View source for Bulgars

{{Short description|Turkic tribal confederation}}
{{Distinguish|Bulgarians|Bulgarian Turks}}
{{pp-semi-indef}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2022}}
[[File:53-manasses-chronicle.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Bulgars led by [[Khan (title)|Khan]] [[Krum]] pursue the Byzantines at the [[Battle of Versinikia]] (813)]]

The '''Bulgars''' (also Bulghars, Bulgari, Bolgars, Bolghars, Bolgari,{{sfn|Waldman, Mason|2006|p=106}} Proto-Bulgarians<ref>{{cite book |last=Gi︠u︡zelev |first=Vasil |title=The Proto-Bulgarians: Pre-history of Asparouhian Bulgaria text |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7lhpAAAAMAAJ&q=Proto-Bulgarians |pages=15, 33, 38|year=1979 }}</ref>) were [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]] [[Nomad|semi-nomadic]] warrior tribes that flourished in the [[Pontic–Caspian steppe]] and the [[Volga region]] between the 5th{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=104}} and 7th centuries. They became known as [[Eurasian nomads|nomadic equestrians]] in the [[Volga-Ural region]], but some researchers trace Bulgar ethnic roots to [[Central Asia]].<ref name="Kim">{{cite book |author=Hyun Jin Kim |date=18 April 2013 |title=The Huns, Rome and the Birth of Europe |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jCpncXFzoFgC |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=58–59, 150–155, 168, 204, 243 |isbn=978-1-107-00906-6}}</ref>

During their westward migration across the [[Eurasian Steppe]], the Bulgar tribes absorbed other tribal groups and cultural influences in a process of ethnogenesis, including [[Iranian peoples|Iranic]], [[Uralic]], and [[Huns|Hunnic]] tribes.{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=253, 256|ps=: "[Pontic Bulgars] With their Avar and Türk political heritage, they assumed political leadership over an array of Turkic groups, Iranians and Finno-Ugric peoples, under the overlordship of the Khazars, whose vassals they remained." ... "The Bulgars, whose Oguric ancestors ..."}}<ref>{{cite book |first=Rosamond |last=McKitterick |author-link=Rosamond McKitterick |date=1995 |title=The New Cambridge Medieval History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZEaSdNBL0sgC |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=229 |isbn=978-0-521-36292-4 |quote=The exact ethnic origins of the Danubian Bulgars is controversial. It is in any case most probable that they had enveloped groupings of diverse origins during their migration westwards across the Eurasian steppes, and they undoubtedly spoke a form of Turkic as their main language. The Bulgars long retained many of the customs, military tactics, titles and emblems of a nomadic people of the steppes.}}</ref>{{sfn|Sophoulis|2011|pp=65–66, 68–69|ps=: "The warriors who founded the Bulgar state in the Lower Danube region were culturally related to the nomads of Eurasia. Indeed, their language was Turkic, and more specifically Oğuric, as is apparent from the isolated words and phrases preserved in a number of inventory inscriptions." ... "It is generally believed that during their migration to the Balkans, the Bulgars brought with them or swept along several other groups of Eurasian nomads whose exact ethnic and linguistic affinities are impossible to determine... Sarmato-Alanian origin... Slav or Slavicized sedentary populations."}}{{sfn|Brook|2006|p=13|ps=: "Thus, the Bulgars were actually a tribal confederation of multiple Hunnic, Turkic, and Iranian groups mixed together."}}<ref name="EB_Arrival">{{cite web |url=http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/84090/Bulgaria/42718/Sport-and-recreation#toc42721 |title=Bulgaria: Arrival of the Bulgars |website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica Online]] |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]] |access-date=3 June 2015 |quote=The name Bulgaria comes from the Bulgars, a people who are still a matter of academic dispute with respect to their origin (Turkic or Indo-European) as well as to their influence on the ethnic mixture and the language of present-day Bulgaria. }}{{Dead link|date=June 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref name="EB_Bulgars">{{cite web |url=http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/84067/Bulgar |title=Bulgar |website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica Online]] |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]] |access-date=3 June 2015 |quote=Although many scholars, including linguists, had posited that the Bulgars were derived from a Turkic tribe of Central Asia (perhaps with Iranian elements), modern genetic research points to an affiliation with western Eurasian populations.}}</ref> The Bulgars spoke a [[Turkic languages|Turkic language]], the [[Bulgar language]] of the [[Oghur languages|Oghuric]] branch.{{sfn|Waldman, Mason|2006|p=106–107}} They preserved the military titles, organization, and customs of Eurasian steppes{{sfn|Waldman, Mason|2006|p=108–109}} as well as pagan shamanism and belief in the sky deity [[Tengri|Tangra]].{{sfn|Waldman, Mason|2006|p=109}}

The Bulgars became semi-sedentary during the 7th century in the Pontic-Caspian steppe, establishing the polity of [[Old Great Bulgaria]] c.&nbsp;630–635, which was defeated by the [[Khazar Khaganate]] in 668 AD. In 681, Khan [[Asparukh of Bulgaria|Asparukh]] conquered [[Scythia Minor (Roman province)|Scythia Minor]], opening access to [[Moesia]], and established the Danubian Bulgaria – the [[First Bulgarian Empire]], where the Bulgars became a political and military elite. They merged subsequently with established [[Population of the Byzantine Empire|Byzantine populations]],{{sfn|Waldman, Mason|2006|p=108}}{{sfn|Golden|2011|p=145, 158, 196}} as well as with previously settled [[Early Slavs|Slavic tribes]], and were eventually [[Slavicized]], thus becoming one of the ancestors of modern [[Bulgarians]].{{sfn|Fiedler|2008|p=151|ps=: "...ethnic symbiosis between Slavic commoners and Bulgar elites of Turkic origin, who ultimately gave their name to the Slavic-speaking Bulgarians."}}

Most of the remaining Pontic Bulgars migrated in the 7th century to the [[Volga River]], where they assimilated the people of the [[Imenkovo culture]] and founded [[Volga Bulgaria]]; they preserved their identity well into the 13th century.{{sfn|Waldman, Mason|2006|p=106–107}} The modern [[Volga Tatars]], [[Bashkirs]] and [[Chuvash people]] claim to have originated from the Volga Bulgars.{{sfn|Waldman, Mason|2006|p=106–107}}{{sfn|Shnirelʹman|1996|p=22–35}}<ref name="History of the Jewish khazars">{{cite book |author=D. M. Dunlop |title=The History of the Jewish khazars |year=1967 |location=New Jersey |page=34}}</ref>

== Etymology and origin ==
The etymology of the ethnonym ''[[wikt:Bulgar|Bulgar]]'' is not completely understood and difficult to trace back earlier than the 4th century AD.<ref name="Gurov">{{cite web |last=Gurov |first=Dilian |date=March 2007 |title=The Origins of the Bulgars |url=https://www.nada.kth.se/~dilian/bulgars.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171014084810/https://www.nada.kth.se/~dilian/bulgars.pdf |archive-date=2017-10-14 |access-date=2015-05-14 |page=3}}</ref>{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=103–104}} Since the work of [[Wilhelm Tomaschek|Tomaschek]] (1873),{{sfn|Karatay|2003|p=24}} it is generally said to be derived from [[Proto-Turkic]] root *''[[wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Turkic/bulga-|bulga-]]''<ref>[https://starling.rinet.ru/cgi-bin/response.cgi?single=1&basename=%2fdata%2falt%2fturcet&text_number=+893&root=config bulga-] in Starostin et al. "Turkic Etymology" ''Etymological Dictionary of the Altaic Languages'' (2003). Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers.</ref> ("to stir", "to mix"; "to become mixed"), which with the consonant suffix ''-r'' implies a noun meaning "mixed".{{sfn|Karatay|2003|p=24, 27}}{{sfn|Chen|2012|p=96}} 
Other scholars have added that ''bulğa'' might also imply "stir", "disturb", "confuse"{{sfn|Bowersock, Brown, Grabar|1999|p=354}}{{sfn|Golden|2011|p=143}}{{sfn|Clauson|1972|p=337}} and [[Talat Tekin]] interpreted ''Bulgar'' as the verb form "mixing" (i.e. rather than the adjective "mixed").{{sfn|Karatay|2003|p=24}} Both [[Gyula Németh (linguist)|Gyula Németh]] and [[Peter Benjamin Golden]] initially advocated the "mixed race" theory, but later, like [[Paul Pelliot]],{{sfn|Maenchen-Helfen|1973|p=384}} considered that "to incite", "rebel", or "to produce a state of disorder", i.e. the "disturbers",{{sfn|Chen|2012|p=97}}<ref>{{cite book |author=Leif Inge Ree Petersen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BRGaAAAAQBAJ |title=Siege Warfare and Military Organization in the Successor States (400–800 AD): Byzantium, the West and Islam |date=2013 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-25446-6 |page=369}}</ref>{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=104}}{{sfn|Golden|2011|p=143}} was a more likely etymology for migrating nomads.{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=104}}{{sfn|Golden|2011|p=143}}

According to [[Osman Karatay]], if the "mixed" etymology relied on the westward migration of the [[Oghur (tribe)|Oğurs]], meeting and merging with the Huns, north of the Black Sea, it was a faulty theory, since the Oghurs were documented in Europe as early as 463, while the Bulgars were not mentioned until 482 – an overly short time period for any such [[ethnogenesis]] to occur.{{sfn|Karatay|2003|p=25}}

However, the "mixing" in question  may have occurred before the Bulgars migrated from further east, and scholars such as [[Sanping Chen]] have noted analogous groups in [[Inner Asia]], with phonologically similar names, who were frequently described in similar terms: during the 4th century, the ''[[Jie people|Buluoji]]'' ([[Middle Chinese]] ''b'uo-lak-kiei''), a component of the "[[Five Barbarians|Five Barbarian]]" groups in Ancient China, were portrayed as both a "mixed race" and "troublemakers".{{sfn|Chen|2012|p=92–95, 97}} [[Peter A. Boodberg]] noted that the ''Buluoji'' in the Chinese sources were recorded as remnants of the [[Xiongnu]] confederation,{{sfn|Chen|2012|pp=83–90}} and had strong Caucasian elements.{{sfn|Chen|2012|pp=92–97}}

Another theory linking the Bulgars to a Turkic people of Inner Asia has been put forward by [[Boris Simeonov]], who identified them with the ''Pugu'' (僕骨; ''buk/buok kwət''; ''Buqut''), a [[Tiele people|Tiele]] and/or [[Toquz Oguz]] tribe.{{sfn|Golden|2012|loc=footnote 37}}<ref name="Origin" /> The Pugu were mentioned in Chinese sources from 103 BC up to the 8th century AD,<ref name="Origin" /> and later were situated among the eastern Tiele tribes, as one of the highest-ranking tribes after the [[Uyghur Khaganate|Uyghurs]].{{sfn|Golden|2012|loc=footnote 37}}

According to the ''Chronicle'' by [[Michael the Syrian]], which comprises several historical events of different age into one story, three mythical [[Scythians|Scythian]] brothers set out on a journey from the mountain Imaon ([[Tian Shan]]) in Asia and reached the river Tanais ([[Don River (Russia)|Don]]), the country of the [[Alans]] called [[Barsils|Barsalia]], which would be later inhabited by the Bulgars and the Pugurs (''Puguraje'').<ref name="Barsils" />

The names [[Onoğurs|Onoğur]] and Bulgar were linked by later Byzantine sources for reasons that are unclear.{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=103}}{{sfn|Bowersock, Brown, Grabar|1999|p=354}}{{sfn|Golden|2011|p=143}}Tekin derived ''-gur'' from the Altaic suffix ''-gir''.<ref>Tekin, Talat, ''Tuna Bulgarları ve Dilleri'' (1987). Türk Dil Kurumu. p. 66</ref> Generally, modern scholars consider the terms ''oğuz'' or ''oğur'', as generic terms for [[Turkic tribal confederations]], to be derived from Turkic ''*og/uq'', meaning "kinship or being akin to".{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=96}} The terms initially were not the same, as ''oq/ogsiz'' meant "arrow",{{sfn|Golden|2012|p=96}} while ''oğul'' meant "offspring, child, son", ''oğuš/uğuš'' was "tribe, clan", and the verb ''oğša-/oqša'' meant "to be like, resemble".{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=96}}

There also appears to be an etymological association between the Bulgars and the preceding [[Kutrigur]] (''Kuturgur'' > ''Quturğur'' > ''*Toqur(o)ğur'' < ''toqur''; "nine" in Proto-Bulgar; ''toquz'' in Common Turkic) and [[Utigur]] (''Uturgur'' > ''Uturğur'' < ''utur/otur''; "thirty" in Proto-Bulgar; ''otuz'' in Common Turkic) – as ''[[Oghur (tribe)|<nowiki/>'Oğur]]'' (Oghur) tribes, with the ethnonym Bulgar as a "spreading" adjective{{vague|date=September 2016}}{{explain|date=September 2016}}.{{sfn|Karatay|2003|p=24}}  Golden considered the origin of the Kutrigurs and Utigurs to be obscure and their relationship to the Onogurs and Bulgars – who lived in similar areas at the same time – as unclear.{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=99}}{{sfn|Golden|2011|p=140}}

He noted, however, an implication that the Kutrigurs and Utigurs were related to the [[Saragurs|Šarağurs]] (''šara oğur'', ''shara oghur''; "white oğhurs"),{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=97, 99}} and that according to [[Procopius]] these were Hunnish tribal unions, of partly [[Cimmerians|Cimmerian]] descent.{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=99}}<ref name="Origin" /> Karatay considered the Kutrigurs and Utigurs to be two related, ancestral people, and prominent tribes in the later Bulgar union, but different from the Bulgars.{{sfn|Karatay|2003|p=24–29}}

Among many other theories regarding the etymology of Bulgar, the following have also had limited support.

