MACEDONIA

officially Republic of Macedonia, Macedonian Makedonija, or Republika Makedonija country of the southern Balkans (from 1918 to 1991 part of Yugoslavia). It is bordered on the north by the Yugoslav republic of Serbia, on the east by Bulgaria, on the south by Greece, and on the west by Albania. The capital is Skopje. Area 9,928 square miles (25,713 square km). Pop. (1993 est.) 2,063,000. modern Greek Makedhona , traditional region of Greece, comprising the northern and northeastern portions of that country. Greek Macedonia has an area of about 13,200 square miles (34,200 square km). It is bounded by Albania to the west, independent Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, the Greek region of Thrace to the east, the Aegean Sea to the southeast, and the Greek regions of Thessaly and Epirus to the south. The principal city of the region is Thessalonki (formerly Salonika). Present-day Greek Macedonia was formerly part of the larger region of Macedonia that was dominated by the Ottoman Empire between 1371 and 1912. Greek Macedonia was created as a result of the Second Balkan War in 1913. The region was occupied by Bulgarian troops during most of World War I and by Bulgarians and German troops in World War II, but each time it was returned to Greek sovereignty at the war's end. Macedonia was the site of bitter fighting between leftists and royalists in the Greek Civil War (194649). Most inhabitants of the region are ethnic Greeks and are heavily concentrated around the city of Thessalonki, which is Greece's second largest city, the largest port after Piraeus, and the administrative, industrial, and commercial centre of northern Greece. Fewer than 20,000 Muslims remain in the region, these being mostly Pomaks, a Turkicized people speaking a Bulgarian dialect. Vlachs are concentrated in the cities of Thessalonki and Srrai, Macedonians (who speak their own South Slavic language) are clustered along the northern border, and there are also small enclaves of Gypsies and Albanians. Most of the interior of Greek Macedonia is hilly or mountainous and reaches elevations of about 6,500 feet (2,000 m). The coastal areas along the Aegean Sea and the river valleys of the region constitute the only significant lowlands in all of Macedonia. The plain of Drma and the valleys of the Strimn and Axis rivers are the richest farmland in Greece and produce rice, olives, cotton, and tobacco. Fruit and grapes are widely grown, and wine and ouzo are produced. The processing of tobacco and other agricultural commodities and the weaving of textiles are the chief manufacturing industries. Thessalonki has an international airport and is linked by roads and railways to Athens, Yugoslavia, and Bulgaria. Tourism centres on the Chalcidice Peninsula and the island of Thasos. Mount Olympus and the monastic site of Mount Athos also lie within the region. ancient kingdom centred on the plain in the northeastern corner of the Greek peninsula, at the head of the Gulf of Thrmai. In the 4th century BC it achieved hegemony over Greece and conquered lands as far east as the Indus River, establishing a short-lived empire that introduced the Hellenistic Age of ancient Greek civilization. The cultural links of prehistoric Macedonia were mainly with Greece and Anatolia. A people of unknown ethnic origins who called themselves Macedonians are known from about 700 BC, when they pushed eastward from their home on the Haliacmon (Alikmon) River under the leadership of King Perdiccas I and his successors. By the 5th century BC the Macedonians had adopted the Greek language and had forged a unified kingdom. Athenian control of the coastal regions forced Macedonian rulers to concentrate on bringing the uplands and plains of Macedonia under their swaya task finally achieved by their king Amyntas III (reigned c. 393370/369). Two of Amyntas' sons, Alexander II and Perdiccas III, reigned only briefly. Amyntas' third son, Philip II, assumed control in the name of Perdiccas' infant heir; but having restored order he made himself king (reigned 359336) and raised Macedonia to a predominant position in Greece. Philip's son Alexander III (reigned 336323; see Alexander the Great) overthrew the Achaemenian (Persian) Empire and expanded Macedonia's dominion to the Nile and Indus rivers. On Alexander's death at Babylon his generals divided up the satrapies (provinces) of his empire and used them as bases in a struggle to acquire the whole. From 321 to 301 warfare was almost continual. Macedonia itself remained the heart of the empire, and its possession (along with the control of Greece) was keenly contested. Antipater (Alexander's regent in Europe) and his son Cassander managed to retain control of Macedonia and Greece until Cassander's death (297), which threw Macedonia into civil war. After a six-year rule (294288) by Demetrius I Poliorcetes, Macedonia again fell into a state of internal confusion, intensified by Galatian marauders from the north. In 277 Antigonus II Gonatas, the capable son of Demetrius, repulsed the Galatians and was hailed as king by the Macedonian army. Under him the country achieved a stable monarchythe Antigonid dynasty, which ruled Macedonia from 277 to 168. Under Philip V (reigned 221179) and his son Perseus (reigned 179168), Macedonia clashed with Rome and lost. (See Macedonian Wars.) Under Roman control Macedonia at first (168146) formed four independent republics without common bonds. In 146, however, it became a Roman province with the four sections as administrative units. Macedonia remained the bulwark of Greece, and the northern frontiers saw frequent campaigning against neighbouring tribes. Toward AD 400 it was divided into the provinces of Macedonia and Macedonia secunda, within the diocese of Moesia. Bulgarian Makedoniya, Modern Greek Makedhona, Serbo-Croatian and Macedonian Makedonija region in the south-central part of the Balkan Peninsula that comprises northern and northeastern Greece, the southwestern corner of Bulgaria, and the independent Republic of Macedonia. officially Republic of Macedonia, Macedonian Makedonija, or Republika Makedonija country of the southern