Macedonia (region)

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Modern Macedonia is divided by the national boundaries of Greece (Greek Macedonia), the Republic of Macedonia (Vardar Macedonia), Bulgaria (Blagoevgrad Province), Albania (Mala Prespa and Golo Brdo), Serbia (Prohor Pčinjski and Gora).

Topographical map of Macedonia

Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of the Balkan peninsula in southeastern Europe. Its boundaries have changed considerably over time, but nowadays the region is considered to include parts of five Balkan countries: Greece, the Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, Albania and Serbia. It covers approximately 67,000 square kilometres (25,869 sq mi) and has a population of 4.76 million.

Its oldest known settlements date back approximately 9,000 years. From the middle of the 4th century BC, the Kingdom of Macedon became the dominant power in Greece and the neighbouring regions; since then Macedonia has had a diverse history.

Boundaries and definitions

The Roman Diocese of Macedonia ca. AD 400

The themata were administrative units of the medieval Byzantine Empire. Here the thema of Macedonia in 1045 CE is in present-day Bulgaria, while the thema of Bulgaria includes present-day Western Bulgaria, Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo and parts of Serbia.

Borders of Macedonia according to different authors (1843–1927)

The definition of Macedonia has changed several times throughout history.

Prior to its expansion under Philip II, the ancient kingdom of Macedonia, to which the modern region owes its name, lay entirely within the current Greek province of Macedonia.^{[citation needed]}

The Roman province of Macedonia consisted of what is today Northern and Central Greece, the geographical area of the present-day Republic of Macedonia and southeast Albania. Simply put, it covered a much larger area than ancient Macedon. In late Roman times, the provincial boundaries were reorganized to form the Diocese of Macedonia, consisting of most of modern mainland Greece plus Crete, southern Albania, and parts of modern-day Bulgaria and the Republic of Macedonia.^{[citation needed]}

In the Byzantine Empire, a province under the name of Macedonia was carved out of the original Thema of Thrace, which was well east of the Struma River.^{[citation needed]} This thema variously included parts of Northern Thrace and western Thrace and gave its name to the Macedonian dynasty. Hence, Byzantine documents of this era that mention Macedonia are most probably referring to the Macedonian thema. The region of Macedonia, on the other hand, which was ruled by the First Bulgarian Empire throughout the 9th and the 10th century, was incorporated into the Byzantine Empire in 1018 as the Thema of Bulgaria.

With the gradual conquest of southeastern Europe by the Ottomans in the late 14th century, the name of Macedonia disappeared as an administrative designation for several centuries and was rarely displayed on maps.^{[citation needed]} The name was again revived to mean a distinct geographical region. In the late 19th century,^{[citation needed]} it developed roughly the same borders that it has today.^{[dubious – discuss]}

Demographics

During medieval and modern times, Macedonia has been known as a Balkan region inhabited by ethnic Greeks, Albanians, Vlachs, Serbs, Bulgarians, Jews, and Turks.[1] Today, as a frontier region where several very different cultures meet, Macedonia has an extremely diverse demographic profile.

Distribution of races in the Balkan Peninsula and Asia Minor in 1910 (Historical Atlas by William R. Shepherd, New York)

Distribution of races in the Balkan Peninsula and Asia Minor in 1918 (National Geographic)

• Macedonian Greeks are ethnic Greeks who self-identify regionally as "Macedonians" (Greek: Μακεδόνες, Makedónes). They form the majority of the region's population (~51%). They number approximately 2,500,000 and live almost entirely in Greek Macedonia. The Greek Macedonian population is mixed, with indigenous and a large influx of Greek refugees descending from Asia Minor, Pontic Greeks, and East Thracian Greeks in the early 20th century. This is due to the population exchange between Greece and Turkey, during which over 1.2 million Christian refugees from Turkey were settled in Greece, 638,000 of whom were settled in Macedonia.[2] Smaller Greek minorities exist in Bulgaria and the Republic of Macedonia, although their numbers are difficult to ascertain. In official census results, only 86 persons declared themselves Greeks in Bulgarian Macedonia (Blagoevgrad Province) in 2001, out of a total of 3,408 in all Bulgaria; while 442 described themselves as Greeks in the 2002 census in the Republic of Macedonia.