* an [[Eastern Germanic languages|Eastern Germanic]] root meaning "combative" (i.e. cognate with the Latin ''pugnax''), according to D. Detschev;{{sfn|Maenchen-Helfen|1973|p=384}}
* the Latin ''burgaroi'' – a Roman term mercenaries stationed in ''burgi'' ("forts") on the ''[[Limes (Roman Empire)|limes]]'' (G. A. Keramopulos);{{sfn|Maenchen-Helfen|1973|p=384}}
* a reconstructed but unattested early Turkic term meaning "five oğhur", such as ''*bel-gur'' or ''*bil-gur'' ([[Zeki Velidi Togan]]).{{sfn|Karatay|2003|p=28}}

== History ==
=== Turkic migration ===
{{History of Bulgaria}}
{{Further|Turkic migration|Huns}}[[File:Giudjenov Kubrat and his sons.jpg|thumb|261x261px|A 1926 painting depicting Kubrat (in center), ruler of [[Great Bulgaria]].]] The original homeland of the early Bulgars is still unclear. Their homeland is believed to be situated in [[Kazakhstan]] and the [[North Caucasus|North Caucasian]] steppes. Interaction with the Hunnic tribes, causing the migration, may have occurred there, but the [[Pontic–Caspian steppe]] seems a more likely location.{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=103}} Some scholars propose that the Bulgars may have been a branch or offshoot of the Huns or at least Huns seem to have been absorbed by the Onogur-Bulgars after [[Dengizich]]'s death.{{sfn|Maenchen-Helfen|1973|p=168}} [[Hyun Jin Kim]] however, argues that the [[Huns]] continued under Ernak, becoming the [[Kutrigurs|Kutrigur]] and [[Utigurs|Utigur]] [[Huns|Hunno]]-Bulgars.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kim |first=Hyun Jin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jCpncXFzoFgC |title=The Huns, Rome and the Birth of Europe |date=2013-04-18 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-00906-6 |location=2013 |page=123 |language=en}}</ref> These conclusions remain a topic of ongoing debate and controversy among scholars.

The first clear mention and evidence of the Bulgars was in 480, when they served as the allies of the Byzantine Emperor [[Zeno (emperor)|Zeno]] (474–491) against the [[Ostrogoths]].{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=104}} Anachronistic references about them can also be found in the 7th-century geography work ''[[Ashkharatsuyts]]'' by [[Anania Shirakatsi]], where the ''Kup'i Bulgar'', ''Duch'i Bulkar'', ''Olkhontor Błkar'' and immigrant ''Ch'dar Bulkar'' tribes are mentioned as being in the North Caucasian-Kuban steppes.{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=103}} An obscure reference to ''Ziezi ex quo Vulgares'', with [[Ziezi]] being an offspring of Biblical [[Shem]], is in the ''[[Chronography of 354]]''.{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=103}}{{sfn|Bowersock, Brown, Grabar|1999|p=354}}

The Armenian history of [[Movses Khorenatsi]] (5th century or later) speaks about two migrations of the Bulgars from the [[Caucasus]] to [[Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)|Armenia]]. The first migration is mentioned in association with the campaign of Armenian ruler [[Valarsace|Valarshak]] to the lands "named [[Phasiane (historical region)|Basen]] by the ancients... and which were afterwards populated by immigrants of the Vlendur Bulgar Vund, after whose name they (the lands) were named [[Vanand]]".<ref name="Origin" /> In fact, the name Vanand is attested prior to the appearance of the Bulgars.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hewsen |first=Robert H. |author-link=Robert H. Hewsen |url=https://archive.org/details/TheGeographyOfAnaniasOfSirak |title=The Geography of Ananias of Širak (Ašxarhac῾oyc῾): The Long and the Short Recensions |publisher=Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag |year=1992 |isbn=3-88226-485-3 |location=Wiesbaden |page=110}}</ref> Grigor Khalatians and [[Josef Markwart]] connected the name ''Vlendur'' with the ''Olkhontor'' mentioned in the ''Ashkharatsuyts'', while Stepan Malkhasiants considered it a form of the Mongolian word ''baghatur'' 'hero'.<ref>{{cite book |author=Moses Khorenatsʻi |author1-link=Movses Khorenatsi |title=History of the Armenians |publisher=Caravan Books |others=Translation and commentary by [[Robert W. Thomson]] |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-88206-111-5 |edition=Revised |location=Ann Arbor |page=133, note 39 |orig-date=Orig. published 1978}}</ref>

The second migration took place during the time of the ruler Arshak, when "great disturbances occurred in the range of the great Caucasus mountain, in the land of the Bulgars, many of whom migrated and came to our lands and settled south of Kokh". While Khorenatsi discusses these migrations in the context of the 2nd century BC, it has been suggested that Khorenatsi confused events from the second half of the 4th century AD with earlier occurrences; thus, the migration may have occurred during the reign of King [[Arshak III]] of Armenia.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dimitrov |first=Dimitar |title=Prabŭlgarite po Severnoto i Zapadnoto Chernomorie |publisher=Georgi Bakalov |year=1987 |location=Varna |page=31 |language=bg |script-title=bg:Прабългарите по Северното и Западното Черноморие |trans-title=''Proto-Bulgarians north and west of the Black Sea'' |oclc=17878149}}</ref> The "disturbances" which caused them are believed to be the expansion of the Huns in the East European steppes. Dimitrov recorded that the toponyms of the Bolha and [[Vorotan (river)|Vorotan]] rivers, tributaries of the [[Aras (river)|Aras]] river, are known as ''Bolgaru-chaj'' and ''Vanand-chaj'', and could confirm the Bulgar settlement of Armenia.<ref name="Origin">{{cite book |author=D. Dimitrov |title=Prabylgarite po severnoto i zapadnoto Chernomorie |date=1987 |place=Varna |chapter=Bulgars, Unogundurs, Onogurs, Utigurs, Kutrigurs |chapter-url=http://www.kroraina.com/p_bulgar/p_bulg1a.htm}}</ref>

Around 463 AD, the [[Akatziroi]] and other tribes that had been part of the Hunnic union were attacked by the Šarağurs, one of the first Oğuric Turkic tribes that entered the [[Pontic–Caspian steppe|Ponto-Caspian steppes]] as the result of migrations set off in Inner Asia.{{sfn|Golden|1992|pp=92–93, 103}} According to [[Priscus]], in 463 the representatives of Šarağur, Oğur and Onoğur came to the Emperor in [[Constantinople]],{{sfn|Golden|1992|pp=92–93}} and explained they had been driven out of their homeland by the [[Sabir people|Sabirs]], who had been attacked by the [[Pannonian Avars|Avars]].{{sfn|Golden|1992|pp=92–93, 97}} This tangle of events indicates that the Oğuric tribes are related to the [[Dingling|Ting-ling]] and [[Tiele people]].{{sfn|Golden|1992|pp=93–95}} It seems that Kutrigurs and Unigurs arrived with the initial waves of Oğuric peoples entering the Pontic steppes.{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=99}} The Bulgars were not mentioned in 463.{{sfn|Bowersock, Brown, Grabar|1999|p=354}}

The account by [[Paul the Deacon]] in his ''[[History of the Lombards]]'' (8th century) says that at the beginning of the 5th century in the North-Western slopes of the [[Carpathians]] the ''Vulgares'' killed the [[Lombards|Lombard]] king Agelmund.<ref name="Origin"/> Scholars attribute this account to the Huns,<ref>{{cite book |last=Menghin |first=Wilfred |date=1985 |title=Die Langobarden. Archäologie und Geschichte |language=de |publisher=Theiss |place=Stuttgart |page=14 |isbn=978-3-8062-0364-6}}</ref>{{sfn|Maenchen-Helfen|1973|pp=127–129}} Avars{{sfn|Maenchen-Helfen|1973|pp=127–129}} or some Bulgar groups who were probably carried away by the Huns to the Central Europe.<ref name="Origin"/>{{sfn|Maenchen-Helfen|1973|pp=127–129}} The Lombards, led by their new king Laimicho, rose up and defeated the Bulgars with great slaughter,<ref>Hist. gentis Lang., Ch. XVII.</ref> gaining great booty and confidence as they "became bolder in undertaking the toils of war."<ref>PD, XVII.</ref>

The defeated Bulgars then became subjects of the Lombards and later migrated in Italy with their king [[Alboin]].<ref>{{cite book|title=History of the Lombards: Translated by William Dudley Foulke |first=Edward |last=Peters |year=2003 |place=University of Pennsylvania Press}}</ref> When the army of Ostrogoth chieftain [[Theodoric Strabo]] grew to 30,000-men strong, it was felt as a menace to Byzantine [[Zeno (emperor)|Emperor Zeno]], who somehow managed to convince the Bulgars to attack the Thracian Goths.<ref name="Wolfram">{{cite book |first1=Herwig |last1=Wolfram |author-link=Herwig Wolfram |first2=Thomas J. |last2=Dunlap |date=1990 |title=History of the Goths |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xsQxcJvaLjAC |publisher=University of California Press |page=276 |isbn=978-0-520-06983-1}}</ref> The Bulgars were eventually defeated by Strabo in 480/481.<ref name="Wolfram" /> In 486 and 488 they fought against the Goths again, first as allies of Byzantium, according to [[Magnus Felix Ennodius]],<ref name="Origin" /> and later as allies of the [[Gepids]], according to Paul the Deacon.<ref name="Origin" /> However, when [[Theoderic the Great]] with his Ostrogoths departed for Italy in 489, the [[Praetorian prefecture of Illyricum|Illyricum]] and [[Thracia|Thrace]] were open for Bulgar raids.{{sfn|Croke|2001|p=69}}

In 493, according to [[Marcellinus Comes]], they defeated and killed [[magister militum]] Julian.{{sfn|Croke|2001|p=69}} In 499, they crossed the Danube and reached Thrace where on the banks of the river Tzurta (considered a tributary of [[Maritsa]]{{sfn|Croke|2001|p=53}}) defeated a 15,000-strong Roman army led by magister militum Aristus.{{sfn|Croke|2001|pp=23, 68}}{{sfn|Curta|2015|p=75}} In 502, Bulgars again devastated Thrace as reportedly there were no Roman soldiers to oppose them.{{sfn|Croke|2001|p=69}}{{sfn|Curta|2015|p=75}} In 528–529 they again invaded the region and defeated Roman generals [[Justin (Moesia)|Justin]] and [[Baduarius (Scythia)|Baduarius]].{{sfn|Croke|2001|p=70}} However, the Gothic general [[Mundus (general)|Mundus]] offered allegiance to Emperor [[Justinian I]] (527–565) in 530, and managed to kill 5,000 Bulgars plundering Thrace.{{sfn|Croke|2001|p=69}} [[John Malalas]] recorded that in the battle a Bulgar warlord was captured.{{sfn|Curta|2015|p=75}} In 535, magister militum [[Sittas]] defeated the Bulgar army at the river [[Yantra (river)|Yantra]].{{sfn|Curta|2015|p=75}}

Ennodius, [[Jordanes]] and [[Procopius]] identified the Bulgars with the Huns in a 6th-century [[literary topos]], in which Ennodius referred to a captured Bulgar horse as "''equum Huniscum''".{{sfn|Maenchen-Helfen|1973|pp=164, 220}} In 505, the alleged 10,000 Hun horsemen in the [[Sabinianus (consul 505)|Sabinian]] army, which was defeated by the Ostrogoths, are believed to be the Bulgars.{{sfn|Maenchen-Helfen|1973|p=164}} In 515, Bulgar mercenaries were listed along with others from the Goths, Scythians and Hunnic tribes as part of the [[Vitalian (general)|Vitalian]] army.{{sfn|Maenchen-Helfen|1973|p=421}} In 539, two Hunnic "kinglets" defeated two Roman generals during the raid into [[Scythia Minor (Roman province)|Scythia Minor]] and [[Moesia]].{{sfn|Curta|2015|pp=75–76}}

A Roman army led by magister militum [[Ascum]] and [[Constantiolus]] intercepted and defeated them in Thrace; however, another raiding party ambushed and captured the two Roman generals.{{sfn|Curta|2015|p=76}} In 539 and 540, Procopius reported a powerful Hunnic army crossed the Danube, devastated Illyricum and reached up to the [[Anastasian Wall]].{{sfn|Curta|2015|p=76}} Such large distances covered in a short time indicate they were horsemen.{{sfn|Curta|2015|p=76}}

[[Jordanes]] described, in his work ''[[Getica]]'' (551), the Pontic steppe beyond the Akatziri, above the Pontic Sea, as the habitat of the ''Bulgari'', "whom the evils of our sins have made famous". In this region, the ''Hunni'' divided into two tribes: the ''Altziagiri'' (who trade and live next to [[Chersonesus|Cherson]]) and ''Saviri'', while the ''Hunuguri'' (believed to be the Onoğurs) were notable for the [[marten]] skin trade.<ref name="Origin"/>{{sfn|Maenchen-Helfen|1973|p=431}}{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=98}} In the Middle Ages, marten skin was used as a substitute for minted money.{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=254}}

The Syriac translation of [[Pseudo-Zacharias Rhetor]]'s ''Ecclesiastical History'' (c. 555) in Western Eurasia records:

