Bulgaria is a country in Southeastern Europe. It borders Romania to the north, Serbia and the Republic of Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, and the Black Sea to the east. The semi-nomadic Bulgars founded the first Bulgarian state in AD 681, which was instrumental in the development and spread of the Cyrillic script. The modern Bulgarian state was established following the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78 and obtained full independence in 1908. It transformed into a Soviet-allied people's republic in 1946, but the fall of communism paved the way for a transition into a parliamentary democracy in 1990. Since joining the European Union in 2007, Bulgaria has improved its Human Development Index. The country has an open market economy focused on services. The biggest cities are Sofia (the capital), Plovdiv, Varna and Burgas. The population, currently around seven million, has declined significantly since 1988.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulgaria
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1895:
The first automobile race in the United States, the Chicago Times-Herald race, was held in Chicago. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Times-Herald_race
1912:
At the All-Albanian Congress, the Assembly of Vlorë was constituted, which declared the independence of the Albanian Vilayet from the Ottoman Empire. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assembly_of_Vlor%C3%AB
1943:
World War II: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin (all three pictured) met at the Tehran Conference to discuss war strategy against the Axis powers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tehran_Conference
2002:
Suicide bombers blew up an Israeli-owned hotel in Mombasa, Kenya, but their colleagues failed in their attempt to bring down an Arkia Israel Airlines charter flight with surface-to-air-missiles. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_Mombasa_attacks
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
Martian: 1. Of or relating to the planet Mars, or (science fiction) its imagined inhabitants. 2. (astrology) Pertaining to the astrological influence of the planet Mars; aggressive, bellicose. 3. (obsolete) Pertaining to battle or war; martial, military. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Martian
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
While I complain of being able to glimpse no more than the shadow of the past, I may be insensitive to reality as it is taking shape at this very moment, since I have not reached the stage of development at which I would be capable of perceiving it. A few hundred years hence, in this same place, another traveller, as despairing as myself, will mourn the disappearance of what I might have seen, but failed to see. --Claude Lévi-Strauss https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Claude_L%C3%A9vi-Strauss