The region of Bourgas today, between the three lakes and the Black Sea, is referred to as “A crossroad of the most ancient civilizations”. The first inhabitants of this region were the Tracians. The ancient Greeks from Apolonia who founded the Pirgos colony, settled here around the VI century A.D. The city was in a military and trade rivalry with the other big Greek polis of Messemvria. The fortress of Pirgos was built in the Middle Ages. Bourgas received its present name as late as the 17-th century. It was first called Ahelo-Bourgas, and after the Liberation of Bulgaria, Bourgas. It used to be a small town a population of three thousand. After the Russian-Turkish war for freedom and independence, the town expanded and its population increased over a hundred times. Bourgas became a center of the southern part of the Black Sea coast. The first Bulgarian school and a church opened in Bourgas in 1869. The town gained independence from Turkish rule with the help of the Russian army in 1878. After the Treaty of Berlin was signed, Bourgas became one of the six administrative centers of the newly created province of Eastern Rumelia. An important stage of its economic development was marked by the establishment of the sea port in 1903. The High School of Trade and Commerce was opened in 1905, and the National Technical School of Mechanics in 1925. Prof. Asen Zlatarov University was founded in 1963 as a Higher Institute for Chemical Technology.