<blockquote>The land Bazgun... extends up to the [[Derbent|Caspian Gates]] and to the sea, which are in the Hunnish lands. Beyond the gates live the Burgars (Bulgars), who have their language, and are people pagan and barbarian. They have towns. And the Alans – they have five towns... Avnagur (Aunagur, considered Onoğurs) are people, who live in tents</blockquote>

Then he records 13 tribes, the ''wngwr'' ([[Onogurs|Onogur]]), ''wgr'' (Oğur), ''sbr'' ([[Sabirs|Sabir]]), ''bwrgr'' (Burğa, i.e. Bulgar), ''kwrtrgr'' (Kutriğurs), ''br'' (probably [[pannonian Avars|Vars]], also known as the Avars), ''ksr'' (''Kasr''; possibly [[Akatziri]]), ''srwrgwr'' ([[Saragurs]]), ''dyrmr'' (unknown<!-- If it's unknown this is meaningless: Dirmar=Ιτίγαροι -->), ''b'grsyq'' (''Bagrasir'', i.e. [[Barsils|Barsil]]), ''kwls'' (unknown<!-- If it's unknown this is meaningless: Xwâlis -->), ''bdl'' (probably [[Durrani|Abdali]]), and ''ftlyt'' (Hephthalite) ... They are described in typical phrases reserved for nomads in the ethnographic literature of the period, as people who "live in tents, earn their living on the meat of livestock and fish, of wild animals and by their weapons (plunder)".<ref name="Origin"/>{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=97}}

[[Agathias]] (c. 579–582) wrote:

<blockquote>...all of them are called in general Scythians and Huns in particular according to their nation. Thus, some are Koutrigours or Outigours and yet others are Oultizurs and Bourougounds... the Oultizurs and Bourougounds were known up to the time of the Emperor [[Leo I (emperor)|Leo]] (457–474) and the Romans of that time and appeared to have been strong. We, however, in this day, neither know them, nor, I think, will we. Perhaps, they have perished or perhaps they have moved off to very far place.{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=98}}</blockquote>

According to D. Dimitrov, scholars partially managed to identify and locate the Bulgar groups mentioned in the Armenian ''Ashkharatsuyts''. The ''Olxontor Błkar'' is one of the variations used for the Onoğurs Bulgars, while others could be related to the ancient river names,{{sfn|Golden|2011|p=144}} such as the ''Kup'i Bulgar'' and the [[Kuban river|Kuban]] (Kuphis). The ''Duč'i'' could read ''Kuchi Bulkar'' and as such could be related to the [[Dnieper]] (Kocho). However, the ''Č'dar Bulkar'' location is unclear. Dimitrov theorized that the differences in the ''Bulgar'' ethnonym could be due to the dialect differentiations in their language.<ref name="Origin"/>

By the middle of the 6th century, the Bulgars momentarily fade from the sources and the Kutrigurs and Utigurs come to the front.{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=104}} Between 548 and 576, mostly due to Justinian I (527–565), through diplomatic persuasion and bribery the Kutrigurs and Utigurs were drawn into mutual warfare, decimating one another. In the end, the Kutrigurs were overwhelmed by the Avars, while the Utigurs came under the rule of the Western Turks.{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=100}}

The Oğurs and Onoğurs, in the 6th- and 7th-century sources, were mentioned mostly in connection with the Avar and Turk conquest of Western Eurasia.{{sfn|Golden|1992|pp=100–102}} From the 8th century, the Byzantine sources often mention the Onoğurs in close connection with the Bulgars. Agathon (early 8th century) wrote about the nation of Onoğurs Bulğars. [[Nikephoros I of Constantinople|Nikephoros I]] (early 9th century) noted that [[Kubrat]] was the lord of the ''Onoğundurs''; his contemporary [[Theophanes the Confessor|Theophanes]] referred to them as ''Onoğundur–Bulğars''.

[[Constantine VII]] (mid-10th century) remarked that the Bulğars formerly called themselves ''[[Onogurs|Onoğundurs]]''. This association was previously mirrored in Armenian sources, such as the ''Ashkharatsuyts'', which refers to the ''Olxontor Błkar'', and the 5th century ''History'' by Movses Khorenatsi, which includes an additional comment from a 9th-century writer about the colony of the Vłĕndur Bułkar. Marquart and Golden connected these forms with the ''Iġndr'' (*Uluġundur) of [[Hisham Ibn Al-Kalbi|Ibn al-Kalbi]] (c. 820), the ''Vnndur'' (*Wunundur) of [[Hudud al-'Alam]] (982), the ''Wlndr'' (*Wulundur) of [[Al-Masudi]] (10th century) and Hungarian name for Belgrad ''Nándor Fejérvár'', the ''nndr'' (*Nandur) of [[Abu Saʿīd Gardēzī|Gardīzī]] (11th century) and ''*Wununtur'' in the [[Khazar Correspondence|letter]] by the Khazar King [[Joseph (Khazar)|Joseph]]. All the forms show the phonetic changes typical of later Oğuric (prothetic v-).{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=102}}

Scholars consider it unclear how this union came about, viewing it as a long process in which a number of different groups were merged.{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=244}}{{sfn|Golden|2011|p=143}} During that time, the Bulgars may have represented a large confederation including the remnants of Onoğurs, Utigurs and Kutrigurs among others.{{sfn|Golden|1992|pp=100, 103}}

=== Old Great Bulgaria ===
{{Main|Old Great Bulgaria}}
[[File:Bulgarians and Slavs VI-VII century.png|thumb|300px|The migration of the Bulgars after the fall of Old Great Bulgaria in the 7th century.]]

The Turk rule weakened sometime after 600, allowing the Avars to reestablish the control over the region.{{sfn|Bowersock, Brown, Grabar|1999|p=354}}{{sfn|Golden|2011|p=144}} As the [[Western Turkic Khaganate]] declined, finally collapsing in the middle of the 7th century, it was against Avar rule that the Bulgars, recorded as ''Onoğundur–Bulğars'', reappeared.{{sfn|Bowersock, Brown, Grabar|1999|p=354}}{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=244}}{{sfn|Golden|2011|p=145}} They revolted under their leader [[Kubrat]] (c. 635), who seems to have been prepared by [[Heraclius]] (610–641) against the Sasanian–Avar alliance. With his uncle [[Organa]] in 619, Kubrat had been baptized in Constantinople.{{sfn|Golden|1992|pp=244–245}}{{sfn|Bowersock, Brown, Grabar|1999|p=354}}{{sfn|Golden|2011|p=144}}<ref name="Great">{{cite book |author=D. Dimitrov |date=1987 |chapter="Old Great Bulgaria" |title=Prabylgarite po severnoto i zapadnoto Chernomorie |chapter-url=http://www.kroraina.com/p_bulgar/p_bulg5.htm |place=Varna}}</ref> He founded the [[Old Great Bulgaria]] (''Magna Bulgaria''{{sfn|Fiedler|2008|p=152}}), also known as ''Onoğundur–Bulğars'' state, or ''Patria Onoguria'' in the ''[[Ravenna Cosmography]]''.{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=245}}{{sfn|Golden|2011|p=144}}<ref name="Origin"/>

Little is known about Kubrat's activities. It is considered that Onogur Bulgars remained the only steppe tribes in good relations with the Byzantines.{{sfn|Fiedler|2008|p=152}} His date of death is placed between 650 and 663 AD.<ref>{{cite book |last=Somogyi |first= Péter |chapter=New remarks on the flow of Byzantine coins in Avaria and Walachia during the second half of the seventh century |title=The Other Europe in the Middle Ages: Avars, Bulgars, Khazars and Cumans |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_-G1L-9Zec0C |editor-last1=Curta |editor-first1=Florin |editor-link1=Florin Curta |editor-last2=Kovalev |editor-first2=Roman |date=2008 |publisher=Brill |page=104 |isbn=978-90-04-16389-8}}</ref> According to Nikephoros I, Kubrat  instructed his five sons to "never separate their place of dwelling from one another, so that by being in concordance with one another, their power might thrive".{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=245}}{{sfn|Golden|2011|p=145}}

Subsequent events proved Old Great Bulgaria to be only a loose tribal union, as there emerged a rivalry between the [[Khazars]] and the Bulgars over Turk patrimony and dominance in the Pontic–Caspian steppe.{{sfn|Golden|1992|pp=236, 245}}{{sfn|Golden|2011|p=145}} Some historians consider the war an extension of the Western Turks struggle, between the ''Nushibi'' tribes and [[Ashina tribe|Ashina clan]], who led the Khazars, and the ''Duolu/Tu-lu'' tribes, which some scholars associated with the [[Dulo clan]], from which Kubrat and many Bulgar rulers originated.{{sfn|Golden|1992|pp=103, 236–237}}{{sfn|Golden|2011|p=144}} The Khazars were ultimately victorious and parts of the Bulgar union broke up.{{sfn|Bowersock, Brown, Grabar|1999|p=354}}

=== Subsequent migrations ===
{{Further|Volga Bulgaria|First Bulgarian Empire}}
[[File:Bulgar necropolises on lower Danube.jpg|thumb|300px|Map of the Bulgar necropolises on the Lower Danube (8–9 century AD.)]]

It is unclear whether the brothers' parting ways was caused by the internal conflicts or strong Khazar pressure.{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=245}}{{sfn|Golden|2011|p=145}} The latter is considered more likely.{{sfn|Golden|2011|p=145}} The Bulgars led by the first two brothers [[Batbayan]] and [[Kotrag]] remained in the Pontic steppe zone, where they were known as ''Black Bulgars'' by Byzantine and Rus sources, and became Khazar vassals.{{sfn|Golden|1992|pp=245–246}}{{sfn|Bowersock, Brown, Grabar|1999|p=354}}<ref name="Saltovo">{{cite book |author=D. Dimitrov |date=1987 |chapter=The Proto-Bulgarians and the Saltovo-Majack culture |title=Prabylgarite po severnoto i zapadnoto Chernomorie |chapter-url=http://www.kroraina.com/p_bulgar/p_bulg5.htm |place=Varna}}</ref> The Bulgars led by Kotrag migrated to the middle [[Volga]] region during the 7th and 9th centuries, where they founded [[Volga Bulgaria]], with [[Bolghar]] as its capital.{{sfn|Bowersock, Brown, Grabar|1999|p=354}}<ref name="Saltovo"/>

According to [[Ahmad ibn Rustah]] (10th century), the Volga Bulgars were divided into three branches: "the first branch was called Bersula (Barsils), the second [[Esegel]], and the third Bulgar".<ref name="Barsils">{{cite book |author=D. Dimitrov |title=Prabylgarite po severnoto i zapadnoto Chernomorie |date=1987 |place=Varna |chapter=Sabirs, Barsils, Belendzheris, Khazars |chapter-url=http://www.kroraina.com/p_bulgar/p_bulg1b.htm}}</ref> In 922 they accepted [[Islam]] as the official religion.{{sfn|Golden|1992|pp=245, 253–258}}{{sfn|Bowersock, Brown, Grabar|1999|p=354}} They preserved their national identity well into the 13th century by repelling the first [[Mongol invasion of Volga Bulgaria|Mongol attacks]] in 1223. They were eventually subdued by the Mongols in 1237.{{sfn|Waldman, Mason|2006|p=107}} They gradually lost their identity after 1431 when their towns and region were captured by the Russians.{{sfn|Waldman, Mason|2006|pp=107–108}}

The third and most famous son, [[Asparukh of Bulgaria|Asparukh]], according to Nikephoros I:

{{Blockquote|crossed the river Danapros and Danastros, lived in the locale around the Ister, having occupied a place suitable for settlement, called in their language ογγλον (ogglon; Slav. ''o(n)gl'', "angle", "corner"; Turk. ''agyl'', "yard"<ref>{{cite book |author=D. Dimitrov |date=1987 |chapter=The migration of the Unogundur-Bulgars of Asparukh from the lands of Azov to the Lower Danube |title=Prabylgarite po severnoto i zapadnoto Chernomorie |chapter-url=http://www.kroraina.com/p_bulgar/P_bulg10.html |place=Varna}}</ref>)... The people having been divided and scattered, the tribe of the Khazars, from within Berulia ([[Bessarabia]]), which neighbors with Sarmatia, attacked them with impunity. They overran all the lands lying behind the Pontos Euxeinos and penetrated to the sea. After this, having made Bayan a subject, they forced him to pay tribute.{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=246}}}}

Asparukh, according to the ''Pseudo''–Zacharias Rhetor, "fled from the Khazars out of the Bulgarian mountains". In the Khazar ruler Joseph's letter is recorded "in the country in which I live, there formerly lived the Vununtur (< Vunundur < Onoğundur). Our ancestors, the Khazars warred with them. The Vununtur were more numerous, as numerous as the sand by the sea, but they could not withstand the Khazars. They left their country and fled... until they reached the river called Duna ([[Danube]])".{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=246}}

