Bulgarians in Ukraine
Encyclopedia
Ethnic Bulgarians
have settlements in the southern regions of Ukraine where they make up a significant minority living primarily in the Odessa Oblast
.
In Ukraine
, the number of Bulgarians is estimated at over 140,000 (the 2001 Ukrainian Census
counted a total of 204,600 Bulgarians, this including an undetermined number of more recent emigrants), being a majority in Bolhrad
District and also inhabiting other districts of Budjak
in the Odessa Oblast in the southern part of the country. Many Bulgarians have moved to Odessa
, the regional capital in recent years.
The Ukrainian Oblasts with the highest number of Bulgarians are:
and after the Russo-Turkish Wars of the period. Particularly strong waves of emigration emerged after the Russo-Turkish Wars of 1806–1812 and 1828-1829. The settlers came primarily from what is now eastern Bulgaria
, but many were also descendants of Bulgarians of the western part of the country that had moved east in and before the 18th century. Among the Bulgarians that emigrated were also a handful of Albanians
who also had settled in eastern Bulgaria some time ago.
After arriving, the Bulgarians founded their own towns, such as Bolhrad
(1819) and Comrat
, and around 64 villages. In 1856, after the Treaty of Paris
, the region of Bessarabia
was divided with the southwestern parts, including Bolhrad, Izmail
and Kilia
, incorporated into Moldova
(since 1861 — Kingdom of Romania
), and the northeastern ones, centred around Comrat
, remained in the Russian Empire
. A Bulgarian gymnasium (school)
was founded in Bolhrad on 28 June 1858, which had serious effect on the development of Bulgarian education and culture, and is in fact the first modern Bulgarian gymnasium.
In 1861 20,000 Bulgarians from the Romanian part of Bessarabia moved to Russia
, where they were given land in Taurida Governorate
to replace the Nogais
who had left what was formerly territory of the Crimean Khanate
. Those settlers founded another Bulgarian community — the Tauridan Bulgarians.
After the whole region was incorporated once again within the bounds of Russia in 1878, the process of Russification
grew stronger, as many Bulgarian intellectuals returned to newly established Principality of Bulgaria
to help set up the Bulgarian state. The Bulgarian minority was deprived of the rights earned during Romanian control.
The whole of Bessarabia was ceded to Romania in 1918 after the Russian Revolution
and the collapse of the Russian Empire. In contrast with the previous period of Romanian control, most cultural and educational rights of the Bulgarian minority were taken away which led to cases of armed resistance such as the Tatarbunary Uprising
of 1924.
The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
of 1939 led to the June 1940 Soviet Ultimatum, an invasion of Soviet forces into Bessarabia, and its inclusion in the Soviet Union. Although being an officially accepted minority under Soviet rule, the local Bulgarians lost some features of their cultural identity in the period.
A movement of national revival originated in the 1980s, with Bulgarian newspapers being published, cultural and educational associations being established and Bulgarian being introduced into the local schools especially after the dissolution of the Soviet Union
and primarily only as an optional, but later as a compulsory subject. The Association of Bulgarians in Ukraine was founded in 1993.
Bulgarians
The Bulgarians are a South Slavic nation and ethnic group native to Bulgaria and neighbouring regions. Emigration has resulted in immigrant communities in a number of other countries.-History and ethnogenesis:...
have settlements in the southern regions of Ukraine where they make up a significant minority living primarily in the Odessa Oblast
Odessa Oblast
Odesa Oblast, also written as Odessa Oblast , is the southernmost and largest oblast of south-western Ukraine. The administrative center of the oblast is the city of Odessa.-History:...
.
Location and number
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, the number of Bulgarians is estimated at over 140,000 (the 2001 Ukrainian Census
Ukrainian Census (2001)
The first Ukrainian Census was carried out by State Statistics Committee of Ukraine on 5 December 2001, twelve years after the last Soviet Union census in 1989....
counted a total of 204,600 Bulgarians, this including an undetermined number of more recent emigrants), being a majority in Bolhrad
Bolhrad
Bolhrad sometimes known as Bolgrad is a small city in Odessa Oblast of south-western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of Bolhrad Raion , and is located at around ....
District and also inhabiting other districts of Budjak
Budjak
Budjak or Budzhak is a historical region in the Odessa Oblast of Ukraine. Lying along the Black Sea between the Danube and Dniester rivers this multiethnic region was the southern part of Bessarabia...
in the Odessa Oblast in the southern part of the country. Many Bulgarians have moved to Odessa
Odessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
, the regional capital in recent years.
