The Bulgars first appeared in historical records circa 480. They were a Turkic people whose language belonged to the Oghur branch of the Turkic languages. Some have proposed that the Bulgars’ ruling Dulo clan descended from Attila the Hun, with Irnik of the Bulgars being Attila’s son Ernak.
By the 7th century, the Bulgars had migrated to the Sea of Azov region and come under the rule of the Avars. Khan Kubrat led the Bulgars to independence in 632, subsequently establishing the state of Old Great Bulgaria from the ancient Greek city of Phanagoria.
Old Great Bulgaria quickly grew into a regional power, building a wide sphere of influence. Its power was short-lived, however, as it came under the attack of the Turkic Khazars starting in 650. The kingdom collapsed in 668, and many Dulo princes led groups of refugees out of their former territory.
Bulgar migrants settled in Italy, Greece, Iraq, and more. Only two groups of Bulgars went on to establish independent states, however; those led by Asparuh founded the First Bulgarian Empire at the Danube River, while those led by Kotrag founded Volga Bulgaria at the Volga River.
The territory of the Bulgarian Empire, which the Bulgars took from the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire, was ethnically diverse. The most numerous group was the Slavs, who had entered the region in the 6th and 7th centuries. The indigenous Thracians were also present as a minority group.
Volga Bulgaria also encompassed many tribes and ethnic groups: Finno-Ugric tribes lived in the north and east, while Slavic tribes populated the south and west. The “Bulgars themselves were divided into several tribes,” such as the Askal, Barsula, and Suwar (Mako, 2016).
The lineage of the Dulo clan ended in the Bulgarian Empire with the death of Khan Sevar in 753, after which the empire fell into a period of civil unrest and succession crises, exacerbated by ethnic division. It was wars against the Byzantines that finally united the Bulgars and Slavs in solidarity.
Khan Krum doubled the size of his empire through campaigns against the Avars and the Byzantines. He took Pannonia and Transylvania from the former, and major cities like Varna and Sofia (then called Serdica) from the latter. On the other hand, Volga Bulgaria was subjugated by the Khazars.
Presian I later conquered Macedonia from the Byzantines. The local Greeks helped introduce Christianity, specifically Eastern Orthodoxy, into Bulgaria, threatening the Turkic faith of Tengrism and Slavic Paganism. Boris I adopted Eastern Orthodoxy in 864, crushing the nobles who were opposed.
Meanwhile, the empire was gradually Slavicized. Old Church Slavonic (Old Bulgarian) displaced Bulgar, and the Slavic title of knyaz (prince) replaced khan. Old Church Slavonic became the official language in 893, and the Bulgars, Slavs, and Thracians soon merged into the Bulgarians.
Volga Bulgaria, in contrast, remained Turkic. Thanks to its strategic location at the confluence of major rivers, Volga Bulgaria was a center of the fur trade between Finno-Ugric tribes, Muslim traders, and the Rus', a Viking-Slavic people. Volga Bulgaria adopted not Christianity but Sunni Islam in 922.
As Volga Bulgaria became wealthier and Muslim, it sought to distance itself from the Khazars, who were ruled by Jewish Turks. Volga Bulgaria declared independence circa 950 and went on to become “one of the strongest and wealthiest states in Eastern Europe” (Mako, 2016).
The Volga Bulgars began to mint their own coins in the 10th century, and started to practice agriculture alongside their traditional nomadism. The Volga Bulgar leader adopted the Islamic title of emir, and the Bulgar language came to be written in the Arabic script rather than the Old Turkic script.
Volga Bulgaria began to decline in the late 12th century due to conflict with the Grand Duchy of Vladimir of the Rus', who had hitherto been peaceful trading partners. Volga Bulgaria had to maintain three capital cities due to frequent invasions, and it soon lost control of the fur trade.
The Mongols fully destroyed Volga Bulgaria in 1236. The Bulgars eventually became the Chuvash people, who are now predominantly Orthodox Christian and live just west of Volga Bulgaria’s old lands. Volga Bulgaria’s former territory is now inhabited by the Volga Tatars, who are Turkic Muslims.