is still, however, for the most part clustered in unplanned, nucleated villages or hamlets. Long, single-street villages are rare. Many villages are situated in valleys for shelter from cold winter winds. A gradual movement to housing at the agroindustrial centers will undoubtedly take place, but there was no indication in 1973 that the movement would be a rapid one or that the government intended to make it a matter of urgent priority.
Post-World War II emphasis on educational and cultural pursuits and rural development has made more community life and more amenities available to the rural areas. Dwelling space remains meager, with only a little more than 500 feet of floorspace per dwelling. By 1970 central water supplies were available to over 90 percent of the population, but fewer than one half of the dwellings had individual service. Nearly all dwellings have electricity.
Bulgaria has been primarily agricultural and has been overrun, pillaged, and occupied by so many conquerors that its cities have suffered, and their inhabitants have had less opportunity than have those in most European countries to develop a culture. There are relatively few cities with noteworthy associations with the country's past. There are, however, a few notable exceptions, and some of their histories antedate the introduction of the Bulgar people into the region. There are others that, if not altogether new, have had rapid and well-planned growth during the country's recent history. Modern city growth has been accompanied by the construction of large numbers of apartment houses, many of them built as rapidly as possible to recover space destroyed during World War II and to accommodate the heavy influx of people to urban areas.
Sofia was founded by the Thracians and has had a continuous history of some importance for 2,000 years. No trace of its original founders remains in the city, although it retained its Thracian name, Serdica, while it was a part of the Roman Empire. It is situated in a sheltered basin at the base of the Vitosha range, a location that has been both strategically and esthetically desirable. Long-established communications routes cross at the city. The most traveled and most famous is that from Belgrade to Istanbul. It is Sofia's main street for that portion of its route. At the city it crosses the north-south route from the Aegean Sea to the Danube River that uses the Struma and Iskur river valleys. Some of the other routes that radiate from the city, particularly those to the Black Sea coastal cities, are of more local importance than the international routes. Sofia's pleasant climate, plus its strategic location, made the city a contender in the selection of a capital for Rome in Emperor Constantine's reign. Its hot springs were an added attraction to the Romans, and their baths remain.
Sofia was a thriving city under the Romans. Attila the Hun destroyed it in the fifth century A.D., but it was rebuilt in the sixth and seventh centuries, when its population grew to about 40,000. It declined again under the Ottomans, and in 1878, when it was liberated, it had only some 15,000-20,000 inhabitants. It has grown rapidly since becoming the capital of the modern state.
Sofia is the city's fourth name. Saint Sophia's sixth-century church occupies the highest land in the city and is one of the most famous of its landmarks, although the city was named for her several centuries after the church was built. As the capital, the city has most of the nation's administration and has become the educational and cultural center of the country. It retains much charm and beauty, in spite of its rapid growth. From its hundreds of small parks and thousands of trees, it claims the right to call itself the garden city.
Plovdiv is the second most important city. It is older than Sofia, having been established in the fourth century B.C. by Philip of Macedon; it was first named Philippopolis after him. On the plain and astride the route from Belgrade to Istanbul, it has been exposed to all who have passed that way, for good or ill, and this is reflected in its violent history. It has been captured and devastated in turn by Greeks, Romans, Goths, Huns, and Turks. It was also ravished on four different occasions by Christian armies during the Crusades.
Plovdiv has continued to be an important commercial city, having more rail lines radiating from it than Sofia. It also has a university and some of the country's most important museums and art treasures. The old town center is typically Macedonian and, although it was severely damaged by an earthquake in 1928, part of it has been termed a national monument, to be reworked only for its restoration.
Veliko Turnovo, situated astride a mountain stream on the northern slopes of the central Stara Planina, was the fortress capital of the medieval Second Bulgarian Kingdom. It was also the site of the first constituent assembly held as the country was liberated from the Turks, and the Turnovo Constitution was adopted there in 1879. It remains an artistic and cultural center, and some of its fine examples of Bulgarian renaissance architecture have survived.