The Ukrainian Oblasts with the highest number of Bulgarians are:
- Odessa: 150,700 (6.1%)
- Zaporizhzhia: 27,800 (1.4%)
- Mykolaiv: 5,600 (0.4%)
- Donets'k: 4,800 (0.1%)
History
The modern population of Bulgarians settled in the region at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century, at the time of feudal sedition in the Ottoman EmpireOttoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
and after the Russo-Turkish Wars of the period. Particularly strong waves of emigration emerged after the Russo-Turkish Wars of 1806–1812 and 1828-1829. The settlers came primarily from what is now eastern Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
, but many were also descendants of Bulgarians of the western part of the country that had moved east in and before the 18th century. Among the Bulgarians that emigrated were also a handful of Albanians
Albanians
Albanians are a nation and ethnic group native to Albania and neighbouring countries. They speak the Albanian language. More than half of all Albanians live in Albania and Kosovo...
who also had settled in eastern Bulgaria some time ago.
After arriving, the Bulgarians founded their own towns, such as Bolhrad
Bolhrad
Bolhrad sometimes known as Bolgrad is a small city in Odessa Oblast of south-western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of Bolhrad Raion , and is located at around ....
(1819) and Comrat
Comrat
Comrat is a city in Moldova and the capital of the autonomous region of Gagauzia. It is located at , in the south of the country, on the Ialpug River. In 2004, Comrat's population was 23,429, of which the vast majority are Gagauzians.The name is of Turkic and Nogai origin...
, and around 64 villages. In 1856, after the Treaty of Paris
Treaty of Paris (1856)
The Treaty of Paris of 1856 settled the Crimean War between Russia and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the British Empire, Second French Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The treaty, signed on March 30, 1856 at the Congress of Paris, made the Black Sea neutral territory, closing it to all...
, the region of Bessarabia
Bessarabia
Bessarabia is a historical term for the geographic region in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the east and the Prut River on the west....
was divided with the southwestern parts, including Bolhrad, Izmail
Izmail
Izmail is a historic town near the Danube river in the Odessa Oblast of south-western Ukraine. Serving as the administrative center of the Izmail Raion , the city itself is also designated as a separate raion within the oblast....
and Kilia
Kilia
Kilia may refer to:* Kilia, a town in Ukraine* Chilia Veche, a town in Tulcea County, Romania* Chilia branch, a distributary of the Danube.* 470 Kilia, an asteroid.* Kilia, an English transliteration of Χηλή, the Greek name for the town of Şile in Turkey...
, incorporated into Moldova
Moldova
Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...
(since 1861 — Kingdom of Romania
Kingdom of Romania
The Kingdom of Romania was the Romanian state based on a form of parliamentary monarchy between 13 March 1881 and 30 December 1947, specified by the first three Constitutions of Romania...
), and the northeastern ones, centred around Comrat
Comrat
Comrat is a city in Moldova and the capital of the autonomous region of Gagauzia. It is located at , in the south of the country, on the Ialpug River. In 2004, Comrat's population was 23,429, of which the vast majority are Gagauzians.The name is of Turkic and Nogai origin...
, remained in the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
. A Bulgarian gymnasium (school)
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
was founded in Bolhrad on 28 June 1858, which had serious effect on the development of Bulgarian education and culture, and is in fact the first modern Bulgarian gymnasium.
In 1861 20,000 Bulgarians from the Romanian part of Bessarabia moved to Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, where they were given land in Taurida Governorate
Taurida Governorate
The Taurida Governorate or Government of Taurida was a historical governorate of the Russian Empire. It included the Crimean peninsula and the mainland between the lower Dnieper River and the coasts of the Black Sea and Sea of Azov It was formed after the defunct Taurida Oblast in was abolished in...
to replace the Nogais
Nogais
The Nogai people are a Turkic ethnic group in Southern Russia: northern Dagestan and Stavropol Krai, as well as in Karachay-Cherkessia and the Astrakhan Oblast; undefined number live in Chechnya...
who had left what was formerly territory of the Crimean Khanate
Crimean Khanate
Crimean Khanate, or Khanate of Crimea , was a state ruled by Crimean Tatars from 1441 to 1783. Its native name was . Its khans were the patrilineal descendants of Toqa Temür, the thirteenth son of Jochi and grandson of Genghis Khan...
. Those settlers founded another Bulgarian community — the Tauridan Bulgarians.
After the whole region was incorporated once again within the bounds of Russia in 1878, the process of Russification
Russification
Russification is an adoption of the Russian language or some other Russian attributes by non-Russian communities...
grew stronger, as many Bulgarian intellectuals returned to newly established Principality of Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
to help set up the Bulgarian state. The Bulgarian minority was deprived of the rights earned during Romanian control.
