Ruse, city in north-east Bulgaria, at the confluence of the Danube and Lom rivers. Ruse is the principal Bulgarian port on the Danube and a railway terminus. It is a large commercial urban area with shipyards, a petroleum refinery, and metal, leather, textile, and food-processing industries. Angel Kancev Technical University (1954) is here. Under the Romans the city was one of a chain of fortified sites along the Danube. It was destroyed in the 7th century by barbarians, but later rebuilt. For almost five centuries, until the Russo-Turkish War of 1877 and 1878 was decided, Bulgaria was under Turkish domination, and Ruse was the Turkish stronghold of Ruschuk. Population 162,128 (2001).

Plovdiv (ancient Philippopolis), city in southern Bulgaria, capital of Plovdiv Region, on the Maritsa River. Plovdiv is a trading and market centre for the Plovdiv Basin and for an agricultural area producing tobacco and livestock. A manufacturing city as well, Plovdiv has cigarette-making, food-processing, and woodworking industries; textiles, metal, leather, and chemicals are also produced here. The city has an ancient gate and walls, a Catholic cathedral, old Orthodox churches as well as mosques, the ruins of a Turkish market and ancient baths. Plovdiv is also the site of the Ivan Vazov National Library (founded in 1879), Paisi Hilendarski University of Plovdiv (1961), and institutes of food, agriculture, and music.

Originally the Greek settlement of Eumolpias, Plovdiv was captured in 341 bc by Philip II of Macedonia, and was renamed Philippopolis. After Roman conquest in 46 bc, it was known as Trimontium, and was the capital of the Roman province of Thrace. The city was the site of many battles and was ruled successively by the Goths, Byzantines, Bulgarians, Greeks, Ottoman Turks, and Russians. It was made the capital of Eastern Rumelia under the Congress of Berlin in 1878 and was joined to the rest of Bulgaria in 1885. Population 340,638 (2001).

Pleven , city in northern Bulgaria, capital of Pleven Province. The city trades in cattle and wine; and its industries include canning vegetables, extracting vegetable oil, tanning hides, and milling flour. Manufactured goods include cotton, linen, and woollen textiles. Pleven was the site of a key battle in the Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878). It was defended by the Ottoman Turks against Russian and Romanian troops, but in 1877 it fell to the Russians after four months of fighting. The fall of Pleven caused the Turks to seek an armistice early in 1878. Population 122,149 (2001).

Pernik, city in western Bulgaria, capital of Pernik Province, on the Struma River near Sofia. A road and rail junction and coal-mining centre since 1891, Pernik is located in an area containing many lignite mines and iron smelteries. Industries include engineering, and the manufacture of briquettes, electrical equipment, and glass. Ruins of a Byzantine fortress are located here. From 1949 to 1962 the city was called Dimitrovo. Population (1990 estimate) 99,643.

Gabrovo, town, north-central Bulgaria, in the foothills north of the Balkan Mountains. Gabrovo is located on the River Yantra. The town developed—probably in the mid-15th century—as a strategic point on the northern approach to the Shipka Pass, which lies 24 km (15 mi) to the south. The first Bulgarian school was opened in Gabrovo in 1835, and in 1877 the town was liberated from the Turks (see Ottoman Empire). The town is now a major centre for the textile industry. Population (1992) 76,522.

Dobrich, largest town of southern Dobruja, in north-eastern Bulgaria. Lying about 40 km (25 mi) north of the Black Sea port of Varna, Dobrich is an important industrial, agricultural, and commercial centre. Its industries include food processing, cotton- and woollen-milling, machine-building, electrical engineering, and timber-processing.

Built on the site of a former Roman fortress, the town was established in the 15th century while the region was part of the Ottoman Empire. Originally named Hajioglu Pazarjik, meaning “the town of pilgrims”, it became known as Dobrich at the end of Ottoman rule in the 19th century. Bulgaria was forced to cede southern Dobruja to Romania in 1913 after being defeated in the Second Balkan War. The 1919 Treaty of Neuilly, which followed World War I, also recognized southern Dobruja as part of Romania. The area was not returned to Bulgaria until 1940. After World War II, the town was completely rebuilt and in 1949 renamed Tolbukhin, after Fyodor Tolbukhin, a marshal in the Soviet Army. In 1991 the town’s name reverted to Dobrich. Population 100,379 (2001).

