title: Assassin's Creed

text: In December 2014, images and information leaked for a new "Assassin's Creed" game, titled or code-named "Victory", which was later confirmed by Ubisoft. In May 2015, Kotaku leaked that "Victory" had been renamed "Syndicate". On May 12, 2015, the game was officially announced by Ubisoft. The game retains most gameplay elements from "Unity", while introducing new travelling systems, such as carriages and a grappling hook, and refined combat mechanics. It is the first game in the series to feature multiple playable protagonists, whom the player can switch between both during and outside missions.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: "Assassin's Creed Origins" is a soft reboot of the franchise, and was released in October 2017 for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows, and Stadia. The game introduces a new protagonist in the modern-day, Layla Hassan, and explores the origins of the Assassin Brotherhood and their conflict with the Templar Order. The story is set in Ancient Egypt, near the end of the Ptolemaic period (49–43 BC), and follows a medjay named Bayek and his wife Aya, whose fight to protect their people from the Order of the Ancients—forerunners to the Templar Order—leads them to create the Hidden Ones—forerunners to the Assassin Brotherhood. Unlike previous games in the series, which were more action-adventure game-oriented, "Origins" heavily features mechanics found in action role-playing games, including an overhauled hitbox-based combat system.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: In February 2016, Ubisoft announced they would not be releasing a new game in 2016 in order to step "back and [re-examine] the "Assassin's Creed" franchise ... [and take the] year to evolve the game mechanics and to make sure we're delivering on the promise of "Assassin's Creed" offering unique and memorable gameplay experiences." On the decision, Guillemot said that "Ubisoft started to question the annualized franchise with the release of "Assassin's Creed Unity", and the fact that "Assassin's Creed Syndicate" had "a slower launch than expected". Guillemot added that "by moving away from the annual iterations of the franchise, it will give the "Assassin's Creed" teams more time to take advantage of new engines and technology." "Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag"s director Ashraf Ismail, commented on an interview that he and the team would be interested in doing an "Assassin's Creed" game in an Ancient Egyptian setting, along with reiterating an earlier statement that a female leading character was not an impossibility for the series. In May 2017, Ubisoft confirmed the development of "Assassin's Creed Origins"; one month later, the setting was confirmed to be Ptolemaic Egypt.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: "Assassin's Creed Odyssey" was released in October 2018 for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows, and Nintendo Switch, and in November 2019 for the Stadia. The modern-day narrative continues from the events of "Origins", as Layla, after being recruited to the Assassins, searches for Atlantis, which is rumored to house a powerful artifact: the Staff of Hermes. The main story is set during the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta, at the height of Classical Greece. Players choose between two playable protagonists, Alexios and Kassandra, and embark on a quest to discover mysteries surrounding their family, as well as to undermine a proto-Templar organization: the Cult of Kosmos.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: "Odyssey" was leaked in May 2018 by a picture posted by the French website Jeuxvideo; it was officially announced at E3 2018, with a release date of October 2018. Similarly to "Origins", the game places more emphasis on role-playing elements than previous entries in the series and introduces dialogue options and branching quests, which can result in different endings.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: "Assassin's Creed Valhalla" was released in November 2020 for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Windows, Stadia, and Amazon Luna. The game concludes the modern-day story arc focusing on Layla, who must find a First Civilization temple in Norway to restore the Earth's magnetic field to its proper strength since Desmond's sacrifice in "Assassin's Creed III" only delayed the apocalypse. The main narrative takes place in the late 9th century, during the Viking expansions into the British Isles. Players control a customizable Viking raider, Eivor Varinsdottir, who becomes embroiled in the conflict between the Hidden Ones and the Order of the Ancients while attempting to establish a new Viking clan in England.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: "Valhalla" was officially announced in April 2020. Ubisoft Montreal led its development along with fourteen other Ubisoft studios. The title had been leaked earlier in April 2019 under the name "Assassin's Creed Kingdom". Like its predecessors, "Valhalla" is a role-playing game focused on combat and exploration, although it brings back several elements that were absent in "Origins" and "Odyssey", such as social stealth and a customizable settlement.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: "Assassin's Creed III: Liberation" is a spin-off to "Assassin's Creed III", originally released for the PlayStation Vita in October 2012. The story takes place before and during the events of "Assassin's Creed III", and follows Aveline de Grandpré, a Louisiana Creole woman from New Orleans, the daughter of a French merchant father and an African mother. Aveline is recruited into the Assassin Brotherhood by a former slave and fights against slavery as well as the Templars, who plot to take over Louisiana after the end of the Seven Years' War. Aveline uses a variety of new weapons in combat, including a machete and a blowpipe for ranged attacks, and can disguise herself to deceive enemies, although certain disguises limit her movement and abilities. The entire game is presented as a product developed by the in-universe company Abstergo Entertainment, who have done a heavy amount of censoring in regards to the Assassin–Templar conflict. At various points during their playthrough, the player is contacted by the hacking collective Erudito, who helps them uncensor the game to learn the true nature of the events depicted.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: An original "Assassin's Creed" title for the PlayStation Vita was announced to be in development during Gamescom 2011 and would feature a new story with new characters; on June 4, 2012, at E3, "Liberation" was officially announced. On September 10, 2013, it was announced that the game would be re-released as "Assassin's Creed: Liberation HD" for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Microsoft Windows via the PlayStation Network, Xbox Live Arcade, and Steam, respectively. In March 2019, it was announced that a remastered version of "Liberation" would be bundled with "Assassin's Creed III Remastered" for Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and, later, for the Nintendo Switch. Ubisoft officially decommissioned "Assassin's Creed: Liberation HD" on October 1, 2022, with no additional copies being sold outside of the bundled "Assassin's Creed III Remastered" version.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: "Assassin's Creed Freedom Cry" was originally released as downloadable content (DLC) for most versions of "Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag" in December 2013. A standalone version was released in February 2014 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation 4. Set thirteen years after the ending of "Black Flag", the game follows Adéwalé, a major supporting character from "Black Flag", who served as the quartermaster to protagonist Edward Kenway before joining the Assassin Brotherhood towards the end of the main story. During the events of "Freedom Cry", Adéwalé finds himself shipwrecked in the French colony of Saint-Domingue (present-day Haiti), where he encounters some of the most brutal slavery practices in the West Indies. Being a former slave, Adéwalé temporarily abandons his fight against the Templars and joins a Maroon rebellion to help them rescue oppressed slaves.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: Being originally released as DLC for "Black Flag", "Freedom Cry's" gameplay is virtually identical, though it does feature several new additions. Most notably, Adéwalé has the option to rescue slaves by raiding plantations, attacking slave ships, or simply killing their masters, with each freed slave serving as a resource for the player to accumulate to unlock upgrades for Adéwalé. Furthermore, some freed slaves join the Maroon rebellion and can become crew members aboard Adéwalé's ship, the "Experto Crede", or help the player fight enemies.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: "Assassin's Creed Chronicles" is sub-series of three 2.5D action and stealth games released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, and Xbox One.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: "Assassin's Creed: Altaïr's Chronicles" is a spin-off for the Nintendo DS, Windows Phone, Android, iOS, webOS, Symbian, and Java ME, originally released in February 2008. The game is a prequel to the first "Assassin's Creed", taking place in the year 1190, and follows Altaïr as he attempts to retrieve an artifact called the Chalice from the Templars.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: "Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines" is the second spin-off title following Altaïr. It was released as a PlayStation Portable exclusive in November 2009 (concurrently with "Assassin's Creed II") and acts as a direct sequel to the original game. Following the events of "Assassin's Creed", Altaïr travels to the island nation of Cyprus to eliminate the last remnants of the Templar Order. Here, he again runs into Maria Thorpe, a young Templar agent whose life he spared in the first game, and they team up to eliminate the Templar presence on the island and learn more about the Apple of Eden and the mysterious Templar Archive, where more Pieces of Eden are believed to be hidden. Despite the technical limitations of the PlayStation Portable, the game features most gameplay mechanics of the console and PC titles, and even a few exclusive elements.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: "Assassin's Creed II: Discovery" is a spin-off to "Assassin's Creed II" and was released alongside it in November 2009 for the Nintendo DS; it was later re-released for iOS in January 2010. The game is a 2.5D side-scroller, and takes place during the events of "Assassin's Creed II", between Sequences 12 and 13 when Ezio is searching for the Apple of Eden after losing it to Girolamo Savonarola. During his search, Ezio travels to Spain to rescue members of the Spanish Assassin Brotherhood who have been arrested on the orders of Tomás de Torquemada, the Grand Inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition, and allies with several historical figures, such as Luis de Santángel and Christopher Columbus.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: "Assassin's Creed Rearmed" is a multiplayer video game designed for iOS, and available for iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. It is the only "Assassin's Creed" multiplayer driven by an in-game economy. The aim is to assassinate the assigned target and avoid being killed by a hunter. The player can purchase additional items, characters and abilities as well as compete with friends and foes from around the globe in a four player real-time online multiplayer mode. Players can connect via Game Center. It is possible to play against someone in the immediate area via Bluetooth. Available map locations include Jerusalem, San Donato, Venice and Alhambra.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: "Assassin's Creed Recollection" is a real-time board game developed for iOS. Players go head-to-head in real-time political battles with characters from the franchise. Players can unlock a collection of artwork from the series. The game features over 280 Memories, reconnecting with characters from "Assassin's Creed II" and "". The single-player Story Mode has 10+ hours of gameplay, with 20 missions from Barcelona to Constantinople and 10 challenge missions. In Versus Mode, players can challenge their friends and people worldwide, pitting their strategies and abilities against one another. The game supports Game Center, allowing players to track achievements, challenge friends, and play against the world. Go behind the scenes with the Art Gallery, a collection of artwork from the franchise.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: "Assassin's Creed: Pirates" is a mobile game released on iOS and Android devices on December 5, 2013. Developed by Ubisoft Paris, the game follows Captain Alonzo Batilla, who is neither Assassin nor Templar, as he commands a ship and crew, while crossing paths with the Assassins and Templars. Gameplay focuses on real-time battles between ships. The title is in 3D and features both wind and weather that will affect how players proceed.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: "Assassin's Creed Memories" is a mobile game that was released on iOS devices on August 20, 2014. Developed along with PlayNext and Gree, the game combines card collection and battling, target chasing, and strategy elements, along with the option of competitive multiplayer. Additional multiplayer options include allowing players to join a guild and engage in 20 vs. 20 guild combat scenarios. "Memories" features different historical eras, including the Third Crusade, the Golden Age of Piracy, feudal Japan and the Mongolian Empire.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: "Assassin's Creed Identity" is a game for iOS and Android devices that was released worldwide on February 25, 2016. It is a 3D third-person role-playing video game, and takes place during the events of "". It had a soft-launch in Australia and New Zealand in 2014.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: "Assassin's Creed Rebellion" is a game for iOS and Android devices that was released worldwide on November 21, 2018. It is a free-to-play, strategy role-playing video game. It follows the Spanish Assassins under Aguilar de Nerha during the Spanish Inquisition in the late 15th-century. The game features a large cast of characters from the entire "Assassin's Creed" franchise, as well as thirty new characters created exclusively for "Rebellion".


