Bourgas

Burgas (Bulgarian: Бургас, sometimes transliterated as Bourgas) is the second-largest city on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast with population 205,821. It is also the fourth-largest by population in the country, after Sofia, Plovdiv and Varna. It is the capital of Burgas Province and an industrial and tourist centre.Surrounded by the coastal Burgas Lakes and located at the westernmost point of the Black Sea, the large Burgas Bay, Burgas has the largest and most important Bulgarian port. Today, it is a key economic, cultural and tourist centre of southeastern Bulgaria, with the Burgas Airport serving the resorts of the southern Bulgarian coast. Burgas is a successor of the Ancient Greek city of Pyrgos (Πύργος), founded by colonists from Apolonia as a military and observational post against the other important settlement in the region — Mesembria. Besides Pirgos, the present-day city expands over the area of three other ancient settlements: Castrition, Skafida and Rossokastron. During the rule of the Ancient Romans, Burgas was known as Deultum, and was established as a military colony for veterans by Vespasian. In the Middle Ages, a small fortress called Pirgos (Πύργος being Greek for "tower") was erected on the place and was most probably used as a watchtower. It was only in the 17th century that a settlement named Ahelo-Pirgas grew in the modern area of the city. It was later renamed to Bourgas and had only about 3,000 inhabitants, most of them Greeks at the time of the Liberation. Later, it became a major centre on the southern Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and a city of well-developed industry and trade. A number of oil and chemical companies were gradually built. Salt and iron are also mined and traded abroad.

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