Asparukh

Asparukh (also Asparuh) was a Bulgar khan traditionally regarded as the founder of the First Bulgarian Empire. He is believed to have led the Bulgar tribes across the Danube from their Pontic steppe homeland into Moesia in the late 7th century, establishing a political authority in the region that would become northern and northeastern Bulgaria.

According to medieval sources such as the Bulgarian Primary Chronicle and Byzantine historians, Asparukh was a descendant of Kubrat and led the Bulgar diaspora that formed a polity in the lower Danube area around 681. The Bulgars joined with local Slavic communities and created a state whose early defense and settlement were concentrated in Danube borderlands; later centers of power included Pliska. In 681 a treaty with the Byzantine Empire, led by Emperor Constantine IV, is described in sources as recognizing the new Bulgarian state and fixing its borders, though exact terms are debated by scholars.

Asparukh's lineage, sometimes called the Asparukhids, is treated as the founder of a dynastic line that would rule the First Bulgarian Empire for generations. The empire grew to become a major political and cultural power in the Balkans for several centuries, integrating Bulgar, Slavic, and other populations, and laying foundations for a distinct medieval Bulgarian state. Scholarly accounts acknowledge uncertainties in early imperial chronology and the reliance on later chronicles for biographical details.