This migration and the foundation of the Danube Bulgaria (the [[First Bulgarian Empire]]) is usually dated c. 681.{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=246}}{{sfn|Golden|2011|p=145}} The composition of the horde is unknown, and sources only mention tribal names Čakarar, Kubiar, Küriger, and clan names [[Dulo]], [[Uokil|Ukil/Vokil]], Ermiyar, Ugain and Duar.{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=247}} The ''Onglos'' where Bulgars settled is considered northern [[Dobruja]], secured to the West and North by Danube and its [[Danube Delta|Delta]], and bounded to the East by the [[Black Sea]].{{sfn|Fiedler|2008|p=152}} They re-settled in North-Eastern Bulgaria, between [[Shumen]] and [[Varna, Bulgaria|Varna]], including [[Ludogorie]] plateau and southern Dobruja.{{sfn|Fiedler|2008|p=154}} The distribution of pre-Christian burial assemblages in Bulgaria and Romania is considered as the indication of the confines of the Bulgar settlement.{{sfn|Fiedler|2008|pp=154–156}}[[File:Old_Great_Bulgaria_and_migration_of_Bulgarians.png|left|thumb|The Bulgar migrations and settlements after the decline of Old Great Bulgaria in the 7th century.]]In the Balkans they merged with the Slavs and other autochthonous Romance and Greek speaking population, like the [[Thracians]] and [[Vlachs]],{{sfn|Waldman, Mason|2006|p=108}} becoming a political and military elite.{{sfn|Golden|2011|p=145, 158, 196}} However, the influence of the pre-Slavic population had relatively little influence on the Slavs and Bulgars, indicating their population was reduced in previous centuries.{{sfn|Fine|1991|p=68}} The hinterlands of the Byzantine territory were for years occupied by many groups of Slavs.{{sfn|Fiedler|2008|p=154}} According to Theophanes, the Bulgars subjugated the so-called [[Seven Slavic tribes]], of which the [[Severians]] were re-settled from the pass of Beregaba or Veregava, most likely the [[Rish Pass]] of the [[Balkan Mountains]], to the East, while the other six tribes to the Southern and Western regions as far the boundary with the Pannonian Avars.{{sfn|Fiedler|2008|p=154}} Scholars consider that the absence of any source recording the Slavic resistance to the invasion was because it was in their interest to be liberated from the Byzantine taxation.{{sfn|Sedlar|2011|p=16}}{{multiple image
| direction         = vertical
| width             = 220
| footer            = 
| image1            = 52-manasses-chronicle.jpg
| alt1              = A page of a medieval manuscript
| caption1          = Khan [[Krum]] defeats the Byzantine Emperor [[Nicephorus I]] in the [[battle of Pliska|battle of the Varbitsa Pass]], ''[[Constantine Manasses|Manasses Chronicle]]''
| image2            = 51-manasses-chronicle krum crop.png
| alt2              = A page of a medieval manuscript
| caption2          = Khan Krum feasts with the skull cup of Nicephorus after the victory at the Varbitsa Pass, ''Manasses Chronicle''
}}

It is considered that the Slavic tribal organization was left intact, and paid tribute to the ruling Bulgars.{{sfn|Fine|1991|pp=67–69}}{{sfn|Fiedler|2008|p=154}}{{sfn|Waldman, Mason|2006|p=109}} According to Nikephoros I and Theophanes, an unnamed fourth brother, believed to be [[Kuber]], "having crossed the river Ister, resides in Pannonia, which is now under the sway of the Avars, having made an alliance with the local peoples". Kuber later led a revolt against the Avars and with his people moved as far as the region of [[Thessaloniki]] in Greek [[Macedonia (Greece)|Macedonia]].{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=245}} The fifth brother, reported by Nikephoros I and Theophanes, "settling in the five [[Ravenna]]te cities became a subject of the Romans". This brother is believed to be [[Alcek]], who after a stay in Avar territory left and settled in Italy, in [[Sepino]], [[Bojano]] and [[Isernia]]. These Bulgars preserved their speech and identity until the late 8th century.{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=245}}

[[File:Varangian_routes.png|thumb|300x300px|Trade routes of the Black Sea region, 8th–11th centuries]]

The First Bulgarian Empire (681–1018) had a significant political influence in the Balkans. In the time of [[Tervel of Bulgaria|Tervel]] (700–721) the Bulgars helped Byzantines two times, in 705 the Emperor [[Justinian II]] to regain his throne, and 717–718 defeating the Arabs during the siege of Constantinople.{{sfn|Golden|1992|pp=247–248}} [[Sevar of Bulgaria|Sevar]] (738–753) was the last ruler from the Dulo clan, and the period until c. 768–772 was characterized by the Byzantino-Bulgar conflict and internal crisis.{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=248}} In the short period followed seven rulers from the Uokil and Ugain clan.{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=248}} [[Telerig of Bulgaria|Telerig]] (768–777) managed to establish a pacific policy with Byzantium, and restore imperial power.{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=248}}

[[File:Europe 814.svg|thumb|Europe in 814]]

During the reign of [[Krum]] (803–814), the Empire doubled its size, including new lands in Macedonia and [[Principality of Serbia (early medieval)|Serbia]].{{sfn|Waldman, Mason|2006|p=108}} He also successfully repelled the invading force of the Byzantines, as well defeated the Pannonian Avars where additionally extended the Empire size.{{sfn|Waldman, Mason|2006|p=108}}{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=248}} In 865, during the reign of Khan [[Boris I of Bulgaria|Boris I]] (852–889), the Bulgars accepted Christianity as the official religion, and Eastern Orthodoxy in 879.{{sfn|Waldman, Mason|2006|p=108}} The greatest expansion of the Empire and prosperity during the time of [[Simeon I of Bulgaria|Simeon I]] (893–927) is considered as the Bulgarian [[Golden Age of medieval Bulgarian culture|Golden Age]].<ref>{{cite book |url=http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/creees/content/outreach/fulbright/final_projects/hart.pdf |last=Hart |first=Nancy |title=Bulgarian Art and Culture: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives |page=21 |publisher=[[University of Texas at Austin]] |access-date=2007-03-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070810191242/http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/creees/content/outreach/fulbright/final_projects/hart.pdf |archive-date=August 10, 2007}}</ref>{{sfn|Waldman, Mason|2006|p=108}} However, from the time of [[Peter I of Bulgaria|Peter I]] (927–969) their power declined. The Hungarians, [[Kievan Rus']] Slavs, as well [[Pechenegs]] and [[Cumans]] held many raids into their territory,{{sfn|Waldman, Mason|2006|p=108}} and so weakened were eventually conquered in 1018 by the Byzantine Empire.{{sfn|Waldman, Mason|2006|p=108}}

== Society ==
[[File:JEŹDZIEC Z MADARY.JPG|thumb|300px|The [[Madara Rider]], an example of Bulgar art in Bulgaria, dated to the beginning of the 8th century]]

Bulgars had the typical culture of the nomadic equestrians of Central Asia, who migrated seasonally in pursuit of good pastures, as well attraction to economic and cultural interaction with sedentary societies.{{sfn|Golden|1992|pp=5–10}} Being in contact with sedentary cultures, they began mastering the crafts of [[blacksmith]]ing, [[pottery]], and [[carpentry]].<ref name="Great"/> The politically dominant tribe or clan usually gave its name to the tribal confederation.{{sfn|Golden|1992|pp=5–6}} Such confederations were often encouraged by the Imperial powers, for whom it was easier to deal with one ruler than several tribal chieftains.{{sfn|Golden|2011|p=54}}

In nomadic society the tribes were political organizations based on kinship, with diffused power.{{sfn|Golden|2011|p=118}} Tribes developed according to the relation with sedentary states, and only managed to conquer them when had social cohesion.{{sfn|Golden|2011|p=118}} If the raiding by the nomads had negative effect on the economic development of the region it could significantly slow down their own social and cultural development.{{sfn|Golden|2011|p=118}} In a nomadic state the nomad and sedentary integration was limited, and usually had vassal tribute system.{{sfn|Golden|2011|p=118}}

When the Bulgars arrived in the Balkans their first generations probably still lived a nomadic life in [[yurt]]s, but they quickly adopted the [[Pit-house|sunken-featured building]] of rectangular plan and sedentary or seasonal lifestyle of the Slavs and autochthonous population.{{sfn|Fiedler|2008|p=201}} The Bulgar and Slavic settlements cannot be distinguished other than by the type of biritual cemeteries.{{sfn|Fiedler|2008|p=200}}

=== Social structure ===
[[File:Simbol_of_dulo.jpg|alt=A symbol|left|thumb|The symbol ıYı is associated with the [[Dulo clan]] and the [[Oghuric languages|Oghur]] [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]] groups as well as an [[Oghuz Turks|Oghuz]] tribe [[Kayı (tribe)|Kayi]]]]
The Bulgars, at least the Danubian Bulgars, had a well-developed clan and military administrative system of "inner" and "outer" tribes,{{sfn|Sophoulis|2011|pp=69–70}} governed by the ruling clan.{{sfn|Sophoulis|2011|p=69}} They had many titles, and according to [[Steven Runciman]] the distinction between titles which represented offices and mere ornamental dignities was somewhat vague.{{sfn|Runciman|1930|p=284}} [[Otto J. Maenchen-Helfen|Maenchen-Helfen]] theorized that the titles of the steppe peoples did not reflect the ethnicity of their bearers.{{sfn|Maenchen-Helfen|1973|p=383}} According to Magnus Felix Ennodius, the Bulgars did not have nobility, yet their leaders and common men became noblemen on the battle field, indicating social mobility.{{sfn|Maenchen-Helfen|1973|p=199}}<ref name="Origin" />

Tribute-paying sedentary vassals, such as the Slavs and Greek-speaking population, formed a substantial and important part of the ''khanate'''s maintenance.{{sfn|Sophoulis|2011|p=70}}

Although it was not recorded on inscriptions, the title ''sampses'' is considered to be related to the royal court.{{sfn|Runciman|1930|p=286}} The title ''tabare'' or ''iltabare'', which derives from the old Turkish ''ältäbär'', like ''sampses'' is not mentioned on inscriptions, but is related to the legates and ambassadors.{{sfn|Runciman|1930|p=287}}

The [[Anastasius Bibliothecarius]] listed Bulgarian legates at the [[Fourth Council of Constantinople (Roman Catholic)|Council]] at Constantinople in 869–870. They were mentioned as Stasis, Cerbula, Sundica (''vagantur''=''bagatur''), Vestranna (''iltabare''), Praestizisunas (''campsis''), and Alexius Hunno (''sampsi'').{{sfn|Runciman|1930|p=288}} The ruler title in Bulgar inscriptions was ''[[Khan (title)|khan]]''{{sfn|Sophoulis|2011|p=71}} or ''[[kanasubigi]]''.<ref>Florin Curta, Roman Kovalev, "The" Other Europe in the Middle Ages: Avars, Bulgars, Khazars and Cumans; [papers ... Presented in the Three Special Sessions at the 40th and 42nd Editions of the International Congress on Medieval Studies Held at Kalamazzo in 2005 and 2007], BRILL, 2008, p. 363, {{ISBN|9789004163898}}</ref>  A counterpart of the Greek phrase {{lang|grc|ὁ ἐκ Θεοῦ ἄρχων}} (''ho ek Theou archon'') was also common in Bulgar inscriptions.{{sfn|Runciman|1930|p=284}} The ''[[kavhan]]'' was the second most important title in the realm,{{sfn|Runciman|1930|p=287}}<ref name="Bury" /> seemingly chief official.{{sfn|Petkov|2008|pp=7, 12–13}} Some Bulgar inscriptions, written in Greek and later in [[Old Church Slavonic|Slavonic]], refer to the Bulgarian rulers respectively with the Greek title ''[[archon]]'', or the Slavic titles ''[[knyaz]]'' and ''[[tsar]]''.{{sfn|Runciman|1930|p=284}}[[File:Museums_in_Veliki_Preslav_12.jpg|thumb|Reconstruction of the medieval landscape of [[Preslav]]]]

