374 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.— E. 



Tuesday, September 15. 



Mr. S. H. Beaver. — The distribution of population in Bulgaria (io.o). 



A population map of Bulgaria, scale i : 600,000, on Sten de Geer's unit 

 dot principle, based on the 1934 census, was exhibited. 



The bulk of the population is Bulgarian, but important Turkish groups 

 exist in the south-east and north-east. Pomaks (Islamised Bulgarians) and 

 semi-nomadic Vlachs are most numerous in the western Rhodopes ; on 

 the east coast are numerous Greek communities, and on the northern 

 frontier some Romanian groups. 



Population density is greatest on the northern platform and in the 

 Maritza basin, and least on the forested mountains — the Balkans, Anti- 

 Balkans, Rila, Pirin and western Rhodopes. Density is low, too, in the 

 dry ' Mediterranean ' region of the south-west (Struma valley) and along 

 the southern frontier in the eastern Rhodopes and Istrandja Dagh. 



Village types differ from region to region. On the northern platform 

 are large nucleated villages (population 3,000-4,000) in the valley bottoms, 

 leaving the plateau itself almost bare. In the Maritza plain and the sub- 

 Balkan basins there is an even spread of smaller villages, with towns at 

 route foci. The villages (kolibi) of the mountain regions are composed of 

 dispersed houses. The Arda basin (eastern Rhodopes) is the largest area 

 exhibiting this type, but the Balkan range and the western plateau (High 

 Bulgaria or Bulgarian Macedonia) have similar settlement, the latter also 

 having market towns in the several agricultural basins. 



The larger towns are mainly market centres the importance of which has 

 been increased by the railway (e.g. Gorna Orehovitza, Stara Zagora, Pleven) 

 or by water transport (e.g. the river port of Russe and the Black Sea ports 

 of Varna and Burgas). Industrialisation, except in Sofia and Plovdiv, 

 is feebly developed, but Sofia is growing a suburban-industrial fringe. 



Miss H. G. Wanklyn. — The Turkish ports (10.45). 



The end of the Sultanate in Turkey signified also a sharp decline in 

 foreign control over Turkish industry and trade. Since 1923, the economic 

 programme has been organised almost entirely by Turks. Three distinct 

 influences have marked especially the development of the Turkish ports : 

 (a) the deportation of the Greek and Armenian populations, mainly from 

 coasts of Asia Minor, (b) the active Turkish acceptance of the prevailing 

 spirit of economic nationalism and (c) the rapid progress of rail construction 

 in eastern Turkey, which by distributing trade amongst various smaller 

 centres has weakened the old concentration on Constantinople, Smyrna 

 and Trebizond. 



The traditional military instincts of the Turks are apparent in the planning 

 of the new railways, which are designed primarily to meet modern strategic 

 needs, and only in the second place to increase commercial activity. There 

 has been, however, a departure from the old east and west running trade 

 routes to establish rail connection north and south between Sivas and 

 Samsun and in the mountainous south-eastern region, thus stimulating the 

 ports of Samsun and Mersin. Though military requirements have led to the 

 traversing by railways of formidable mountain ranges, currency restrictions 

 are hampering the schemes for harbour dredging and construction, to 

 which the geographical obstacles are comparatively mild. 



