| Geography and Climate |
Bulgaria is located in Southeastern Europe, bordering the Black Sea, between Romania and Turkey. Area comparative slightly larger than Tennessee. Total land boundary is 1,808 km
border countries are Greece 494 km, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia 148 km, Romania 608 km, Serbia and Montenegro 318 km (all with Serbia), Turkey 240 km.
Bulgaria has a temperate climate with cold, damp winters; hot, dry summers. Terrain consists of mostly mountains with lowlands in north and southeast. The elevation extreme has lowest point in Black Sea 0 m and highest point in Musala 2,925 m. Natural resources are bauxite, copper, lead, zinc, coal, timber, arable land. Land use: arable land: 37%, permanent crops: 2%,
permanent pastures: 16%, forests and woodland: 35%, other: 10% (1993 est.). Natural hazards are earthquakes, landslides.
Environment—current issues: air pollution from industrial emissions; rivers polluted from raw sewage, heavy metals, detergents; deforestation; forest damage from air pollution and resulting acid rain; soil contamination from heavy metals from metallurgical plants and industrial wastes
Geography—note: strategic location near Turkish Straits; controls key land routes from Europe to Middle East and Asia
Ref. Anonymous, 1999 |