title: Assassin's Creed

text: Asked about the future of the series in 2009, Sébastien Puel from Ubisoft said that "we could do 35 of these ["Assassin's Creed" games]", while Laurent Detoc later said "we hope to reach "Assassin's Creed 10"."


title: Assassin's Creed

text: In November 2011, a Ubisoft survey was sent out, asking participants which locations and time periods they would like to see in the "next "Assassin's Creed" games". These settings were Medieval China, Victorian England, Ancient Egypt, the Portuguese and/or Spanish colonizationns of the Americas, the American Revolution, the Russian Revolution, Feudal Japan, and Ancient Rome. Alex Hutchinson, creative director of "Assassin's Creed III", suggested the most requested "Assassin's Creed" settings, World War II, Feudal Japan and Ancient Egypt, are "the three worst settings for an "Assassin's Creed" game". Hutchinson also stated both he and Corey May were open to the idea of a future entry set during the time of the British Raj, which now consists of the modern states of Bangladesh, Pakistan, Myanmar, and India. Victorian England, the American Revolution, Medieval China, parts of the British Raj, the Russian Revolution, and Ancient Egypt were subsequently used for "Assassin's Creed Syndicate", "Assassin's Creed III", "Assassin's Creed Chronicles", and "Assassin's Creed Origins", respectively, with World War I appearing as a section of "Syndicate", World War II as an easter egg in "Unity", and part of Ancient Rome appearing briefly in "Origins". Feudal Japan is expected to be the setting of an upcoming game, "Assassin's Creed: Codename Red".


title: Assassin's Creed

text: "Assassin's Creed Mirage" is an upcoming game for Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Luna, expected to release in 2023. Set in Baghdad during the Islamic Golden Age, it will follow the character Basim Ibn Ishaq, introduced in "Assassin's Creed Valhalla", and his transition from street thief to Hidden One, a few decades before the events of "Valhalla". The game also intends to return to the series' roots by focusing on stealth, parkour, and assassinations over the role-playing elements featured heavily in recent installments.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: In early 2022, it was reported that a new "Assassin's Creed" game, titled or code-named "Rift", was in development and expected to launch in late 2022 or early 2023. According to various leaks and reports, the game started out as an expansion for "Valhalla" starring Basim and was intended to be more akin to older games in the series, featuring a smaller setting and a bigger focus on stealth gameplay. The game was officially confirmed by Ubisoft as "Assassin's Creed Mirage" on September 1, 2022, followed by a full announcement during the Ubisoft Forward online event on September 10.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: "Assassin's Creed: Codename Jade" is an upcoming title for mobile devices thatis expected to feature the same open world style of gameplay as the main console and PC games in the series, albeit on a much smaller scale. The game is set in ancient China during the Qin dynasty in the 3rd century BC.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: Following another round of sexual misconduct allegations and internal investigation across Ubisoft in 2020 and 2021, which saw the departure of many top-level executives as well as attrition from its studios, Ubisoft opted to merge operations of the Montreal and Quebec studios under one administrative body in April 2021, with Quebec taking the lead on the "Assassin's Creed" series. This led to a collaboration to develop the most ambitious game in the series yet, a live-service title codenamed "Assassin's Creed Infinity". "Infinity" will be similar to "Fortnite" and "Grand Theft Auto Online" in that it will be more of a service, rather than a game, intended to be an entry point for future "Assassin's Creed" titles for players as well as to simplify the development of these games across Ubisoft's studios.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: Marc-Alexis Côté, from Quebec, will serve as "Infinity" executive producer. According to Cotê, "Infinity" will be used to present the modern-day setting of the "Assassin's Creed" games involving the Animus, while each game will be focused on the historical setting. Clint Hocking and Jonathan Dumont will serve as the creative directors, with Dumont and Hocking leading the Quebec and Montreal divisions, respectively. Etienne Allonier and Julien Laferriere, both from Montreal, will serve as brand director and senior producer, respectively.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: "Assassin's Creed: Codename Red" was announced at Ubisoft Forward in September 2022 as the next major "Assassin's Creed" game to take place during the Feudal Japan period. Cotê said the game will let players live out a "very powerful shinobi fantasy". The title is being helmed by Ubisoft Quebec and will be the first game to be included in "Infinity".


title: Assassin's Creed

text: "Assassin's Creed: Codename Hexe" was also announced in September 2022 as the next flagship title in the series, following "Codename Red", and the second game to be included in "Infinity". Development is being led by Clint Hocking at Ubisoft Montreal. Cotê described the title as "a very different type of Assassin's Creed game". While little on its setting was shown in its initial trailer, "Bloomberg News" reported that the game is set in Central Europe during the 16th century, at the height of the Holy Roman Empire, and will focus on witch hunts and other paranormal fears.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: In September 2020, at the digital event of Facebook Connect, Ubisoft Red Storm Entertainment's VP of Product Development, Elizabeth Loverso, revealed several AAA game franchises coming to virtual reality format to the public. Two of the projects announced were an untitled "Assassin's Creed" game and an untitled installment from "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell" (also developed by Ubisoft), with both titles set to release exclusively for Oculus platforms. This is not the first "Assassin's Creed" title coming to VR but is the first to be available in public; the "Splinter Cell" VR game was cancelled on July 21, 2022.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: In November 2016, it was announced that Ubisoft and Netflix started talks regarding how to develop an "Assassin's Creed" series. In July 2017, Adi Shankar revealed he would be creating the series, which would be in the anime format. The series, which will feature an original story from Shankar, will share the same universe as the other media of the franchise.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: A live-action series, an animated series, and an anime series were announced in October 2020 for Netflix. The live-action series would be produced by Ubisoft Film & Television for the streaming service, with Jason Altman and Danielle Kreinik as executive producers and Jeb Stuart as the writer.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: A live-action film, "Assassin's Creed", set in the same universe as the video games and other media, was released on December 21, 2016. Development for the film began in October 2011, when Sony Pictures entered final negotiations with Ubisoft Motion Pictures to make the film. In July 2012, Michael Fassbender was announced to star in the film, as well as co-produce the film. His role was revealed in August 2015 as Callum Lynch, whose ancestor Aguilar, is an Assassin from 15th-century Spain. In October 2012, Ubisoft revealed the film would no longer be produced by Sony Pictures, instead co-produced with New Regency and distributed by 20th Century Fox. In January 2013, Michael Lesslie was hired to write the film, with Scott Frank, Adam Cooper and Bill Collage performing rewrites to the script. By the end of April 2014, Justin Kurzel was in talks to direct. Principal photography began on August 31, 2015, and ended on January 15, 2016. The film was poorly received by critics and performed poorly at the box office, losing an estimated $75 to $100 million and becoming one of the biggest box office bombs of 2016.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: "Assassin's Creed: Lineage" is a 36-minute film made to promote "Assassin's Creed II". The film, released in three parts on YouTube across 2009, was the first step by Ubisoft into the film industry. "Lineage" serves as a prequel to "Assassin's Creed II", exploring the life of Ezio's father Giovanni Auditore and his career as an Assassin in 15th-century Italy. Following the mysterious assassination of Duke of Milan, Galeazzo Maria Sforza, in 1476, Giovanni sets out to find those responsible, leading him him to uncover a larger conspiracy masterminded by the Templars and their Grand Master, Rodrigo Borgia.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: Originally named "Secret Project Number Three", "Ascendance" is an animated short by UbiWorkshop and Ubisoft Montreal, which bridges the gap between "Assassin's Creed II" and "". Set during the events of "Brotherhood", it shows Ezio meeting with a hooded man (revealed at the end of the film to be Leonardo da Vinci) to gather information about Cesare Borgia. Most of the film revolves around Cesare's backstory and rise to power in Italy, as narrated by Leonardo to Ezio. The animated short was revealed by UbiWorkshop on November 10, 2010. It was released on November 16, 2010, for Xbox Live, PlayStation Store and iTunes Store.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: "Assassin's Creed: Embers" is a 21-minute animated film included in the Signature and Collector's Editions of ""; it was later re-released on the PlayStation Store in April 2015. The film serves as an epilogue to Ezio's story, depicting the final days of his life after he retired from the Assassin Brotherhood and started a family. When a mysterious Chinese assassin named Shao Jun arrives to seek his help and guidance, Ezio must fight to protect his loved ones one last time.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: "Assassin's Creed Volume 1: Desmond" is a French-language graphic novel written by Eric Corbeyran and drawn by Djilalli Defaux. It has been released in France, Canada, Belgium, Poland, and Italy. The comic book was published on November 13, 2009, a few days before "Assassin's Creed II" was released. An English language version was released on October 30, 2012. The story is a retelling of the events from "Assassin's Creed" and the beginning of "Assassin's Creed II", mostly from Desmond's modern perspective, and reveals certain details not covered in any of the games, such as Lucy being the one who kidnapped Desmond for the Templars. It also features Subject 16 (referred to as Michael) and one of Desmond's ancestors, a 3rd-century Roman Assassin named Aquilus; however, the events depicted in the novel contradict certain aspects of the games' storyline, and they are therefore considered non-canon.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: "Assassin's Creed Volume 2: Aquilus" is a French-language graphic novel written by Eric Corbeyran and drawn by Djilalli Defaux.The story continues from the events of "Volume 1", as Desmond, Lucy, Rebecca, Shaun, and other Assassins head to a new hideout in Monteriggioni while avoiding Abstergo agents sent to hunt them down. It also continues the story of Aquilus, who comes across a mysterious artifact built by the First Civilization — an ankh, which can temporarily revive the dead. The novel was released on November 12, 2010. An English language version was released on October 30, 2012.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: "Assassin's Creed, Volume 3: Accipiter" is the third volume of the French graphic novels. The story focuses on both Desmond and fellow Assassin Jonathan Hawk as they continue to relive the memories of their ancestors, Aquilus and his cousin Accipiter, respectively. It was released on November 10, 2011. An English language version was released on October 30, 2012.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: "Assassin's Creed, Volume 4: Hawk" is the fourth volume of the French graphic novels. It is centered on the story of Jonathan Hawk and his Egyptian ancestor Numa Al'Khamsin, a member of the Assassins in the 14th century. It was released on November 16, 2012. An English language version was released on November 12, 2013, in the United States and November 15, 2013, in the United Kinggom.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: "Assassin's Creed, Volume 5: El Cakr" is the fifth volume of the French graphic novels. It is centered on the story of Jonathan Hawk and his Egyptian ancestor Numa Al'Khamsin, also known as El Cakr. It was released on October 31, 2013. An English language version was released on November 18, 2014, in the United States and November 21, 2014, in the United Kingdom.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: "Assassin's Creed, Volume 6: Leila" is the sixth volume of the French graphic novels. It is centered on the story of Jonathan Hawk and his Egyptian ancestor Numa Al'Khamsin, also known as El Cakr. It is the last installment in the Egyptian trilogy. It was released on October 31, 2014. An English language version was released on November 17, 2015, in the United States and November 20, 2015, in the United Kingom.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: "Assassin's Creed: Conspiracies" is a two-part story published in French by Les Deux Royaumes. Following the end of the first cycle by Corbeyran and Defali, this new story is written by Guillaume Dorison and illustrated by Jean-Baptiste Hostache. The first of the two volumes saw a release in October 2016. "Conspiracies" is set during World War II, featuring the race for the Atomic Bomb, and follows a new Assassin hero who influences the course of history in 1943.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: "Assassin's Creed: Bloodstone" is a two-part graphic novel series published in French by Les Deux Royaumes, written by Guillaume Dorison, and illustrated by Ennio Bufi. The first volume was released on 29 March 2019. The modern-day story follows on from "Assassin's Creed: Conspiracies".


