Editing History of Bulgaria (section)

===Old Great Bulgaria===
{{Main|Old Great Bulgaria}}
[[File:Pontic steppe region around 650 AD.png|250px|thumb|Great Bulgaria and adjacent regions, c. 650 AD]]
Unified under a single ruler, Kurt, or Kubrat (reigned c. 605–c. 642), the Bulgars constituted a powerful polity known to the Eastern Romans as [[Great Bulgaria]]. 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.<ref>(https://www.britannica.com/topic/Bulgar)</ref>

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 centre 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 (Roman province)|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 the [[Macedonia (region)|region of Macedonia]].<ref>Иван Микулчиќ, "Средновековни градови и тврдини во Македонија", Скопје, "Македонска цивилизација", 1996, стр. 29–33.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last= Mikulčik |first= Ivan |title= Srednovekovni gradovi i tvrdini vo Makedonija |trans-title= Medieval cities and castles in Macedonia |series= Македонска цивилизација [Macedonian civilization] |year= 1996|publisher= Makedonska akademija na naukite i umetnostite |location= Skopje |language= mk |isbn= 9989-649-08-1 |page= 391 }}</ref>