Literacy among the Ethnic Bulgarians of the Russian Empire according to the First General Census of 1897

Abstract

Analyzing the materials of the General Census of 1897, the author refutes the opinion of N. S. Derzhavin who, in his 1914 work, characterized the Bulgarians as people “deprived of education and considerably retarded in their culture” compared to other ethnic groups living in Novorossia (the northern coast of the Black Sea). The author proves that the literacy among Bulgarians was on the same level with the rest of the Orthodox population of Novorossia.