title: Assassin's Creed

text: In July 2010, Ubisoft announced a three-part comic book mini-series set in the world of "Assassin's Creed" as a part of their UbiWorkshop initiative. Ubisoft has hired illustrators Cameron Stewart and Karl Kerschl, both winners of multiple comic book awards. The first issue of the series was released on November 10, 2010, the second part on December 1, 2010. It was published by WildStorm. The story alternates between the perspectives of Nikolai Orelov, an Assassin in 19th and 20th-century Russia, and his descendant Daniel Cross, a recovering alcoholic who involuntarily experiences Nikolai's memories.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: "The Chain" is the graphic novel sequel to "The Fall" and the conclusion of Nikolai Orelov's story. Like "The Fall", it also includes a framing story focused on Daniel Cross, now a fully-fledged member of the Templar Order. It was released on August 9, 2012.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: "Brahman" is a graphic novel written by Brendan Fletcher with art by Cameron Stewart and Karl Kerschl. The story follows Arbaaz Mir, an Assassin from 19th-century British India, and his present-day descendant Monima Das, as well as her fiancé, Jot Soora. It was released on October 30, 2013, in North America.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: "Assassin's Creed: Assassins" is a comic series published by Titan Comics. While it was an ongoing series, it had a planned duration of at least three years, the first issue was released in October 2015. In 2016, Titan announced that after its fourteenth issue, "Assassins" along with its companion series, "Templars", would be relaunched with a different creative team as a new title: "Assassin's Creed: Uprising".


title: Assassin's Creed

text: The first story arc of the series (issues No. 1–5) takes place in the late 17th century, during the Salem witch trials, with the parallel modern-day part featuring an espionage tale. The five issues were later collected and published as a trade paperback, "Assassin's Creed Volume 1: Trial by Fire". The second story arc (No. 6–10) takes place during the Inca Empire in the past, running parallel with the modern-day story featuring Erudito. It was later published as "Assassin's Creed Volume 2: Setting Sun". The third story arc (No. 11–14) takes place in Florence during the early 16th century, running parallel with a modern-day story again featuring Erudito. It was later published as "Assassin's Creed Volume 3: Homecoming".


title: Assassin's Creed

text: "Assassin's Creed: Templars" was a comic book series from Titan Comics. Written by Fred Van Lente and illustrated by Dennis Calero, the series debuted its first issue in March 2016. The first arc of the series focuses on the Templar Order, with its modern-day story set in November 2013, while the historical story takes place in Shanghai in 1927 and follows a Templar known as the Black Cross. The second and final arc has its modern-day story set in 2016, following Juhani Otso Berg and Albert Bolden living through his descendants' memories in 1805 using the Animus. In October 2016, Titan announced that after its ninth issue, "Templars", alongside its sister series, "Assassins", would be relaunched with a new creative team as "Assassin's Creed: Uprising".


title: Assassin's Creed

text: "Assassin's Creed: Uprising" is a comic book series published by Titan Comics. The comic is written by Dan Watters and Alex Paknadel and illustrated by José Holder, with the first issue released in February 2017. It is a continuation of the "Assassins" and "Templars" series and concludes the story arc from the video games involving Juno.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: Makoto Yukimura drew a 7-page crossover manga chapter between "Assassin's Creed Valhalla" and his series "Vinland Saga" that was uploaded to Ubisoft's website on October 23, 2020.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: "Assassin's Creed: Renaissance" is a novelization of "Assassin's Creed II", written by Oliver Bowden and published by Penguin Books. It was released on November 20, 2009, in the United Kingdom and on February 23, 2010, in the United States. The novel changes several elements from the game, and also omits the entire modern-day storyline, focusing entirely on Ezio and his journey as an Assassin.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: "Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood" is a novelization of the game of the same name, written by Oliver Bowden and published by Penguin Books. It was released on November 25, 2010, in the United Kingdom and on November 30, in the United States. Like the previous novel in the series, "Brotherhood" changes several elements from the game and does not include any of the modern-day events involving Desmond.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: "Assassin's Creed: The Secret Crusade" is the third novel in the "Assassin's Creed" series, written by Oliver Bowden and published by Penguin Books. It was released on June 23, 2011, in the United Kingdom, and on June 28 in the United States.. The novel tells the entire life story of Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, as narrated by Niccolò Polo in his journal, and adapts events from "Assassin's Creed", "", and "".


title: Assassin's Creed

text: "Assassin's Creed: Revelations" is a novelization of the game of the same name, written by Oliver Bowden and published by Penguin Books. It was released on November 24, 2011, in the United Kingdom and on November 29, in the United States. The novel only adapts the game's events involving Ezio, omitting Altaïr's and Desmond's storylines, and also includes a retelling of the final years of Ezio's life.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: "Assassin's Creed: Forsaken" is the fifth novel in the "Assassin's Creed" series, written by Oliver Bowden and published by Penguin Books. It was released on December 4, 2012. While based on "Assassin's Creed III", it is not a direct adaptation, instead covering the life of Haytham Kenway before and during the events of the game.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: "Assassin's Creed: Black Flag" is a novelization of "", written by Oliver Bowden and published by Penguin Books. It was released on November 26, 2013. Similarly to "Forsaken", the novel is presented as the journal of its point of view character, Edward Kenway, and covers his life before, during, and after the events of the game.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: "Assassin's Creed: Unity" is the seventh novel in the "Assassin's Creed" series, written by Oliver Bowden and published by Penguin Books. It was released on November 20, 2014, in the United Kingdom and on December 2 in the United States. Based on the game of the same name, the novel alternates between the perspectives of Arno Dorian and Élise de la Serre.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: "Assassin's Creed Underworld" is the eighth novel in the "Assassin's Creed" series, written by Oliver Bowden and published by Penguin Books. It was released on November 5, 2015, in the United Kingdom and December 1, in the United States. Based on "Assassin's Creed Syndicate", the novel primarily focuses on the character Jayadeep Mir before he adopted the identity of Henry Green six years before the events depicted in the game. The final third of the book includes a novelization of "Syndicate"s story and alternates between the perspectives of Henry and the Frye twins.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: "Assassin's Creed: The Official Movie Novelization" is the ninth book in the "Assassin's Creed" series, written by Christie Golden and published by Penguin Books. It was released on December 21, 2016, on the same day as the live-action "Assassin's Creed" film, which it adapts. In addition to retelling the film's events, the novel also includes an anthology of short stories from Nathan, Emir, Moussa, Lin, and their respective ancestors, and an excerpt from "Assassin's Creed: Heresy".


title: Assassin's Creed

text: "Assassin's Creed: Desert Oath" is a continuation of the "Assassin's Creed" book series, written by Oliver Bowden and published by Penguin Books. It was released on October 10, 2017. The novel serves as a prequel to "Assassin's Creed Origins", describing Bayek's early life and how he followed in the footsteps of his father, Sabu, to become a Medjay and more. It also explains how and why the Medjay bloodline was eventually erased by the Order of the Ancients.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: "Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey" is a novelization of the game of the same name, written by Gordon Doherty and published by Ace Books. It was released on October 30, 2018. The novel tells one of the possible story paths of the game featuring Kassandra, who is identified as the canon protagonist.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: "Assassin's Creed: Valhalla – Geirmund's Saga" is a continuation of in the "Assassin's Creed" book series, written by Matthew J. Kirby and published by Penguin Books. It was released on November 10, 2020. While based on "Asssassin's Creed Valhalla", it does not follow the events of the game, instead telling the story of the Viking Geirmund Hel-hide within roughly the same time frame as "Valhalla".


