681 AD – The Bulgarian state was established – one of the first ever European states. The first Bulgarian capital was Pliska. Its tsars (khans) Asparoukh, Krum the Dreadful (803 – 814 AD), and Omurtag (852 – 831 AD) turned it into a mighty power in south-eastern Europe. 855 AD – The Saint brothers Cyril and Methodius made the Slavonic alphabet. 865 AD – Prince St. Boris (852-907 AD) did away with paganism and introduced East-Orthodox Christianity as the official religion in Bulgaria. In 865 AD he moved the capital from Pliska to Veliki Preslav (Great Preslav). The Byzantine Empire recognised him as tzar of the Bulgarians.

893 – 927 AD – Under the reign of tzar Simeon (the Great), son of tsar Boris I, the Bulgarian kingdom became the biggest in territory and the most powerful in Europe. The “golden age” of Bulgarian culture set in. 1018 AD – Emperor Basil II conquered Bulgaria and turned it into a province of the Byzantine empire.