The Republic of Bulgaria is located in the Southeast of Europe. Bulgaria is situated on the eastern side of the Bolkan Peninsula a historical crossroads between Europe and Asia. It is surrounded by the Black Sea to the east, Greece & Turkey to the south Serbia & Montenegro & the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to the west and Romania. Sofia is the capital & the largest city. Bulgaria is a land of mountains, rivers and rolling plains. The great Danube River, Europe's second longest forms much of Bulgaria's northern border.

Bulgaria has faced many struggles for power. It was a major power during the middle Ages. Bulgaria's rulers controlled much of the Balkan Peninsula. Moreover its varied culture and its Christian religion greatly affected majority of salvic peoples of southern & eastern Europe. In 1989, democratizing reforms were started in Bulgaria, before that Bulgaria was a communist ruled country. In 1990 Bulgaria held its first Postwar multiparty elections & changed its name from the people's Republic of Bulgaria to the Republic of Bulgaria.

In AD 681, Slavic population & the Thracian population formed the first Slavic nation state. During the 9th & the 10th century, the Bulgarian empire was very important power. But in 969, the Bulgarian State was crushed by the Russia and a Byzantine conquered it in 1018. It was re-established in 1185 and being an important power in the European southeast for two more centuries. But in the 14th century the Ottoman Empire had subdued this empire. Bulgaria was succeeded to get independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1908. It became a fully independent kingdom on 22nd of September 1908.

In 1912 & 1913 Bulgaria became involved in the Balkan Wars. It was fought against the Ottoman Empire and secondly Balkan Allies. But unluckily, it was defeated in the second Balkan war and lost most of the territory, which was conquered in the first war. As a result of the Balkan Wars & World War 1 more than 2,50,000 Bulgarian refugees came from Macedonia Eastern & Western Thrace & Southern Dobruja. After regaining control over Southern Dobruja in 1940, Bulgaria allied with the Axis Powers in World War II. During this time Bulgaria gained control over the parts of Greece & Yugoslavia. Bulgaria joined NATO on 29 March 2004 & is set to join the European Union at the earliest on 1 January 2007.

The rich religious life of the middle ages of Bulgaria was at the center of Slavic culture. Over the centuries, Bulgarian culture has been affected by Byzantine, Islamic & Greek traditions. Today, it is also affected by Russian & Western traditions.

Bulgaria's economy contracted after 1989 with the loss of the market of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance member states. The reasons of contraction of the economy were, the fall of communism & the loss of the Soviet market for Bulgarian goods. The standard of living plunged amid rising inflation & unemployment, rampant corruption and the collapse of the social welfare system. But the standard of living regained pre-1990 levels in June 2004. Moreover, UN sanctions against Yugoslavia & Iraq took a heavy toll on the Bulgarian economy.

The first signs of recovery emerged in 1994. At that time, GDP was grown up and inflation fell. But unluckily, during 1996, due to lack of international support and an unstable banking system the economy was falling down again. During 1997 the country strides on the path to recovery with GDP growing at 4 to 5 % rate, increasing FDI macroeconomic stability & EU membership set for 2007.

The government pledged to maintain the fundamental economic policy. Economic forecasts for 2005 & 2006 predict continued growth in the Bulgarian economy. The expected GDP growth for 2005 is 5.3% and for 2006 is 6%. The expected industrial output for 2005 is 11.9% and for 2006 it is 15.2%. Bulgaria signed the Treaty of Accession with the European Union.

According to the 2005 estimate, the population of Bulgaria is 77,61,000. The 1985 census population was 8,948,649. The cause of decrease in population is emigration of decrease in population is emigration of people after the collapse of the communist regime. So the density of population is 67 persons per sq km. Due to the communist governments forced industrialization programmed, Bulgaria's population became increasingly urbanized after 1945.

According to the 2001 census, Bulgaria's population is mainly ethnic Bulgarian which is about 83.9%, with two minorities like Turks (9.4%) and Roma (4.7%). The remaining 2% and 9% are distributed among some forty smaller minorities, the most numerous of which are the Armenians, Russians, Vlachs, Crimean, Tatars, Karakachans & Jews.

Bulgarian is the mother-tongue of 84.8% of the population, which is a member of the Slavic languages. Bulgarian is the only official language, but other languages like Turkish & Romania are also spoken. Mostly, Bulgarians are member of Bulgarian Orthodox Church. About 82.6% of people follow this religion. Moreover 12.2% of people follows Islam, 0.7% of people follows Protestant denominations, 0.5% of people follows Roman Catholicism and 4.1% of people follows some other denominations.

Bulgarian is the official language of Bulgaria. It is the mother tongue of 84.8% of the population. It is southern Slavic language, which is related to Slovenian, Serbo-Croatian and Russian Bulgarian is written in the Cyrillic alphabet, which was first used for literary purposes in medieval Bulgaria. Turkish & Romania are also spoken in the country. Today, Bulgarian students frequently study English as a second language.