Macedonia is a sovereign, independent, democratic and social state. The capital is Skopje, with a population of 506,926 people (estimation for 2004). Other major cities are Bitola, Kumanovo, Prilep, Tetovo, Ohrid, Veles, Stip, Kocani, Gostivar and Strumica. Macedonia has a total of 25,713 square kilometers in which live around 2,114,550 inhabitants (estimate for 2009), of which the majority are Macedonians. The official language is the Macedonian language and the official currency is the Macedonian denar.In 1993, Macedonia became a member of the United Nations, but because of the name dispute that the country is having with Greece, the application is made under the name Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Macedonia is a member of the Council of Europe. Since December 2005, Macedonia is also a candidate to join the European Union and has applied to join NATO too.
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| Church St.Jovan-Kaneo in Ohrid |
Archaeological finds show that on the area of Macedonia, existed civilization since the period between 9000 BC and 3500 BC . The first Macedonian Kingdom appeared during the IX century BC, and there is a doubt about who was the first Macedonian king - Karan (who is considered the mythical ancestor of Argead Dynasty) or Perdika I (first historical king of the Kingdom of Macedonia) .
Approximately from the V century BC, the Kingdom of Macedonia becomes a significant political and economic player in the region. Philip II of Macedonia, after obedience of Illyrians and Thracians, also managed to conquer Greece too. His son, Alexander III of Macedonia is one of the most important figures in world history. He first broke the internal resistance in the extended Macedonian Kingdom, and later has destroyed the vast Persian Empire and extended the Macedonian state on three continents - Europe, Asia and Africa, extending on the Balkans and Asia Minor, Middle East, Egypt and India, and thus was created the Macedonian Empire. After his death, this huge empire, due to disagreements of his generals about who will be his successor, has divided in 3 parts: the Seleucids kingdom, the Kingdom of Ptolemais and the Kingdom of Antigonids. Conquests of Alexander III of Macedonia are essential for the initiation of the Hellenistic period in world history.
The penetration of the Roman Republic to east, leads to the so-called Macedonian-Roman wars in which Macedonian kingdom driven by the Dynasty of Antigonids, fully falls under Roman rule, and the last Macedonian king Perseus is taken as a slave in Rome. It became a Roman province as part of the Roman Empire and was divided into 2 parts - Macedonia Prima and Macedonia Salutaris. The territory of today's Republic of Macedonia was divided between the provinces Macedonia Salutaris and Moesia Prima. After the division of the Roman Empire in 395 AD on Eastern and Western Roman Empire, Macedonia becomes part of the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium.
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| Monument of Philip II in Bitola |
Moving of the Slavs
In VI and VII century in the Balkans and Macedonia came the Slavs, reaching south to Thessaly, even to the Peloponnese. They mixed with the locals, mostly ancient Macedonians, then Greeks, Illyrians and Thracians. On Macedonian territory, which then was under Byzantine jurisdiction, Macedonian Slavs were organized in half-country formations - Macedonian Sclavinians. Sclavinians took many attacks against Byzantium and against established Byzantine cities.
In 837., Macedonia begins to fall under the authority of the Bulgarian state, so until the middle of the IX century, most of Macedonia came under Bulgarian rule, and the other part was included within the Byzantine Empire. In the IX century, also begins the religious-educational activity of the Solun brothers Cyril and Methodius, consisted of more missions for Christianization of the Slavs, but also in they layed the foundations of the Slavic alphabet, beginning with the creation of the Slavic alphabet - the Glagolitic alphabet, in 855. Their disciples Clement and Naum, will continue their work and at the end of the IX century, will create the Ohrid Literary School and Preslav Literary School, which made Ohrid to soon became one of the most religious-educational and cultural center of the Balkans, the cradle of Slavic literacy.
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| Monument of St.Cyril in Skopje |
In the X century, Macedonia will be hit by the Bogomil movement and learning, first created in Veles-Prilep area, as an echo of the submissive feudal church-economic system. It soon spread not only in Macedonia, but also throughout Europe.
With the upcoming uprisings in Macedonia in the second half of X century, in 969 year against Bulgaria and in 976 against the Byzantine Empire, was created Macedonian medieval feudal state, also known as King Samuel's Kingdom. Macedonian medieval feudal state existed until 1018, when was conquered by the Byzantine armies. In the 13th and 14th century, the Byzantine control of Macedonia was interrupted by periods of Serbian and Bulgarian rule.