There are several possible interpretations for the ruler title, ''[[Kanasubigi|kana sybigi]]'', mentioned in six inscriptions by the Khan [[Omurtag of Bulgaria|Omurtag]] and two by [[Malamir of Bulgaria|Malamir]].{{sfn|Petkov|2008|pp=8–12}}{{sfn|Curta|2006|pp=162–163}} Among the proposed translations for ''sybigi'' or ''subigi'' are "lord of the army",{{sfn|Curta|2006|p=162}} from the reconstructed Turkic phrase ''syu-beg'' (army master) paralleling the attested [[Old Turkic language|Orkhon Turkic]] ''[[Subaşi|syubashi]]''.<ref>{{citation |last=Beshevliev |first=Veselin |author-link=Veselin Beshevliev |date=1981 |title=Прабългарската обществена и държавна структура |trans-title=Proto-Bulgarian public and state structure |url=http://www.promacedonia.org/vb/vb_5.html |language=bg |publisher=Izd. na Otech. front |place=Sofia |pages=33–34}}</ref> Runciman and [[J. B. Bury]] considered ''ubige'' or ''uvege'' to be related to the [[Cuman language|Cuman]]-Turkic ''öweghü'' (high, glorious);{{sfn|Runciman|1930|p=284}}<ref name="Bury">{{cite book |last=Bury |first=John B. |author-link=J. B. Bury |date=2015 |title=A History of the Eastern Roman Empire |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vL-wBgAAQBAJ |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=334–335 |isbn=978-1-108-08321-8}}</ref> "bright, luminous, heavenly";{{sfn|Curta|2006|p=162}}{{sfn|Sophoulis|2011|p=72}} and more recently "(ruler) from God",{{sfn|Curta|2006|p=162}} from the Indo-European ''*su-'' and ''[[bhaga|baga]]-'', i.e. ''*su-baga''.<ref>{{citation |last=Stepanov |first=Tsvetelin |date=March 2001 |title=The Bulgar title ΚΑΝΑΣΥΒΙΓΙ: reconstructing the notions of divine kingship in Bulgaria, AD 822–836 |journal=Early Medieval Europe |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=1–19 |doi=10.1111/1468-0254.00077|s2cid=154863640 }}</ref> [[Florin Curta]] noted the resemblance in the use of the ''kana sybigi'' with the Byzantine name and title ''[[basileus]]''.{{sfn|Curta|2006|p=163}}[[File:Pliska-svik.jpg|alt=Medieval ruins|left|thumb|The ruins of [[Pliska]], the first capital of Bulgaria]]Members of the upper social class bore the title ''[[boila]]'' (later ''[[boyar]]'').{{sfn|Petkov|2008|p=8}} The nobility was divided onto ''small'' and ''great'' boilas.{{sfn|Sedlar|2011|p=59}}{{sfn|Sophoulis|2011|p=74}} In the 10th century, there were three classes of boyars: the six ''great'' boilas, the ''outer'' boilas, and the ''inner'' boilas,{{sfn|Runciman|1930|p=284}}<ref name="Bury" /><ref name="Henning">{{cite book |last=Henning |first=Joachim |date=2007 |title=Post-Roman Towns, Trade and Settlement in Europe and Byzantium: Byzantium, Pliska, and the Balkans |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3oCI8BVxcB8C |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |pages=618–619 |isbn=978-3-11-018358-0}}</ref>{{sfn|Sophoulis|2011|p=74}} while in the mid-9th century there were twelve ''great'' boyars.{{sfn|Runciman|1930|p=284}}<ref name="Bury" /> The ''great'' boilas occupied military and administrative offices in the state,{{sfn|Sophoulis|2011|p=73}} as well the council where they gathered for decisions on important matters of state.{{sfn|Sedlar|2011|p=59}}{{sfn|Sophoulis|2011|p=75}}<ref name="Bury" />
''Bagaïns'' were the lesser class of the nobility,{{sfn|Sophoulis|2011|p=73}}{{sfn|Petkov|2008|p=8}} probably a military class which also participated in the council.{{sfn|Runciman|1930|p=285}}{{sfn|Sophoulis|2011|p=74}}<ref name="Bury" /> The title ''[[Baghatur|bagatur]]'', once as ''bogotor'',{{sfn|Petkov|2008|p=10}} is found in several instances within the inscriptions.{{sfn|Petkov|2008|pp=8, 10, 34–35}} It derives from Turkish ''bagadur'' (hero){{sfn|Runciman|1930|p=285}}{{sfn|Petkov|2008|pp=34–35}} and was a high military rank.{{sfn|Runciman|1930|p=285}}{{sfn|Petkov|2008|pp=34–35}} The Bulgarian military commander who was defeated by the Croats in the [[Croatian–Bulgarian battle of 926|Battle of the Bosnian Highlands]] (926) was called [[Alogobotur]],{{sfn|Runciman|1930|p=285}} which is actually a title comprised by ''alo'' (considered Turkic ''[[Alıp|alp, alyp]]''; chief) and ''bagatur''.{{sfn|Runciman|1930|p=285}}

There are several title associations with uncertain meaning, such as ''boila kavkhan'', ''ičirgu boila'', ''kana boila qolovur'', ''bagatur bagain'', ''biri bagain'', ''setit bagain'' and ''ik bagain''.{{sfn|Sophoulis|2011|p=74}} ''Kolober'' (or ''qolovur''), a rank title, is cited in two inscriptions,{{sfn|Petkov|2008|pp=10, 13}} and it derives from the Turkish term for a guide, ''golaghuz''.{{sfn|Runciman|1930|p=285}}<ref name="Bury" /> The title ''[[župan]]'', also once as ''kopan''{{sfn|Petkov|2008|p=9}} in the inscriptions, was often mentioned together with the bearer's name.{{sfn|Petkov|2008|pp=9–10, 37–38, 448, 508}}{{sfn|Runciman|1930|p=285}} They were traditionally seen as Slavic chiefs.{{sfn|Petkov|2008|p=9}} It seems to have meant "head of a clan-district", as among the South Slavs (Croats, Serbs) where it was more widely used, it meant "head of a tribe" with a high district and court function.{{sfn|Curta|2006|p=164}}{{sfn|Runciman|1930|p=285}}<ref name="Bury" />

The title ''[[tarkhan]]'' probably represented a high military rank, similar to the Byzantine ''[[strategos]]'', of the military governor of a province.{{sfn|Runciman|1930|p=286}}<ref name="Bury"/> The variations ''kalutarkan'' and ''buliastarkan'' are considered to be officers at the head of the ''tarkans''.{{sfn|Runciman|1930|p=287}} Curta interpreted the title ''zhupan tarqan'' as "''tarqan of (all the) zhupans''".{{sfn|Curta|2006|p=164}}

=== Religion ===
Very little is known about the religion of the Bulgars,{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=250}}{{sfn|Fiedler|2008|p=207}} but it is believed to have been [[monotheism|monotheistic]].

In Danube Bulgaria, Bulgar monarchs described themselves as a "ruler from God",<ref name="Bury" />{{sfn|Curta|2006|pp=161–162}}{{sfn|Sophoulis|2011|pp=84–86}} indicating authority from a singular divine origin,{{sfn|Sedlar|2011|p=141}} and making appeals to the deity's [[omniscience]].{{sfn|Maenchen-Helfen|1973|p=273}} [[Presian of Bulgaria|Presian]]'s inscription from [[Philippi]] (837) states:{{sfn|Petkov|2008|pp=12–13}}{{Blockquote|When someone seeks the truth, God sees. And when someone lies, God sees that too. The Bulgars did many favors to the Christians (Byzantines), but the Christians forgot them. But God sees.}}

It is traditionally assumed that the God in question was the Turkic supreme sky deity, [[Tengri]].{{sfn|Sophoulis|2011|p=84}}{{sfn|Curta|2006|pp=161–162}} In the Chinese transcription as ''zhenli'', and Turkic as ''Tangara'' and ''Tengeri'', it represents the oldest known Turco-Mongolian word.<ref name="Tengri" /> Tengri may have originated in the Xiongnu confederacy, which settled on the frontiers of China in the 2nd century BC. The confederacy probably had both pre-Turkic and pre-Mongolian ethnic elements.<ref name="Tengri">{{cite book |first1=Yves |last1=Bonnefoy |author-link1=Yves Bonnefoy |first2=Wendy |last2=Doniger |author-link2=Wendy Doniger |date=1993 |title=Asian Mythologies |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r4I-FsZCzJEC |publisher=University of Chicago Press |pages=315, 331 |isbn=978-0-226-06456-7}}</ref> In modern Turkish, the word for god, ''Tanrı'', derives from the same root.<ref name="Mercia">{{Cite book |last=MacDermott |first=Mercia |author-link=Mercia MacDermott |date=1998 |title=Bulgarian Folk Customs |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gh4IE6toGJMC |publisher=[[Jessica Kingsley Publishers]] |pages=21–22 |isbn=978-1-85302-485-6}}</ref>

[[Tengrism]] apparently engaged various shamanic practices.{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=250}} According to [[Mercia MacDermott]], Tangra was the male deity connected with sky, light and the Sun.<ref name="Mercia" /> The cult incorporated Tangra's female equivalent and principle goddess, [[Umay]], the deity of fertility.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Zhivkov |first=Boris |date=2015 |title=Khazaria in the Ninth and Tenth Centuries |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7Du2CAAAQBAJ |publisher=Brill |pages=78, 80, 112 |isbn=978-90-04-29448-6}}</ref> Their [[tamgha]] 
[[File:Khans Dulo of Bulgaria.jpg|20px]], which can be frequently found in early medieval Bulgaria is associated with deity Tangra. However, its exact meaning and use remains unknown.{{sfn|Fiedler|2008|p=207}} The most sacred creatures to Tangra were horses and eagles, particularly white horses.<ref name="Mercia" /> Bronze amulets with representations of the Sun, horses and other animals were found at Bulgar archeological sites.<ref name="Mercia" />{{sfn|Sophoulis|2011|p=88}}{{sfn|Fiedler|2008|p=208}} This could explain the variety of Bulgars taboos, including those about animals.{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=250}}

Ravil Bukharaev believed that such an autocratic and monotheistic religion{{mdash}}[[henotheism]],{{sfn|Sophoulis|2011|pp=83–84, 86}} as seen in the report by [[Ahmad ibn Fadlan]] (10th century) about the [[Oghuz Turks]], kindred to the Bulgars,<ref name="Islam">{{Cite book |last=Bukharaev |first=Ravil |date=2014 |title=Islam in Russia: The Four Seasons |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vIy3AwAAQBAJ |publisher=Routledge |pages=80–82, 83 |isbn=978-1-136-80793-0}}</ref> made the acceptance of Islam  more natural and easier in Volga Bulgaria:<ref name="Islam" />{{sfn|Shnirelʹman|1996|pp=30–31}}

{{Blockquote|If someone trouble befalls any of them or there happens any unlucky incident, they look out into the sky and summon: "Ber Tengre!". In the Turkish language, that means, "by the One and Only God!".}} Another mention of Tengri is on the severely damaged Greek inscription found on a presumed [[altar]] stone near Madara,{{sfn|Sophoulis|2011|p=84}} tentatively deciphered as "Khan ''sybigi'' Omurtag, ruler from god...was...and made sacrifice to god Tangra...''itchurgu boila''...gold".{{sfn|Petkov|2008|p=11}} An Ottoman manuscript recorded that the name of God, in Bulgarian, was "Tängri".{{sfn|Sophoulis|2011|p=84}}
[[File:Rosette_from_Pliska.svg|alt=A rosette|thumb|The [[Pliska rosette]] dated from the [[Tengrism|Tengristic]] period has seven fingers representing the [[Classical planet]]s]]
A piece of ethnographic evidence which has been invoked to support the belief that the Bulgars worshipped Tengri/Tangra is the relative similarity of the name "Tengri" to "Tură", the name of the supreme deity of the traditional religion of the [[Chuvash people]], who are traditionally regarded as descendants of the Volga Bulgars.{{sfn|Tokarev|1980}} Nevertheless, the Chuvash religion today is markedly different from Tengrism and can be described as a local form of [[polytheism]], due to pagan beliefs of the [[Volga Finns]], forest dwellers of [[Finno-Ugric peoples|Finno-Ugric]] origin who lived in their vicinity, with some elements borrowed from Islam.<ref name="Islam" />

[[Paganism]] was closely connected with the old clan system,{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=141}} and the remains of [[totemism]] and [[shamanism]] were preserved even after the crossing of Danube.<ref name="Mercia"/>{{sfn|Sophoulis|2011|pp=86–89}} The [[Shumen Province|Shumen]] plate in the archaeological literature is often associated with shamanism.{{sfn|Fiedler|2008|p=208}} In the 9th century, it was recorded that before a battle the Bulgars "''used to practice enchantments and jests and charms and certain auguries''".{{sfn|Maenchen-Helfen|1973|p=268}}{{sfn|Sophoulis|2011|p=82}} [[Liutprand of Cremona]] reported that Baian, son of [[Simeon I of Bulgaria|Simeon I]] (893–927), could through ''magicam'' transform into a wolf.{{sfn|Sophoulis|2011|p=88}} [[Clement of Ohrid]] reported the worship of fire and water by the Bulgars,{{sfn|Sophoulis|2011|p=83}} while in the 11th century [[Theophylact of Ohrid]] remembered that before the Christianization the Bulgars respected the Sun, Moon and the stars, and sacrificed dogs to them.{{sfn|Sophoulis|2011|p=80}}

Allegedly, the Dulo clan had the dog as its sacred animal. To this today Bulgarians still use the expression "he kills the dog" to mean "he gives the orders", a relic of the time when the Dulo Khan sacrificed a dog to the deity Tangra.<ref name="Mercia"/> Remains of dog and deer have been found in Bulgars graves, and it seems the [[Wolves in folklore, religion and mythology#Mongolian|wolf]] also had a special mythological significance.<ref name="Mercia"/><ref name="Kim"/> The Bulgars were bi-ritual,{{sfn|Sophoulis|2011|p=66}} either cremating or burying their dead,{{sfn|Sophoulis|2011|p=67}}{{sfn|Fiedler|2008|p=157}} and often interred them with personal objects (pottery, rarely weapons or dress{{sfn|Fiedler|2008|p=157}}), food, and sacred animals.<ref name="Mercia"/>{{sfn|Sophoulis|2011|p=67}}{{sfn|Fiedler|2008|p=157}}

Because of the cult of the Sun, the Bulgars had a preference for the south. Their main buildings and shrines faced south, as well their [[yurt]]s, which were usually entered from the south, although less often from the east. Excavations showed that Bulgars buried their dead on a north–south axis,{{sfn|Fiedler|2008|p=157}} with their heads to the north so that the deceased "faced" south.<ref name="Mercia" /> The Slavs practiced only cremation, the remains were placed in urns, and like the Bulgars, with the conversion to Christianity [[inhumation|inhumed]] the dead on west–east axis.{{sfn|Fiedler|2008|p=158}} The only example of a mixed Bulgar-Slavic cemetery is in [[Istria, Constanța|Istria]] near ancient [[Histria (ancient city)|Histria]], on the coast of the Black Sea.{{sfn|Fiedler|2008|p=159}}

D. Dimitrov has argued that the Kuban Bulgars also adopted elements of Iranian religious beliefs. He noticed Iranian influences on the cult of the former Caucasian Huns capital Varachan ([[Balanjar]]), making a religious syncretism between the principal Turkic deity Tengri and the Iranian sun god [[Hvare-khshaeta|Hvare]].<ref name="Dimitrov">{{cite book |author=D. Dimitrov |date=1987 |chapter=The Proto-Bulgarians east of the Sea of Azov in the VIII–IX cc. |title=Prabylgarite po severnoto i zapadnoto Chernomorie |chapter-url=http://www.kroraina.com/p_bulgar/p_bulg7.htm |place=Varna}}</ref> Dimitrov cited the work by V.A. Kuznetsov, who considered the resemblance between the layout of the [[Zoroastrianism|Zoroastrian]] temples of fire and the Kuban Bulgar centre, Humarin citadel, situated 11&nbsp;km to the north of the town [[Karachayevsk]], where the pottery belonged to the [[Saltovo-Mayaki]] culture.<ref name="Dimitrov"/>

