1.  &nbs p; Bulgaria /681-721/

                                                          2. 721-831

                                   3. First half of IX century

                                       4. Tsar Simeon I and Tsar Peter I /894-970/

                               5. Tsar Samuel and his successors /970-1018/

                                         Second Bulgarian kingdom

                                 6. uprising of Asen and Peter 1185

                                   7. 1185-1207 /Tsars Asen, Peter, Kaloyan/

                                   8. Tsar Ivan Asen II 1218-1241

                                            Bulgaria at 1396

                                        Third Bulgarian kingdom

           Bulgaria according to San Stefano peace treaty 3.03.1878

                                  Bulgaria and Eastern Rumeliya after Berlin treaty

Unification of Bulgaria and Eastern Rumeliya, Fisrt and Second Balkan  wars

                                                                                  after WW I

with Red-territories added to Greece, with pink to Serbia and with blue to Romania

 after WW II - 2005

I can give you the link, but there everything is written only on bulgarian! In the english version these maps are missing.

http://www.bgns.net/Bg/otech/history/stara/maps.html - http://www.bgns.net/Bg/otech/history/stara/maps.html

Bulgarian conquest and settlement in Europe

In the fisrt post the picture number 4. might be not accurate. (I can read texts.)

It is rather unlikely that Transylvania was under Bulgarian rule in cca. 970.

Map of First Balkan War (1912-1913)

yes good question.or bulgarian?

We consider ourselves as a whole, as slavic people. But our country is found from two nations: the proto-bulgarians (turkish tribe, who comes from Altay mountain in Asia) in the lead of Khan Asparukh, son of Khan Kubrat, and the slavic tribes in East half of the Balkan peninsula. The thracians are the most ancient human inhabitants of the Eastern half of the Balkan peninsula, and of the today`s territory of Romania, known in the historical sources. In the time of the barbarian pillage-raids in the Balkan peninsula (in IV-VII century), very big part of the thracians was killed, or drived away and assimilated form the barbarian tribes (including the slavs and the proto-bulgarians). Today`s bulgarians have huge percent thracian and slavik faces. The slavic peoples finally settles constantly the Balkan peninsula between 600-620 year. Khan Asparukh comes in the Danubian plane in 680, and after one victorious battle against the byzantine army in 681 year, near the Danubian Delta he found the Danubian Bulgarian Khanate, as one union between the proto-bulgarians and the slavs.  This Union was concluded, because the Byzantine Empire had a big army, and the bulgarians or the slavs were not enough powerfull to defend themselves against the Empire separately.   When the people in Bulgaria accept Christianity as official religion  (in 864 year), begins slow "washing away" of the differences between the slavic and bulgarian tribes. Since the slavic language and the slavic alphabet become official chruch and written language (in 893 year), the proto-bulgarians were slowly assimilated from the slavs, but the slavs begins call themselves "bulgarians"(bulgari, this "u" is the turkish "i" without the point item).

Sorry for my bad english...

Members of the bulgarian horde of Khan Asparukh

Khan Asparukh

Proto-bulgarian necropolises in Danubian plane

Khan Asparuh comes from here:

The Old Great Bulgaria of Khan Kubrat:

Bulgaria by the rule of Khan Asparukh:

The Coming of Khan Asparukh!:

Khan Omurtag (814 - 831), the Builder

In 886 year, in the bulgarian capitol Pliska, Knyaz Boris (852 - 889) is meeting the Disciples of Kiril and Methody, who disseminate the slavic alphabet among the "bulgarian slavs":

Three slavic warriors in the russian painting "Bogatiri":

One link to russian webpage with information early proto-bulgarian inhabitants (have maps too):

http://www.kroraina.com/bulgar/bg_ro_IX/ - http://www.kroraina.com/bulgar/bg_ro_IX/

Yes, really, the right word is not "turkish", but "turkic".

Here is another map of First Balkan War (1912-1913):

I have many more maps of many historical events, but i cannot "upload", and i dont know why... Because of that reason, i search these images in Internet and i "add" them...

I indikate with "browse" the image and i press "ok" button. After a while the "Image:" field again becomes clear, and in the post reply message field nothing has uploaded.

This is not the only problem with the operating system on my PC, and maybe i must reinstall her soon...

Tsis is a map of the lands where the bulgarians were the bigger percent of the population (or 40-50% in some areas), up to 1912-1913 year (in the time of the two Balkan wars, and after them, many bulgarians were killed or banished from Greece, Turkey, Serbia and Romania...):

The red line shows the boundaries of the Bulgarian state according to the treaty/agreement of San Stefano (in 1878).

