Bulgarian History on Stamps

INTRODUCTION

The history of the peoples that inhabited Bulgarian lands in the antiquity has been determined by one major factor - their crossroads situation between Europe and Asia. Many tribes and peoples passed over these lands at different times and quite often turned the plains of Thrace, Moesia and Macedonia into an arena of savage battles.

Two of these peoples - Bulgarians and Slavs settled down permanently in the present Bulgarian lands and in conjunction with the native Thracian tribes contributed to form the Bulgarian nation.

Each ethnic group took part in a different way. The Thracians left their rich cultural heritage, pagan rituals and popular believes. The Slavs, the most numerous group, shaped the physical appearance and the language of the infant nation. The Bulgarians who founded the new state in 681 AD, imposed their political and military system of government and of course, the name of the state.

The process of ethnical assimilation and consolidation finished in the second half of the 9th century when Christianity was proclaimed as the only official religion of the Bulgarians and the Slavonic language became the official language of the Bulgarian state and Church.