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Bulgarians

The Bulgarians (Bulgarian: българи or balgari) are a South Slavic people generally associated with the Republic of Bulgaria and the Bulgarian language. There are Bulgarian minorities or immigrant communities in a number of other countries, too.

Ethnogenesis

In physical appearance, Bulgarian population is characterized by the features of the southern European anthropological type with some additional influence of other ethnic groups. Genetically, modern Bulgarians are more closely related to the other Balkan populations - ethnic Macedonians, Greeks and Romanians, than to the rest of the Europeans and the Mediterranean people [1][2].

Bulgarians are said to have descended from tree main ethnic groups which mixed on the Balkans during the 6th - 10th century. The first one being the local tribes - the Thracians, the second one - the Slavs, who gave their language to the modern ethnic Bulgarians and the third - the Bulgars, from whom the ethnonym and the statehood were inherited.

The Thracians
Main article: Thracians.

The significant ethnic contribution of the indigenous Thracian and Daco-Getic population, who had lived on the territory of modern Bulgaria before the Slavic invasion has been greatly understated during the Bulgarian communist regime. Now it has been comfirmed genetically and it is also apparent in the Mediterranean physical anthropological type of the modern Bulgarians [3] [4]. The ancient languages of the local people had already gone extinct before the arrival of the Slavs, and their cultural influence was highly reduced due to the repeated barabaric invasions on the Balkans during the early Middle Ages by Huns, Goths, Celts and Sarmatians, accompanied by persistent hellenization, romanisation and later slavicisation.

The Slavs
Main article: Slavs.

The Slavs emerged from their original homeland (most commonly thought to have been in Eastern Europe) in the early 6th century, and spread to most of the eastern Central Europe, Eastern Europe and the Balkans, thus forming three main branches - the West Slavs, the East Slavs and the South Slavs. The easternmost South Slavs became part of the ancestors of the modern Bulgarians, which however, are genetically clearly separated from the tight DNA cluster of the most Slavic peoples. This phenomenon is explained by “the genetic contribution of the people who lived in the region before the Slavic expansion” [5].

The Bulgars
Main article: Bulgars.

The Bulgars were a seminomadic people of obscure ethnicity, who during the 2nd century migrated from Central Asia into the North Caucasian steppe. Between 377 and 453 they took part in the Hunic raids on Central and Western Europe. After Attila's death in 453, and the subsequent disintegration of the Hunnish empire, the Bulgar tribes dispersed mostly to the eastern and southeastern parts of Europe. In the late 7th century, some Bulgar tribes, led by Asparukh and others, led by Kouber, permanently settled in the Balkans, joining the southern Slavic tribes[6]. Together, the two peoples formed the First Bulgarian Empire in 680-681.

The Others

Other steppe peoples who also contributed to the Bulgarian ethnogenesis include small numbers of Kumans, Pechenegs and Avars who after the disintegration of their tribal unions during the Middle Ages spread all over the Balkans eventually fully assimilating with the local populations. Presently the significant minorities of Bulgaria include Turks, Armenians, Vlachs, Roma and Greeks. Even though they have preserved their cultural heritages to a certain exent, they are being gradually assimilated through intermarriages, especially in the Greek, Vlach and Armenian communities.

The "Ex"

Bulgarians are culturally, linguistically and genetically very closely related to modern Macedonians, with their both languages being mutually intelligible. A significant number of the ancestors of the present-day ethnic Macedonians did, in fact, identify themselves as Bulgarians until the early 20th century. A high profile example included Lazar Kolichevski who succeeded Tito as President of Yugoslavia. Originally born Kolishev, he later adopted an ethnic Macedonian identity and chanded his surname as many others did in that period. Citizens of the Republic of Macedonia who identify as ethnic Bulgarians have nevertheless survived, and composed about 0.5% of the population at the last census. During the last few years in which Bulgaria saw rising economic prosperity and admition to the EU, many citizens of Republic of Macedonia seemed to have "rememebered" their Bulgarian past and applied for Bulgarian citizenship.