For more information about the ethnic statistics in Macedonia, follow this link: http://www.macedoniainfo.com/docs/Macedonia_Statistic.htm - http://www.macedoniainfo.com/docs/Macedonia_Statistic.htm , and look in the site http://www.macedoniainfo.com/ - http://www.macedoniainfo.com/ .

These are few maps of the Bulgarian State by the time of the Middle Ages.

Ethnic and political changes in the Balkans towards the end of the seventh century A.D. :

The First Bulgarian State between 800-972:

The First Bulgarian State between 972-1018, the Byzantine themes between 1018-1185:

The Second Bulgarian State by the time of tzar Yoan Asen II (1218-1241):

Enjoy.

A map of the administrative divisions of the Third Bulgarian Kingdom/Tsardom between 1941 - 1944:

A map with the number of the bulgarians, who were living in the territory of today`s Northern Greece, in 1942 year (up to 1947):

THE TRUTH FOR THE POMAKS (IN ENGLISH) :

The covercion to mohammedanism was not only "with sword". The other factor "was the economic pressure and the temptation of privileges and tax reductions received for adopting Islam" - this is one characteristic feature of the Turkish Empire.

Read more here: http://www.coronetbooks.com/books/moha8413.htm - http://www.coronetbooks.com/books/moha8413.htm

Also read this:

Muslim Bulgarians

Muslim Bulgarians (also Bulgarian Mohammedans, http://www.biography.ms/Bulgarian_language.html" target=_blank title="Bulgarian language - bul: Áúëãàðè-ìîõàìåäàíè; local: Pomak, Ahrian, Poganets, Marvak, Poturnak) are descendants of Christian http://bulgarians.biography.ms/" target=_blank title=Bulgarians>Bulgarians who were forcibly converted to http://islam.biography.ms/" target=_blank title=Islam>Islam by the Turks, during the http://www.biography.ms/16th_century.html" target=_blank title="16th century - 16th and the http://www.biography.ms/18th_century.html" target=_blank title="18th century - 18th century . The word pomak is derived from Bulgarian dialectal pomaka (torture) and pomacen (tortured). Those who accepted Islam voluntarily are called Poturnak, meaning "One who turned into a Turk".

Well, read this which i have posted in my prevous post.

In my posts i haven`t written how did they consider themselves. I have written about the origin of their blood.

Well, if you want, let it be not "blood", but "roots"...

If the Pomaks and the "Slavophones" were negros(with black skin), will you call them greeks? I don`t think so. But if they are with blond hair, i think that maybe you will.       

And if the ethnicity cannot be defined by the blood too, how can you(or anyone) to be sure that all of your ancestors were only and only greeks?

That was just examples. 

Just i think that the greeks are inclined to call the Pomaks and the "Slavophones" with various definitions... But "bulgarians"? NO.

That`s right. I think so too.        

Originally posted by Thracian The maps are fine; however on the top one (colorful) I don't think Solun was a Bulgarian city.

I think so too. Solun was never captured by slavic army. In XIX and early XX century the citizens of Solun were mainly jews, greeks and turks; and after them, armenians and bulgarians. But the northern hinterland of Solun up to 1913 year was settled mainly of bulgarians. Then the greek army has come...

Hi Chargemaster. Let me first say that I fully respect the fact that the wider geographic area of Macedonia was (and still is) a patchwork of different nationalities, mostly Greek, Slav and Turkish (more in the past than now).

But trying to prove anything these with maps, it's not possible and -more important- you try to hide the truth that the map that you posted it "the Bulgarian view". See here the full map and not the piece that you posted: http://www.kroraina.com/knigi/karnegi/Macedonia-Bulgarian_view.jpg - http://www.kroraina.com/knigi/karnegi/Macedonia-Bulgarian_vi ew.jpg

If you want to see propaganda maps have a look on this serbian one:

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/balkan_dialects_1914.jpg - http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/balkan_dialects_19 14.jpg

In any case, speaking generally, I do believe that there was a very sizable population of Bulgarians in Macedonia who were forced to leave or assimilate. Same thing has happened with the Greek population that was within Bulgarian borders (much less in numbers that the Bulgarians within Greek borders). There was a formal exchange of populations between greece and Bulgaria.

