1. Bulgarian Borders
By Dani

2. First Bulgarian Empire (681-1018)
The First Bulgarian Empire's greatest territorial extent during the reign of Tsar Simeon

3. Byzantine Bulgaria (1018-1185)
Byzantium ruled Bulgaria from 1018 to 1185, subordinating the independent Bulgarian Orthodox Church to the authority of the Ecumenical Patriarch in Constantinople but otherwise interfering little in Bulgarian local affairs.

4. In 1180 the last of the capable Komnenoi, Manuel I Komnenos, died and was replaced by the relatively incompetent Angeloi dynasty, allowing Bulgarians to regain their freedom.

5. Second Bulgarian Empire (1186-1396)
In 1185 Peter and Asen, leading nobles of supposed and contested Bulgarian, Cuman, Vlach or mixed origin, led a revolt against Byzantine rule and Peter declared himself Tsar Peter ll

6. The following year the Byzantines were forced to recognize Bulgaria's independence.

7. Ottoman Bulgaria ( )
In 1393, the Ottomans captured Tarnovo, the capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire, after a three-month siege.

8. Throughout the five centuries of Ottoman rule the Bulgarian people organized many attempts to re-establish their own state.

9. The 19th century saw the creation of the Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee and the Internal Revolutionary Organisation led by liberal revolutionaries such as Vasil Levski, Hristo Botev, Lyuben Karavelov and many others.

10. Kingdom of Bulgaria (1878)
The Treaty of San Stefano of March 3, 1878 provided for an independent Bulgarian state, which spanned over the geographical regions of Moesia, Thrace and Macedonia.

11. Bulgarian Borders after the Two World Wars