In 632,
Khan Kubrat united the three largest Bulgar tribes: the Kutrigur, the Utugur
and the Onogonduri, thus forming the country that now historians call Great
Bulgaria (also known as Onoguria). This country was situated between the lower
course of the Danube river to the west, the Black Sea and the Azov Sea to the
south, the Kuban river to the east and the Donets river to the north. The
capital was Phanagoria, on the Azov.
In 635,
Kubrat signed a peace treaty with emperor Heraclius of the Byzantine Empire,
expanding the Bulgar kingdom further into the Balkans. Later, Kubrat was
crowned with the title Patrician by Heraclius. The kingdom never survived
Kubrat's death. After several wars with the Khazars, the Bulgars were finally
defeated and they migrated to the south to the north and mainly to the west
into the Balkans where most of the other Bulgar tribes were living in a state
vassal to the Byzantine Empire since the 5th century.
One of the
successors of Khan Kubrat, Kotrag led nine Bulgar tribes to the north along the
banks of the river Volga in what is today Russia, creating the Kingdom of the
Volga Bulgars in the late 7th century. This kingdom later became the trade and
cultural center of the north, because it stood on a very strategic position
creating a monopoly over the trade among the Arabs, the Norse and the Avars.
The Volga Bulgars were the first to ever defeat the Mongolic horde and
protected Europe for decades, but after countless Mongol invasions the Kingdom
of the Volga Bulgars was destroyed and most of its citizens slaughtered or sold
as slaves in Asia.
Another
successor of Khan Kubrat, Asparuh (Kotrag's brother) moved west, occupying
today's southern Bessarabia. After a successful war with Byzantium in 680,
Asparuh's khanate conquered initially Scythia Minor and was recognised as an
independent state under the subsequent treaty signed with the Byzantine Empire
in 681. That year is usually regarded as the year of the establishment of
present-day Bulgaria and Asparuh is regarded as the first Bulgarian ruler.
Another Bulgar horde, led by Asparuh's brother Kuber, came to settle in
Pannonia and later into Macedonia.
(wikipedia)
