History
Thracians settled in present-day Bulgaria during the Iron Age. After Persian rule the Odrysian Kingdom was founded in 470 BC. Alexander the Great conquered the area around 330 BC and the Romans did so in 46 AD. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Thrakia became part of its successor the Byzantine Empire.
The first Bulgarian Empire (681-1014)
Slavs arrived in Bulgaria in the 6th century AD, mixing with the Thracians and Greeks already living there. In 680 the Turkic Bulgar tribe conquered the area and founded the First Bulgarian Empire in 681. This empire would gradually expand, mostly during Khan Krum's rule around 800 AD. Eastern Orthodox Christianity was adopted in 864, leading to the introduction of the Cyrillic script. From then on Bulgar Khans were known as czars. Bulgars formed an elite minority among a Slavic majority, which explains that the modern Bulgarian language belongs to the South Slavic group. Internal instability and wars with neighbouring Magyars and Greeks brought an end to the empire in 1014.
Second Bulgarian Empire (1185-1396)
After more than a century of Byzantine rule, Bulgarians revolted and established the Second Bulgarian Empire in 1185. The 13th century was a golden age in terms of territory, trade and culture. Subsequent internal divisions and wars with neighbouring states weakened the empire and after a series of conquests the Ottoman Empire took full control of Bulgaria in 1396.
Ottoman rule of Bulgaria would last for almost 500 years, despite some rebellions in the 16th and 17th centuries. National awakening spread to Bulgaria from the 18th century, and the strengthening Russian Empire, which saw itself as the protector of the Eastern Church, was looking at the Balkan to increase its influence and to side with Christians under Ottoman rule. After the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-8 the Principality of Bulgaria was established, officially as an Ottoman vassal until 1908 but de facto independent. From 1908 Bulgaria was a kingdom.
Initial proposal for a Bulgarian state in 1878. The Western European Powers preferred a smaller Bulgaria at the Congress of Berlin. In 1885 Eastern Rumelia was conquered. During the Balkan Wars of 1911-1913 this region was the scene of fast moving borders and fickle alliances.
Prince Ferdinand of Saxony-Coburg led the principality to its first territorial gains when it captured the Ottoman province of Eastern Rumelia (present-day South Bulgaria) in 1885. The region remained unstable, and two Balkan wars were fought in the years preceding WW1, one in which Bulgaria captured Thrace and parts of Asia Minor from the Ottoman Empire and another during which its former allies defeated Bulgaria.
In WW1 Bulgaria allied with the Central Powers, with the disastrous Second Balkan War still in fresh memory. A quarter of all Bulgarians were drafted in the army, and despite initial successes the conflict turned against them and Thrace was lost to Greece.
In 1918 Czar Boris III succeeded his deceased father and led the country in an authoritarian way. In WW2 Bulgaria allied with the Axis but refused to take part in the invasion of the USSR in 1941. Boris unexpectedly died in 1943, and a left-wing revolt in 1944 and subsequent Soviet occupation paved the way to the establishment of the People's Republic of Bulgaria in 1946.
Todor Zhivkov led Bulgaria from 1954 to 1989, when he resigned voluntarily after protests inspired by the wave of revolutions that ended the existence of the Eastern Bloc. Zhivkov was a loyal ally of the Soviet Union but also allowed some entrepreneurial freedom at home. After initial purges his rule was marked by stability and improved living standards. However, economic decline in the 1980's and increased corruption made his popularity fade.
Bulgaria's economy was in shock in the 1990's, with high inflation and corruption hampering its development. From the 2000's things gradually improved, and Bulgaria joined the EU in 2007. It remains one of the poorest countries within the EU.
Currency
In 1881 Bulgaria introduced the Lev, which is derived from the Dutch-Flemish Leeuwendaalders (Lion Thalers) that were frequently used in the region in the 17th century. The subdivision Stotinka literally means 1/100th in Bulgarian. The currency was at par with the French Franc of the Latin Monetary Union. The gold exchange rate was there 5.18L/$ or 25.22/£.
World War I forced Bulgaria to abandon the gold standard and let the currency float. A new standard was introduced in 1928, setting the exchange rate to 138 L/$ or 673 L/£.
After WW2 the Lev was pegged to the Soviet Ruble at 15 Leva per Ruble. In 1952 the Lev was redenominated at a rate of 100 to 1, though prices for goods were adjusted only by 25:1. The official USD exchange rate was set at 6.8 L/$, but convertibility was very limited in communist states.
In 1962 another revaluation took place at a rate of 10 to 1, making a US Dollar worth 1.17 Leva, soon to be adjusted to 2/$. After the fall of communism the Lev dropped sharply. In 1998 the Lev was redenominated at a rate of 1000 to 1 and pegged to a Deutschmark. This peg still holds today which means it has been pegged to the Euro at 1.95583 Leva/€ since 1999. Despite succesful in keeping the peg for almost 20 years now, Bulgaria's entry into the Eurozone has been delayed a number of times. Recent turmoil in the Bulgarian banking sector and a severe depression in neighbouring Greece might keep the status quo for more years to come.
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/bulgarie-1.html
