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Country in Southeast Europe From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
North Macedonia (/ˌmæsɪˈdoʊniə/ MASS-ih-DOH-nee-ə),[lower-alpha 3] officially the Republic of North Macedonia,[lower-alpha 4] is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo[lower-alpha 5] to the northwest and Serbia to the north.[8] It constitutes approximately the northern third of the larger geographical region of Macedonia. Skopje, the capital and largest city, is home to a quarter of the country's population of 1.83 million. The majority of the residents are ethnic Macedonians, a South Slavic people. Albanians form a significant minority at around 25%, followed by Turks, Roma, Serbs, Bosniaks, Aromanians and a few other minorities.
Republic of North Macedonia | |
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| Anthem: Денес над Македонија (Macedonian) "Today over Macedonia" | |
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| Capital and largest city | Skopje 42°0′N 21°26′E |
| Official languages | |
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| Religion |
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| Demonym(s) |
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| Government | Unitary parliamentary republic |
| Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova | |
| Hristijan Mickoski | |
| Afrim Gashi | |
| Legislature | Assembly |
| Establishment history | |
| 2 August 1944 | |
| 8 September 1991 | |
| Area | |
• Total | 25,436[4] km2 (9,821 sq mi) (145th) |
• Water (%) | 1.1 |
| Population | |
• 2021 census |  1,836,713[2] |
• Density | 71.43/km2 (185.0/sq mi) (122nd) |
| GDP (PPP) | 2023 estimate |
• Total |  $44.055 billion[5] (130th) |
• Per capita | $21,391[5] (75th) |
| GDP (nominal) | 2023 estimate |
• Total | $15.801 billion[5] (143rd) |
• Per capita | $7,672[5] (90th) |
| Gini (2019) |  30.7[6]medium inequality |
| HDI (2022) | 0.765[7] high (83rd) |
| Currency | Macedonian denar (MKD) |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
| UTC+2 (CEST) | |
| Calling code | +389 |
| ISO 3166 code | MK |
| Internet TLD | |
The region's history begins with the kingdom of Paeonia. In the late sixth century BC, the area was subjugated by the Persian Achaemenid Empire, then incorporated into the Kingdom of Macedonia in the fourth century BC. The Roman Republic conquered the region in the second century BC and made it part of its larger province of Macedonia. The area remained part of the Byzantine Empire, but was often raided and settled by Slavic tribes beginning in the sixth century of the Christian era. Following centuries of contention between the Bulgarian, Byzantine, and Serbian Empires, it was part of the Ottoman Empire from the mid-14th until the early 20th century, when, following the Balkan Wars of 1912 and 1913, the modern territory of North Macedonia came under Serbian rule.
During the First World War, the territory was ruled by Bulgaria, but after the end of the war it returned to Serbian rule as part of the newly formed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. During the Second World War, it was again ruled by Bulgaria; and in 1945 it was established as a constituent state of communist Yugoslavia, which it remained until its peaceful secession in 1991. The country became a member of the United Nations (UN) in 1993, but as a result of a dispute with Greece over the name "Macedonia", it was admitted under the provisional description "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" (abbreviated as "FYR Macedonia" or "FYROM"). In 2018, the dispute was resolved with an agreement that the country should rename itself "Republic of North Macedonia". This renaming came into effect in early 2019.
North Macedonia is also a member of NATO, the Council of Europe, the World Bank, OSCE, CEFTA, BSEC and the WTO. Since 2005, it has also been a candidate for joining the European Union. North Macedonia is an upper-middle-income country according to the World Bank's definitions[9] and has undergone considerable economic reform since its independence in developing an open economy. It is a developing country, ranked 82nd on the Human Development Index; and provides social security, a universal health care system, and free primary and secondary education to its citizens.
