Despotate of Dobruja

The Principality of Karvuna or Despotate of Dobruja (Bulgarian: Добруджанско деспотство or Карвунско деспотство; Romanian: Despotatul Dobrogei or Țara Cărvunei) was a 14th-century quasi-independent polity in the region of modern Dobruja, that split off from the Second Bulgarian Empire under the influence of the Byzantine Empire.

The principality's name is derived from the fortress of Karvuna (present Kavarna), mentioned in Bulgarian and Byzantine documents and Italian portolans of the 14th century as its first capital, and located between Varna and Cape Kaliakra.

The principality was spun off from the Second Bulgarian Empire (followed by other frontier regions of Bulgaria such as Vidin and Velbuzhd) around 1340 under Balik (member of the Bulgarian-Cuman dynasty of Terter according to some authors) and placed itself ecclesiastically under the Patriarchate of Constantinople. A "Metropolitan of Varna and Carbona" was mentioned in 1325. Under Balik's son Dobrotitsa (1347–1386; ruling with the title of "despot" after 1357) the principality came to its greatest power and extension and the capital was moved to Kaliakra.

In 1346 or 1347, the principality was plagued by the Black Death, transmitted by Genoese boats from Caffa before they finally brought it to Sicily, Genoa and the whole of Western Europe. The principality had its own navy, which also engaged in piracy forcing the Genoese to complain, and possibly took part in an operation off Trebizond. In 1453, the Ottoman navy at the siege of Constantinople was initially led by one admiral Baltoglu, a Bulgarian convert from the former principality.

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