BURGAS, the mediaeval Pyrgos, a seaport and the capital of Burgas department, S.E. Bulgaria. Pop. (1934), 36,099. Burgas lies on an inlet of the Black Sea, on a low fore-land, between the lagoons of Ludzha on the north and Kara-Yunus on the west. It faces open sea on the east, its own harbour on the south. It is connected by rail with Philippopolis and the main European net work, and by light railway with Anhialo. The harbour, formally opened in 1904, has an average depth of five fathoms; large ves sels can load at its quays, and the outer waters of the gulf are well lighted by lighthouses on the islets of Hagios Anastasios and Megalo-Nisi. After the World War it began to rival Varna as the chief port of Bulgaria, surpassing it in the grain trade. There is an important trade in grain, wool, tallow, cheese, butter, textiles, eggs and tobacco. In and near the town are flour mills, a sugar factory, soap factories, etc. There is a chamber of commerce, numerous foreign consulates, a commercial school, a boys' and a girls' high school. In 1921, 1,200 vessels, of 622,835 tonnage, entered the harbour, through which passed 4o% of Black Sea trade of Bulgaria. The modern town has few picturesque buildings.