Varna

Varna, a seaport of Bulgaria, on the northern side of a semicircular bay, an inlet of the Black Sea, 115 miles SE. of Rustchuk by rail. Varna yielded to the Russians in 1828. The allied French and British troops were here encamped for some time in 1854, and occupied the town. Though the harbour is exposed, a considerable trade is carried on, the value of the year's imports averaging £600,000, and of the exports (mainly grain) £350,000. The Congress of Berlin in 1878 decided that the strong fortifications by which the port was formerly defended should be destroyed, and the Bulgarians resolved to supply the loss by earthworks. The town is the seat of Greek and Bulgarian metropolitans, and of a dozen consuls. Pop. (1898) 28,256, of whom 5000 are Greeks, 6000 Turks.