wherever necessary for understanding
the modern scene, and a historical chapter is included to provide the
proper setting for the modern state.

The spelling of place names conforms to the transliteration system used
by the United States Board on Geographic Names. The use of
abbreviations, acronyms, and foreign terms has been held to a minimum.
The one abbreviation that necessarily appears throughout the work is BKP
for Bulgarian Communist Party (Bulgarska Komunisticheska Partiya). All
tons are metric unless otherwise stated. A glossary is appended for
convenience, but all unfamiliar terms are explained on first use in the
text.

COUNTRY SUMMARY

1. COUNTRY: People's Republic of Bulgaria. Proclaimed by the communist
party in the 1947 Constitution. Formerly, Kingdom of Bulgaria.

2. SIZE AND LOCATION: Area 42,800 square miles. Located in eastern part
of Balkan Peninsula on Black Sea south of Danube River. Borders Romania,
Yugoslavia, Greece, and Turkey.

3. TOPOGRAPHY: Mountains predominate in west and in ranges that run west
to east across the central and southern regions. Lower and more level
areas south of Danube River and between the mountain ranges permit
extensive cultivation.

4. CLIMATE: Transitional between Eastern European continental and
Mediterranean. Northern regions have hot summers, cold winters; south is
more moderate but has hot, dry summers.

5. POPULATION: About 8.7 million in 1973; density 203 persons per square
mile. Growth rate 0.7 percent annually.

6. ETHNIC GROUPS AND LANGUAGES: 85 percent of population is Bulgar.
Persons of Turkish, Macedonian, Greek, Romanian, and other origins are
guaranteed the right to use their languages and to preserve their
cultural heritage, but Bulgarian, the official language, is spoken by
the entire population.

7. RELIGION: 90 percent of population adheres to the Eastern Orthodox
faith. There are some 750,000 Moslems, 26,000 Protestants, 32,000 Roman
Catholics, and 3,000 to 7,000 Jews. Freedom of religion guaranteed, but
practice strictly controlled by state.

8. GOVERNMENT: National Assembly is unicameral legislature. Council of
Ministers, performing governmental administrative functions, is
responsible to State Council, the supreme executive body. Real power
vested in communist party's first secretary, Politburo, Secretariat, and
Central Committee.

9. ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS: Administration is by people's councils at
district (_okrug_) and