The state's name derives from the Greek word Μακεδονία (Makedonía),[10][11] a kingdom (later, region) named after the ancient Macedonians. Their name, Μακεδόνες (Makedónes), ultimately derives from the ancient Greek adjective μακεδνός (makednós), meaning 'tall' or 'taper',[12] which shares the same root as the adjective μακρός (makrós, 'long, tall, high') in ancient Greek.[13] The name is believed to have originally meant either 'highlanders' or 'the tall ones', possibly descriptive of the people.[11][14][15] According to linguist Robert S. P. Beekes, both terms are of pre-Greek substrate origin and cannot be explained in terms of Indo-European morphology.[16] According to linguist Filip De Decker, Beekes's arguments are insufficiently supported.[17]
Apart from the theme of Macedonia, the name "Macedonia" was largely forgotten as a geographical denomination through the Byzantine and Ottoman eras but was revived by Bulgarian and Greek nationalist movements from the early 19th century onwards.[18][19][20] It was revived only in middle of the century, with the rise of nationalism in the Ottoman Empire.[21][22][23] In the early 20th century the region was already a national cause, contested among Bulgarian, Greek, and Serbian nationalists. During the interwar period the use of the name "Macedonia" was prohibited in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, due to the implemented policy of Serbianisation of the local Slavic-speakers.[24][25] The name "Macedonia" was adopted officially for the first time at the end of the Second World War by the new Socialist Republic of Macedonia, which became one of the six constituent countries of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. After the breakup of Yugoslavia, this federal entity declared independence and changed its official name to the "Republic of Macedonia" in 1991. Prior to June 2018, the use of the name "Macedonia" was disputed between Greece and the then-Republic of Macedonia.
The Prespa agreement of June 2018 saw the country change its name to the "Republic of North Macedonia" eight months later.[26][27] A non-binding[28] national referendum on the matter passed with 90% approval but did not reach the required 50% turnout amidst a boycott, leaving the final decision with parliament to ratify the result.[29] Parliament approved of the name change on 19 October, reaching the required two-thirds majority needed to enact constitutional changes.[30] The vote to amend the constitution and change the name of the country passed on 11 January 2019 in favour of the amendment.[31] The amendment entered into force on 12 February, following the ratification of the Prespa agreement and the Protocol on the Accession of North Macedonia to NATO by the Greek Parliament.[32] Despite the renaming, the country is unofficially referred to as "Macedonia" by most of its citizens and most local media outlets.[citation needed]
North Macedonia geographically roughly corresponds to the ancient kingdom of Paeonia,[33][34][35][36][37] which was located immediately north of the ancient kingdom of Macedonia.[38] Paeonia was inhabited by the Paeonians, whilst the northwest was inhabited by the Dardani and the southwest by tribes known historically as the Enchelae, Pelagones, and Lyncestae; the latter two are generally regarded as Molossian tribes of the northwestern Greek group, whilst the former two are considered Illyrian.[39][40][41][42][43][44] The headwaters of the Axios river are mentioned by Homer as the home of the Paeonians allies of Troy.[45]
In the late 6th century BC, the Achaemenid Persians under Darius the Great conquered the Paeonians, incorporating what is today North Macedonia within their vast territories.[46][47][48] Following the loss in the Second Persian invasion of Greece in 479 BC, the Persians eventually withdrew from their European territories, including from what is today North Macedonia.