title: Assassin's Creed

text: UbiWorkshop released an encyclopedia of the "Assassin's Creed" series in 2011. Initially intended as an art book, the project gathered so much material that the company decided to expand it into an encyclopedia. It features works of artists, such as Craig Mullins, Tavis Coburn, 123Klan, Gabz and James NG. Artists were given creative freedom, as they were able to create a unique Assassin from the period of their choosing. The art book contains a "carte blanche" section, which is going to contain fan-submitted artwork.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: In November 2012, to coincide with the release of "Assassin's Creed III", UbiWorkshop released a second edition of the encyclopedia. This Edition contained an additional 120 pages of content, covering both "Assassin's Creed III" and "Assassin's Creed: The Chain", as well as revised content based on feedback.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: The Third Edition of the "Assassin's Creed: Encyclopedia" is an updated hardcover edition incorporating information of characters and events from "Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag" and "Assassin's Creed: Brahman" along with new artwork and concept art. It was released worldwide on November 11, 2013, and includes 390 pages of new content and a revised version of the second edition, which is also available to purchase from UbiWorkshop.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: "Assassin's Creed Gold" is an Audible audio drama by Anthony del Col, released February 27, 2020. The four-hour drama follows a card shark and hustler called Ailyah Khan (Tamara Lawrence), who is enlisted by Gavin Banks (John Chancer) to relive the memories of 17th century Assassin Omar Khaled (Riz Ahmed). The production also features the voices of Anthony Head, as Isaac Newton, and Danny Wallace, who reprises his series role as Shaun Hastings.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: A board game, "Assassin's Creed: Arena", was launched on February 26, 2014. Inspired by "", it features many characters from the game, including Shahkulu, Anacletos, Odai Dunqas and Oksana Razin, as well as original characters.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: On September 17, 2018, Triton Noir announced a new board game called "Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood of Venice". Set in 1509, between the events of "" and "Revelations", it includes characters from the video games like Ezio Auditore da Firenze, Leonardo da Vinci, and Lucrezia Borgia, as well as new characters like Alessandra. It was developed by Thibaud de la Touanne, and was estimated to provide more than 20 hours of play. The game was set to release in November 2018, but was delayed and eventually released in August 2021.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: "Assassin's Creed Symphony" is a tour across North America and Europe featuring composers who worked on the soundtracks of each game in the series, including Jesper Kyd, Lorne Balfe, Brian Tyler, Austin Wintory, Sarah Schachner, Winifred Phillips, Elitsa Alexandrova, Chris Tilton, Ryan Amon, and The Flight. It was scheduled to begin in the summer of 2019, and expected to feature holographic characters from the series. The 2019–2020 tour was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: The concert" Assassin’s Creed Symphonic Adventure", developed by "Overlook Events", was presented in a world premiere in Paris on October 29, 2022, at the "Le Grand Rex". The world premiere celebrate the 15th anniversary of the game series. An international world tour is scheduled to begin in 2023. The concert is to a two-hour performance with a full symphonic orchestra, also featuring a choir and soloists.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: The "Assassin's Creed" series have received mainly positive reviews from critics, with "Blast Magazine" calling it "the standout series on [the seventh generation] of consoles". It has been praised for its ambitious game design, visuals, and narratives but criticized for its technical issues and annual releases of almost every installment, while the series' shift, which started in "Origins", towards prioritising role-playing mechanics over stealth in several games has been considered polarizing.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: , the series has sold over 140 million copies with over 95 million players, becoming Ubisoft's best selling franchise and one of the highest selling video game franchises of all time. By September 2022, total sales of the series had reached 200 million.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: Elements of "Assassin's Creed" have been introduced as content into other Ubisoft games and those from third parties.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: "" introduces the character of Olivier Garneau, the CEO of video game company Abstergo Entertainment, who helps Ubisoft to develop the "Assassin's Creed" video games within the franchise's fictional universe. During the events of the game, Garneau goes to Chicago, the setting of Ubisoft's 2014 video game "Watch Dogs". In the latter game, Garneau is the subject of a side mission that sees the playable protagonist Aiden Pearce saving him from being kidnapped; it is implied this was done by the Assassin Brotherhood. Additionally, two characters in the game are seen playing "Assassin's Creed II". Ubisoft has described those appearances as small Easter eggs, and has neither confirmed nor denied a shared continuity between both franchises. "Assassin's Creed Origins" mentions the news about Garneau's incident in Chicago, along with a picture of Aiden Pearce killing Garneau.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: In August 2021, Ubisoft released a free update for their 2020 game "" that featured a non-canonical crossover with the "Assassin's Creed" series. The update introduced optional story content, which sees DedSec crossing paths with and subsequently helping Darcy Clarkson, a member of the modern-day Assassin Brotherhood and a descendant of Jacob and Evie Frye. Darcy is also included as a playable character and features a unique Assassin-themed playstyle.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: In the 2009 Wii game "", Altaïr appears as a playable character along with other Ubisoft characters. In the 2012 game "Soulcalibur V", Ezio appears as a playable fighter and is featured on the box art. In July 2022, both Ezio and Eivor were added as playable fighters in "Brawlhalla" (2017).


title: Assassin's Creed

text: Sackboy, the player character from "LittleBigPlanet" and "LittleBigPlanet 2", can be equipped with a skin resembling Ezio's outfit. In "Prince of Persia" (2008), Altaïr's costume can be unlocked with a code obtained by pre-ordering the game. In 2010's "", there is an outfit resembling Ezio's robes in "Assassin's Creed II", which is unlockable through Uplay. "Final Fantasy XIII-2" (2011) includes a costume based on Ezio's outfit from "" as an optional costume option as downloadable content. The PC/Mac versions of "Team Fortress 2" (2007) features two cosmetic items for the Spy class that were added to promote "Assassin's Creed: Revelations"; the first is the series' signature Hidden Blade, while the second is a hood based on the one Ezio wears in the game.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: In "" (2008), Altaïr's outfit is an unlockable cosmetic option for Solid Snake, though it was originally announced as an April Fools joke by game director Hideo Kojima. Kojima later returned the favor by allowing Ubisoft to include a Raiden outfit in "". In "" (2010), the player can jump into a bale of hay from a rooftop, which includes the Eagle sound effect used in the "Assassins' Creed" games, and use it to attract and subdue enemies. The Assassin Order is referenced by a character.


title: Assassin's Creed

text: In downloadable contents (DLC), Ubisoft collaborated with Square Enix to hold a limited-time "Assassin's Creed"-themed festival event crossover in "Final Fantasy XV" (2016) on consoles under the title "Assassin's Festival", which lasted from August 31, 2017, to January 31, 2018. The DLC featured gameplay elements from the "Assassin's Creed" game series, new additional quests, mini-games, and exclusive "Assassin's Creed"-themed items. In January 2020, Nintendo released a Mii Fighter costume based on Altaïr as downloadable content in the crossover fighting game "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate" (2018).


title: Bulgaria

text: Bulgaria (; ), officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, and the Black Sea to the east. Bulgaria covers a territory of , and is the sixteenth-largest country in Europe. Sofia is the nation's capital and largest city; other major cities are Plovdiv, Varna and Burgas.


title: Bulgaria

text: One of the earliest societies in the lands of modern-day Bulgaria was the Neolithic Karanovo culture, which dates back to 6,500 BC. In the 6th to 3rd century BC the region was a battleground for ancient Thracians, Persians, Celts and Macedonians; stability came when the Roman Empire conquered the region in AD 45. After the Roman state splintered, tribal invasions in the region resumed. Around the 6th century, these territories were settled by the early Slavs. The Bulgars, led by Asparuh, attacked from the lands of Old Great Bulgaria and permanently invaded the Balkans in the late 7th century. They established Danubian Bulgaria, victoriously recognised by treaty in 681 AD by the Eastern Roman Empire. It dominated most of the Balkans and significantly influenced Slavic cultures by developing the Cyrillic script. The First Bulgarian Empire lasted until the early 11th century, when Byzantine emperor Basil II conquered and dismantled it. A successful Bulgarian revolt in 1185 established a Second Bulgarian Empire, which reached its apex under Ivan Asen II (1218–1241). After numerous exhausting wars and feudal strife, the empire disintegrated in 1396 and fell under Ottoman rule for nearly five centuries.


title: Bulgaria

text: The Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78 resulted in the formation of the third and current Bulgarian state. Many ethnic Bulgarians were left outside the new nation's borders, which stoked irredentist sentiments that led to several conflicts with its neighbours and alliances with Germany in both world wars. In 1946, Bulgaria came under the Soviet-led Eastern Bloc and became a socialist state. The ruling Communist Party gave up its monopoly on power after the revolutions of 1989 and allowed multiparty elections. Bulgaria then transitioned into a democracy and a market-based economy. Since adopting a democratic constitution in 1991, Bulgaria has been a unitary parliamentary republic composed of 28 provinces, with a high degree of political, administrative, and economic centralisation.


title: Bulgaria

text: Bulgaria is a developing country, with an upper-middle-income economy, ranking 68th in the Human Development Index. Its market economy is part of the European Single Market and is largely based on services, followed by industry—especially machine building and mining—and agriculture. Widespread corruption is a major socioeconomic issue; Bulgaria ranked as the most corrupt country in the European Union in 2018. The country also faces a demographic crisis, with its population slowly shrinking, down from a peak of nearly nine million in 1988, to roughly 6.5 million today. Bulgaria is a member of the European Union, NATO, and the Council of Europe; it is also a founding member of the OSCE, and has taken a seat on the United Nations Security Council three times.


title: Bulgaria

text: The name "Bulgaria" is derived from the "Bulgars", a tribe of Turkic origin that founded the First Bulgarian Empire. Their name is not completely understood and is difficult to trace back earlier than the 4th century AD, but it is possibly derived from the Proto-Turkic word "bulģha" ("to mix", "shake", "stir") and its derivative "bulgak" ("revolt", "disorder"). The meaning may be further extended to "rebel", "incite" or "produce a state of disorder", and so, in the derivative, the "disturbers". Tribal groups in Inner Asia with phonologically close names were frequently described in similar terms, as the Buluoji, a component of the "Five Barbarian" groups, which during the 4th century were portrayed as both: a "mixed race" and "troublemakers".


title: Bulgaria

text: Neanderthal remains dating to around 150,000 years ago, or the Middle Paleolithic, are some of the earliest traces of human activity in the lands of modern Bulgaria. Remains from "Homo sapiens" found there are dated "c." 47,000 years BP. This result represents the earliest arrival of modern humans in Europe. The Karanovo culture arose circa 6,500 BC and was one of several Neolithic societies in the region that thrived on agriculture. The Copper Age Varna culture (fifth millennium BC) is credited with inventing gold metallurgy. The associated Varna Necropolis treasure contains the oldest golden jewellery in the world with an approximate age of over 6,000 years. The treasure has been valuable for understanding social hierarchy and stratification in the earliest European societies.


