Byala (Varna)

Byala Бяла
Overview of Byala, Varna Province
Byala Location of Byala, Varna Province
Coordinates: 42°53′N 27°53′E / 42.883°N 27.883°E / 42.883; 27.883Coordinates: 42°53′N 27°53′E / 42.883°N 27.883°E / 42.883; 27.883
Country	Bulgaria
Provinces (Oblast)	Varna
Government
• Mayor	Anastas Trendafilov
Elevation	42 m (138 ft)
Population (31.12.2009)
• Total	2,171
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
• Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)
Postal Code	9101
Area code(s)	05143

Byala (Bulgarian: Бяла, white, Ancient Greek: Aspros, Άσπρος) is a small town and seaside resort in Eastern Bulgaria, located on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast in Varna Province. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Byala Municipality and lies in a semi-mountainous region in the easternmost branches of Stara Planina about 50 km south of the city of Varna and 70 km north of Burgas. As of December 2009, the town has a population of 2,171 inhabitants.

The Byala municipality consists of the town of Byala and the villages of Popovich, Dyulino, Gospodinovo, Goritsa and Samotino.

The first known settlement here, near Cape St. Athanasius (Sveti Atanas) just south of town, is dated back to the 6th century BC. Its Greek name was Larissa, later, Aspros (White); later still, the Roman road service station Templum Iovis (Temple of Jupiter) was erected, with a fortress nearby. The region became part of the First Bulgarian Empire in 681 AD; the Bulgarian fortress of Vicha stood later perhaps on cape Beli Nos (Cape White) north of town.

In the Ottoman period (from the late 14th century through 1878), a village known as Akdere (White creek) existed at the town's present location; it was later renamed Byala. A customs office between the Principality of Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia was temporarily established in 1878. Until the early 1900s, the majority of the population was ethnic Greek; with the population transfers between Bulgaria and Greece following World War I, about 75% of them are now ethnic Bulgarians tracing their ancestry to the village of Athira (Bulgarian: Bozets) in Greek Macedonia. Byala was declared town on 5 September 1984.