Philip II of Macedon absorbed[49] the regions of Upper Macedonia (Lynkestis and Pelagonia) and the southern part of Paeonia (Deuriopus) into the kingdom of Macedon in 356 BC.[50] Philip's son Alexander the Great conquered the remainder of the region and incorporated it in his empire, reaching as far north as Scupi, but the city and the surrounding area remained part of Dardania.[51] After the death of Alexander, Celtic armies began to bear down on the southern regions, threatening the kingdom of Macedon. In 310 BC, they attacked the area, but were defeated.[52]
The Romans established the province of Macedonia in 146 BC. By the time of Diocletian, the province had been subdivided between Macedonia Prima ("first Macedonia") on the south, encompassing most of the kingdom of Macedon, and Macedonia Salutaris (meaning "wholesome Macedonia", known also as Macedonia Secunda, "second Macedonia") on the north, encompassing partially Dardania and the whole of Paeonia; most of the country's modern boundaries fell within the latter, with the city of Stobi as its capital.[53] Roman expansion brought the Scupi area under Roman rule in the time of Domitian (81–96 AD), and it fell within the Province of Moesia.[54] Whilst Greek remained the dominant language in the eastern part of the Roman empire, especially south of the Jireček Line, Latin spread to some extent in Macedonia.[55]
Slavic tribes settled in the Balkan region including North Macedonia by the late 6th century AD. They were led by Pannonian Avars.[56][57][58] The Slavs settled on places of earlier settlements and probably merged later with the local populations to form mixed Byzantine-Slavic communities.[59] Historical records document that in c. 680 a Bulgar ruler called Kuber led a group of largely Christians called Sermesianoi, who were his subjects, and they settled in the region of Pelagonia. They may have consisted of Bulgars, Byzantines, Slavs and even Germanic tribes.[60] There is no more information of Kuber's life.[61][62] Presian's reign apparently coincides with the extension of Bulgarian control over the Slavic tribes in and around Macedonia. The Slavic tribes that settled in the region of Macedonia converted to Christianity around the 9th century during the reign of Tsar Boris I of Bulgaria. The Ohrid Literary School became one of the two major cultural centres of the First Bulgarian Empire, along with the Preslav Literary School. Established in Ohrid in 886 by Saint Clement of Ohrid on the order of Boris I, the Ohrid Literary School was involved in the spreading of the Cyrillic script.[63]
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After Sviatoslav's invasion of Bulgaria, the Byzantines took control of East Bulgaria. Samuil was proclaimed Tsar of Bulgaria. He moved the capital to Skopje and then to Ohrid, which had been the cultural and military centre of southwestern Bulgaria since Boris I's rule. Samuil re-established Bulgarian power, but after several decades of conflicts, in 1014, the Byzantine Emperor Basil II defeated his armies, and within four years the Byzantines restored control over the Balkans (modern-day North Macedonia was included into a new province, called Bulgaria). The rank of the autocephalous Bulgarian Patriarchate was lowered due to its subjugation to Constantinople and it was transformed into the Archbishopric of Ohrid. By the late 12th century, Byzantine decline saw the region contested by various political entities, including a brief Norman occupation in the 1080s.[citation needed]
In the early 13th century, a revived Bulgarian Empire gained control of the region. Plagued by political difficulties, the empire did not last, and the region came once again under Byzantine control in the early 14th century. In the 14th century, it became part of the Serbian Empire. Skopje became the capital of Tsar Stefan Dušan's empire. Following Dušan's death, a weak successor appeared, and power struggles between nobles divided the Balkans once again. These events coincided with the entry of the Ottoman Turks into Europe.
The Kingdom of Prilep was one of the short-lived states that emerged from the collapse of the Serbian Empire in the 14th century, which was seized by the Ottomans at the end of the same century.[64] Gradually, all of the central Balkans were conquered by the Ottoman Empire and remained under its domination for five centuries as part of the province or Eyalet of Rumelia. The name Rumelia (Turkish: Rumeli) means "Land of the Romans" in Turkish, referring to the lands conquered by the Ottoman Turks from the Byzantine Empire.[65] Over the centuries Rumelia Eyalet was reduced in size through administrative reforms, until by the 19th century it consisted of a region of central Albania and western North Macedonia with its capital at Manastir or present-day Bitola.[66] Rumelia Eyalet was abolished in 1867 and that territory of Macedonia subsequently became part of vilayets of Manastir, Kosova and Selanik until the end of Ottoman rule in 1912. With the beginning of the Bulgarian National Revival in the 19th century, many of the reformers were from this region, including the Miladinov brothers,[67] Rajko Žinzifov, Joakim Krčovski,[68] Kiril Pejčinoviḱ[69] and others. The bishoprics of Skopje, Debar, Bitola, Ohrid, Veles, and Strumica voted to join the Bulgarian Exarchate after it was established in 1870.[70]