Varna and Burgas are the chief Black Sea ports, and Ruse is the only major Bulgarian port on the Danube River. Burgas is a young city, growing to most of its size in the late 1800s, and it was a more important port than Varna until the 1950s. Varna, however, attracted the naval academy, has become the naval base, and has acquired most of the shipbuilding industry. Ruse has also grown rapidly. In addition to its river trade, the first bridge across the river between Bulgaria and Romania was built just north of the city.
A number of new towns have been built since World War II, in some cases from the ground up. These include some at industrial complexes, others at resorts. Madan is a new mining center in the Rodopi; Dimitrovgrad is a new industrial town on the Maritsa River; and there are several mountain and seaside resort cities. Zlatni Pyassutsi (Golden Sands), opened in 1956, is one of a group of Black Sea resort cities that, upon opening, could accommodate tens of thousands of holiday vacationers.
POPULATION
Structure
In spite of its three most recent wars, comparatively few Bulgarians live outside the country in the areas adjacent to its boundaries. Bulgarian sources estimate the total number of Bulgarians abroad at approximately 1 million. Many of these are in Greek and Yugoslav Macedonia and are, in fact, Macedonians who may or may not prefer to be called Bulgarians. Other Bulgarians are in Greek Thrace, and a few are in Romanian Dobrudzha and in Soviet Bessarabia. A scattering are settled in other Eastern European countries, Australia, and North and South America. There are only a few in the United States.
When The Macedonians and Gypsies in the country—whom Bulgarian official sources include as fully integrated into the Bulgarian population—are not counted separately, Bulgarians constitute about 91 percent of the population. The approximately 700,000 Turks out-number all other non-Bulgarians in the population by a large margin. Small numbers of Greeks, Romanians, Armenians, and Jews make up a total of only about 1 percent (see ch. 4).
In the absence of official statistics, the number of Macedonians and Gypsies are impossible to estimate accurately. It is probable that there are a few more Gypsies than Macedonians and that they total about 5 percent of the population. Pomaks (Muslim Bulgarians), who tend to live separately, have been persecuted on occasion and have represented a social problem. Some authorities have listed them as a separate ethnic group but, with diminishing emphasis on religion, local authorities attempt to make no distinctions between them and the rest of the population.
Bulgaria is one of an extremely few countries in the world where the males in the population have outnumbered the females over a considerable portion of its modern history. This has been a phenomenon that could not be adequately explained by events or circumstances; but of nine censuses taken between 1887 and 1965, only in those taken in 1920 and 1947 did the females constitute a majority. These two years following the great wars were undoubtedly atypical in that, although Bulgaria did not suffer great manpower losses from war casualties, the males were probably more mobile, and many of them may not have returned to the country or, in the immediate aftermath of the wars, may not yet have settled down (see table 1).
Table 1. Bulgaria, Population by Age and Sex, 1973 Estimate
| Number of People | |||||
| in Age Group | Percentage of | Male | Female | Females per | |
| Age Group | (in thousands) | Total Population | (in thousands) | 100 Males | |
| Under 5 | 676 | 7.8 | 348 | 328 | 94 |
| 5-9 | 609 | 7.0 | 313 | 296 | 94 |
| 10-14 | 647 | 7.5 | 331 | 316 | 95 |
| 15-19 | 665 | 7.7 | 340 | 325 | 96 |
| 20-24 | 703 | 8.1 | 357 | 346 | 97 |
| 25-29 | 629 | 7.3 | 317 | 312 | 98 |
| 30-34 | 558 | 6.4 | 280 | 278 | 99 |
| 35-39 | 616 | 7.1 | 310 | 306 | 99 |
| 40-44 | 649 | 7.5 | 327 | 322 | 98 |
| 45-49 | 668 | 7.7 | 334 | 334 | 100 |
| 50-54 | 467 | 5.4 | 231 | 236 | 102 |
| 55-59 | 421 | 4.9 | 210 | 211 | 100 |
| 60-64 | 460 | 5.3 | 225 | 235 | 104 |
| 65-69 | 372 | 4.3 | 178 | 194 | 109 |
| 70-74 | 264 | 3.0 | 122 | 142 | 116 |
| 75 year | |||||
| and over | 263 | 3.0 | 110 | 153 | 139 |
| TOTAL | 8,667 | 100.0 | 4,333 | 4,334 | 100* |
| * Overall ratio for total population. | |||||
| Source: Adapted from Godfrey Baldwin, (ed.), International Population Reports, (U.S. Department of Commerce, Series P-91, No. 18), Washington, 1969. |
The male majority, however, narrowed and has apparently evaporated for the foreseeable future. The reversal reflects a change in life expectancy statistics. Around the turn of the century average life expectancy was forty years, and females are estimated to have outlived males by less than six months. Seventy years later, average life expectancy had increased by twenty-five years, but females were outliving males by an average of about four years. Projected from the 1965 census and from vital statistics information accumulated since that time, numerical equality between the sexes came about in the late 1960s, and in mid-1973 it was estimated that females outnumbered males by the small majority of 4.334 million to 4.333 million.
