Bulgarians

Bulgarians are a Slavic people that today lives mainly in the Republic of Bulgaria and Macedonia, but also in Greece, the Ukraine, Moldova, USA and other countries. Bulgarians are descendants of two peoples - Southern Slavs, who settled on the Balkan peninsula in the 6th century and the Bulgars, likely a Pamirian tribe, who settled in the 7th century. Together the two groups formed the First Bulgarian Kingdom in 681. Later the Bulgars were assimilated by the outnumbering them Slavs, but their name was retained. To an extent Bulgarians were also influenced by Thracians, who had lived in the territory of modern Bulgaria before the Slavic invasion. It should be noted however that the native population had been significantly reduced by the 6th century due to repeated barbarian invasion and therefore the Thracian influence is lesser than the one by the other two peoples.

In modern times, Bulgarians speak a Southern Slavic language which has been influenced by Medieval and Modern Greek, as well as - though in a lesser extent - by Turkish. It has many traits in common with Serbo-Croatian, Slovenian and Russian, with which it is often mutually intelligible. Although related, intelligibility is quite scarce between Bulgarian and Western Slavic languages, though.

See also: Bulgaria, Bulgars, History of Bulgaria, Bulgarian

bg:Българи de:Bulgaren sl:Bolgari