Second Balkan war, First World War and the Bulgarian occupation of Macedonia during WWII, didn't make things easy for either one of the populations, but since greece emerged victorious in all three of these conflicts, it's easy to understand that those who felt more the pressure of the wwar were the Bulgarians. Although the Greeks were also terribly oppressed during 1941 - 1944 by the Bulgarian army and the attempts to "Bulgarize" the area.

That was part of the creation of ethnic states, which is responsible for much of the ethnik cleansing in the area and the root of many of the troubles that still devastate the Balkans.

About the proto-bulgarians, you can read my answer to barish in the first page of this topic.

Yes dear Yiannis, i know. I know that is impossible(or very hard) for anyone, to prove anything to one greek. But, no problem, i don`t care.

Oh, great God !!! Yiannis, are you able to see THE LINK in my first post about this map?    ===>

What is written on the link? I see this - "Macedonia-Bulgarian_view.jp g". But what you see?

And in my next post i see this:

But maybe you see something different, OR WHAT ?! Is this just a missunderstanding/mistake, or what? PLEASE post some explanation.

THE TRUE REASON FOR THE CROPPING OF THIS MAP IS, that when the users in this forum want to upload some image, the size of this image cannot be more than 200 kb !!! And please, dear Yiannis, save this map to your hard-drive and take a look: what is the size of the map? I think, it is 197,99 kb.     

In fact, this "bulgarization" found expression only in the return in these lands of one part of the bulgarians, who were living there up to 1924 year. What is "the badly thing" in the return and in the home-coming of one part of these bulgarians who were repressed by the greeks between 1913-1924?

And finally, please, can someone post here some ethnic map of Macedonia or Thrace (but for the times before 1913 or 1922/4), which will be defined from EVERY USER in this forum like a "non-propaganda" and like a "true/reliability map"?

I am afraid, that not...

 That`s right, that`s right... I think so too.     

This is a ethnic map, made in 1912 year:

This is the ethnical distribution in Thrace in 1912 year, zoomed:

What did an average proto-bulgar look like? Are there present day bulgarians who still look like the ancients?

Youre bulgarian right? do you consider yourself slavic... or not exactly?

I think, that in principle the most part of the proto-bulgarians looks like today`s kazakhs, who are living in Central Asia.

Yes, i am a bulgarian. The bulgarian (in principle) do consider himselv as a slavic man. Just like the serbians, the croatians, the russians and the other slavs. In fact, i think that i am more with thracian roots, than slavic. In the same time most of the bulgarians have big percent slavic blood and slavic features. I think that the slavic blood in me is big percent too, but the features of my face are more thracian, than slavic.

I think, you are serbian... or some man who are speaking serbo-croatian language. Is this right?

And i think, that the serbians thinks that the today`s bulgarians are tatars or some turkic people. THIS IS WRONG. The ancient proto-bulgarians were like a drop in the Slavic see and they were assimilated between VIII-X century.

No, i'm Bosnian.

Im not sure who the thracians are or what they looked like.

One new map for this topic:

One map form this site: http://www.vmro-rousse.hit.bg/ - http://www.vmro-rousse.hit.bg/

Maps in hungarian language, from this site - http://terkepek.adatbank.transindex.ro/belso.php3?nev=269 - http://terkepek.adatbank.transindex.ro/belso.php3?nev=269

A map of: the boundaries of Bulgaria according to some proposals and agreements in XIX century; also - the boundaries of the Bulgarian Exarchate and the boundaries of the Third Bulgarian Kingdom between 1913 - 1918: 

The Bulgarian Exarchate and the Constantinople Patriarchate - the percents of their members in the dioceses up to the Balkan wars:

Ethnic Macedonia up to 1913 year. On the small map - the Ilinden Uprising in 1903 year:

The percents of the muslim bulgarians(pomaks) in Southern Bulgaria:

Bulgarian territorial losses after the Second Balkan War and after the First World War. On the small map - the territories which were restored/handed back to Bulgaria according to the agreement with Turkey in 1915 year - for inducement of the bulgarian government to join the Central Axes in the First World War:

The Third Bulgarian Kingdon in the time of the Second World War, between 1941 - 1944:

Map of the Bulgarian territorial losses after the Second World War.

--------  - The Greek territorial pretences/claims and

_..._..._ - The Bulgarian territorial pretences/claims

Another map with the bulgarian territorial changes after 1878 year. On the small map - the Second Bulgarian Kingdom by the rule of Tsar Yoan II Asen (1218 - 1240):

Originally posted by Digenis oh mine! what propaganda maps are these! "great Bulgaria" ?

