The Serbs are a small community in Bulgaria, most of whom are emigrants. Many of them are athletes and businessmen that have expatriated to Bulgaria in the last two decades.
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Middle Ages
During the Byzantine rule in Bulgaria, the Serbs invaded Byzantine territory in 1149. Emperor Manuel I Komnenos (1143-1180) forced the rebellious Serbs to vassalage (1150–52) and settled some Serbian PoWs around Sofia. They founded the villages Mala Crkva (Srbsko selo) near Samokov and the former village Popovo (Srbski Samokov) near Pernik.
Ottoman times
Two villages in today Bulgaria had carried till 1934 the name Srbinovo, as local legends claim they were founded during the early Ottoman times by Serbian settlers. These are the present-day villages Brezhani and Srebrinovo. Other places of possible Serbian settlements include part of Apriltsi (Srabska mahala) and the villages of Malki Varshets (Srabe) and Yavorets (Sarbegli). The village Brakevtsi was settled also by Serbs in late Ottoman times, after the local population had emigrated to Bessarabia. In 1919 Brakevtsi was ceded to Serbia.
19th century Bulgaria
In the 1880 Bulgarian census, in which native language was registered, 1894 Serbs were counted with the following Districts having a notable number of Serbian-speakers:
Organizations
In 1999, an organization of "Bulgarian Serbs" was formed, but broke up soon after that. In 2010 an Association of the Serbs in Bulgaria was set up.