title: Bulgaria

text: The Thracians, one of the three primary ancestral groups of modern Bulgarians, appeared on the Balkan Peninsula some time before the 12th century BC. The Thracians excelled in metallurgy and gave the Greeks the Orphean and Dionysian cults, but remained tribal and stateless. The Persian Achaemenid Empire conquered parts of present-day Bulgaria (in particular eastern Bulgaria) in the 6th century BC and retained control over the region until 479 BC. The invasion became a catalyst for Thracian unity, and the bulk of their tribes united under king Teres to form the Odrysian kingdom in the 470s BC. It was weakened and vassalised by Philip II of Macedon in 341 BC, attacked by Celts in the 3rd century, and finally became a province of the Roman Empire in AD 45.


title: Bulgaria

text: By the end of the 1st century AD, Roman governance was established over the entire Balkan Peninsula and Christianity began spreading in the region around the 4th century. The Gothic Bible—the first Germanic language book—was created by Gothic bishop Ulfilas in what is today northern Bulgaria around 381. The region came under Byzantine control after the fall of Rome in 476. The Byzantines were engaged in prolonged warfare against Persia and could not defend their Balkan territories from barbarian incursions. This enabled the Slavs to enter the Balkan Peninsula as marauders, primarily through an area between the Danube River and the Balkan Mountains known as Moesia. Gradually, the interior of the peninsula became a country of the South Slavs, who lived under a democracy. The Slavs assimilated the partially Hellenised, Romanised, and Gothicised Thracians in the rural areas.


title: Bulgaria

text: Not long after the Slavic incursion, Moesia was once again invaded, this time by the Bulgars under Khan Asparukh. Their horde was a remnant of Old Great Bulgaria, an extinct tribal confederacy situated north of the Black Sea in what is now Ukraine and southern Russia. Asparukh attacked Byzantine territories in Moesia and conquered the Slavic tribes there in 680. A peace treaty with the Byzantine Empire was signed in 681, marking the foundation of the First Bulgarian Empire. The minority Bulgars formed a close-knit ruling caste.


title: Bulgaria

text: Succeeding rulers strengthened the Bulgarian state throughout the 8th and 9th centuries. Krum introduced a written code of law and checked a major Byzantine incursion at the Battle of Pliska, in which Byzantine emperor Nicephorus I was killed. Boris I abolished paganism in favour of Eastern Orthodox Christianity in 864. The conversion was followed by a Byzantine recognition of the Bulgarian church and the adoption of the Cyrillic alphabet, developed in the capital, Preslav. The common language, religion and script strengthened central authority and gradually fused the Slavs and Bulgars into a unified people speaking a single Slavic language. A golden age began during the 34-year rule of Simeon the Great, who oversaw the largest territorial expansion of the state.


title: Bulgaria

text: After Simeon's death, Bulgaria was weakened by wars with Magyars and Pechenegs and the spread of the Bogomil heresy. Preslav was seized by the Byzantine army in 971 after consecutive Rus' and Byzantine invasions. The empire briefly recovered from the attacks under Samuil, but this ended when Byzantine emperor Basil II defeated the Bulgarian army at Klyuch in 1014. Samuil died shortly after the battle, and by 1018 the Byzantines had conquered the First Bulgarian Empire. After the conquest, Basil II prevented revolts by retaining the rule of local nobility, integrating them in Byzantine bureaucracy and aristocracy, and relieving their lands of the obligation to pay taxes in gold, allowing tax in kind instead. The Bulgarian Patriarchate was reduced to an archbishopric, but retained its autocephalous status and its dioceses.


title: Bulgaria

text: Byzantine domestic policies changed after Basil's death and a series of unsuccessful rebellions broke out, the largest being led by Peter Delyan. The empire's authority declined after a catastrophic military defeat at Manzikert against Seljuk invaders, and was further disturbed by the Crusades. This prevented Byzantine attempts at Hellenisation and created fertile ground for further revolt. In 1185, Asen dynasty nobles Ivan Asen I and Peter IV organised a major uprising and succeeded in re-establishing the Bulgarian state. Ivan Asen and Peter laid the foundations of the Second Bulgarian Empire with its capital at Tarnovo.


title: Bulgaria

text: Kaloyan, the third of the Asen monarchs, extended his dominion to Belgrade and Ohrid. He acknowledged the spiritual supremacy of the pope and received a royal crown from a papal legate. The empire reached its zenith under Ivan Asen II (1218–1241), when its borders expanded as far as the coast of Albania, Serbia and Epirus, while commerce and culture flourished. Ivan Asen's rule was also marked by a shift away from Rome in religious matters.


title: Bulgaria

text: The Asen dynasty became extinct in 1257. Internal conflicts and incessant Byzantine and Hungarian attacks followed, enabling the Mongols to establish suzerainty over the weakened Bulgarian state. In 1277, swineherd Ivaylo led a great peasant revolt that expelled the Mongols from Bulgaria and briefly made him emperor. He was overthrown in 1280 by the feudal landlords, whose factional conflicts caused the Second Bulgarian Empire to disintegrate into small feudal dominions by the 14th century. These fragmented rump states—two tsardoms at Vidin and Tarnovo and the Despotate of Dobrudzha—became easy prey for a new threat arriving from the Southeast: the Ottoman Turks.


title: Bulgaria

text: The Ottomans were employed as mercenaries by the Byzantines in the 1340s but later became invaders in their own right. Sultan Murad I took Adrianople from the Byzantines in 1362; Sofia fell in 1382, followed by Shumen in 1388. The Ottomans completed their conquest of Bulgarian lands in 1393 when Tarnovo was sacked after a three-month siege and the Battle of Nicopolis which brought about the fall of the Vidin Tsardom in 1396. Sozopol was the last Bulgarian settlement to fall, in 1453. The Bulgarian nobility was subsequently eliminated and the peasantry was enserfed to Ottoman masters, while much of the educated clergy fled to other countries.


title: Bulgaria

text: Bulgarians were subjected to heavy taxes (including Devshirme, or "blood tax"), their culture was suppressed, and they experienced partial Islamisation. Ottoman authorities established a religious administrative community called the Rum Millet, which governed all Orthodox Christians regardless of their ethnicity. Most of the local population then gradually lost its distinct national consciousness, identifying only by its faith. The clergy remaining in some isolated monasteries kept their ethnic identity alive, enabling its survival in remote rural areas, and in the militant Catholic community in the northwest of the country.


title: Bulgaria

text: As Ottoman power began to wane, Habsburg Austria and Russia saw Bulgarian Christians as potential allies. The Austrians first backed an uprising in Tarnovo in 1598, then a second one in 1686, the Chiprovtsi Uprising in 1688 and finally Karposh's Rebellion in 1689. The Russian Empire also asserted itself as a protector of Christians in Ottoman lands with the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca in 1774.


title: Bulgaria

text: The Western European Enlightenment in the 18th century influenced the initiation of a national awakening of Bulgaria. It restored national consciousness and provided an ideological basis for the liberation struggle, resulting in the 1876 April Uprising. Up to 30,000 Bulgarians were killed as Ottoman authorities put down the rebellion. The massacres prompted the Great Powers to take action. They convened the Constantinople Conference in 1876, but their decisions were rejected by the Ottomans. This allowed the Russian Empire to seek a military solution without risking confrontation with other Great Powers, as had happened in the Crimean War. In 1877, Russia declared war on the Ottomans and defeated them with the help of Bulgarian rebels, particularly during the crucial Battle of Shipka Pass which secured Russian control over the main road to Constantinople.


title: Bulgaria

text: The Treaty of San Stefano was signed on 3 March 1878 by Russia and the Ottoman Empire. It was to set up an autonomous Bulgarian principality spanning Moesia, Macedonia and Thrace, roughly on the territories of the Second Bulgarian Empire, and this day is now a public holiday called National Liberation Day. The other Great Powers immediately rejected the treaty out of fear that such a large country in the Balkans might threaten their interests. It was superseded by the Treaty of Berlin, signed on 13 July. It provided for a much smaller state, the Principality of Bulgaria, only comprising Moesia and the region of Sofia, and leaving large populations of ethnic Bulgarians outside the new country. This significantly contributed to Bulgaria's militaristic foreign affairs approach during the first half of the 20th century.


title: Bulgaria

text: The Bulgarian principality won a war against Serbia and incorporated the semi-autonomous Ottoman territory of Eastern Rumelia in 1885, proclaiming itself an independent state on 5 October 1908. In the years following independence, Bulgaria increasingly militarised and was often referred to as "the Balkan Prussia". It became involved in three consecutive conflicts between 1912 and 1918—two Balkan Wars and World War I. After a disastrous defeat in the Second Balkan War, Bulgaria again found itself fighting on the losing side as a result of its alliance with the Central Powers in World War I. Despite fielding more than a quarter of its population in a 1,200,000-strong army and achieving several decisive victories at Doiran and Monastir, the country capitulated in 1918. The war resulted in significant territorial losses and a total of 87,500 soldiers killed. More than 253,000 refugees from the lost territories immigrated to Bulgaria from 1912 to 1929, placing additional strain on the already ruined national economy.


title: Bulgaria

text: The resulting political unrest led to the establishment of a royal authoritarian dictatorship by Tsar Boris III (1918–1943). Bulgaria entered World War II in 1941 as a member of the Axis but declined to participate in Operation Barbarossa and saved its Jewish population from deportation to concentration camps. The sudden death of Boris III in mid-1943 pushed the country into political turmoil as the war turned against Germany, and the communist guerrilla movement gained momentum. The government of Bogdan Filov subsequently failed to achieve peace with the Allies. Bulgaria did not comply with Soviet demands to expel German forces from its territory, resulting in a declaration of war and an invasion by the USSR in September 1944. The communist-dominated Fatherland Front took power, ended participation in the Axis and joined the Allied side until the war ended. Bulgaria suffered little war damage and the Soviet Union demanded no reparations. But all wartime territorial gains, with the notable exception of Southern Dobrudzha, were lost.