Dear Digenis, i just find these maps, and then - i post them here.

If you have some similar "propaganda" maps of Greece, PLEASE POST THEM!

I will be very thankfull to you, believe me.

One map of the boundaries in Äîáðóäæà/Dobrudja/Dobrogea/Dobrudza in XIX - XX century:

Originally posted by The Chargemaster Originally posted by Digenis oh mine! what propaganda maps are these! "great Bulgaria" ? Dear Digenis, i just find these maps, and then - i post them here. If you have some similar "propaganda" maps of Greece, PLEASE POST THEM! I will be very thankfull to you, believe me.

I thinks this is the one ur lookin for -

Originally posted by Bulgarian Soldja amazing map Bulgarian

What's so amazing about it?

Well, i`m sorry, but i really don`t have a map of that sort.

I think, that in the historical sources have not enough information about the right borders of the administrative divisions of the Balkan states in the Middle Ages...

During the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Turkish_War%2C_1877%E2%80%931878 - Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 , a large part of the Muslim population emigrated to Turkey and Bulgaria. After 1878, the Romanian government encouraged Romanians from other regions to settle in Northern Dobruja and even accepted the return of some Muslim population displaced by the war. After 1880, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italians - Italians from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friuli - Friuli and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veneto - Veneto settled in Greci, Cataloi and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C4%83cin - Măcin in Northern Dobruja. Most of them worked in the granite quarries in the Măcin Mountains, while some became farmers.

In 1880, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Dobruja - Northern Dobruja had a population of 139,671 of which 43,671 (31%) were Romanians, 29,476 (21%) Tatars, 24,915 (17%) Bulgarians, 18,624 (13%) Turks and 8,250 (6%) Lipovans. According to the December http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1899 - 1899 census, the population of Northern Dobruja consisted of 118,919 (46%) Romanians, 38,439 (14%) Bulgarians, 28,670 (11%) Tatars, 12,146 (4%) Turks, 13,680 (5%) Ruthenians, 12,801 (5%) Lipovans, 8,566 (3%) Germans and 8,445 (3%) Greeks, from a total of 258,242. In http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1912 - 1912 , of the 380,430 inhabitants of the same region, 56.8% were Romanians, 13.4% Bulgarians, 10.9% Turks and Tatars, 9.4% Lipovans and 2.6% Greeks.

In 1910, of the 282,007 inhabitants of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Dobruja - Southern Dobruja , 134,355 (47.6%) were Bulgarians, 106,568 (37.8%) Turks, 12,192 (4.3%) Gypsies, 11,718 (4.2%) Tatars and 6,348 (2.3%) Romanians.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Histdob.png">

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Histdob.png">

Dobruja after 1878

In May 1913, the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Powers - Great Powers awarded Silistra and the area in a 3 km radius around it to Romania, at the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Petersburg - Saint Petersburg Conference. In August 1913, after the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Balkan_War - Second Balkan War , Bulgaria lost http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Dobruja - Southern Dobruja (Cadrilater) to Romania (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Bucharest%2C_1913 - Treaty of Bucharest, 1913 ). With Romania's entry in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I - World War I on the side of France and Russia, the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Powers - Central Powers occupied all of Dobruja and gave http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadrilater - Southern Dobrogea as well as the southern portion of Northern Dobrogea to Bulgaria in the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Bucharest%2C_1918 - Treaty of Bucharest of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1918 - 1918 . This situation lasted only for a short period, as the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allies_of_World_War_I - Allied Powers emerged victorious at the end of the war and Romania regained its previous territories in the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Neuilly - Treaty of Neuilly of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1919 - 1919 . Between http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1926 - 1926 and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1938 - 1938 , about 30,000 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aromanians - Aromanians from Bulgaria, Macedonia and Greece were settled in Southern Dobruja.

In 1930, the ethnic composition of whole Dobruja was: 44.2% Romanians, 22.7% Bulgarians, 18.5% Turks, 2.4% Tatars, and 3.2% Russians. Of the 378,344 inhabitants of Southern Dobruja, 143,209 (37.9%) were Bulgarians, 129,025 (34.1%) Turks and 77,726 (20.6%) Romanians. Romanians formed the majority in Northern Dobruja (64.7%), other important ethnic groups here being the Bulgarians (9.6%), Russians(6%), Turks(5%), Tatars (3.5%), Germans (2.7%) and Greeks (1.8%).