Kuznecov also found a connection in the plan of the Danube Bulgars sanctuaries at [[Pliska]], [[Veliki Preslav]], and [[Madara (village)|Madara]].<ref name="Dimitrov" /> The architectural similarities include two squares of [[ashlar]]s inserted one into another, oriented towards the summer sunrise.<ref name="Dimitrov" /> One of these sites was transformed into a Christian church, which is taken as evidence that they served a religious function.<ref name="Dimitrov" />

The view of the [[Parthian Empire|Parthian]] and [[Sasanian Empire|Sasanian]] influence, which [[Franz Altheim]] also argued, is considered debatable, showing the cultural impact of the Iranian world on communities in the Pontic–Caspian steppe.<ref name="Kim"/> Many scholars believe that the square shape, with the north–south and east–west axis of the Bulgar sacral monuments is very similar to those of Turkic khagans in Mongolia.{{sfn|Curta|2006|p=160}} However, that the Bulgar residence in Pliska and [[Palace of Omurtag]] were inspired by the Byzantine architecture is considered indisputable.{{sfn|Fiedler|2008|p=196}}

[[Christianity]] had already begun to penetrate, probably via their Slavic subjects,{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=250}} when it  was adopted in the First Bulgarian Empire by [[Knyaz]] [[Boris I]] in 865 as a state religion.{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=252}} There was interest in [[Islam]] as well, seen in the book ''Answers to the Questions of the King of the Burgar addressed to him about Islam and Unity'' by the [[Abbasid Caliphate|Abbasid]] caliph [[Al-Ma'mun]] (813–833) for the Pontic/Bosporan Bulgars,{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=250}} while it was officially adopted in Volga Bulgaria as a state religion in 922.<ref name="Islam"/><ref>{{cite journal |first=Gerald |last=Mako |date=2011 |title=The Islamization of the Volga Bulghars: A Question Reconsidered |journal=Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi |issue=18 |pages=199–223}}</ref>

== Language ==
{{Main|Bulgar language}}
[[File:Copy of Chatalar Inscription.jpg|thumb|right|The reconstructed copy of [[Chatalar Inscription]] by Khan [[Omurtag of Bulgaria|Omurtag]] (815–831). It is written in Greek, and top two lines read: "Kanasubigi Omortag, in the land where he was born is archon by God. In the field of Pliska...".]]

The origin and [[Bulgar language|language of the Bulgars]] has been the subject of debate since around the start of the 20th century. It is generally accepted that at least the Bulgar elite spoke a language that was a member of the [[Oghur languages|Oghur]] branch of the [[Turkic languages|Turkic language family]], alongside the now extinct [[Khazar language|Khazar]] and the solitary survivor of these languages, [[Chuvash language|Chuvash]].{{sfn|Sophoulis|2011|p=66}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Detrez |first=Raymond |author-link=Raymond Detrez |year=2005 |title=Developing Cultural Identity in the Balkans: Convergence Vs. Divergence |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TRttHdXjP14C |publisher=Peter Lang |page=29|isbn=978-90-5201-297-1 }}</ref><ref name="Rashev">{{citation |last=Rashev |first=Rasho |date=1992 |title=On the origin of the Proto-Bulgarians |url=http://www.kroraina.com/bulgar/rashev.html |journal=Studia Protobulgarica et Mediaevalia Europensia |place=Veliko Tarnovo |pages=23–33 |access-date=2006-08-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120718213232/http://www.kroraina.com/bulgar/rashev.html |archive-date=2012-07-18 }}</ref><ref>Petrov 1981: [http://www.kroraina.com/knigi/pp2/pp_1_2_1.htm §A.II.1]</ref><ref>Angelov 1971: [http://www.kroraina.com/knigi/da/da_2_2.htm §II.2]</ref><ref>Runciman 1930: [http://www.kroraina.com/knigi/en/sr/sr_1_1.htm §I.1]</ref>

Although there is no direct evidence, a group of linguists believe that Chuvash may be descendant from a dialect of Volga Bulgar<ref name=":02">{{Cite journal |last=Agyagási |first=K. |date=2020 |title=A Volga Bulgarian Classifier: A Historical and Areal Linguistic Study |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338899820 |journal=University of Debrecen |language=en |volume=3 |page=9 |quote="Modern Chuvash is the only descendant language of the Ogur branch.The ancestors of its speakers left the Khazar Empire in the 8th century and migrated to the region at the confluence of the Volga and Kama rivers, where they founded the Volga Bulgarian Empire in the 10th century. In the central Volga region three Volga Bulgarian dialects developed, and Chuvash is the descendant of the 3rd dialect of Volga Bulgarian (Agyagási 2019: 160–183). Sources refer to it as a separate language beginning with 1508"}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{cite book |last=Marcantonio |first=Angela |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cp-tB08yd2EC&pg=PA167 |title=The Uralic language family: facts, myths and statistics |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |year=2002 |isbn=0-631-23170-6 |page=167}}</ref><ref name=":33">{{cite book |last=Price |first=Glanville |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=29BAeKHwvuoC&pg=PA88 |title=Encyclopedia of the languages of Europe |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |year=2000 |isbn=0-631-22039-9 |page=88}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{cite book |last=Clauson |first=Gerard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uJ-7yFXRpiYC&pg=PA38 |title=Studies in Turkic and Mongolic linguistics |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2002 |isbn=0-415-29772-9 |page=38}}</ref> while others support the idea that Chuvash is another distinct [[Oghuric languages|Oghur Turkic]] language.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/10.4324/9781003243809/turkic-languages-lars-johanson-%C3%A9va-csat%C3%B3 |title=The Turkic Languages |year=2021 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-003-24380-9 |editor-last=Johanson |editor-first=Lars |doi=10.4324/9781003243809 |quote="Another Turkic people in the Volga area are the Chuvash, who, like the Tatars, regard themselves as descendants of the Volga Bulghars in the historical and cultural sense. It is clear that Chuvash belongs to the Oghur branch of Turkic, as the language of the Volga Bulghars did, but no direct evidence for diachronic development between the two has been established. As there were several distinct Oghur languages in the Middle Ages, Volga Bulghar could represent one of these and Chuvash another." |editor-last2=Csató |editor-first2=Éva Á}}</ref> Some scholars suggest [[Hunnic language|Hunnish]] had strong ties with Bulgar and to modern Chuvash<ref>{{cite journal |last=Pritsak |first=Omeljan |author-link=Omeljan Pritsak |date=1982 |title=The Hunnic Language of the Attila Clan |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41036005 |journal=Harvard Ukrainian Studies |publisher=[[Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute]] |volume=IV |issue=4 |page=470 |issn=0363-5570 |jstor=41036005 |quote="The language had strong ties to Bulgar language and to modern Chuvash, but also had some important connections, especially lexical and morphological, to Ottoman Turkish and Yakut" |place=Cambridge, Massachusetts}}</ref> and refer to this extended grouping as separate Hunno-Bulgar languages.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Archived|first=Article|title="The Hunnic Language of the Attila Clan" (pages 428, ..., 476), author: Omeljan Pritsak|url=https://www.academia.edu/88411462|journal=Ukrainian Studies|volume=VI|number=4|year=1982|publisher=Ukrainian Research Institute, Harvard University|place=Cambridge, Massachusetts|page=430|quote="I was able to establish a Danube- Bulgarian nominative- suffix /A/ from the consonant stems. Recalling that Danube- Bulgarian was a Hunnic language."|access-date=23 April 2023|archive-date=23 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230423151254/https://www.academia.edu/88411462}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ramer |first=Alexis Manaster |title=Proto-Bulgarian/Danube Bulgar/Hunno-Bulgar Bekven |url=https://www.academia.edu/41975042 |page=1 p |quote="Granberg's suggestion that we should revive the term Hunno-Bulgar may well became that replacement — once it is clear that Hunnic and Bulgar were closely related and perhaps even the same language." |archive-date=5 January 2023 |access-date=23 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230105103935/https://www.academia.edu/41975042 }}</ref> However, such speculations are not based on proper linguistic evidence, since the language of the Huns is almost unknown except for a few attested words and personal names. Scholars generally consider Hunnish as unclassifiable.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Savelyev |first=Alexander |title=Chuvash and the Bulgharic Languages |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/41762/chapter-abstract/354239965?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=false |access-date=2024-03-30 |website=academic.oup.com |date=27 May 2020 |page=448 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-880462-8}}</ref>{{sfn|Golden|1992|pp=88, 89}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=RÓNA-TAS |first=ANDRÁS |title=Hungarians and Europe in the Early Middle Ages |date=1999-03-01 |publisher=Central European University Press |isbn=978-963-386-572-9 |page=208|doi=10.7829/j.ctv280b77f }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Sinor |first=Denis |title=Studies in medieval inner Asia |date=1997 |publisher=Ashgate |isbn=978-0-86078-632-0 |series=Collected studies series |location=Aldershot, Hampshire |page=336}}</ref>

According to P. Golden this association is apparent from the fragments of texts and isolated words and phrases preserved in inscriptions.{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=250}}{{sfn|Sophoulis|2011|p=66}} In addition to language, their culture and state structure retain many Central Asian features.{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=250}} Military and hierarchical terms such as ''khan/qan'', ''kanasubigi'', ''qapağan'', ''tarkan'', ''bagatur'' and ''boila'' appear to be of Turkic origin.{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=250}}{{sfn|Sedlar|2011|p=16}} The [[Bulgar calendar]] within the ''[[Nominalia of the Bulgarian khans]]'' had a twelve-year animal cycle, similar to the one adopted by Turkic and Mongolic peoples from the [[Chinese calendar|Chinese]], with animal names and numbers deciphered as Turkic.{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=250}} [[Tengri]] (in Bulgar ''Tangra/Tengre'') was their supreme god.{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=250}}

Danubian Bulgar inscriptions were written mostly in [[Greek alphabet|Greek]] or [[Cyrillic]] characters, most commonly in Greek or Graeco-Bulgar,{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=245}} others in the [[Kuban alphabet]] which is a variant of [[Old Turkic script|Orkhon script]].{{sfn|Sophoulis|2011|p=45}} they apparently have a sacral meaning.{{sfn|Sophoulis|2011|p=45}} Inscriptions sometimes included Slavic terms,{{sfn|Sedlar|2011|p=425}} thus allowing scholars to identify some of the Bulgar [[Gloss (annotation)|glosses]].{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=245}} Altheim argued that the runes were brought into Europe from Central Asia by the Huns, and were an adapted version of the old [[Sogdian alphabet]] in the [[Hunnic language|Hunnic]]/[[Oghuric languages|Oghur Turkic]] language.<ref name="Kim" /> The custom of stone engravings are considered to have Iranic, Turkic and Roman parallels.{{sfn|Sophoulis|2011|p=45}}{{sfn|Sedlar|2011|p=425}} The [[Madara Rider]] resembles work of the [[Sasanian Empire|Sasanian]] rock [[relief]] tradition, but its actual masonry tradition and cultural source is unknown.{{sfn|Sophoulis|2011|pp=45, 83}}

According to linguist and academician [[Albina G. Khayrullina-Valieva]] Bulgar language was the first fully proved Turkic language that came into direct contact with South Slavs.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Khayrullina-Valieva |first=Albina G. |date=2020-03-31 |title=Turkic lexical elements in the Bulgarian language |journal=Litteraria Copernicana |volume=33 |language=en |issue=1(33)/ |pages=205–211 |doi=10.12775/LC.2020.015 |s2cid=241146294 |issn=2392-1617|doi-access=free }}</ref> The Danubian Bulgars were unable to alter the predominantly Slavic character of Bulgaria,{{sfn|Sedlar|2011|p=424}} seen in the toponymy and names of the capitals Pliska and Preslav.<ref name="Rashev" /> They preserved their own native language and customs for about 200 years, but a bilingual period was recorded since the 9th century.{{sfn|Fine|1991|p=69}}{{sfn|Sedlar|2011|p=424}}<ref name="Henning" /> Golden argued that Bulgar Turkic almost disappeared with the transition to Christianity and [[Slavicisation]] in the middle of the 9th century.{{sfn|Golden|2011|p=268}} When the ruling class abandoned its native language and adopted Slavic, according to Jean W. Sedlar, it was so complete that no trace of Turkic speech patterns remained in Old Slavic texts.{{sfn|Sedlar|2011|p=424}} The Bulgarian Christian Church used the Slavic dialect from Macedonia.{{sfn|Waldman, Mason|2006|p=108}}

