BULGARIA IN ANTARCTICA?

The Bulgarian base named St Clement of Ohrid on the Isle of Livingston in the South Shetlands has been manned by Bulgarian crews since the early 1990s. Though Bulgarians were sent to Antarctica as early as the 1960s as members of Soviet expeditions, this country's interest in scientific research in Antarctica intensified after the collapse of Communism. In the period 1993-2024 the Bulgarian Antarctic Institute organised over 30 expeditions consisting of scientists working in geology, oceanology, physics, ichthyology, zoology, palaeontology, meteorology and so on. In recent years Bulgarian scientists have expressed an acute interest in how climate change affects the Subantarctic.

In addition to scientific reports and articles, staff members of the Bulgarian Antarctic Institute, which oversees the Bulgarian exploration of Antarctica, have produced dozens of books (some of them in English and Spanish), documentary films and photography exhibitions. In recent years even the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency, this country's state-run media outlet, has established a temporary news booth in the South Shetlands.

Signs indicating distances between the South Shetlands and various locations back home

Bulgaria has been a member of the Antarctic Treaty since 1978.

There are as many as 1,367 Bulgarian-language toponyms in Antarctica. These are mainly Bulgarian historical figures such as Dalchev Bay (named after the great Bulgarian poet 1904-1978) and Delyo Voyvoda Glacier (after the semi-mythical brigand who operated in the Rhodope region whilst it was under the Ottomans) to actual Bulgarian place names transported to Antarctica. These include Perelik Point (after the famous Rhodope summit), Cape Pomorie (after the southern Black Sea coast town) and Magura Glacier (after the cave with prehistoric rock art in northwestern Bulgaria).