Geography |
The Republic of Bulgaria, located on the Balkan Peninsula, is bounded on the north by Romania, on the east by the Black Sea, on the south by Turkey and Greece, and on the west by Serbia and Montenegro and Macedonia. The area of Bulgaria is 110 980 km2. The greatest distance from north to south is about 330 km and from east to west about 500 km.
Mountains cover much of Bulgaria, interspersed with fertile valleys and plains. The average elevation is about 480 m. The Balkan Mountains cross the country from the north-western corner to the Black Sea and form the watershed between the Danube River and the Aegean Sea. Botev Peak is the highest elevation at 2 376 m. The northern side of the Balkan Mountains slopes gradually to the Danube River to form the northern Bulgarian or Danubian Plateau. Transitional plains lie to the south of the mountains and are an important agricultural region. The Rhodope Mountains, which form the boundary with Greece on the south, rise to the country's highest point, Musala Peak, at 2 925 m.
The principal river draining Bulgaria is the Danube. Several other rivers, including the Iskur and the Yantra, flow into the Danube. The Maritsa River flows east to Greece and Turkey across the Thracian Plain. Other important rivers are the Kamchiya, which empties into the Black Sea, and the Struma and Mesta, which flow south to the Aegean Sea.
Most of Bulgaria has a continental climate, with cold winters and hot summers. The climate in general is more severe than in other European areas of the same latitudes, although a Mediterranean climate, with dry summers and mild, humid winters, prevails in the valley of the south-western Rhodope Mountains.
The average January temperatures in the country range from 2° C near the Black Sea to -17° C in central Bulgaria. July temperature range between 16° and 27° C. The average rainfall is about 630 mm per year, ranging from a low of about 190 mm in the north-east, to a high of about 1900 mm in the Rila Mountains. The wettest period is early summer in most of the country and autumn or winter in the southern valleys. Snowfall is generally light except in the mountains.
The designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.