Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2024 All Rights Reserved

104 years since the annexation of the Western Outlands

The signing of the Treaty of Neuilly, 1919.
Photo: Archive

Today, 6 November, marks 104 years since the annexation of the Western Outlands in 1920. Traditionally Bulgarian territories in south-eastern Serbia and northern Macedonia were ceded to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in 1920 as a result of the Treaty of Neuilly (1919). 

Between 6 and 8 November 1920, without waiting for the international commission to determine the exact new border with Bulgaria that their government wanted, Serbian troops occupied parts of the regions of Tsaribrod, Bosilegrad, Kula and Tran. 

Marking the new border line near Belogradchik.   Photo: Personal archive of Nikolai Tomov from Vidin

An area of 1,545 square kilometres with a population of 64,509 was taken from Bulgaria. The new border cut through 25 Bulgarian villages, dividing houses, yards, fields, springs, wells, cemeteries, roads, families, relatives and friends. As a result of these events, more than 30,000 Bulgarians emigrated to Bulgaria, and later about 5,000 of them emigrated to Western Europe and America, according to the Cultural Information Centre (CIC) "Bosilegrad".




Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

A fully preserved statue from the 2nd-3rd century was discovered in Odessos

A unique statue from the Roman period of Odessos, preliminarily dated to the late 2nd to the first half of the 3rd century, has been discovered during excavation works near the train station in Varna, said archaeologists from the Varna Regional..

published on 10/15/24 6:10 PM
Engineer Katya Stoyanova, head of the

The municipality of Petrich awarded for the promotion of Heraclea Sintica

Petrich municipality has received an award for original promotion of the tourist destination Heraclea Sintica , Katya Stoyanova, head of the "Restoration, conservation and socialization of Heraclea Sintica" project, said this for BTA.  The award..

published on 10/15/24 2:23 PM
Photo: National Museum of Natural History of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences

Paleontologists find more than 30 animal fossils from the time of the dinosaurs near Trun

What was the animal world like in the region of what is today the town of Trun more than 80 million years ago – that is the question paleontologists from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences’ National Museum of Natural History have been trying to answer...

published on 10/6/24 6:35 AM