With the advent of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II - World War II , Bulgaria regained Southern Dobruja in the September http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1940 - 1940 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axis_Powers - Axis -sponsored http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Craiova - Treaty of Craiova despite Romanian negotiators' insistence that http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balchik - Balchik and other towns should remain in Romania. As part of the treaty, the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanians - Romanian inhabitants (Aromanian http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refugee - refugee - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Settler - settlers , colonists from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallachia - Wallachia and the Romanians indigenous to the region) were forced to leave the regained territory, while the Bulgarian minority in the north was in turn made to leave for Bulgaria in a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_exchange - population exchange . The 1940 borders were reaffirmed in the post-war http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Peace_Treaties%2C_1947 - Paris Peace Treaties of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1947 - 1947 and are in place even today.

The Vlach-Bulgarian Rebellion was a revolt of the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlachs - Vlachs and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulgarians - Bulgarians http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_Empire - Byzantine Empire , caused by a tax increase. It began at the turn of the year http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1185 - 1185 / http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1186 - 1186 and ended with the creation of the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Bulgarian_Empire - Second Bulgarian Empire , ruled by the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asen_dynasty - Asen dynasty . living in the

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicetas_Choniates - Nicetas Choniates tells us that http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_II_Angelus - Isaac II Angelus , in order to raise money for the wedding of the daughter of King http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bela_III_of_Hungary - Bela III of Hungary , levied a new tax which fell heavily on the Vlach http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transhumance - transhumant shepherds of the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haemus_Mountains - Haemus Mountains . They sent two leaders ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Peter_of_Bulgaria - Peter and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Asen_I_of_Bulgaria - Asen ) to negotiate with the emperor at Kypsella (now http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%B0psala - İpsala ) in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrace - Thrace . They asked to be added to the roll of the Byzantine army and to be granted land near Haemus to provide the monetary income needed to pay the tax. This was refused. Their response was to threaten revolt.

After their return, many Vlachs were unwilling to join the rebellion. In response, Peter and Asen built a chapel dedicated to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Demetrius - Saint Demetrius , claiming that the Saint had ceased to favour the Byzantines. This persuaded their followers to attack Byzantine cities, seizing prisoners and cattle. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preslav - Preslav , capital of the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Bulgarian_Empire - First Bulgarian Empire , was raided, and it was after this symbolic incident that Peter assumed the insignia of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor - Emperor .

In spring 1186 Isaac started a counter-offensive. It was unsuccessful at first. During the solar eclipse of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_21 - 21 April http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1186 - 1186 , the Byzantines successfully attacked the Vlachs, many of whom fled north of the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danube - Danube , making contact with the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cumans - Cumans . In a symbolic gesture, Isaac II entered Peter's house and took the icon of Saint Demetrius, thus regaining the saint's favour. Still under threat of ambush from the hills, Isaac returned hastily to Constantinople to celebrate his victory. Thus, when the Vlachs returned with their Cuman allies, they found the region undefended and regained not only their old territory but the whole of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moesia - Moesia , thus uniting Vlach and Bulgarian lands.

The Emperor now entrusted the war to his uncle, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ducas - John the sebastocrator , who gained several victories against the rebels but then himself rebelled. He was replaced with the emperor's brother-in-law, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Cantacuzenus%2C_caesar&action=edit - John Cantacuzenus , a good strategist but unfamiliar with the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guerrilla_warfare - guerrilla tactics used by the Vlach and Bulgarian mountaineers. His army was ambushed, suffering heavy losses, after unwisely pursuing the enemy into the mountains.

The third general in charge of fighting the rebels was http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexius_Branas - Alexius Branas , who, in turn, rebelled and turned on Constantinople. Isaac defeated him with the help of a second brother-in-law, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conrad_of_Montferrat - Conrad of Montferrat , but this civil strife had diverted attention from the rebels and Isaac was able to send out a new army only in September http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1187 - 1187 . The Byzantines obtained a few minor victories before winter, but the Vlachs, helped by the Cumans and employing their mountain tactics, still held the advantage.

In the spring of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1188 - 1188 , Isaac attacked the fortress of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lovech - Lovech , but failed to capture it after a three-month siege. The lands between the Haemus and the Danube were now lost to the Byzantine Empire. The Emperor's only consolation was to hold, as hostages, Asen's wife and a certain John, brother of the two Vlach-Bulgarian leaders.

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