Burgas, city in eastern Bulgaria, capital of Burgas Province, a seaport on the Gulf of Burgas (an inlet of the Black Sea). The surrounding region is chiefly agricultural. The city has a good harbour and is linked by rail through Sofia with the European railway system. The major part of Bulgaria’s Black Sea grain trade passes through Burgas, and trade in other agricultural produce rivals that of Varna. The city’s fish-processing industry handles most of Bulgaria’s fish harvest. The city also has flour and sugar mills. Hellenistic ruins of the ancient city of Nessebar, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983, are nearby. Population 193,316 (2001).

PLOVDIV [Plovdiv] , anc. Philippopolis, city (1993 pop. 345,205), S central Bulgaria, on the Maritsa River. It is the second largest city of Bulgaria, a transportation hub, and the chief market for a fertile area. Plovdiv’s major industries are food processing, brewing, and the manufacture of textiles, metal products, and carpets. Originally built by the Thracians, the city was captured in 341 BC by Philip II of Macedon, who named it Philippopolis and established a military post there. Known under Roman rule as Trimontium, it was the capital of Thracia. It was razed by the Goths but recovered after Byzantine Emperor Constantine V settled the Armenian Paulicians there. Destroyed (early 13th cent.) by the Bulgarians, Plovdiv later became the center of the Bogomils . It was occupied by the Greeks in 1262 and was captured by the Turks c.1360. The city passed to Russia in 1877 and became the capital of Eastern Rumelia (1878-85); it was united with Bulgaria in 1885. Plovdiv is the seat of a Bulgarian Orthodox eparch and has several Orthodox churches and Turkish mosques, as well as a university and other higher educational institutions. The ancient town walls and gate still stand.

VARNA [Varna] , city (1993 pop. 307,200), E Bulgaria, on the Black Sea. It is a major port and an industrial center. Manufactures include ships and boats, chemicals, electrical equipment, and textiles. Varna is also an international summer resort. Significant artifacts discovered near Varna have been dated to second half of the 5th millennium BC, but the city itself was founded in 580 BC as the Greek colony of Odessus and passed to the Roman Empire in the 1st cent. AD The Bulgarians defeated Byzantine emperor Constantine IV at Varna in 679. The city passed to the second Bulgarian kingdom in 1201, was captured by the Turks in 1391, and became an active seaport under their rule. In 1444 the Turks under Murad II won a decisive victory over Crusader forces led by Ladislaus III of Poland and Hungary, who was killed. The battle of Varna was the last major attempt by Christian Europe to stem the Ottoman tide. Varna was (1854) the chief naval base of the British and French forces in the Crimean War. The city was liberated from Turkish rule in 1878 and ceded to newly independent Bulgaria. It now has a university (founded 1920), a polytechnic institute, a naval academy, a medical college, and an archaeological museum as well as the ruins of a 5th-century basilica and a 6th-century Byzantine fortress. From 1949 to 1956 the city was named Stalin.

SOFIA [Sofia] , Bulg. Sofiya, city (1993 pop. 1,114,476), capital of Bulgaria, W central Bulgaria, on a high plain surrounded by the Balkan Mts. It is Bulgaria’s chief industrial, transportation, and commercial center. Among the chief manufactures are engineering and metal products, foodstuffs, textiles, rubber and leather goods, furniture, footwear, and chemicals.

A Thracian settlement once occupied the site of Sofia. It was taken by the Romans in AD 29 and flourished, especially, under the Emperor Trajan, as Sardica. Destroyed by the Huns in 447, the city was rebuilt (6th cent.) by Byzantine emperor Justinian I and renamed Triaditsa by the Byzantines. It formed part of the first Bulgarian kingdom (809-1018), reverted to the Byzantines (1018-1186), and was included in the second Bulgarian kingdom (1186-1382). Known as Sredets under the Bulgars, it was renamed Sofia or Sophya in 1376. Sofia passed to the Ottomans in 1382 and became the residence of the Turkish governors of Rumelia . Taken by the Russians in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78, it became (1879) the capital of newly independent Bulgaria. During World War II the Russians captured Sofia from the Germans (1944).

The city has a university (founded 1889) and numerous other educational and cultural facilities. It is the see of an Eastern Orthodox metropolitan and of a Roman Catholic bishop and also retains many old churches, mosques, and synagogues. Landmarks include the parliament building, the state opera house, the former royal palace, the Church of St. George (4th-5th cent.), the Church of St. Sofia (6th-7th cent.), the Banya Bashi mosque (1474), and the Alexander Nevski Cathedral.