Among Bulgarian academics, notably Petar Dobrev,{{sfn|Sophoulis|2011|p=66}} a hypothesis linking the Bulgar language to the [[Iranian languages|Iranic languages]] (especially [[Pamir languages|Pamir]]{{sfn|Karachanak, ''et al.''|2013}}) has been popular since the 1990s.<ref>Добрев, Петър, 1995. "Езикът на Аспаруховите и Куберовите българи" 1995</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Stamatov |first=Atanas |date=1997 |title=TEMPORA INCOGNITA НА РАННАТА БЪЛГАРСКА ИСТОРИЯ |chapter=ИЗВОРИ И ИНТЕРПРЕТАЦИИ – І–ІІ ЧАСТ |chapter-url=http://www.protobulgarians.com/kniga_Atstamatov.htm |publisher=MGU Sv. Ivan Rilski}}</ref><ref>Димитров, Божидар, 2005. 12 мита в българската история</ref><ref>Милчева, Христина. Българите са с древно-ирански произход. Научна конференция "Средновековна Рус, Волжка България и северното Черноморие в контекста на руските източни връзки", Казан, Русия, 15.10.2007</ref> Most proponents still assume an intermediate stance, proposing certain signs of Iranic influence on a Turkic substrate.<ref name="Rashev" /><ref>Бешевлиев, Веселин. Ирански елементи у първобългарите. Античное Общество, Труды Конференции по изучению проблем античности, стр. 237–247, Издательство "Наука", Москва 1967, АН СССР, Отделение Истории.</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first=Rüdiger |last=Schmitt |date=1985 |title=Iranica Protobulgarica: Asparuch und Konsorten im Lichte der Iranischen Onomastik |publisher=Academie Bulgare des Sciences |place=[[Saarbrücken]] |journal=Linguistique Balkanique |volume=XXVIII |issue=l |pages=13–38}}</ref> The names [[Asparukh (name)|Asparukh]] and Bezmer from the ''[[Nominalia of the Bulgarian khans|Nominalia]]'' list, for example, were established as being of Iranic origin.{{sfn|Maenchen-Helfen|1973|pp=384, 443}} Other Bulgarian scholars actively oppose the "Iranic hypothesis".<ref>Йорданов, Стефан. Славяни, тюрки и индо-иранци в ранното средновековие: езикови проблеми на българския етногенезис. В: Българистични проучвания. 8. Актуални проблеми на българистиката и славистиката. Седма международна научна сесия. Велико Търново, 22–23 август 2001 г. Велико Търново, 2002, 275–295.</ref><ref>Надпис No. 21 от българското златно съкровище "Наги Сент-Миклош", студия от проф. д-р Иван Калчев Добрев от Сборник с материали от Научна конференция на ВА "Г. С. Раковски". София, 2005 г.</ref> According to [[Raymond Detrez]], the Iranian theory is rooted in the periods of [[anti-Turkish sentiment]] in Bulgaria and is ideologically motivated.<ref name="Detrez">{{cite book| first=Raymond| last=Detrez |author-link=Raymond Detrez |title=Developing Cultural Identity in the Balkans: Convergence Vs. Divergence |publisher=Peter Lang |year=2005 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TRttHdXjP14C |page=29| isbn=978-90-5201-297-1 }}</ref> Since 1989, anti-Turkish rhetoric is now reflected in the theories that challenge the thesis of the proto-Bulgars' Turkic origin. Alongside the Iranian or Aryan theory, there appeared arguments favoring an autochthonous origin.<ref name=":0">{{cite book|title=Quest for a Suitable Past: Myths and Memory in Central and Eastern Europe|author=Cristian Emilian Ghita, Claudia Florentina Dobre|year=2016|page=142}}</ref>

== Ethnicity ==
[[File:A jug with golden medallions.jpg|thumb|right|The jug golden medallion, from the [[Treasure of Nagyszentmiklós]], depicts a warrior with his captive. Experts cannot agree if this warrior represents a [[Khazars|Khazar]], [[Pannonian Avars|Pannonian Avar]], or Bulgar.]]

Due to the lack of definitive evidence, modern scholarship uses an [[Ethnogenesis#Historical scholarship|ethnogenesis]] approach in explaining the Bulgars origin. More recent theories view the nomadic confederacies, such as the Bulgars, as the formation of several different cultural, political and linguistic entities that could dissolve as quickly as they formed, entailing a process of ethnogenesis.

According to Walter Pohl, the existential fate of the tribes and their confederations depended on their ability to adapt to an environment going through rapid changes, and to give this adaptation a credible meaning rooted in tradition and ritual. Slavs and Bulgars succeeded because their form of organization proved as stable and as flexible as necessary, while the [[Pannonian Avars]] failed in the end because their model could not respond to new conditions. Pohl wrote that members of society's lower strata did not feel themselves to be part of any large-scale ethnic group; the only distinct classes were within the armies and the ruling elite.<ref name="Pohl">{{citation |last=Pohl |first=Walter |author-link=Walter Pohl |date=1998 |chapter=Conceptions of Ethnicity in Early Medieval Studies |title=Debating the Middle Ages: Issues and Readings |chapter-url=http://www.kroraina.com/bulgar/pohl_etnicity.html |editor1=Lester K. Little |editor2=Barbara H. Rosenwein |publisher=Blackwell Publishers |pages=13–24}}</ref>

Recent studies consider ethnonyms closely related with warrior elites who ruled over a variety of heterogeneous groups.{{sfn|Golden|2011|p=55}} The groups adopted new ideology and name as political designation, while the elites claimed right to rule and royal descent through origin myths.{{sfn|Golden|2011|p=55}}

When the Turkic tribes began to enter into the Pontic–Caspian steppe in the Post-Hunnic era, or as early as the 2nd century AD,{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=392}} their confederations incorporated an array of ethnic groups of newly joined Turkic, Caucasian, Iranian, and Finno-Ugric peoples.{{sfn|Golden|1992|pp=392–398}} During their Western Eurasian migrations to the Balkans, they also came into contact with  Armenian, Semitic, Slavic, Thracian and Anatolian Greek among other populations.{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=383}}

From the 6th to 8th centuries, distinctive Bulgar monuments of the Sivashovka type were built upon ruins of the late [[Sarmatians|Sarmatian]] culture of the 2nd to 4th centuries AD,<ref name="Graves">{{cite book |author=D. Dimitrov |date=1987 |chapter=Pit graves, artificial skull deformation, Sarmatians, Northern Bactria |title=Prabylgarite po severnoto i zapadnoto Chernomorie |chapter-url=http://www.kroraina.com/p_bulgar/p_bulg2a.htm |place=Varna}}</ref> and the 6th century [[Penkovka culture]] of the [[Antes people|Antes]] and Slavs.  Early medieval [[Saltovo-Mayaki]] (an [[Alans|Alanic]]-based culture) settlements in the [[Crimea]] since the 8th century were destroyed by the Pechengs during the 10th century.<ref name="Rashev"/>{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=261}}<ref name="Great"/><ref name="Saltovo"/><ref>{{cite book |author=D. Dimitrov |date=1987 |chapter=The Proto-Bulgarians in the Crimea in the VIII–IX cc. |title=Prabylgarite po severnoto i zapadnoto Chernomorie |chapter-url=http://www.kroraina.com/p_bulgar/p_bulg9.html |place=Varna}}</ref>

Although the older Iranian tribes were enveloped by the widespread Turkic migration into the Pontic–Caspian steppe, the following centuries saw a complete disappearance of both the Iranic and Turkic languages, indicating dominance of the Slavic language among the common people.<ref name="Rashev"/>

== Anthropology and genetics ==
[[File:Omurtag1.jpg|alt=A medieval monarch|thumb|Khan [[Omurtag of Bulgaria|Omurtag]] was the first Bulgar ruler known to have claimed divine origin, ''[[Madrid Skylitzes]]'']]
According to a paleo-DNA study from 2019 which examined Medieval burials in the Carpathian Basin a closest connection was found between the Y-DNA of these nomadic people and the modern [[Volga Tatars]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Neparáczki |first1=Endre |last2=Maróti |first2=Zoltán |last3=Kalmár |first3=Tibor |last4=Maár |first4=Kitti |last5=Nagy |first5=István |last6=Latinovics |first6=Dóra |last7=Kustár |first7=Ágnes |last8=Pálfi |first8=György |last9=Molnár |first9=Erika |last10=Marcsik |first10=Antónia |last11=Balogh |first11=Csilla |last12=Lőrinczy |first12=Gábor |last13=Gál |first13=Szilárd Sándor |last14=Tomka |first14=Péter |last15=Kovacsóczy |first15=Bernadett |date=2019-11-12 |title=Y-chromosome haplogroups from Hun, Avar and conquering Hungarian period nomadic people of the Carpathian Basin |journal=Scientific Reports |language=en |volume=9 |issue=1 |page=16569 |doi=10.1038/s41598-019-53105-5 |pmid=31719606 |pmc=6851379 |bibcode=2019NatSR...916569N |issn=2045-2322}}</ref> According to Hungarian archeogenetist Neparáczki Endre: "From all recent and archaic populations tested the [[Volga Tatars]] show the smallest genetic distance to the entire Conqueror population" and "a direct genetic relation of the Conquerors to Onogur-Bulgar ancestors of these groups is very feasible."<ref>{{cite journal |biorxiv=10.1101/250688  |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0205920 |doi-access=free |title=Mitogenomic data indicate admixture components of Central-Inner Asian and Srubnaya origin in the conquering Hungarians |date=2018 |last1=Neparáczki |first1=Endre |last2=Maróti |first2=Zoltán |last3=Kalmár |first3=Tibor |last4=Kocsy |first4=Klaudia |last5=Maár |first5=Kitti |last6=Bihari |first6=Péter |last7=Nagy |first7=István |last8=Fóthi |first8=Erzsébet |last9=Pap |first9=Ildikó |last10=Kustár |first10=Ágnes |last11=Pálfi |first11=György |last12=Raskó |first12=István |last13=Zink |first13=Albert |last14=Török |first14=Tibor |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=13 |issue=10 |article-number=e0205920 |pmid=30335830 |pmc=6193700 |bibcode=2018PLoSO..1305920N }}</ref>

The paleoanthropological material from all sites in Volga region, Ukraine and Moldova attributed to the Bulgars testify complex ethno-cultural processes.<ref name="Gerasimova">{{cite book |author1=Gerasimova M.M. |author2=Rud' N.M. |author3=Yablonsky L.T. |date=1987 |title=Antropologiya antichnovo i srednevekovo naseleniya Vostochno i Yevropy |trans-title=Anthropology of the Ancient and Middle Age Populations of Eastern Europe |url=https://xn--80ad7bbk5c.xn--p1ai/ru/content/antropologiya-antichnogo-i-srednevekovogo-naseleniya-vostochnoy-evropy |publisher=Наука |place=Moscow}}</ref> The material shows the assimilation between the local population and the migrating newcomers.<ref name="Graves"/> In all sites can be traced the anthropological type found in the Zlivka necropolis near the village of Ilichevki, the district of [[Donetsk]], of brachiocranic [[Caucasian race|Caucasoid]] with small [[Mongoloid|East Asian]] admixtures but with Bulgar males being more Mongoloid than females.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iriston.com/nogbon/print.php?newsid=368|title=ЯВЛЕНИЕ ИССКУСТВЕННОЙ ДЕФОРМАЦИИ ЧЕРЕПА У ПРОТОБОЛГАР. ПРОИСХОЖДЕНИЕ И ЗНАЧЕНИЕ. (окончание)|website=www.iriston.com|access-date=27 March 2018}}</ref><ref name="Graves"/><ref name="Gerasimova"/>

Modern genetic research on Central Asian Turkic peoples and ethnic groups related to the Bulgars points to an affiliation with Western Eurasian populations.<ref name="EB_Bulgars" /><ref name="Suslova">{{cite journal |author=Suslova |display-authors=etal |date=October 2012 |title=HLA gene and haplotype frequencies in Russians, Bashkirs and Tatars, living in the Chelyabinsk Region (Russian South Urals). |journal=International Journal of Immunogenetics |publisher=Blackwell Publishing Ltd |volume=39 |issue=5 |pages=375–392 |doi=10.1111/j.1744-313X.2012.01117.x |pmid=22520580 |s2cid=20804610}}</ref> Despite the morphological proximity, there is a visible impact of the local population, in the Volga region of [[Volga Finns]] and [[Cumans|Cuman]]-[[Kipchaks]], in Ukraine of [[Onogurs|Onogur]]-[[Khazars]] and [[Sarmatians|Sarmatian]]-[[Alans]], and in [[Moldova]] and [[Thrace]] of [[Seven Slavic tribes]].<ref name="Gerasimova" /><ref>{{Cite bioRxiv |last=Mikheyev |first=Alexander |title=Diverse genetic origins of medieval steppe nomad conquerors |year=2019 |biorxiv =10.1101/2019.12.15.876912 |quote=Given the common Turkic genetic background of the Bulgars and Khazars, these ethnicities may be difficult to tell apart either archaeologically or genetically.}}</ref> The comparative analysis showed large morphological proximity between the medieval and modern population of the Volga region.<ref name="Gerasimova" /> The examined graves in Northern Bulgaria and Southern Romania showed different somatic types, including Caucasoid-[[Mediterranean race|Mediterranean]] and less often East Asian.{{sfn|Sophoulis|2011|p=66}}

The pre-Christian burial customs in Bulgaria indicate diverse social, i.e. nomadic and sedentary, and cultural influences.{{sfn|Sophoulis|2011|pp=68–69}} In some necropolises specific to the Danube Bulgars, artificial deformation was found in 80% of the skulls.<ref name="Graves" /> The Bulgars had a special type of shamanic "medicine-men" who performed [[Trepanning|trepanations]] of the skull, usually near the [[sagittal suture]]. This practice had a medical application, as well as a symbolic purpose; in two cases the patient had brain problems.<ref>{{cite book |author=D. Dimitrov |date=1987 |chapter=The Proto-Bulgarians north of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov in the VIII–IX cc. |title=Prabylgarite po severnoto i zapadnoto Chernomorie |chapter-url=http://www.kroraina.com/p_bulgar/p_bulg8.html |place=Varna}}</ref> According to [[Maenchen-Helfen]] and Rashev, the artificial deformation of skulls, and other types of burial artifacts in Bulgars graves, are similar to those of the [[Sarmatians]], and Sarmatized Turks or Turkicized Sarmatians of the post-Hunnic graves in the Ukrainian steppe.{{sfn|Maenchen-Helfen|1973|p=443}}<ref name="Rashev" />

