Pastlasby Oleh Voronko

State · 681 – 1018

First Bulgarian Empire

A state of 681 – 1018 — 337 years in Europe. It replaced Avar Khaganate. The atlas records 34 things within it — wars and battles 13 · people 21. Its line of rulers holds 20 people, 3 with dated terms.

For the full story, the article on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); this page holds what the record says of the state.

Stood
337 years
681 – 1018
Rulers
20
the Bulgarian Khan
Most ground
427,400 km²
in 850
Within it
34
recorded rows
Symbols
2
on record, with years
Map: First Bulgarian Empire in 850, its borders in gold among its neighbours
First Bulgarian Empire in 850, when it held the most ground the borders dataset draws for it: 427,400 km². Its neighbours wear their tints, as on the atlas's own map. Borders from Cliopatria (CC BY 4.0), coast and rivers from Natural Earth, cities from Reba, Reitsma & Seto 2016 (CC BY 4.0), each city under the name it bore that year.
First Bulgarian Empire in 682, first mapped

682 · first mapped · 172,900 km²

First Bulgarian Empire in 850, at its largest

850 · at its largest · 427,400 km²

First Bulgarian Empire in 1015, last mapped

1015 · last mapped · 103,700 km²

The rise and the fall in one frame: the same ground at the years the borders dataset first maps it, maps it largest, and last maps it.

Where it sits in time

3000 BCE2000 BCE1000 BCE110002000Avar Khaganate: 562 – 828First Bulgarian Empire: 681 – 1018

Five thousand years, 3000 BCE to 2026; the state in gold, what it replaced or followed and what replaced or followed it in grey.

Before and after

The states the record files it as replacing or following, and those that replaced or followed it - Wikidata's own statements, each read from this state's side.

Before it

Rulers

The line of Bulgarian Khan.

Vikrantavarman II · 686 – 731 · no death date to read the end againstTelerig of Bulgaria · 768 – 777 · no death date to read the end againstMalamir of Bulgaria · 831 – 836 · died in office, manner not recorded7008009001000
died in officeending not on record
RulerReignLengthHow it ended · sourceTo the ruler before
Vikrantavarman II686 – 73145 yearsending not on record
Telerig of Bulgaria768 – 7779 yearsending not on record
Malamir of Bulgaria831 – 8365 yearsdied in office, manner not recordedread off the dates alone

20 rulers, 3 with terms dated as terms, covering 686 – 836. Median reign 9 years. 0 of 2 handovers irregular - a killing, a deposition, a rival claimant, a rising or a coup beside it. A blank in the last column means no kin on record, which is coverage, never “unrelated”.

Ground held, by year

km² inside its borders as the borders dataset draws them, measured on an equal-area grid; a step series, held between the years the dataset maps.

7508008509009501000

189,800 km² in 706, 223,700 km² in 1006; at its largest 427,400 km² in 856. Cliopatria, CC BY 4.0.

Flags and arms, in order

Each symbol with the years its own statement gives; the timeline flies the one of the year on screen.

  • Birinci-bulgar-imparatorlugu
    flag, undatedBirinci-bulgar-imparatorlugu · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Vüqar02
  • Monogram on the silver eagle from the Voznesenka treasure
    coat of arms, undatedMonogram on the silver eagle from the Voznesenka treasure · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Vaskots7

What happened within it, by century

Every row the atlas hosts under this state, by the century it began in: wars and battles in red, risings, regime changes and massacres beside them, everything else in grey. A tall bar is a century the record is full for, which is partly a fact about Wikipedia.

600 – 699: 1 recorded — 0 wars and battles, 0 risings, regime changes and massacres, 1 other600700 – 799: 14 recorded — 5 wars and battles, 0 risings, regime changes and massacres, 9 other700800 – 899: 9 recorded — 2 wars and battles, 0 risings, regime changes and massacres, 7 other800900 – 999: 8 recorded — 4 wars and battles, 0 risings, regime changes and massacres, 4 other9001000 – 1099: 2 recorded — 2 wars and battles, 0 risings, regime changes and massacres, 0 other1000

600 – 6991 row

700 – 79914 rows · 5 wars and battles

and 6 more in the atlas.

800 – 8999 rows · 2 wars and battles

and 1 more in the atlas.

900 – 9998 rows · 4 wars and battles

1000 – 10992 rows · 2 wars and battles

Among all states

Each measure against the states that carry it, never against all of them: a bar is the share of those states below this one.

  • How long it stood337 years

    stood longer than 76% of 3,187 states with a recorded end or still standing.

  • The most ground it held427,400 km²

    held more ground at its peak than 72% of 1,465 states with a border in Cliopatria.

  • Wars recorded per century0.9

    had more wars on record per century than 92% of 3,187 states, counting the wars the atlas hosts under each.

  • How long a reign lasted, at the median9 years

    had longer reigns, at the median, than 31% of 967 states whose dated line can carry a median.

  • Rulers on record20

    has more rulers on record than 91% of 1,968 states with a line of rulers.

What led to it, and what came of it

The investigation's own picture: 1 cause the record names and 0 results, the strongest six of each at their own years, joined to the state by the kind of claim - a recorded statement solid, the article's sentence dashed, a theory dash-dot.

Avar Khaganate · Linked · 562 – 828Avar KhaganateFirst Bulgarian Empire · 681 – 1018First Bulgarian Empire6007008009001000
linked

Open the investigation: every row with its evidence, the conditions at the time, the theories condition by condition, and the succession analysed.

Theories that apply to its ending

Of 3 theories of why states fall, 1 has every condition present at this ending; each is applied by its own logic, condition by condition, and whether its authors named this case is a footnote.

  • Challenge, failed response and dissolution

    Toynbee 1934 · Toynbee & Somervell 1946

    Applies by its own logic: 2 of its 2 conditions held here (it needs all of them), and this is the kind of outcome it predicts — the state's ending.

    • territory shrank by 25% over the 100 y ending 25 y before — territory -35
    • unrest, adverse regime change or atrocity within 100 y in the state, or a war the state is fighting, still under way, or a war the state fought, ended within 50 y, or battle within 50 y in the state — warEnded; prior

Open in the atlas

Wikidata Q203817 (CC0) · borders Cliopatria, CC BY 4.0 · coast and rivers Natural Earth · symbols from Wikimedia Commons, each credited above · data built 2026-10-06 · Pastlas v2.9.1, by Oleh Voronko. The published atlas and its data are for non-commercial use.