today is the independence day of Bulgaria, an important day in its modern history

Bulgaria is a country in south-eastern Europe with a rich history and beautiful nature

as a Bulgarian living abroad I always felt like people don't know much about it, let's change that

THREAD

Bulgaria is one of the oldest countries in Europe. It is also the only one, which never changed its name since its establishment in 681.

Bulgaria in its original borders in 681 AD bellow

Plovdiv, the second-largest city is the oldest constantly inhabited city in Europe. It's 8,000-years old.

The capital Sofia is the second oldest, with an estimated age of approximately 7,000 years

For comparison, Rome is approximately 2,800 y/o and Athens about 6,000 y/o

The oldest golden treasure in the world was found in Varna, Bulgaria. The artifacts are dated at 4600 – 4200 BC

The treasure consists of a total of 3,000 items and weighs six kilograms.

Bulgaria itself has a history spanning over 1300 years on the Balkans, in which it led numerous battles with the Eastern Roman Empire and was one of the leading empires in Europe with a huge cultural influence.

Bulgaria, at its biggest territorial extent under Simeon the Great

A moment loved by many in Bulgarian history happened in 811 when during a conflict Khan Krum's army destroyed the Eastern Roman empire's army and took the Emperor as a hostage.

He proceeded to cut his head off and made a cup out of it which he used to drink from until his death

Bulgarians nowadays are a weird mixture of cultures

The name of the country itself comes from the tribe called "Bulgars" that migrated from Asia 1300 years ago and mixed with the Thracian, Greek, and Slavic population on the Balkan peninsula.

Their migration path below

The Bulgars were a Turkic/Iranian semi-nomad warrior tribe.

They likely spoke a Turkic or Iranian language. The exact origins are still disputed

The most supported theory traces their origin to Northern Iran

Modern-day Bulgarians although considered Slavs tend to identify with the Bulgar tribe way more

Many Bulgarians would go as far as to say that they don't even consider themselves Slavs, just Slavic speaking nations.

The Cyrillic alphabet was also developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 9th century AD.

It is the basis of alphabets used in various languages, especially those of Slavic origin.

As of 2011, around 252 million people in Eurasia use it as the official alphabet.

Enough history, let's move to landmarks and culture

The Rose Valley, located between the mountains Stara planina and Sredna gora, produces approximately half of the world’s rose oil.

The rose oil is extracted from a species called Rosa Damascena (Damask rose). It is an essential component in the cosmetics industry.

Not as famous as the Egyptian ones, but Bulgaria also has it's own "Valley of the kings".

But instead of Pharaos, it's the home of dead Thracian kings (the civ before the Bulgars)

It has more than 1500 funeral mounds out of which only 300 have been researched.

I can't end this thread without mentioning the most baffling Bulgarian habit to all foreigners

Bulgaria is the only country in the world where nodding your head means "No"

The most common way to show agreement and say 'yes' in Bulgaria is to shake your head from side to side