== Legacy ==
In modern [[ethnic nationalism]] there is some "rivalry for the Bulgar legacy" (see [[Bulgarism]]). The [[Volga Tatars]], [[Bashkirs]] and [[Chuvash people]], are said to be descended from the Volga Bulgars,{{sfn|Shnirelʹman|1996|p=22–35}}<ref name="History of the Jewish khazars" /> and there may have been ethnogenetic influences on the [[Hungarians]] (Magyars) and [[Karachays|Karachay-]][[Balkars]] also.{{sfn|Olson, Pappas, Pappas|1994|pp=79–81, 84–87, 114–115}}

The President of the Bulgar National Congress, Gusman Khalilov appealed to the [[European Court of Human Rights]] on the issue of renaming the Tatars into Bulgars, but in 2010 he lost in court.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Татары — это не болгары |date=November 2000 |url=https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/162137}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Bulgar calendar]]
* [[Bulgar language]]
* [[Eurasian nomads]]
* [[History of Bulgaria]]
* [[Oghur languages]]
* [[Turkic migration]]
* [[Turkic tribal confederations]]

== Citations ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== General and cited sources ==
<!-- ''Spelling note: the Bulgarian letter'' '''ъ''' ''is usually transliterated 'ǎ'. However, variation in the transliteration is found in academic literature and library catalogs in the West, as well as in official Bulgarian transliterations: the alternatives are'' 'ŭ' ''and'' 'y'. ''The diacritic is often missing. The alternatives'' 'ŭ' ''and'' 'y' ''can be observed below in the spellings of the common first name, Dimitǎr which have become bibliographically established for particular authors.'' -->
*{{cite book |last= Clauson| first= Gerard|title= An Etymological dictionary of Pre-13th Century Turkish|year= 1972|isbn=}}{{ISBN?}}
*{{cite book |last=Runciman |first=Steven |author-link=Steven Runciman |date=1930 |chapter=§ Appendix V – Bulgar titles |title=A history of the First Bulgarian Empire |chapter-url=http://macedonia.kroraina.com/en/sr/sr_app5.htm |publisher=[[George Bell & Sons]] |place=London }}
*{{citation |last=Maenchen-Helfen |first=Otto John |author-link=Otto J. Maenchen-Helfen |date=1973 |title=The World of the Huns: Studies in Their History and Culture |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CrUdgzSICxcC |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-01596-8 }}
*{{cite book |last=Tokarev |first=Sergei A. |author-link=Sergei Aleksandrovich Tokarev |date=1980 |title=Mify narodov mira |trans-title=Myths of the world's peoples |language=ru |publisher=Sovetskaya Entsiklopediya |place=Moscow |volume=2}}
*{{cite book |last=Shnirelʹman |first=Viktor A. |date=1987 |chapter=The Rivalry for the Bulgar legacy |title=Who Gets the Past?: Competition for Ancestors Among Non-Russian Intellectuals in Russia |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4iwHp8amsdEC |publisher=Woodrow Wilson Center Press |isbn=978-0-8018-5221-3 |ref={{harvid|Shnirelʹman1996}}}}
*{{cite book |last=Fine |first=John V. Antwerp |author-link=John Van Antwerp Fine Jr. |title=The Early Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Sixth to the Late Twelfth Century |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y0NBxG9Id58C |publisher=University of Michigan Press |year=1991 |isbn=978-0-472-08149-3 }}
*{{cite book |last=Golden |first=Peter Benjamin |author-link=Peter Benjamin Golden |date=1992 |title=An introduction to the History of the Turkic peoples: ethnogenesis and state formation in medieval and early modern Eurasia and the Middle East |url=https://www.academia.edu/12545004 |publisher=[[Harrassowitz Verlag|Otto Harrassowitz]] |place=[[Wiesbaden]] |isbn=978-3-447-03274-2 }}
*{{cite book |last1=Olson |first1=James S. |author-link=James S. Olson |last2=Pappas |first2=Lee Brigance |last3=Pappas |first3=Nicholas Charles |date=1994 |title=An Ethnohistorical Dictionary of the Russian and Soviet Empires |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CquTz6ps5YgC |publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing Group]] |isbn=978-0-313-27497-8 |ref={{harvid|Olson, Pappas, Pappas1994}}}}
*{{cite book |last1=Bowersock |first1=Glen |author-link1=Glen Bowersock |last2=Brown |first2=Peter |author-link2=Peter Brown (historian) |last3=Grabar |first3=Oleg |author-link3=Oleg Grabar |date=1999 |title=Late Antiquity: A Guide to the Postclassical World |url=https://archive.org/details/lateantiquitygui00bowe |url-access=registration |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-51173-6 |ref={{harvid|Bowersock, Brown, Grabar1999}}}}
*{{cite book |last=Croke |first=Brian |date=2001 |title=Count Marcellinus and His Chronicle |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ep6U-meRt00C |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-815001-5 }}
*{{cite book |last=Karatay |first=Osman |date=2003 |title=In Search of the Lost Tribe: The Origins and Making of the Croatian Nation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h_Qu1ywX0-wC |publisher=Ayse Demiral |isbn=978-975-6467-07-7 }}
*{{cite book |last=Vásáry |first=István |date=2005 |title=Cumans and Tatars: Oriental Military in the Pre-Ottoman Balkans, 1185–1365 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7DJWyg97IggC |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-139-44408-8 }}
*{{cite book |last=Curta |first=Florin |author-link=Florin Curta |date=2006 |title=Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500–1250 |url=https://archive.org/details/southeasterneuro0000curt |url-access=registration |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-81539-0 }}
*{{cite book |last1=Waldman |first1=Carl |last2=Mason |first2=Catherine |date=2006 |title=Encyclopedia of European Peoples |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kfv6HKXErqAC |publisher=Infobase Publishing |isbn=978-1-4381-2918-1 |ref={{harvid|Waldman, Mason2006}}}}
*{{cite book |last=Brook |first=Kevin Alan |date=2006 |title=The Jews of Khazaria |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hEuIveNl9kcC |publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield|Rowman & Littlefield Publishers]] |isbn=1-4422-0302-1 }}
*{{cite book |first=Kiril |last=Petkov |date=2008 |title=The Voices of Medieval Bulgaria, Seventh-Fifteenth Century: The Records of a Bygone Culture |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tjPEtxSOuYgC |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-16831-2 }}
*{{cite book |last=Fiedler |first=Uwe |chapter=Bulgars in the Lower Danube region: A survey of the archaeological evidence and of the state of current research |title=The Other Europe in the Middle Ages: Avars, Bulgars, Khazars and Cumans |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_-G1L-9Zec0C |editor-last1=Curta |editor-first1=Florin |editor-link1=Florin Curta |editor-last2=Kovalev |editor-first2=Roman |date=2008 |publisher=Brill |pages=151–236 |isbn=978-90-04-16389-8 }}
*{{Cite book |last=Sophoulis |first=Panos |date=2011 |title=Byzantium and Bulgaria, 775–831 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EbIyAQAAQBAJ |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-20696-0 |access-date=2015-05-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518083412/https://books.google.hr/books?id=EbIyAQAAQBAJ |archive-date=2015-05-18 }}
*{{cite book |last=Sedlar |first=Jean W. |date=2011 |title=East Central Europe in the Middle Ages, 1000–1500 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ANdbpi1WAIQC |publisher=University of Washington Press |isbn=978-0-295-80064-6 }}
*{{cite book |last=Golden |first=Peter B. |author-link=Peter Benjamin Golden |date=2011 |title=Studies on the Peoples and Cultures of the Eurasian Steppes |url=https://www.academia.edu/9609971 |publisher=Editura Academiei Române; Editura Istros a Muzeului Brăilei |isbn=978-973-27-2152-0 }}
*{{cite book |last=Chen |first=Sanping |date=2012 |title=Multicultural China in the Early Middle Ages |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ugbWH-5OjegC |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-0-8122-0628-9 }}
*{{citation |last=Golden |first=Peter B. |author-link=Peter Benjamin Golden |title=Oq and Oğur~Oğuz* |publisher=Turkish and Middle Eastern Studies, Rutgers University |year=2012 |url=http://www.enu.kz/repository/repository2014/oq-and-ogur.pdf |access-date=2015-04-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150419023615/http://www.enu.kz/repository/repository2014/oq-and-ogur.pdf |archive-date=2015-04-19 }}
*{{cite book |last=Curta |first=Florin |author-link=Florin Curta |chapter=Avar Blitzkrieg, Slavic and Bulgar raiders, and Roman special ops: mobile warriors in the 6th-century Balkans |title=Eurasia in the Middle Ages. Studies in Honour of Peter B. Golden |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/12138833  |editor1=Zimonyi István |editor2=Osman Karatay |date=2015 |publisher=Otto Harrassowitz |place=Wiesbaden |pages=69–89 }}
*{{cite journal |pages=941–647 |doi=10.1098/rspb.2004.2698 |title=Unravelling migrations in the steppe: Mitochondrial DNA sequences from ancient Central Asians |pmc=1691686 |year=2004 |last1=Lalueza-Fox |first1=C. |last2=Sampietro |first2=M. L. |last3=Gilbert |first3=M. T. P. |last4=Castri |first4=L. |last5=Facchini |first5=F. |last6=Pettener |first6=D. |last7=Bertranpetit |first7=J. |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |volume=271 |issue=1542 |pmid=15255049 |ref={{harvid|Lalueza-Fox, et al.2004}}}}
*{{cite journal |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0056779 |pmc=3590186 |title=Y-Chromosome Diversity in Modern Bulgarians: New Clues about Their Ancestry |year=2015 |last1=Karachanak |first1=S. |last2=Grugni |first2=V. |last3=Fornarino |first3=S. |last4=Nesheva |first4=D. |last5=Al-Zahery |first5=N. |last6=Battaglia |first6=V. |last7=Carrosa |first7=C. |last8=Yordanov |first8=Y. |last9=Torroni |first9=A. |last10=Galabov |first10=A. |last11=Toncheva |first11=D. |last12=Semino |first12=O. |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=8 |issue=3 |ref={{harvid|Karachanak, et al.2013}} |pmid=23483890 |article-number=e56779|bibcode=2013PLoSO...856779K |doi-access=free }}
*{{cite book|last= Zimonyi|first= István|title= The Origins of the Volga Bulghars|series= Studia Uralo-Altaica, 32|editor= Klára Szõnyi-Sándor|year= 1990}}

== Further reading ==
*{{cite book |last=Angelov |first=Dimitŭr |date=1971 |title=Образуване на българската народност |language=bg |url=http://www.kroraina.com/knigi/da/index.html |place=Sofia |publisher=Nauka i Izkustvo, Vekove}}
*{{cite web |last=Beshevliev |first=Veselin |author-link=Veselin Beshevliev |date=1981 |title=Прабългарски епиграфски паметници |url=http://www.promacedonia.org/vb/index.html |language=bg |website=promacedonia.org |publisher=Издателство на Отечествения фронт |place=Sofia}}
*{{cite web |last=Beshevliev |first=Veselin |author-link=Veselin Beshevliev |date=1981 |title=Proto-Bulgarian Epigraphic Monuments (images) |url=http://protobulgarians.com/Statii%20ot%20drugi%20avtori/Veselin%20Beshevliev/Veselin%20Beshevliev%20-%20Proto-Bulgarian%20epigraphic%20monuments.htm |language=bg |website=protobulgarians.com |publisher=Izd. na Otech. front |place=Sofia}}
*{{cite book |last=Dobrev |first=Petăr |date=2001 |title=Nepoznatata drevna Bălgarija |trans-title=The Unknown Ancient Bulgaria |language=bg |place=Sofia |publisher=Ivan Vazov Publishers |isbn=954-604-121-1}}
*{{EI3|last=Golden|first=Peter B.|title=Bulghārs|url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-3/bulghars-COM_23726?s.num=98&s.f.s2_parent=s.f.book.encyclopaedia-of-islam-3&s.start=80&s.q=caucasus|year=2011|ref=none}}
*Karatay, Osman. "The Bulgars in Transoxiana: Some Inferences from Early Islamic Sources." Migracijske i etničke teme 1–2 (2009): 69–88.
*{{cite book |first=Tsvetelin |last=Stepanov |date=2010 |title=The Bulgars and the Steppe Empire in the Early Middle Ages: The Problem of the Others |url=http://www.brill.com/bulgars-and-steppe-empire-early-middle-ages |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-18001-7 |access-date=2015-05-14 |archive-date=2017-07-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170730014536/http://www.brill.com/bulgars-and-steppe-empire-early-middle-ages }}
*{{cite web|url=http://podhorski.com/main/assets/documents/Chinese_Bulgars.pdf|title=Some remarks on the Chinese 'Bulgar'|last=Sanping|first=Chen}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Bulgars}}
* [https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/84067/Bulgar Bulgars]—''[[Encyclopædia Britannica Online]]''
* [https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-42723/Bulgaria Arrival of the Bulgars]—''[[Encyclopædia Britannica Online]]''

{{Bulgarian Empire}}
{{Turkic peoples}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bulgar}}
[[Category:Bulgars| ]]
[[Category:Extinct Turkic peoples]]
[[Category:History of Ural]]
[[Category:Medieval history of Bulgaria]]
[[Category:Migration Period]]
[[Category:Moldova in the Early Middle Ages]]
[[Category:Romania in the Early Middle Ages]]
[[Category:Saltovo-Mayaki culture]]
[[Category:Turkic peoples]]
[[Category:Turkic nomadic tribes]]