The Bulgarian diaspora in Southeastern Europe (Bessarabia, the Sea of Azov region, the Crimea). Preliminary remarks

Abstract

There are three types of Bulgarian diaspora in Southeastern Europe (in Bessarabia, on the north coast of the Sea of Azov, and in the Crimea).The Bulgarians in Bessarabia are well known and described in scientific literature. The remaining two types are barely known even in Bulgaria itself. Though the first traces of Bulgarian people in the area of our concern are earlier, the presently existing diaspora arose as a result of mass and top-down displacement actions organized by the Russian authorities in the nineteenth century. All three types of Bulgarian diaspora were affected to varying degrees by turbulent history of the inhabited region. The fate of the Bulgarians in the Crimea and in the Sea of Azov region was the most tragic, whereas better fate met the Bulgarians in Bessarabia. It is no wonder, then, that despite many adversities, they (together with the Gagauz) still occupy the area of compact settlement in Southern Moldova and in the Odessa Oblast in Ukraine. Due to the limited scope, the text has, most of all, an informative character for Polish reader. The article presents the existence of this interesting part of Bulgarian nation which has lived far from its old homeland for over two hundred years. The aim of this text is also to encourage further profound scientific research (above all in the historical, ethnological, sociological, linguistic studies, but also in political sciences, and others).