By the end of the XIV century, Macedonia was completely conquered by the Ottomans, bringing its economic and social system to destroy, and also its further social and cultural development was significantly slowed down. In 1767,the Sultan overturned Ohrid Archbishopric.
Strengthening the national language
From the XIV century in Macedonia the influence of the Serbian version of Old Church Slavonic begins to strengthen. The reason for it was joining the Macedonian lands to then Serbian state. That influence relates mainly to spelling. In addition, in the literary monuments of that time are visible traces of modern living Macedonian speeches.
At the time of the Ottoman Empire, literacy is experiencing a decline. Its language is further away from the Old Slavic basis, because in the living vernacular were already accumulated more significant changes. Besides church liturgical books, in which was more taken into consideration the oldest written Slavic tradition, appear more such texts used for reading a wider circle of people or represent inscriptions for practical use.
In the XVI century, books are printed in Serbia and Venice. In the XII century, came large quantities of church books printed in Russia in Russian-Slavic language.
National awakening
During the Ottoman rule, the position of Macedonians and the creation of a Macedonian state was very hard. Several movements whose goals were the creation of an autonomous Macedonia, which covers the entire region of Macedonia, started to appear in the late XIX century, and the oldest of them is the Macedonian Revolutionary Organization. In 1905 it was renamed in Internal Macedonian - Odrin Revolutionary Organization, and after the World War II, organization was divided into Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (VMRO) and Internal Thracian Revolutionary Organization. Most members still were Macedonians. In 1903 IMRO (VMRO) organized the Ilinden Uprising against the Ottomans, who after some initial successes, including the establishment of the Krusevo Republic was defeated with great human losses. The uprising and the formation of the Krusevo Republic later will greatly affect to the creation of today's Republic.
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| Macedonian flag |
Municipalities in Macedonia
Municipalities in Macedonia are administrative units of the first order. In August 2004, the Republic of Macedonia was reorganized into 84 municipalities; 10 of them are the City of Skopje, a separate unit of local government and capital of the state.
Almost all municipalities are unchanged or only assimilated from the previous 123 municipalities established in September 1996; others were attached to each other and their boundaries changed. Prior to this, the local authority has been organized into 34 administrative units at different levels.
By number of population, the largest municipality in the Republic of Macedonia is Kumanovo municipality with 105,484 inhabitants, and the smallest municipality is Vranestica with 1322 inhabitants.
Location
Macedonia has an area of 25,713 km2 and landlocked. Republic of Macedonia to east is bordering Bulgaria, to the north Serbia, on the west Albania and south with Greece. The length of the state border is 766 km.
The significance of the geographical position of the Republic of Macedonia as a central Balkan state bordering with four countries, different in their economic potential and development, is that they are addressed to mutual trade and complementariness of their economies, exactly through the territory of the Republic of Macedonia.
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| Mountain Baba |
Relief
Macedonia is a country that is enclosed within its borders and is landlocked. It is geographically defined by a valley which forms the largest river in its territory - Vardar, which is bordered by several mountain ranges. Generally the land is uneven and located between the Shar Mountains and Osogovo that border the valley of the river Vardar. The three largest natural lakes in the country are Ohrid, Prespa and Dojran lake. They lie on the southern border, and are divided between the borders with Albania and Greece. Lake Ohrid is considered one of the oldest lakes and biotopes in the world. The region is seismically active and many crashes have occurred in the past.
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| Lake Ohrid |
Religion in Macedonia (2002)
Eastern Orthodoxy (64.8%)
Islam (33.3%)
Catholicism (0.4%)
Others/None (1.5%)
In the Republic of Macedonia, the most common religion is Orthodox Christianity, practiced by most of the ethnic Macedonians. The vast majority of the Orthodox Christians in the country belong to the Macedonian Orthodox Church, which declared autocephaly from the Serbian Orthodox Church in 1967.
Muslims are the second-largest religious group with almost one-third of the population adhering to Islam, mainly from the country's Albanian and Turkish minorities. There are also many other religious groups in Macedonia, including Catholicism, Protestantism, and Judaism.
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| Monastery St.Jovan Bigorski |
