Burgas in the context of "Plovdiv"

Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey to the south, Serbia and North Macedonia to the west, and Romania to the north. It covers a territory of 110,994 square kilometres (42,855 sq mi) and is the tenth largest within the European Union and the sixteenth-largest country in Europe by area. Sofia is the nation's capital and largest city; other major cities include Burgas, Plovdiv, and Varna.

One of the earliest societies in the lands of modern-day Bulgaria was the Karanovo culture (6,500 BC). In the 6th to 3rd century BC, the region was a battleground for ancient Thracians, Persians, Celts, and Macedonians; stability came when the Roman Empire conquered the region in AD 45. After the Roman state splintered, tribal invasions in the region resumed. Around the 6th century, these territories were settled by the early Slavs. The Bulgars, led by Asparuh, attacked from the lands of Old Great Bulgaria and permanently invaded the Balkans in the late 7th century. They established the First Bulgarian Empire, victoriously recognised by treaty in 681 AD by the Byzantine Empire. It dominated most of the Balkans and significantly influenced Slavic cultures by developing the Cyrillic script. Under the rule of the Krum's dynasty, the country rose to the status of a mighty empire and great power. The First Bulgarian Empire lasted until the early 11th century, when Byzantine emperor Basil II conquered and dismantled it. A successful Bulgarian revolt in 1185 established a Second Bulgarian Empire, which reached its apex under Ivan Asen II (1218–1241). After numerous exhausting wars and feudal strife, the empire disintegrated and in 1396 fell under Ottoman rule for nearly five centuries.

The Black Sea is a marginal sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine. The Black Sea is supplied by major rivers, principally the Danube, Dnieper and Dniester. Consequently, while six countries have a coastline on the sea, its drainage basin includes parts of 24 countries in Europe.

The Black Sea, not including the Sea of Azov, covers 436,400 km (168,500 sq mi), has a maximum depth of 2,212 m (7,257 ft), and a volume of 547,000 km (131,000 cu mi).Most of its coasts ascend rapidly.These rises are the Pontic Mountains to the south, bar the southwest-facing peninsulas, the Caucasus Mountains to the east, and the Crimean Mountains to the mid-north.In the west, the coast is generally small floodplains below foothills such as the Strandzha; Cape Emine, a dwindling of the east end of the Balkan Mountains; and the Dobruja Plateau considerably farther north. The longest east–west extent is about 1,175 km (730 mi). Important cities along the coast include (clockwise from the Bosporus) the northern suburbs of Istanbul, Burgas, Varna, Constanța, Odesa, Yalta, Kerch, Yevpatoria, Sevastopol, Novorossiysk, Sochi, Poti, Batumi, Rize, Trabzon, Ordu, Simferopol, Samsun and Zonguldak.

Strandzha (Bulgarian: Странджа, also transliterated as Strandja, pronounced [ˈstrand͡ʒɐ]; Turkish: Istranca [ɯstɾand͡ʒa], or Yıldız [jɯɫdɯz]) is a mountain massif in southeastern Bulgaria and East Thrace, the European part of Turkey. It is in the southeastern part of the Balkans between the plains of Thrace to the west, the lowlands near Burgas to the north, and the Black Sea to the east. Its highest peak is Mahya Dağı (Bulgarian: Махиада, Mahiada) (1,031 m or 3,383 ft) in Turkey, while the highest point on Bulgarian territory is Golyamo Gradishte (Bulgarian: Голямо Градище) (710 m or 2,329 ft). The total area is approximately 10,000 km (3,861 sq mi).

Cape Emine (Bulgarian: Нос Емине [ˈnɔs ˈɛminɛ]) is a headland located at the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast. It is located 79 kilometres (49 mi) south of Varna, 55 km (34 mi) north of Burgas and 14 km (9 mi) south of Obzor. It forms the tip of Stara Planina. Cape Emine is said to be Bulgaria's stormiest cape.