Another exceptional feature of the Bulgarian population is the unusual number of very old people. Nearly 1 percent of the population in 1970 was eighty years old or older, and more than 500 people were centenarians. Of these, three-fifths were women.
People in rural areas, after having long outnumbered those in cities and towns, became the minority in 1969. More than four-fifths of the population was rural at the time of independence in 1878, and more than three-quarters was still rural in 1947. The movement to the towns accelerated with the post-World War II industrialization. Towns that attracted industries have grown by factors of five or more since 1920, and by far the most dramatic growth has occurred since 1947.
With 8.7 million people occupying 42,800 square miles in 1972, the average population density for the country was 203 persons per square mile. Regions where the densities were highest include the Sofia Basin and the southwestern portion of the Thracian Plain. The population was more dense than average in the western and central portion of the Danubian plateau, in the lower eastern Rodopi, and in the vicinities of Varna and Burgas on the Black Sea coast. It was least dense in the higher mountains, particularly in the high western Rodopi, the Pirin and the Rila, and along the narrow high ridge of the Stara Planina.
Dynamics
Warfare that was endemic to the Balkan Peninsula throughout much of its early history, exploitation by the Ottomans, and living conditions that contributed to a short life expectancy served to hold down the population of the area before independence. Since 1878, although the country has participated in four wars and most migratory movements have been at Bulgaria's expense, the population has tripled.
Growth has been comparatively steady during the century of independence. Its rate has fluctuated but not widely. Until 1910 it was high. It dropped during the 1910-20 decade, which included the Balkan wars and World War I. The period of greatest growth occurred between the great wars, and the three decades since 1941 have been the periods of least growth.
Vital statistics supplied by the Bulgarian government to the United Nations in 1972 indicated an annual growth rate of 0.7 percent. This was based on 16.3 births per each 1,000 of the population, as against 9.1 deaths. Infant mortality, included in the overall death rate, was 27.3 deaths during the first year for each 1,000 live births. In early 1973 the government was alarmed at an apparent change in the statistical trend. Complete information for 1971 showed that, instead of 16.3 births per 1,000, the actual figure was 15.9. Indications were that in 1972 it was dropping to 15.4.
Internal migrations since 1878 have consisted largely of the initial movement of the rural population from the hills to the plains and the later movement of people from the rural areas to the towns. External migrations have been more complex. The earliest occurred in the aftermath of the liberation; later ones have resulted from the animosities and territorial changes associated with the various wars in which the country has been involved.
Having occupied the territory, Turks left in wholesale numbers when they lost control of it. More of them departed during the Balkan wars. Large groups emigrated in the 1920s and 1930s, and more were forced to leave after World War II. Estimates as to the numbers involved in each move vary widely; the two largest after 1880 were those in the 1920s and after World War II, and the total in all emigrations of Turks probably equals or exceeds the 700,000 that remain in the country. Natural population increases have been such that, over the long term, the actual number of Turks in the country has changed relatively little.
