ABSTRACT
The ethnic origin of the Bulgars is a matter of controversy, most contemporary Bulgarian scholars rejecting the idea advanced by others, that they were a Turkic race. Whatever their origin they crossed the Danube in the seventh century to settle among local Slavs into whom they were eventually assimilated. The Bulgarian state, established in the late seventh century, became Christian in the ninth century and until the early eleventh century was a major political, military and cultural power in the Balkans. In 1018 it was conquered by the Byzantines. A second Bulgarian empire emerged in 1185. It was never the equal of its predecessor and in the late fourteenth century was smashed by the Ottoman forces.
