Empire · 681–1396 · Europe
Bulgarian Empire
Also known as Bulgars, Danube Bulgars, Bulgar Khanate
The Bulgars were a Turkic people from the steppes north of the Black Sea. In 681, after defeating a Byzantine army, their khan Asparukh founded a state south of the Danube, where the Bulgars merged with the Slavic population.
Khan Krum defeated and killed a Byzantine emperor in 811, and Boris I adopted Christianity in 864, after which Bulgarian scholars developed the Cyrillic alphabet. Under Simeon I, who took the title tsar, Bulgaria dominated the Balkans and rivalled Byzantium. Basil II conquered it by 1018 after decades of war. A revolt in 1185 founded the Second Bulgarian Empire with its capital at Tarnovo, which flourished under Ivan Asen II but later fragmented. The Ottomans took Tarnovo in 1393 and the last stronghold, Vidin, in 1396.
- Years
- 681–1396
- Capital
- Pliska, then Preslav and Ohrid; Tarnovo in the Second Empire
- Greatest extent
- 920, about 500,000 km²
- Region
- Europe
Under Simeon I, across most of the Balkans
Legacy
Medieval Bulgaria spread Slavonic literacy and the Cyrillic alphabet, now used by some 250 million people.
Rulers
- Asparukh 681 – 700
Founder of the Danube Bulgar state
- Krum c. 803 – 814
Defeated and killed Emperor Nikephoros I
- Boris I 852 – 889
Adopted Christianity in 864
- Simeon I the Great 893 – 927
Took the title tsar; Bulgaria's golden age
- Samuel 997 – 1014
Resisted Basil II from Ohrid
- Ivan Asen II 1218 – 1241
Height of the Second Bulgarian Empire
- Ivan Shishman 1371 – 1395
Last tsar at Tarnovo, conquered by the Ottomans
Realms on the map
- First Bulgarian Empire 682–1017
- Second Bulgarian Empire 1188–1394
- Old Great Bulgaria 633–681