In the Middle Ages, there was a fortress called Emona on Cape Emine. Its name was derived from Aemon, the ancient name for Stara Planina. Nowadays, only some ruins of the fortress are left. There are also remnants of a monastery and a lighthouse. The village of Emona is located nearby.

Northern Thrace or North Thrace (Bulgarian: Северна Тракия, Severna Trakiya; Turkish: Kuzey Trakya; Greek: Βόρεια Θράκη), also called Bulgarian Thrace, constitutes the northern and largest part of the historical region of Thrace. It is located in Southern Bulgaria and includes the territory south of the Balkan Mountains and east of the Mesta River, bordering Western Thrace and East Thrace in the south, and the Black Sea in the east. It encompasses Sredna Gora, the Upper Thracian Plain, and 90% of the Rhodopes.

The climate ranges from subtropical to transitional continental and mountainous. The highest temperature recorded in Bulgaria occurred here: it was 45.2 °C (113.4 °F; 318.3 K) at Sadovo in 1916. The main rivers of the region are the Maritsa and its tributaries. Notable cities include Plovdiv, Burgas, Stara Zagora, Sliven, Haskovo, Yambol, Pazardzhik, Asenovgrad, Kardzhali, Dimitrovgrad, Kazanlak and Smolyan. Northern Thrace has an area of 42,073 km.

Burgas (Bulgarian: Област Бургас, romanized: Oblast Burgas, formerly the Burgas okrug) is a province in southeastern Bulgaria on the southern Bulgarian Black Sea Coast. The province is named after its administrative and industrial centre, the city of Burgas, the fourth biggest town in the country. It is the largest province by area, with a territory of 7,748.1 km (2,991.6 sq mi) that is divided into 13 municipalities. It has a total population, as of December 2009, of 422,319 inhabitants.

The Burgas Lakes (Bulgarian: Бургаски езера, Burgaski ezera) or Burgas Wetlands (Бургаски влажни зони, Burgaski vlazhni zoni) are a group of coastal lakes of varying saltiness located around the Bulgarian city of Burgas in the proximity of the Black Sea. They constitute the largest group of lakes in the country and comprise some of Bulgaria's biggest and most important lakes.

The lakes' total area (including swamps, marshes, ponds and other reservoirs) amounts to 95 km, of which 33.30 km are either proclaimed or proposed protected areas that are inhabited by a large number of locally or globally endangered species of birds, fish and mammals. Apart from this, the Burgas Lakes are also of economic importance, used to obtain sea salt and curative mud, as well as to supply the local economy with fresh water, in the case of Lake Mandrensko.

Gulf of Burgas or Burgas Bay (Bulgarian: Бургаски залив, Burgaski zaliv) between the coastline and the straight line joining Cape Emine and Cape Maslen nos is the largest bay of the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and one of the largest in the Black Sea. The length of the gulf is 44 kilometres. It is 41 km at its widest and 25 m at its deepest, reaching 31 km at its greatest innermost extent, approximately where the Bulgarian city and major port of Burgas is located. Other towns in the region include Pomorie, Sozopol and Nesebar. The Burgas Bay is the Black Sea's westernmost point.

The bay gets narrow to the west. While the northern coast is lower and has two big peninsulas, at Nesebar and Pomorie, the southern part of the bay is rougher, with many little inlets and headlands. The water's salinity in the bay is 17‰; the sand is of magnetite origin. The Burgas Lakes are located in the wetlands to the west.

LUKOIL Neftohim Burgas (Bulgarian: ЛУКОЙЛ Нефтохим Бургас), based in Burgas, Bulgaria, sometimes spelt "Neftochim Burgas," is one of the largest oil refineries in the Balkans and the largest industrial enterprise in Bulgaria.

Owned by Russian oil giant LUKOIL, the refinery has the biggest contribution among the privately owned enterprises to the country's GDP and to the state budget revenues. LUKOIL Neftohim Burgas is the leading producer and supplier of liquid fuels, petrochemicals and polymers for Bulgaria and the region and one of the leading companies in its field in Europe.