Transformation of Rural Settlement in Bulgaria

Abstract

B ULGARIA is a typical transit country, with a history characterized by the movements and conquests of many peoples. Their marks are visible everywhere, in the form of pagan temples, pre-Christian tombstones, old weathered coins, Thracian tumuli, Roman roads and baths, Byzantine fortress walls, churches, and early frescoes, medieval Bulgarian castles, and, finally, Turkish mosques. All these testify to the importance of the region. In spite of its exposed position as part of the security zone of many empires, the people of Bulgaria are remarkably unified in culture, especially when compared with those of other countries of Southeastern Europe. They have a common language' and adhere to the same religious faith.2 The minorities living in Bulgaria when it was liberated in 1878 from 485 years of Turkish occupation amounted to about 26 per cent of the total population,3 but the percentage has decreased rapidly, owing to the largescale emigration of Turks since the end of the Balkan Wars in 1913, and to the emigration of Greeks, Rumanians, Armenians, and Jews.4 The ethnic