During the seventh century, the Pontic-Caspian steppe and the Volga area were inhabited by semi-nomadic warrior tribes known as the Bulgars. Although some scholars contend that their ethnic origins can be traced to Central Asia, they became well-known as nomadic equestrians in the Volga-Ural region. The Bulgar tribes underwent ethnogenesis throughout their westward march across the Eurasian steppe, assimilating numerous tribal groups and cultural influences, notably Iranian, Finnic, and Hunnic communities. The Bulgars maintained pagan shamanism and belief in the sky god Tangra, as well as the martial designations, structure, and traditions of the Eurasian steppes. It is challenging to establish the origin of the ethnonym Bulgar back earlier than the 4th century AD. The Bulgars were first explicitly mentioned and shown to exist in 480 A.D, when they fought against the Ostrogoths for the Byzantine Emperor Zeno (474–491 A.D.). They engaged in combat with the Goths once more in 486 and 488 A.D, first as Byzantine friends, according to Magnus Felix Ennodius, and then as Gepid allies, as per Paul the Deacon. However, the Illyricum and Thrace became vulnerable to Bulgar invasions after Theoderic the Great and the Ostrogoths dispersed for Italy in 489. Around 630–635 AD, when the Bulgars settled into a semi-sedentary lifestyle in the Pontic–Caspian steppe, they founded the state of Old Great Bulgaria. Khan Asparukh formed the Danubian Bulgaria - the First Bulgarian Empire in 679 AD after conquering Scythia Minor, providing access to Moesia and establishing the Bulgars as a political and military aristocracy. They gradually mixed with existing Byzantine people as well as with Slavic tribes that had already colonised the area, becoming Slavicized, and became the forebears of present Bulgarians. The last of the Pontic Bulgars moved to the Volga River in the 7th century, where they established the Volga Bulgaria, retaining their identity far into the 13th. The Volga Bulgars are said to have descended from the contemporary Volga Tatars and Chuvash people. [Information and Image Credit : Bulgars, Wikipedia] [Image : The emigration of the Bulgars following the fall of Old Great Bulgaria in the seventh century] [The copyright holder of the work (Image), have release the work into the public domain. Wikipedia Image Author : Kandi ; (Please Relate to Individual Image URLs for More Usage Property)] [Source Image-URL :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bulgarians_and_Slavs_VI-VII_century.png ]
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