A joint resolution adopted between Bulgaria and Romania in April 1971 allowed somewhat easier transit of their border. A passport was still required, but residents of the twelve-mile-wide zone on each side of the border became able to make one crossing each month without a visa. Each visit was limited to six days, and the destination and residence to be visited were subject to the approval of local police. The agreement made no changes in custom regulations and was not, therefore, intended to change trade relations between the countries.
The country is subdivided into twenty-eight _okruzi_ (sing., _okrug_), which are usually translated as districts, and has some 200 towns and cities and approximately 5,500 villages or settlements. The cities and larger towns are subdivided into _rayoni_ (sing., _rayon_), and the smaller villages are grouped together into _obshtini_ (sing., _obshtina_). The _rayoni_ and _obshtini_ are the urban boroughs and village communes that are the smallest units of local government, that is, those that have people's councils (see fig. 3).
The twenty-eight _okruzi_ include one for the city of Sofia and its immediate vicinity as well as one for a larger Sofia district. Each _okrug_ is named for the city that is its administrative center. They have areas ranging from 794 to 2,916 square miles and populations of about 130,000 to about 650,000.
[Illustration: _Figure 3. Political Subdivisions of Bulgaria, 1973_]
The number of _okruzi_ has been changed only at times of major governmental reorganization, the most recent of which was in 1959. The _obshtini_, on the other hand, are in a state of relatively constant change. Cities grow, towns become cities, new enterprises are set up and attract population, and other factors affect the need for local administration. Since the reorganization of 1959, when the _obshtini_ were reduced by nearly one-half--from about 1,950 to just over 1,000--their number has tended to grow again. By the late 1960s there were about 1,150 of them.
The Bulgarians, who were mounted archers from the steppes of central Asia, rode into the area between the Danube River and the Stara Planina in the seventh and eighth centuries A.D. They interbred with the Slavs and adopted a Slavic language and many Slavic customs, but they retained enough individuality to remain readily identifiable. In spite of horrifying defeats and treatment at the hands of Byzantines and Ottomans, they were in the land to stay and never relinquished their title to a share of the peninsula.