Whatever be the prevailing language spoken in this city, its greatness depends entirely on the degree of freedom with which its inhabitants can maintain trade with the districts extending north and northwest. To maintain its size, or grow, the city must continue to be the receiving point of manufactured goods shipped into Macedonia as well as parts of Serbia and Albania. It must also remain the shipping point for the natural products from those same districts. To separate Macedonia from Salonica, its natural harbor, is to create an unnatural condition. The city draws its life from the resources of Macedonia. Its prosperity is therefore directly related to the political fate of that country. Bulgaria was independent during three different periods of its history. The first kingdom was founded in 679 when Bulgarian bands led by Asparush crossed the Danube and conquered the Slavs who had previously occupied Bulgaria. Conquest carried his successors to the very gates of Constantinople. At the end of the ninth century under the reign of Simon, the second Christian ruler of the country, the kingdom comprised all of Hungary, Rumania, Macedonia, Thessaly, Epirus and Serbia in addition to its present territory. Preslav was its capital. Bulgaria had then an area of 233,300 sq. m. The Byzantines conquered Bulgaria in 1018 and maintained their supremacy until 1186. The second kingdom was reëstablished in that year with Assen I as its sovereign. In the reign of Assen II (1218-1241), Bulgarian territory reached the Adriatic, Ægean and Black seas and the Danube formed its northern frontier. Tirnovo was the capital of the second kingdom. Bulgaria was at that time one of the great European powers. Its area was then 113,100 sq. m. The third kingdom dates from the year 1877. Several attempts have been made in the past to create a Bulgaria which would extend as far as the country’s language was spoken. Towards the end of 1876 an international conference was held in Constantinople to put an end to the intolerable condition of the Christians inhabiting this portion of the Balkan peninsula. The delegates decided to form two new Turkish provinces, the boundaries of which would coincide with the ethnographic limit of the Bulgarian people. Sofia and Tirnovo were selected as the chief towns of the new provinces. The Sultan’s government succeeded in blocking the execution of this project. War with Russia followed and Russian victories forced Turkey to sign the memorable treaty of San Stefano on February 19, 1878.