On the map of the Roman Empire we are here

Romans occupied the Balkan Peninsula during the II c. B.C. After the battle near Pidna in 168 B.C. Macedonia became a Roman province. After century and half, in 15 B.C., Misia was occupied and also turned to a province of the Roman empire. Finally, after hard fights with Thracian tribes that were living in the area in the south of Hemus, and as a result of multiple campaigns of the Roman army, in 46 A.C. the next Roman province - Thrace - was created. In that period the Thracian population was not numerous. According to the evidences of the ancient writers, Rome got the victory at Balkans by pitiless killing of Thracians. A part of the survived Thracians continued to live free at the depopulated fields and the most of them withdrew to the mountains. Invaders settled in the newly built fortresses and towns.

In the early 1st century AD Roman rule was finally established in the Eastern Balkans. The present-day Bulgarian lands were included in the territorial and administrative division systems and government of the vast empire. They belonged mainly to the provinces of Moesia Inferior and Thracia till the end of the 3rd century AD. After the 3rd-4th century reforms the latter were replaced by several smaller provinces included in two higher-ranking territorial and administrative units: the dioceses of Thracia and Dacia. The annexation of the present -day Bulgarian lands by the Roman Empire secured their complete economic and cultural integration into the ancient Mediterranean world. They joined new forms of economic activity, as well as new material culture standards. After the establishment of the Roman rule, however, life did not become totally uniform with that of Italy and the rest of the provinces and territories of the Empire.