Burgas

Burgas (Bulgarian: Бургас, pronounced [burˈɡas]), sometimes transliterated as Bourgas, is the second-largest city on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and the fourth-largest in Bulgaria after Sofia, Plovdiv, and Varna, with a population of 200,271 inhabitants, according to the 2011 census. It is the capital of Burgas Province and an important industrial, transport, cultural and tourist centre.

The city is surrounded by the Burgas Lakes and located at the westernmost point of the Black Sea, at the large Burgas Bay. The LUKOIL Neftochim Burgas is the largest oil refinery in southeastern Europe and the largest industrial enterprise. The Port of Burgas is the largest port in Bulgaria, and Burgas Airport is the second-most important in the country. Burgas is the center of the Bulgarian fishing and fish processing industry.

Names

A similar literal composition have the cities Burgos in Spain and numerous cities containing the Germanic burg "city" such as Hamburg. It is widely considered, including by the city's official website, that the name of the city is derived from the Latin word "burgos" as meaning a "tower", after a local ancient Roman travel post, which used to be in the area of today's Burgas Port. 15 centuries later, the settlement was mentioned by the Byzantine poet Manuel Phil as "Pyrgos" (Greek: Πύργος), a word identical in meaning with the Latin word for tower. There are several alternative explanations for the name's origin. By one of them, the city's name comes from Gothic name "baurgs" as meaning "signified consolidated walled villages". According to Bulgarian prof. Kiril Vlahov, the name of the city comes from the Thracian word "pyurg" as meaning "fortification of wooden beams". It is also suggested that the name ultimately comes from the name of khan Burtaz (683-633 BC).

Burgas (disambiguation)

Burgas is a city in Bulgaria that is the major city for the Burgas Province.

Burgas, Burgaz or Bourgas may also refer to:

Burgas Province

Coordinates: 42°30′N 27°15′E / 42.500°N 27.250°E / 42.500; 27.250

Burgas Province (Bulgarian: Област Бургас - Oblast Burgas, former name Burgas okrug) is a province in southeastern Bulgaria, including southern Bulgarian Black Sea Coast. It is bounded on the south by Turkey. The province is named after its administrative and industrial centre - the city of Burgas - the fourth biggest town in the country. It is the largest province by area, embracing a territory of 7,748.1 km² that is divided into 13 municipalities with a total population, as of December 2009, of 422,319 inhabitants.

Municipalities

The Burgas province (oбласт, oblast) contains 13 municipalities (singular: oбщина, obshtina - plural: oбщини, obshtini). The following table shows the names of each municipality in English and Cyrillic, the main town or village (towns are shown in bold), and the population of each as of 2009.

Population

The Burgas province had a population of 423,608 (423,547 also given) according to a 2001 census, of which 7001490000000000000♠49% were male and 7001510000000000000♠51% were female. As of the end of 2009, the population of the province, announced by the Bulgarian National Statistical Institute, numbered 422,319 of which 7001218000000000000♠21.8% are inhabitants aged over 60 years.