tury A.D. the Romans totally dominated the area. Despite their strict
and unpopular military control over the population, under their tutelage
cities grew, roads were constructed, and mining and farming were
developed.

In the third century A.D. a series of mass migrations into the Balkans
began; these migrations lasted for several centuries (see ch. 3). The
Goths came in four separate waves during the third century. In the
fourth century the Huns swept across the country, razing cities and
villages. They were followed in the fourth and fifth centuries by the
Visigoths and Ostrogoths who, like the Huns, continued to ravage the
country. These invasions culminated in the eventual conquest and
settlement by the relatively civilized Slavs in the sixth century.

In A.D. 330 the Emperor Constantine established what was to be
considered a second Rome and named it Constantinople. In this period the
Roman Empire in the Balkans was split into two parts: in the east,
Thrace was once again under Greek domination, and the west was
dominated by the Romans. Constantinople was growing in power, and Greek
influence was eroding the political and cultural influence of the
Romans. By the mid-fourth century Rome and Constantinople were actively
struggling for domination over the Balkans.

In the sixth century A.D. the Slavs crossed the Danube River and
occupied much of the Balkan Peninsula. Although the Byzantines built
fortresses to protect themselves, they were unable to hold the Slavs at
bay. Once the Slavs had taken over most of the Balkan Peninsula, they
succeeded in destroying the existing social system, rapidly replacing it
with their own. Soon the entire Thracian population became slavicized.

In the seventh century A.D. the Bulgars in turn began to migrate into
the Balkans. They had come originally from central Asia and were said to
be related to the Huns. They were of the same stock as the Turks and
spoke a language similar to Turkish. Before migrating to the Balkans,
they had lived north of the Black Sea. Their social order was vastly
different from that of the Slavs, although eventually the Slavic system
became dominant. The Bulgars, unlike the Slavs who repudiated the
concept of kingship, were governed autocratically by khans. The Bulgars
were warriors who fought on horseback, and their customs and dress were
Asiatic.

When the Bulgars overran what is now northeastern Bulgaria, they found
Slavic tribes already established