Varna

Varna, formerly Stalin (ancient Odessus), city and port in eastern Bulgaria, on the Black Sea. Located in Varna Province, it is a leading seaport and an industrial centre. In the city are food-processing plants, shipyards, and factories that produce electrical equipment, diesel engines, metal goods, and textiles. Among the chief exports are dairy produce, grain, and livestock. Varna is a popular holiday resort. Institutions of higher education include a university, a medical school, and a naval college.

Greek colonists founded Odessus on the site of Varna in the 6th century bc. In the 1st century ad the settlement became a Roman possession. It was ruled by the Byzantines, Bulgarians, and Ottoman Turks during the Middle Ages. In 1444 Varna was the site of a battle in which a force under the Ottoman Turkish sultan Murad II crushed a Christian army commanded by Władysław III of Poland (also known as Ulászló I of Hungary) and the Hungarian leader János Hunyadi. This engagement ended serious efforts to prevent the Turks from overrunning south-east Europe. Varna was occupied by Russian troops in 1828, and by British and French troops in 1854 during the Crimean War, when it served as a base of operations against the Russians. By the terms of a treaty drawn up at the Congress of Berlin, after the Russo-Turkish Wars, Varna became part of the newly created Bulgarian principality. The city was renamed in honour of the Soviet premier Joseph Stalin in 1949, but the name Varna was restored in 1956. Population 314,539 (2001).