title: Bulgaria

text: The left-wing coup d'état of 9 September 1944 led to the abolition of the monarchy and the executions of some 1,000–3,000 dissidents, war criminals, and members of the former royal elite. But it was not until 1946 that a one-party people's republic was instituted following a referendum. It fell into the Soviet sphere of influence under the leadership of Georgi Dimitrov (1946–1949), who established a repressive, rapidly industrialising Stalinist state. By the mid-1950s, standards of living rose significantly and political repression eased. The Soviet-style planned economy saw some experimental market-oriented policies emerging under Todor Zhivkov (1954–1989). Compared to wartime levels, national GDP increased five-fold and per capita GDP quadrupled by the 1980s, although severe debt spikes took place in 1960, 1977 and 1980. Zhivkov's daughter Lyudmila bolstered national pride by promoting Bulgarian heritage, culture and arts worldwide. Facing declining birth rates among the ethnic Bulgarian majority, Zhivkov's government in 1984 forced the minority ethnic Turks to adopt Slavic names in an attempt to erase their identity and assimilate them. These policies resulted in the emigration of some 300,000 ethnic Turks to Turkey.


title: Bulgaria

text: The Communist Party was forced to give up its political monopoly on 10 November 1989 under the influence of the Revolutions of 1989. Zhivkov resigned and Bulgaria embarked on a transition to a parliamentary democracy. The first free elections in June 1990 were won by the Communist Party, now rebranded as the Bulgarian Socialist Party. A new constitution that provided for a relatively weak elected president and for a prime minister accountable to the legislature was adopted in July 1991. The new system initially failed to improve living standards or create economic growth—the average quality of life and economic performance remained lower than under communism well into the early 2000s. After 2001, economic, political and geopolitical conditions improved greatly, and Bulgaria achieved high Human Development status in 2003. It became a member of NATO in 2004 and participated in the War in Afghanistan. After several years of reforms, it joined the European Union and the single market in 2007, despite EU concerns over government corruption. Bulgaria hosted the 2018 Presidency of the Council of the European Union at the National Palace of Culture in Sofia.


title: Bulgaria

text: Bulgaria is a small country situated in Southeastern Europe, in the east of the Balkans. Its territory covers an area of , while land borders with its five neighbouring countries run a total length of , and its coastline is long. Bulgaria's geographic coordinates are 43° N 25° E. The most notable topographical features of the country are the Danubian Plain, the Balkan Mountains, the Thracian Plain, and the Rila-Rhodope massif. The southern edge of the Danubian Plain slopes upward into the foothills of the Balkans, while the Danube defines the border with Romania. The Thracian Plain is roughly triangular, beginning southeast of Sofia and broadening as it reaches the Black Sea coast.


title: Bulgaria

text: The Balkan mountains run laterally through the middle of the country from west to east. The mountainous southwest has two distinct alpine type ranges—Rila and Pirin, which border the lower but more extensive Rhodope Mountains to the east, and various medium altitude mountains to west, northwest and south, like Vitosha, Osogovo and Belasitsa. Musala, at , is the highest point in both Bulgaria and the Balkans. The Black Sea coast is the country's lowest point. Plains occupy about one third of the territory, while plateaux and hills occupy 41%. Most rivers are short and with low water levels. The longest river located solely in Bulgarian territory, the Iskar, has a length of . The Struma and the Maritsa are two major rivers in the south.


title: Bulgaria

text: Bulgaria has a varied and changeable climate, which results from being positioned at the meeting point of the Mediterranean, Oceanic and Continental air masses combined with the barrier effect of its mountains. Northern Bulgaria averages cooler, and registers more precipitation, than the regions south of the Balkan mountains. Temperature amplitudes vary significantly in different areas. The lowest recorded temperature is , while the highest is . Precipitation averages about per year, and varies from in Dobrudja to more than in the mountains. Continental air masses bring significant amounts of snowfall during winter.


title: Bulgaria

text: The interaction of climatic, hydrological, geological and topographical conditions has produced a relatively wide variety of plant and animal species.


title: Bulgaria

text: Bulgaria's biodiversity, one of the richest in Europe, is conserved in three national parks, 11 nature parks, 10 biosphere reserves and 565 protected areas. Ninety-three of the 233 mammal species of Europe are found in Bulgaria, along with 49% of butterfly and 30% of vascular plant species. Overall, 41,493 plant and animal species are present. Larger mammals with sizable populations include deer (106,323 individuals), wild boar (88,948), golden jackal (47,293) and red fox (32,326). Partridges number some 328,000 individuals, making them the most widespread gamebird. A third of all nesting birds in Bulgaria can be found in Rila National Park, which also hosts Arctic and alpine species at high altitudes. Flora includes more than 3,800 vascular plant species of which 170 are endemic and 150 are considered endangered. A checklist of larger fungi in Bulgaria by the Institute of Botany identifies more than 1,500 species. More than 35% of the land area is covered by forests.


title: Bulgaria

text: In 1998, the Bulgarian government adopted the National Biological Diversity Conservation Strategy, a comprehensive programme seeking the preservation of local ecosystems, protection of endangered species and conservation of genetic resources. Bulgaria has some of the largest Natura 2000 areas in Europe covering 33.8% of its territory. It also achieved its Kyoto Protocol objective of reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 30% from 1990 to 2009.


title: Bulgaria

text: Bulgaria ranks 30th in the 2018 Environmental Performance Index, but scores low on air quality. Particulate levels are the highest in Europe, especially in urban areas affected by automobile traffic and coal-based power stations. One of these, the lignite-fired Maritsa Iztok-2 station, is causing the highest damage to health and the environment in the European Union. Pesticide use in agriculture and antiquated industrial sewage systems produce extensive soil and water pollution. Water quality began to improve in 1998 and has maintained a trend of moderate improvement. Over 75% of surface rivers meet European standards for good quality.


title: Bulgaria

text: Bulgaria is a parliamentary democracy where the prime minister is the head of government and the most powerful executive position. The political system has three branches—legislative, executive and judicial, with universal suffrage for citizens at least 18 years old. The Constitution also provides possibilities of direct democracy, namely petitions and national referendums. Elections are supervised by an independent Central Election Commission that includes members from all major political parties. Parties must register with the commission prior to participating in a national election. Normally, the prime minister-elect is the leader of the party receiving the most votes in parliamentary elections, although this is not always the case.


title: Bulgaria

text: Unlike the prime minister, presidential domestic power is more limited. The directly elected president serves as head of state and commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and has the authority to return a bill for further debate, although the parliament can override the presidential veto by a simple majority vote. Political parties gather in the National Assembly, a body of 240 deputies elected to four-year terms by direct popular vote. The National Assembly has the power to enact laws, approve the budget, schedule presidential elections, select and dismiss the prime minister and other ministers, declare war, deploy troops abroad, and ratify international treaties and agreements.


title: Bulgaria

text: Overall, Bulgaria displays a pattern of unstable governments. Boyko Borisov, the leader of the centre-right, pro-EU party GERB, served three terms as prime minister between 2009 and 2021.


title: Bulgaria

text: It won the 2009 general election and formed a minority government, which resigned in February 2013 after nationwide protests over the low living standards, corruption and the perceived failure of the democratic system.


title: Bulgaria

text: The subsequent snap elections in May resulted in a narrow win for GERB, but the Bulgarian Socialist Party eventually formed a government led by Plamen Oresharski after Borisov failed to secure parliamentary support. The Oresharski government resigned in July 2014 amid continuing large-scale protests.


title: Bulgaria

text: The October 2014 elections resulted in a third GERB victory. Borisov formed a coalition with several right-wing parties, but resigned again after the candidate backed by his party failed to win the 2016 Presidential election. The March 2017 snap election was again won by GERB, but with 95 seats in Parliament. They formed a coalition with the far-right United Patriots, who held 27 seats.


title: Bulgaria

text: Borisov's last cabinet saw a dramatic decrease in freedom of the press, and a number of corruption revelations that triggered yet another wave of mass protests in 2020. GERB came out first in the regular April 2021 election, but with its weakest result so far. All other parties refused to form a government, and after a brief deadlock, another election was called for July 2021. It too failed to break the stalemate, as no political party was able to form a coalition government.


title: Bulgaria

text: Freedom House has reported a continuing deterioration of democratic governance after 2009, citing reduced media independence, stalled reforms, abuse of authority at the highest level and increased dependence of local administrations on the central government. Bulgaria is still listed as "Free", with a political system designated as a semi-consolidated democracy, albeit with deteriorating scores. The Democracy Index defines it as a "Flawed democracy". A 2018 survey by the Institute for Economics and Peace reported that less than 15% of respondents considered elections to be fair.


title: Bulgaria

text: Bulgaria has a civil law legal system. The judiciary is overseen by the Ministry of Justice. The Supreme Administrative Court and the Supreme Court of Cassation are the highest courts of appeal and oversee the application of laws in subordinate courts. The Supreme Judicial Council manages the system and appoints judges. The legal system is regarded by both domestic and international observers as one of Europe's most inefficient due to pervasive lack of transparency and corruption. Law enforcement is carried out by organisations mainly subordinate to the Ministry of the Interior. The General Directorate of National Police (GDNP) combats general crime and maintains public order. GDNP fields 26,578 police officers in its local and national sections. The bulk of criminal cases are transport-related, followed by theft and drug-related crime; homicide rates are low. The Ministry of the Interior also heads the Border Police Service and the National Gendarmerie—a specialised branch for anti-terrorist activity, crisis management and riot control. Counterintelligence and national security are the responsibility of the State Agency for National Security.


title: Bulgaria

text: Bulgaria is a unitary state. Since the 1880s, the number of territorial management units has varied from seven to 26. Between 1987 and 1999, the administrative structure consisted of nine provinces ("oblasti", singular "oblast"). A new administrative structure was adopted in parallel with the decentralisation of the economic system. It includes 27 provinces and a metropolitan capital province (Sofia-Grad). All areas take their names from their respective capital cities. The provinces are subdivided into 265 municipalities. Municipalities are run by mayors, who are elected to four-year terms, and by directly elected municipal councils. Bulgaria is a highly centralised state where the Council of Ministers directly appoints regional governors and all provinces and municipalities are heavily dependent on it for funding.


