Abstract:
In this previously unpublished material written by Prof. Dr. Ivan Batakliev in 1970, the boundaries of the „three Bulgarian districts“ of Mizia, Thrace and Macedonia are examined in detail, while the changes of their boundaries are scrutinized from the ancient period on. The emphasis is on the difficulty of outlining those boundaries due to the „crossroads location of the Balkans between three continents and several seas.“ The paper explains the difference between the two levels – the political and the geographical. As an anthropogeographer, the author draws attention to the people who inhabited these areas since ancient times, and unambiguously notes that „the Bulgarian people – during the Middle Ages and the Turkish era – inhabited relatively the longest the center of the peninsula „. Apart from his own studies prof. Iv. Batakliev presents also some studies of other scientists, starting from Strabo (63 BC – AD 19) – the father of geography, then notes and comment on the works of prominent local and foreign researchers from the late nineteenth and the early twentieth century. In this manuscript prof. Iv. Batakliev clearly shows his attitude towards the issue of border changes – occurring mainly for political reasons – and the inconvenience those changes cause to the lives of the Balkan peoples.