Belomorie

Belomorie (Bulgarian: Беломорие, meaning Aegean Sea coastal lands), is the Bulgarian name for roughly the area of today's Greek province of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, including the eastern part of Central Macedonia.^[1] The name comes from the South Slavic designation of the Aegean Sea, which is translated as the White Sea, in contrast to the Black Sea. The area was fully under Bulgarian control during the First Balkan War, as well as during the First World War and partially in between. It was ruled as a province by Bulgaria with that name during the Axis occupation of Greece in World War II.^[2][3]

Map of World War II-era Bulgaria with the territories annexed from Yugoslavia and Greece

References

1. Яранов, Д. Българското Беломорие като географско понятие. В: Беломорски преглед, 1942, № 1, с. 1–10.
2. Hoppe, Hans-Joachim (1986). "Bulgarian Nationalities Policy in Occupied Thrace and Aegean Macedonia". Nationalities Papers. 14 (1–2): 89–100. doi:10.1080/00905998608408035. S2CID 129927316.
3. Featherstone, Kevin; Papadimitriou, Dimitris; Mamarelis, Argyris; Niarchos, Georgios (2011). "Belomorie". The Last Ottomans: The Muslim Minority of Greece 1940–1949. Palgrave Macmillan UK. pp. 91–130. doi:10.1057/9780230294653_4. ISBN 978-0-230-29465-3.