al Asian Turkic tribe, merged with the local
Slavic inhabitants in the late 7th century to form the first
Bulgarian state. In succeeding centuries, Bulgaria struggled with
the Byzantine Empire to assert its place in the Balkans, but by the
end of the 14th century the country was overrun by the Ottoman
Turks. Northern Bulgaria attained autonomy in 1878 and all of
Bulgaria became independent from the Ottoman Empire in 1908. Having
fought on the losing side in both World Wars, Bulgaria fell within
the Soviet sphere of influence and became a People's Republic in
1946. Communist domination ended in 1990, when Bulgaria held its
first multiparty election since World War II and began the
contentious process of moving toward political democracy and a
market economy while combating inflation, unemployment, corruption,
and crime. The country joined NATO in 2004 and the EU in 2007.

Geography Bulgaria

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

Geographic coordinates:
43 00 N, 25 00 E

Map references:
Europe

Area:
total: 110,910 sq km
land: 110,550 sq km
water: 360 sq km

Area - comparative:
slightly larger than Tennessee

Land boundaries:
total: 1,808 km
border countries: Greece 494 km, Macedonia 148 km, Romania 608 km,
Serbia 318 km, Turkey 240 km

Coastline:
354 km

Maritime claims:
territorial sea: 12 nm
contiguous zone: 24 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm

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

Terrain:
mostly mountains with lowlands in north and southeast

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Black Sea 0 m
highest point: Musala 2,925 m

Natural resources:
bauxite, copper, lead, zinc, coal, timber, arable land

Land use:
arable land: 29.94%
permanent crops: 1.9%
other: 68.16% (2005)

Irrigated land:
5,880 sq km (2003)

Natural hazards:
earthquakes, landslides

Environment - current issues:
air pollution from industrial emissions; rivers polluted from raw
sewage, heavy metals, detergents; deforestation; forest damage from
air pollution and resulting acid rain; soil contamination from heavy
metals from metallurgical plants and industrial wastes

Environment - international agreements:
party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air
Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulfur 85,
Air Pollution-Volatile Organ