There have been smaller population exchanges with each of the other neighbors. In the mid-1920s about 250,000 Bulgarians moved from Greek Thrace into Bulgaria, and about 40,000 Greeks left Bulgaria for Greece. After 1940, when southern Dobrudzha was annexed from Romania, some 110,000 Romanians were exchanged for about 62,000 Bulgarians. Macedonians, also in considerable numbers, have chosen between Bulgaria and Yugoslavia, requiring many of them to move.
The Jewish people, faring much better in Bulgaria during World War II than they did in Adolph Hitler's Germany or in most of the countries overrun by the Germans, have nonetheless emigrated to Israel in large numbers. Before that war there were about 50,000 of them in the country, but 90 percent or more of them emigrated during the early postwar years.
All of the major emigrations were completed before 1960. There appear to be no reasons why others of similar proportions should occur in the foreseeable future.
Working Force
In mid-1972 there were 5.8 million people in the working-age group (fifteen to sixty-four years), although the legal retirement age in most employment situations is sixty or sixty-five for males and five years younger for females. About 4.4 million—just over one-half of the total population and three-quarters of those of working age—constituted the labor force. Population projections indicate that in the ten-year period after 1972 the working-age group will increase by 0.3 million, but a large percentage of the increase will be in the segment of the group aged fifty to sixty-four.
About 95 percent of the males between twenty-five and sixty-four years of age are economically active. The percentage of economically active females is lower, but they have constituted over 40 percent of the labor force. About 36.5 percent of the economically active are employed in agricultural fields; of the remaining 63.5 percent, about one-half are employed in industry. The others are in various service, administrative, or other miscellaneous activities.
Because the country was late in emerging from a predominantly agricultural economy, its working force has had little technological experience. Since World War II, however, schools have been increasingly oriented to train young people to become technologically competent, and some success in this direction has been achieved. Whether or not the working force is being used as effectively as is possible under the circumstances is being debated, but the government finds a decrease in the birthrate and its possible limiting effect on industrial production a cause for considerable concern.
TRANSPORTATION
Railroads
The first railroad built in the country was constructed by the British in 1866 and connected Ruse on the Danube River with Varna on the Black Sea. The famous and romantic Orient Express and the Berlin-to-Baghdad route have used a common line through Bulgaria, entering the country from Belgrade. The route crosses the western mountains at the Dragoman Pass, continues through Sofia, Plovdiv, and down the Maritsa River valley to Edirne and Istanbul in Turkey.
The rail network consists of about 3,775 miles of track, about 2,620 of which were being operated in 1970. Of the portion in use, about 2,470 miles were standard gauge, and 150 were narrow gauge. Approximately 135 miles were double track, and a little more than 500 had been electrified. Because of the terrain, the system has a large number of bridges and tunnels and has been constructed with tighter curves and steeper gradients than are allowed when terrain features are less extreme. Most of the some 1,600 bridges are short, but at Ruse, where the Danube is crossed, the river is 1-½ miles wide. Most of the approximately 175 tunnels are also short. One is 3-½ miles in length, but they total only about thirty miles (see fig. 4).
Route mileage is adequate to meet the requirements of the country. It will probably not be expanded further; shorter spurs become uneconomic and are abandoned as motor transport takes over short-haul traffic. Programmed modernization includes improving roadbeds, ties, and track to achieve a higher load-bearing capacity. Quantity installation of continuously welded rail is also underway, and the busiest of the lines are being electrified.
Although the system is adequate, performs its services reasonably well, and continues to be the backbone of domestic transport, it suffers in bare statistical comparisons with the other carriers. Highway transport may carry a cargo to the rail station and get credit for a second shipment when it moves the same goods from the train to its final destination. Trucks also carry local freight more directly and much more simply than railroads for short hauls. Ton mileage statistics of the merchant marine are similarly misleading. Although the railroads remain by far the most important domestic carrier, their share of total cargo carried and their share of ton mileage continues to decrease (see table 2).
The railroads also continue to give way to motor vehicles in numbers of passengers carried. Between 1960 and 1970 the situation changed radically; on the earlier date the railroads carried more passengers than buses did, but a decade later they carried hardly more than one-third as many. In long-distance passenger travel, the railroads remained the major carrier by a narrow margin in 1970, although the difference was narrowing.
