Macedonia/North Macedonia

HISTORY

Prior to the fourth century BC, Macedonia was a small kingdom in northern Greece, outside the area dominated by the great city-states of Athens, Sparta and Thebes.

The reign of Philip II (359–336 BC) saw the rise of Macedonia, when the kingdom rose to control the entire Greek world. With the innovative Macedonian army, Philip defeated Athens and Thebes in the decisive Battle of Chaeronea on August 2, 338 BC and subdued them, while keeping Sparta in check.

Macedonia 336 BC MinisterForBadTimes Wikipedia Commons

In 356 BC Philip II's horse won an event at the Olympics. He had a special silver coin minted to commemorate this feat.

Phillip's son Alexander the Great conquered the remainder of the region, and incorporated it in his empire, reaching as far north as Scupi.

The Macedonians developed the catapult as a siege engine for the armies of Philip II and Alexander the Great.

The Romans defeated the Macedon army in 168 BC at the Battle of Pydna.  After the battle, the Macedonian monarchy was indeed abolished, and the region came under Roman control. However, instead of creating four Roman client states, the Romans divided the conquered territory into four separate regions, each under the control of a Roman governor.

These four regions were known as Macedon, Epirus, Thessaly, and Thrace. They were not independent client states but rather incorporated directly into the Roman Republic as provinces. The Roman governors appointed to administer these regions were responsible for maintaining Roman control, collecting taxes, and ensuring stability.

ndriscus, who claimed to be a descendant of the Antigonid dynasty, did rebel against the Romans and briefly declared himself king of Macedonia. This rebellion took place during the Fourth Macedonian War, which occurred from 150 to 148 BC.

Andriscus, also known as Pseudo-Philip or Pseudo-Perseus, took advantage of the political instability in the region and rallied support from the Macedonian population. He managed to gather an army and confronted the Roman praetor Publius Juventius Thalna in battle. Andriscus emerged victorious, defeating Thalna's forces.

Following his victory, Andriscus established his rule over Macedonia, claiming the title of King and presenting himself as the legitimate heir of the Antigonid dynasty. His reign, however, was short-lived. The Romans, under the leadership of Quintus Caecilius Metellus, launched a counteroffensive and decisively defeated Andriscus in 148 BC. With his defeat, Macedonian independence was permanently extinguished, and Macedonia was fully incorporated into the Roman Republic as a province.

All of the central Balkans including Macedonia were conquered by the Ottoman Empire in the 14th century and remained under its domination for five centuries.

After the Second World War, it became a state called Socialist Republic of Macedonia in the southern part of Yugoslavia. When that country broke up in 1991, Macedonia became independent. 

Under the rule of the first Macedonian president, Kiro Gligoro, the Republic of Macedonia was the only state that seceded from Yugoslavia peacefully.

Macedonia officially celebrates September 8, 1991 as Independence Day with regard to the referendum endorsing independence from Yugoslavia.

"Denes nad Makedonija" was chosen to be the national anthem of the Republic of Macedonia, even though it finished runner-up in a contest held soon after independence in 1991.

Between independence in 1991 and February 2019, it was officially the Republic of Macedonia and commonly known as Macedonia. The Republic of Macedonia changed its name to the Republic of North Macedonia as the Prespa agreement took effect, ending a 27-year naming dispute with Greece.

On February 6, 2019, the Macedonian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nikola Dimitrov, signed in Brussels the accession protocol of North Macedonia into NATO.

FUN FACTS

Macedonia is a mountainous country with 34 mountain peaks higher than 2000 meters above sea level. Mount Golem Karb being the highest at 2,753 meters above sea-level.

There are more than 50 large lakes and 1,100 large sources of water in total.

Macedonia was ranked as the fourth "best reformatory state" out of 178 countries by the World Bank in 2009.

Macedonia is famous for its rich Šopska salad *see below), an appetizer and side dish which accompanies almost every meal,

Eastern Orthodoxy is the majority faith of the Republic of Macedonia making up 64.7% of the population, the vast majority of which belong to the Macedonian Orthodox Church.

The majority of the population speak Macedonian, which is closely related to and mutually intelligible with Standard Bulgarian. Albanian is also spoken by the Albanian minority (15%) living in the country.