Burgas is the second-largest city on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast. It is also the fourth-largest by population in the country, after Sofia, Plovdiv and Varna. Burgas has the largest and most important Bulgarian port. The development of the town is a natural result from the preceding social, economical, political and cultural development of the region. The sea as a living and a romance has urged the citizens of the ancient Greek colonies Apolonia and Anchialo to look for a living and protection in the comfortable Black Sea bay.
The earlier signs of life in the crossroad location can be traced back to bronze and the beginning of the iron age. A great quantity of finds attests the availability of life activities during the Thracian age which ranges over the second half of the VI century B.C. The name of Burgas, the administrative centre of the Municipality Burgas, appears for the first time in 1306 as Pirgos, the Greek equivalent of the Latin word Burgos, which means the Tower. Burgas appears on the map for the first time in the year 1733. Because of its crossroad position and the comfortable seaport the town starts to grow fast. Today, it is a key economic, cultural and tourist centre of southeastern Bulgaria, with the Burgas Airport serving the resorts of the southern Bulgarian coast.