The whole of Bessarabia was ceded to Romania in 1918 after the Russian Revolution
Russian Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 1917...
and the collapse of the Russian Empire. In contrast with the previous period of Romanian control, most cultural and educational rights of the Bulgarian minority were taken away which led to cases of armed resistance such as the Tatarbunary Uprising
Tatarbunary Uprising
The Tatarbunary Uprising was a Bolshevik-inspired peasant revolt that took place on 15–18 September 1924, in and around the town of Tatarbunary in Budjak , then part of Greater Romania, now part of Odessa Oblast, Ukraine...
of 1924.
The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, named after the Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and the German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, was an agreement officially titled the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Soviet Union and signed in Moscow in the late hours of 23 August 1939...
of 1939 led to the June 1940 Soviet Ultimatum, an invasion of Soviet forces into Bessarabia, and its inclusion in the Soviet Union. Although being an officially accepted minority under Soviet rule, the local Bulgarians lost some features of their cultural identity in the period.
A movement of national revival originated in the 1980s, with Bulgarian newspapers being published, cultural and educational associations being established and Bulgarian being introduced into the local schools especially after the dissolution of the Soviet Union
Dissolution of the Soviet Union
The dissolution of the Soviet Union was the disintegration of the federal political structures and central government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , resulting in the independence of all fifteen republics of the Soviet Union between March 11, 1990 and December 25, 1991...
and primarily only as an optional, but later as a compulsory subject. The Association of Bulgarians in Ukraine was founded in 1993.
Notable Bulgarians from Ukraine
- Dimitar AguraDimitar AguraDimitar Dimitrov Agura was a Bulgarian historian, one of the first professors of history at Sofia University and a rector of the university.Agura was born to a Bessarabian Bulgarian family in Chushmelia, Bessarabia, then part of the Romania . He started his education in Bolgrad and finished the...
, historian - Petar DraganovPetar DraganovPetar Draganov was a Russian philologist and slavist.- Biography :Drganov was born in Komrat, Russian Empire in 1857. In ethnic sense he was a Bulgarian born in Bessarabia. Draganov studied history and philology at the University of Sankt Petersburg...
, philologist - Dimitar GrekovDimitar GrekovDimitar Panayotov Grekov was a leading Bulgarian liberal politician who also served as Prime Minister.A native of Bolgrad in Bessarabia , Grekov was educated at a French legal school....
, politician and public figure, Prime Minister of Bulgaria - Kirill Kovaldzhi (on father's side), Russian poet and translator
- Aleksandar MalinovAleksandar MalinovAleksandar Pavlov Malinov was a leading Bulgarian politician who served as Prime Minister on three occasions. He was born in Pandakli, Bessarabia in a family of Bessarabian Bulgarians....
, politician and public figure, three times Prime Minister of Bulgaria - Ruslan MaynovRuslan MaynovRuslan Maynov is a Bulgarian actor and pop folk singer of Bessarabian Bulgarian origin.Maynov was born in Izmail in the region of Bessarabia, Ukrainian SSR to a Bulgarian family. He moved to Bulgaria in 1994; he graduated from NATFIZ in 1998 and started working with Slavi Trifonov on his TV...
, actor and musician - Danail NikolaevDanail NikolaevDanail Tsonev Nikolaev , was a Bulgarian officer and Minister of War on the eve of the Balkan wars. He was the first person to attain the highest rank in the Bulgarian military, General of the infantry...
, military figure - Olimpi Panov, military figure
- Ivan Shishman, painter
- Vasile TarlevVasile TarlevVasile Petru Tarlev is a Moldovan politician, and was Prime Minister of Moldova from 2001 until 2008.- Biography :He studied engineering and became a member of assorted economic councils...
, economist, Moldovan politician, Prime Minister of MoldovaPrime Minister of MoldovaThe Prime Minister of Moldova is Moldova's head of government. The prime minister is formally appointed by the President and exercises executive power along with the cabinet subject to parliamentary support.-Moldavian Democratic Republic :... - Aleksandar Teodorov-BalanAleksandar Teodorov-BalanAleksandar Stoyanov Teodorov-Balan was a Bulgarian linguist, historian and bibliographer.Balan was born in the Bessarabian village of Kubey, today Chervonoarmiyske near Bolhrad in Odessa Oblast, Ukraine , to a Bulgarian family. The general Georgi Todorov was his brother...
, linguist, first rector of Sofia UniversitySofia UniversityThe St. Clement of Ohrid University of Sofia or Sofia University is the oldest higher education institution in Bulgaria, founded on 1 October 1888... - Arkadiy Tsopa, freestyle wrestler
- Nikolay Paslar, freestyle wrestlerFreestyle wrestlingFreestyle wrestling is a style of amateur wrestling that is practised throughout the world. Along with Greco-Roman, it is one of the two styles of wrestling contested in the Olympic games. It is, along with track and field, one of the oldest organized sports in history...