• Ethnic Macedonians self-identify as "Macedonians" (Macedonian: Македонци, Makedonci) in an ethnic sense as well as in the regional sense. They are the second largest ethnic group in the region. Because of their primarily Slavic origin they are also known as "Macedonian Slavs". They form the majority of the population in the Republic of Macedonia where according to the 2002 census, approximately 1,300,000 people declared themselves as Macedonians. According to the latest Bulgarian census held in 2001, there are 3,117 people declaring themselves ethnic Macedonians in the Blagoevgrad Province of Bulgaria (Pirin Macedonia). The official number of ethnic Macedonians in Bulgaria is 5,071. A relatively small number of ethnic Macedonians exist among the Slavic-speakers of Greek Macedonia. There hasn't been a census in Greece on the question of mother tongue since 1951, when the census recorded 41,017 Slavic-speakers, mostly in the West Macedonia periphery of Greece. The linguistic classification of the Slavic dialects spoken by these people can be either Bulgarian or Macedonian, although the people themselves call their language "Slavic". Most of these people declare themselves as ethnic Greeks (Slavophone Greeks), although there are small groups espousing ethnic Macedonian[3] and Bulgarian national identities. In the 1989 Albanian census, approximately 5,000 Albanian citizens declared themselves Macedonians.

• Macedonian Bulgarians are ethnic Bulgarians who self-identify regionally as "Macedonians" (Bulgarian: Mакедонци, Makedontsi). They represent the bulk of the population of Bulgarian Macedonia (also known as "Pirin Macedonia"). They number approximately 370,000 in the Blagoevgrad Province where they are mainly situated. There are small Bulgarian-identifying groups in Albania, Greece and the Republic of Macedonia with an uncertain size. In the Republic of Macedonia, 1,417 people claimed a Bulgarian ethnic identity in the 2002 census. Paradoxically, during the last few years around 60,000 Macedonians have applied for Bulgarian citizenship and some 10,000 ethnic Macedonians have already obtained Bulgarian passports. Bulgaria's admission to the European Union is evidently a powerful motivation factor. In order to obtain it they must sign a statement proving they are Bulgarian by origin, effectively not recognising their rights as a minority.[4][5][6][7][8]

• Albanians are another major ethnic group in the region. Ethnic Albanians make up the majority in certain northern and western parts of the Republic of Macedonia, and account for 25.2% of the total population of the Republic of Macedonia, according to the 2002 census.

• Smaller numbers of Turks, Bosniaks, Roma, Serbs, Vlachs (Aromanians and Megleno-Romanians), Egyptians, Armenians and Jews (Sephardim and Romaniotes) are also be found in Macedonia.

Religion

Most present-day inhabitants of the region are Eastern Orthodox Christians, principally of the Greek Orthodox, Bulgarian Orthodox, Serbian Orthodox Churches and Macedonian Orthodox Church. Notable Muslim minorities are present among the Albanian, Bulgarian (Pomaks), Macedonian (Torbeš), Bosniak, and Turkish populations.

History

Early Neolithic

While Macedonia shows signs of human habitation as old as the paleolithic period, the earliest known settlements, such as Nea Nikomedeia, date back 9,000 years.[9] The houses at Nea Nikomedeia were constructed—as were most structures throughout the Neolithic in northern Greece—of wattle and daub on a timber frame. The cultural assemblage includes well-made pottery in simple shapes with occasional decoration in white on a red background, clay female figurines of the 'rod-headed' type known from Thessaly to the Danube Valley, stone axes and adzes, chert blades, and ornaments of stone including curious 'nose plugs' of uncertain function. The assemblage of associated objects differs from one house to the next, suggesting some degree of craft specialisation had already been established from the beginning of the site's history. The farming economy was based on the cultivation of cereal crops such as wheat and barley and pulses and on the herding of sheep and goats, with some cattle and pigs. Hunting played a relatively minor role in the economy. Surviving from 7000 to 5500 BCE, this Early Neolithic settlement was occupied for over a thousand years.