title: Bulgaria

text: Bulgaria became a member of the United Nations in 1955 and since 1966 has been a non-permanent member of the Security Council three times, most recently from 2002 to 2003. It was also among the founding nations of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in 1975. Euro-Atlantic integration has been a priority since the fall of communism, although the communist leadership also had aspirations of leaving the Warsaw Pact and joining the European Communities by 1987. Bulgaria signed the European Union Treaty of Accession on 25 April 2005, and became a full member of the European Union on 1 January 2007. In addition, it has a tripartite economic and diplomatic collaboration with Romania and Greece, good ties with China and Vietnam and a historical relationship with Russia.


title: Bulgaria

text: Bulgaria deployed significant numbers of both civilian and military advisors in Soviet-allied countries like Nicaragua and Libya during the Cold War. The first deployment of foreign troops on Bulgarian soil since World War II occurred in 2001, when the country hosted six KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft and 200 support personnel for the war effort in Afghanistan. International military relations were further expanded with accession to NATO in March 2004 and the US-Bulgarian Defence Cooperation Agreement signed in April 2006. Bezmer and Graf Ignatievo air bases, the Novo Selo training range, and a logistics centre in Aytos subsequently became joint military training facilities cooperatively used by the United States and Bulgarian militaries. Despite its active international defence collaborations, Bulgaria ranks as among the most peaceful countries globally, tying 6th alongside Iceland regarding domestic and international conflicts, and 26th on average in the Global Peace Index.


title: Bulgaria

text: Domestic defence is the responsibility of the all-volunteer Bulgarian armed forces, composed of land forces, navy and an air force. The land forces consist of two mechanised brigades and eight independent regiments and battalions; the air force operates 106 aircraft and air defence systems across six air bases, and the navy operates various ships, helicopters and coastal defence weapons. Active troops dwindled from 152,000 in 1988 to 31,300 in 2017, supplemented by 3,000 reservists and 16,000 paramilitary troops. Military inventory mainly consists of Soviet equipment like Mikoyan MiG-29 and Sukhoi Su-25 jets, S-300PT air defence systems and SS-21 Scarab short-range ballistic missiles.


title: Bulgaria

text: Bulgaria has an open, upper middle income range market economy where the private sector accounts for more than 70% of GDP. From a largely agricultural country with a predominantly rural population in 1948, by the 1980s Bulgaria had transformed into an industrial economy, with scientific and technological research at the top of its budgetary expenditure priorities. The loss of COMECON markets in 1990 and the subsequent "shock therapy" of the planned system caused a steep decline in industrial and agricultural production, ultimately followed by an economic collapse in 1997. The economy largely recovered during a period of rapid growth several years later, but the average salary of 1,036 leva ($615) per month remains the lowest in the EU. More than a fifth of the labour force work for a minimum wage of $1.16 per hour.


title: Bulgaria

text: A balanced budget was achieved in 2003 and the country began running a surplus the following year. Expenditures amounted to $21.15 billion and revenues were $21.67 billion in 2017. Most government spending on institutions is earmarked for security. The ministries of defence, the interior and justice are allocated the largest share of the annual government budget, whereas those responsible for the environment, tourism and energy receive the least funding. Taxes form the bulk of government revenue at 30% of GDP. Bulgaria has some of the lowest corporate income tax rates in the EU at a flat 10% rate. The tax system is two-tier. Value added tax, excise duties, corporate and personal income tax are national, whereas real estate, inheritance, and vehicle taxes are levied by local authorities. Strong economic performance in the early 2000s reduced government debt from 79.6% in 1998 to 14.1% in 2008. It has since increased to 28.7% of GDP by 2016, but remains the third lowest in the EU.


title: Bulgaria

text: The Yugozapaden planning area is the most developed region with a per capita gross domestic product (PPP) of $29,816 in 2018. It includes the capital city and the surrounding Sofia Province, which alone generate 42% of national gross domestic product despite hosting only 22% of the population. GDP per capita (in PPS) and the cost of living in 2019 stood at 53 and 52.8% of the EU average (100%), respectively. National PPP GDP was estimated at $143.1 billion in 2016, with a per capita value of $20,116. Economic growth statistics take into account illegal transactions from the informal economy, which is the largest in the EU as a percentage of economic output. The Bulgarian National Bank issues the national currency, lev, which is pegged to the euro at a rate of 1.95583 levа per euro.


title: Bulgaria

text: After several consecutive years of high growth, repercussions of the financial crisis of 2007–2008 resulted in a 3.6% contraction of GDP in 2009 and increased unemployment. Positive growth was restored in 2010 but intercompany debt exceeded $59 billion, meaning that 60% of all Bulgarian companies were mutually indebted. By 2012, it had increased to $97 billion, or 227% of GDP. The government implemented strict austerity measures with IMF and EU encouragement to some positive fiscal results, but the social consequences of these measures, such as increased income inequality and accelerated outward migration, have been "catastrophic" according to the International Trade Union Confederation.


title: Bulgaria

text: Siphoning of public funds to the families and relatives of politicians from incumbent parties has resulted in fiscal and welfare losses to society. Bulgaria ranks 71st in the Corruption Perceptions Index and experiences the worst levels of corruption in the European Union, a phenomenon that remains a source of profound public discontent. Along with organised crime, corruption has resulted in a rejection of the country's Schengen Area application and withdrawal of foreign investment. Government officials reportedly engage in embezzlement, influence trading, government procurement violations and bribery with impunity. Government procurement in particular is a critical area in corruption risk. An estimated 10 billion leva ($5.99 billion) of state budget and European cohesion funds are spent on public tenders each year; nearly 14 billion ($8.38 billion) were spent on public contracts in 2017 alone. A large share of these contracts are awarded to a few politically connected companies amid widespread irregularities, procedure violations and tailor-made award criteria. Despite repeated criticism from the European Commission, EU institutions refrain from taking measures against Bulgaria because it supports Brussels on a number of issues, unlike Poland or Hungary.


title: Bulgaria

text: The labour force is 3.36 million people, of whom 6.8% are employed in agriculture, 26.6% in industry and 66.6% in the services sector. Extraction of metals and minerals, production of chemicals, machine building, steel, biotechnology, tobacco, food processing and petroleum refining are among the major industrial activities. Mining alone employs 24,000 people and generates about 5% of the country's GDP; the number of employed in all mining-related industries is 120,000. Bulgaria is Europe's fifth-largest coal producer. Local deposits of coal, iron, copper and lead are vital for the manufacturing and energy sectors. The main destinations of Bulgarian exports outside the EU are Turkey, China and the United States, while Russia and Turkey are by far the largest import partners. Most of the exports are manufactured goods, machinery, chemicals, fuel products and food. Two-thirds of food and agricultural exports go to OECD countries.


title: Bulgaria

text: Although cereal and vegetable output dropped by 40% between 1990 and 2008, output in grains has since increased, and the 2016–2017 season registered the biggest grain output in a decade. Maize, barley, oats and rice are also grown. Quality Oriental tobacco is a significant industrial crop. Bulgaria is also the largest producer globally of lavender and rose oil, both widely used in fragrances. Within the services sector, tourism is a significant contributor to economic growth. Sofia, Plovdiv, Veliko Tarnovo, coastal resorts Albena, Golden Sands and Sunny Beach and winter resorts Bansko, Pamporovo and Borovets are some of the locations most visited by tourists. Most visitors are Romanian, Turkish, Greek and German. Tourism is additionally encouraged through the 100 Tourist Sites system.


title: Bulgaria

text: Spending on research and development amounts to 0.78% of GDP, and the bulk of public R&D funding goes to the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS). Private businesses accounted for more than 73% of R&D expenditures and employed 42% of Bulgaria's 22,000 researchers in 2015. The same year, Bulgaria ranked 39th out of 50 countries in the Bloomberg Innovation Index, the highest score being in education (24th) and the lowest in value-added manufacturing (48th). Bulgaria was ranked 35th in the Global Innovation Index in 2021, up from 40th in 2019. Chronic government underinvestment in research since 1990 has forced many professionals in science and engineering to leave Bulgaria.


title: Bulgaria

text: Despite the lack of funding, research in chemistry, materials science and physics remains strong. Antarctic research is actively carried out through the St. Kliment Ohridski Base on Livingston Island in Western Antarctica. The information and communication technologies (ICT) sector generates three per cent of economic output and employs 40,000 to 51,000 software engineers. Bulgaria was known as a "Communist Silicon Valley" during the Soviet era due to its key role in COMECON computing technology production. A concerted effort by the communist government to teach computing and IT skills in schools also indirectly made Bulgaria a major source of computer viruses in the 1980s and 90s. The country is a regional leader in high performance computing: it operates "Avitohol", the most powerful supercomputer in Southeast Europe, and will host one of the eight petascale EuroHPC supercomputers.


title: Bulgaria

text: Bulgaria has made numerous contributions to space exploration. These include two scientific satellites, more than 200 payloads and 300 experiments in Earth orbit, as well as two cosmonauts since 1971. Bulgaria was the first country to grow wheat and vegetables in space with its Svet greenhouses on the Mir space station. It was involved in the development of the Granat gamma-ray observatory and the Vega program, particularly in modelling trajectories and guidance algorithms for both Vega probes. Bulgarian instruments have been used in the exploration of Mars, including a spectrometer that took the first high quality spectroscopic images of Martian moon Phobos with the Phobos 2 probe. Cosmic radiation en route to and around the planet has been mapped by Liulin-ML dosimeters on the ExoMars TGO. Variants of these instruments have also been fitted on the International Space Station and the Chandrayaan-1 lunar probe. Another lunar mission, SpaceIL's "Beresheet", was also equipped with a Bulgarian-manufactured imaging payload. Bulgaria's first geostationary communications satellite—BulgariaSat-1—was launched by SpaceX in 2017.


title: Bulgaria

text: Telephone services are widely available, and a central digital trunk line connects most regions. Vivacom (BTC) serves more than 90% of fixed lines and is one of the three operators providing mobile services, along with A1 and Telenor. Internet penetration stood at 69.2% of the population aged 16–74 and 78.9% of households in 2020.


title: Bulgaria

text: Bulgaria's strategic geographic location and well-developed energy sector make it a key European energy centre despite its lack of significant fossil fuel deposits. Thermal power plants generate 48.9% of electricity, followed by nuclear power from the Kozloduy reactors (34.8%) and renewable sources (16.3%). Equipment for a second nuclear power station at Belene has been acquired, but the fate of the project remains uncertain. Installed capacity amounts to 12,668 MW, allowing Bulgaria to exceed domestic demand and export energy.