Balkans. It is bordered on the north by the Yugoslav republic of Serbia, on the east by Bulgaria, on the south by Greece, and on the west by Albania. The area is 9,928 square miles (25,713 square kilometres), and the capital is Skopje. The part of the southern Balkan Peninsula traditionally known as Macedonia is bounded to the south by the Aegean Sea and the Alikmon River; to the west by Lakes Prespa and Ohrid, the watershed west of the Crni Drim River, and the ar Mountains; and to the north by the mountains of the Skopska Crna Gora and the watershed between the Morava and Vardar basins. The Pirin Mountains mark its eastern edge. Since 1913 this geographic and historical region has been divided among several states, and only some 40 percent of its area is occupied by the independent state that calls itself Macedonia. Macedonia owes its importance neither to its size nor to its population but rather to its location across a major junction of communication routesin particular, the great north-south route from the Danube River to the Aegean formed by the valleys of the Morava and Vardar rivers and the ancient east-west trade routes connecting the Black Sea and Istanbul with the Adriatic Sea. Although the majority of the republic's inhabitants are of Slavic descent and heirs to the Eastern Orthodox tradition of Christianity, 500 years of incorporation into the Ottoman Empire have left substantial numbers of other ethnic groups, including Albanians and Turks. Consequently, Macedonia forms a complex border zone between major cultural traditions of Europe and Asia. Ottoman control was brought to an end by the Balkan Wars (191213), after which Macedonia was divided among Greece, Bulgaria, and Serbia. Following World War I, the Serbian segment was incorporated into the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (renamed Yugoslavia in 1929). After World War II, the Serbian part of Macedonia became a constituent republic within the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The collapse of this federation in turn led the Yugoslav republic of Macedonia to declare its independence on Dec. 19, 1991. Additional reading Geography Joseph Obrebski, Ritual and Social Structure in a Macedonian Village, ed. by Barbara Kerewsky Halpern and Joel M. Halpern (1977), is a brief research report of rare quality. The Macedonian Literary Language (1959) is an official account of its development. An official view of ecclesiastical development is Don Ilievski, The Macedonian Orthodox Church: The Road to Independence (1973). The following are of particular importance in understanding the significance of ethnicity: Jovan Trifunoski, Albansko Stanovnitvo u Socijalistickoj Republici Makedoniji (1988), on Albanians in Macedonia; C.N.O. Bartlett, The Turkish Minority in Yugoslavia (1980); H.R. Wilkinson, Maps and Politics: A Review of the Ethnographic Cartography of Macedonia (1951); and Loring M. Danforth, The Macedonian Conflict: Ethnic Nationalism in a Transnational World (1995). History Stoyan Pribichevich, Macedonia, Its People and History (1982); and Institute Of National History, Skopje, A History of the Macedonian People (1979; originally published in Macedonian, 1972), are distinguished for their specific focus on Macedonia. The competition for the partition of Macedonia is described in Elisabeth Barker, Macedonia: Its Place in Balkan Power Politics (1950, reprinted 1980). A classic study of the Macedonian independence movement is Krste P. Misirkov, On Macedonian Matters (1903, reissued 1974; originally published in Serbo-Croatian, 1903). The World War II period is dealt with in Stephen E. Palmer, Jr., and Robert R. King, Yugoslav Communism and the Macedonian Question (1971). The transition from communist rule to a multiparty, independent state is illuminated by John B. Allcock, Macedonia, in Bogdan Szajkoswki (ed.), Political Parties of Eastern Europe, Russia, and the Successor States (1994), pp. 279291. John B. Allcock Administration and social conditions The constitution The constitution of 1991 established a republican assembly (called the Sobranie) consisting of a single chamber of 120 seats competed for in multiparty elections. There is an explicit separation of powers between the legislature, the judiciary, and the executive: the prime minister and cabinet ministers, for example, do not have seats in the assembly. The executive, under the prime minister, is the most powerful branch, with the legislature and judiciary acting principally as checks and balances to the government's activity. Whereas deputies are elected by a majority of those voting, the constitution insists that the president be elected by a majority of those on the electoral register. The presidency resembles the German rather than the French institution, the president serving principally as a symbolic head of state. The republic is divided into 32 optine (municipalities) to which are delegated many important social, judicial, and economic functions. Education Primary education is universal and compulsory for eight years from the age of seven. It may be conducted in languages other than Macedonian where there are large local majorities of other ethnic groups. A further four years of secondary education are available on a voluntary basis in specialized schools, which often represent the particular economic strengths or needs of a locality. There is a single university, in Skopje, with satellite facilities in other cities. Cultural life Great effort has been invested in the support of Macedonian language and culture, not only through education but also through the theatre and other arts as well as the media of mass communication. The republic has its own radio and television service. The small population and the poverty of the republic make it difficult to sustain diversity in the field of culture, and the majority of cultural institutions (with the exception of those intended for ethnic minorities) are located in Skopje. Macedonia has made its mark on the international cultural scene with some conspicuous successes, especially the Struga poetry festival and the plays of Goran Stefanovski.