Bulgaria (Bulgarian: България, Bălgariya pronounced IPA: [bɤlˈgarijə]), officially the Republic of Bulgaria (Bulgarian: Република България, Republika Bălgariya, pronounced IPA: [rɛˈpubliˌkə bɤlˈgarijə]) is a country in Southeastern Europe.
It borders five countries: Romania to the north mostly along the Danube, Serbia and the Republic of Macedonia to the west, and Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea, which comprises its entire eastern border.
Bulgaria is situated in a region once inhabited by the ancient Thracians and later by Greeks and Romans, and is a successor of a powerful European medieval empire which at times covered most of the Balkans and spread its culture and literature among the Slavic peoples of Eastern Europe.
After almost five centuries of Ottoman rule, Bulgaria was reestablished as a constitutional monarchy in 1878. Part of the Eastern Bloc after World War II, today Bulgaria is a democratic, unitary, constitutional republic, a member of the European Union and NATO.