title: Bulgaria

text: The national road network has a total length of , of which are paved. Railroads are a major mode of freight transportation, although highways carry a progressively larger share of freight. Bulgaria has of railway track, with rail links available to Romania, Turkey, Greece, and Serbia, and express trains serving direct routes to Kyiv, Minsk, Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Sofia and Plovdiv are the country's air travel hubs, while Varna and Burgas are the principal maritime trade ports.


title: Bulgaria

text: The population of Bulgaria is 6,519,789 people according to the 2021 national census. The majority of the population, 72.5%, reside in urban areas. , Sofia is the most populated urban centre with 1,241,675 people, followed by Plovdiv (346,893), Varna (336,505), Burgas (202,434) and Ruse (142,902). Bulgarians are the main ethnic group and constitute 84.8% of the population. Turkish and Roma minorities account for 8.8 and 4.9%, respectively; some 40 smaller minorities account for 0.7%, and 0.8% do not self-identify with an ethnic group. Former Statistics head Reneta Indzhova has disputed the 2011 census figures, suggesting the actual population is smaller than reported. The Roma minority is usually underestimated in census data and may represent up to 11% of the population. Population density is 65 per square kilometre, almost half the European Union average.


title: Bulgaria

text: In 2018, the average total fertility rate (TFR) in Bulgaria was 1.56 children per woman, below the replacement rate of 2.1 and considerably below the historical high of 5.83 children per woman in 1905. Bulgaria thus has one of the oldest populations in the world, with an average age of 43 years.


title: Bulgaria

text: Bulgaria is in a state of demographic crisis. It has had negative population growth since the early 1990s, when the economic collapse caused a long-lasting emigration wave. Some 937,000 to 1,200,000 people—mostly young adults—had left the country by 2005. The majority of children are born to unmarried women. Furthermore, a third of all households consist of only one person and 75.5% of families do not have children under the age of 16. The resulting birth rates are among the lowest in the world while death rates are among the highest.


title: Bulgaria

text: Bulgaria scores high in gender equality, ranking 18th in the 2018 Global Gender Gap Report. Although women's suffrage was enabled relatively late, in 1937, women today have equal political rights, high workforce participation and legally mandated equal pay. In 2021, market research agency "Reboot Online" ranked Bulgaria as the best European country for women to work. Bulgaria has the highest ratio of female ICT researchers in the EU, as well as the second-highest ratio of females in the technology sector at 44.6% of the workforce. High levels of female participation are a legacy of the Socialist era.


title: Bulgaria

text: High death rates result from a combination of an ageing population, high numbers of people at risk of poverty, and a weak healthcare system. Over 80% of deaths are due to cancer and cardiovascular conditions; nearly a fifth of those are avoidable. Although healthcare in Bulgaria is nominally universal, out-of-pocket expenses account for nearly half of all healthcare spending, significantly limiting access to medical care. Other problems disrupting care provision are the emigration of doctors due to low wages, understaffed and under-equipped regional hospitals, supply shortages and frequent changes to the basic service package for those insured. The 2018 Bloomberg Health Care Efficiency Index ranked Bulgaria last out of 56 countries. Average life expectancy is 74.8 years, compared with an EU average of 80.99 and a world average of 72.38.


title: Bulgaria

text: Public expenditures for education are far below the European Union average as well. Educational standards were once high, but have declined significantly since the early 2000s. Bulgarian students were among the highest-scoring in the world in terms of reading in 2001, performing better than their Canadian and German counterparts; by 2006, scores in reading, math and science had dropped. By 2018, Programme for International Student Assessment studies found 47% of pupils in the 9th grade to be functionally illiterate in reading and natural sciences. Average basic literacy stands high at 98.4% with no significant difference between sexes. The Ministry of Education and Science partially funds public schools, colleges and universities, sets criteria for textbooks and oversees the publishing process. Education in primary and secondary public schools is free and compulsory. The process spans 12 grades, in which grades one through eight are primary and nine through twelve are secondary level. Higher education consists of a 4-year bachelor degree and a 1-year master's degree. Bulgaria's highest-ranked higher education institution is Sofia University.


title: Bulgaria

text: Bulgarian is the only language with official status and native for % of the population. It belongs to the Slavic group of languages but has a number of grammatical peculiarities, shared with its closest relative Macedonian, that set it apart from other Slavic languages: these include a complex verbal morphology (which also codes for distinctions in evidentiality), the absence of noun cases and infinitives, and the use of a suffixed definite article. Other significant languages spoken in Bulgaria are Turkish and Romani, which according to the 2011 census were spoken natively by 9.1% and 4.2% of the population, respectively.


title: Bulgaria

text: Bulgaria is a secular state with guaranteed religious freedom by constitution, but Orthodoxy is designated as a traditional religion. More than three-quarters of Bulgarians subscribe to Eastern Orthodoxy. The Bulgarian Orthodox Church gained autocephalous status in AD 927, and has 12 dioceses and over 2,000 priests.


title: Bulgaria

text: Sunni Muslims are the second-largest religious community and constitute 10% of Bulgaria's overall religious makeup. A 2011 survey of 850 Muslims in Bulgaria found 30% self-professing as deeply religious and 50% as just religious. According to the study, some religious teachings, like Islamic funeral have been traditionally incorporated and are widely practiced while other major ones are less observed, like the Muslim prayer or abstaining from drinking alcohol, eating pork, and cohabitation.


title: Bulgaria

text: Less than 3% of the population are affiliated with other religions and 11.8% are irreligious or do not self-identify with a religion.


title: Bulgaria

text: Contemporary Bulgarian culture blends the formal culture that helped forge a national consciousness towards the end of Ottoman rule with millennia-old folk traditions. An essential element of Bulgarian folklore is fire, used to banish evil spirits and illnesses. Many of these are personified as witches, whereas other creatures like zmey and samodiva (veela) are either benevolent guardians or ambivalent tricksters. Some rituals against evil spirits have survived and are still practised, most notably kukeri and survakari. Martenitsa is also widely celebrated. Nestinarstvo, a ritual fire-dance of Thracian origin, is included in the list of UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage.


title: Bulgaria

text: Nine historical and natural objects are UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Pirin National Park, Sreburna Nature Reserve, the Madara Rider, the Thracian tombs in Sveshtari and Kazanlak, the Rila Monastery, the Boyana Church, the Rock-hewn Churches of Ivanovo and the ancient city of Nesebar. The Rila Monastery was established by Saint John of Rila, Bulgaria's patron saint, whose life has been the subject of numerous literary accounts since Medieval times.


title: Bulgaria

text: The establishment of the Preslav and Ohrid literary schools in the 10th century is associated with a golden period in Bulgarian literature during the Middle Ages. The schools' emphasis on Christian scriptures made the Bulgarian Empire a centre of Slavic culture, bringing Slavs under the influence of Christianity and providing them with a written language. Its alphabet, Cyrillic script, was developed by the Preslav Literary School. The Tarnovo Literary School, on the other hand, is associated with a Silver age of literature defined by high-quality manuscripts on historical or mystical themes under the Asen and Shishman dynasties. Many literary and artistic masterpieces were destroyed by the Ottoman conquerors, and artistic activities did not re-emerge until the National Revival in the 19th century. The enormous body of work of Ivan Vazov (1850–1921) covered every genre and touched upon every facet of Bulgarian society, bridging pre-Liberation works with literature of the newly established state. Notable later works are "Bay Ganyo" by Aleko Konstantinov, the Nietzschean poetry of Pencho Slaveykov, the Symbolist poetry of Peyo Yavorov and Dimcho Debelyanov, the Marxist-inspired works of Geo Milev and Nikola Vaptsarov, and the Socialist realism novels of Dimitar Dimov and Dimitar Talev. Tzvetan Todorov is a notable contemporary author, while Bulgarian-born Elias Canetti was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1981.


title: Bulgaria

text: А religious visual arts heritage includes frescoes, murals and icons, many produced by the medieval Tarnovo Artistic School. Like literature, it was not until the National Revival when Bulgarian visual arts began to reemerge. Zahari Zograf was a pioneer of the visual arts in the pre-Liberation era. After the Liberation, Ivan Mrkvička, Anton Mitov, Vladimir Dimitrov, Tsanko Lavrenov and Zlatyu Boyadzhiev introduced newer styles and substance, depicting scenery from Bulgarian villages, old towns and historical subjects. Christo is the most famous Bulgarian artist of the 21st century, known for his outdoor installations.


title: Bulgaria

text: Folk music is by far the most extensive traditional art and has slowly developed throughout the ages as a fusion of Far Eastern, Oriental, medieval Eastern Orthodox and standard Western European tonalities and modes. Bulgarian folk music has a distinctive sound and uses a wide range of traditional instruments, such as gadulka, gaida, kaval and tupan. A distinguishing feature is "extended rhythmical time", which has no equivalent in the rest of European music. The State Television Female Vocal Choir won a Grammy Award in 1990 for its performances of Bulgarian folk music. Written musical composition can be traced back to the works of Yoan Kukuzel (c. 1280–1360), but modern classical music began with Emanuil Manolov, who composed the first Bulgarian opera in 1890. Pancho Vladigerov and Petko Staynov further enriched symphony, ballet and opera, which singers Ghena Dimitrova, Boris Christoff, Ljuba Welitsch and Nicolai Ghiaurov elevated to a world-class level.


title: Bulgaria

text: Bulgarian performers have gained acclaim in other genres like electropop (Mira Aroyo), jazz (Milcho Leviev) and blends of jazz and folk (Ivo Papazov).


title: Bulgaria

text: The Bulgarian National Radio, bTV and daily newspapers "Trud", "Dnevnik" and "24 Chasa" are some of the largest national media outlets. Bulgarian media were described as generally unbiased in their reporting in the early 2000s and print media had no legal restrictions. Since then, freedom of the press has deteriorated to the point where Bulgaria scores 111th globally in the World Press Freedom Index, lower than all European Union members and membership candidate states. The government has diverted EU funds to sympathetic media outlets and bribed others to be less critical on problematic topics, while attacks against individual journalists have increased. Collusion between politicians, oligarchs and the media is widespread.