保加利亚(Bulgaria)
正式名称保加利亚共和国（Republic of Bulgaria）
欧洲东南部国家。面积110,994平方公里。人口约7,953,000（2001）。首都︰索非亚。人口以保加利亚人为主，约占85%；其他少数民族包括土耳其人、吉普赛人和马其顿人。语言︰保加利亚语（官方语）和地区方言。宗教：以东正教为主，其他还有天主教、新教和伊斯兰教。货币︰列夫（lev）。地形主要分为三大区：最北端是多脑河平原，是全国最肥沃的地区，占总面积1/3。平原南部紧接着巴尔干山脉，海拔高达1,050～2,375公尺。西南和南部是洛多皮山脉，全国最高峰穆萨拉峰（高度2,925公尺）即位於此。另外有一块狭窄的黑海沿岸地区，其中的瓦尔纳、布尔加斯市是东欧最热门的滨海度假胜地。主要河系属黑海和爱琴海。1946～1989年实施苏联式的计画经济。1991年起非共产党政府已开始朝向把某些经济部门民营化，包括农业。政府形式为共和国，一院制。国家元首是总统，政府首脑为总理。
史前时代就有人类居住，色雷斯人是最早有记载的居民，年代可追溯到西元前3500年左右，他们约在西元前5世纪建立第一个自己的国家。後来此区受罗马人统治，罗马人把它划分为莫西亚和色雷斯省。西元7世纪保加尔人控制了多瑙河以南的地区。681年拜占庭帝国正式承认保加尔人对巴尔干山脉和多瑙河之间地区的势力。1185年保加利亚落入土耳其人之手，最後丧失独立地位。俄土战争（1877～1878）结束後，保加利亚开始反叛，接下来订立的「圣斯特凡诺条约」不为几个强权国家所接受，於是召开柏林会议（1878）。1908年保加利亚统治者斐迪南宣布独立。後来卷入巴尔干战争（1912～1913、1913），被迫割让领土。第一次世界大战期间加入同盟国。第二次世界大战则站在德国这一边。1944年共产主义联盟取得政权。1946年宣布成立人民共和国。1980年代晚期与东欧其他几个国家一样经历了政局的不安，1989年共产党领导人下台。1991年制定新宪法，建立共和国，接下来的几年陷入经济混乱时期。
English version：
Bulgaria
Nation, southeastern Europe. Area: 42,823 sq mi (110,912 sq km). Population (1997 est.): 8,329,000. Capital: Sofia. Bulgarians make up about 85% of the population; smaller groups include Turks, Gypsies, and Macedonians. Languages: Bulgarian (official), regional dialects. Religions: Eastern Orthodoxy; also Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, and Islam. Currency: lev. Three major regions define the landscape. The northernmost is the Danubian Plain, a fertile area occupying a third of the country. Immediately south lie the Balkan Mtns. (Stara Planina), which rise 3,500-7,800 ft (1,050-2,375 m). In the southwest and south lies the Rhodope Range, with the country's highest point, Musala Peak, at 9,596 ft (2,925 m). Smaller than the three major regions, Bulgaria's Black Sea coast, including its cities of Varna and Burgas, is a popular eastern Europe resort area. Its major drainage systems include the Black and Aegean seas. It had a planned economy modeled on the Soviet system 1946-89. Since 1991 the noncommunist government has been moving to privatize some sectors of the economy, including agriculture. It is a republic with one legislative body; its chief of state is the president and its head of government, the prime minister. Evidence of human habitation dates from prehistoric times. Thracians were its first recorded inhabitants, dating from c. 3500 BC, and their first state dates from about the 5th century BC; the area was subdued by the Romans, who divided it into the provinces of Moesia and Thrace. In the 7th century AD the Bulgars took the region to the south of the Danube. The Byzantine empire in 681 formally recognized Bulgar control over the area between the Balkans and the Danube. In 1185 Bulgaria fell to the Turks and ultimately lost its independence. At the end of the Russo-Turkish War (1877-78), Bulgaria rebelled. The ensuing Treaty of San Stefano was unacceptable to the Great Powers, and the Congress of Berlin (1878) resulted. In 1908 the Bulgarian ruler, Ferdinand, declared Bulgaria's independence. After its involvement in the Balkan Wars (1912-13, 1913), Bulgaria lost territory. It sided with the Central Powers in World War I and with Germany in World War II. A communist coalition seized power in 1944, and in 1946 a people's republic was declared. With other eastern European countries in the late 1980s, Bulgaria experienced political unrest; its communist leader resigned in 1989. A new constitution proclaiming a republic was implemented in 1991. The rest of the decade brought economic turmoil.