125-875: The Gulf of Drin or Bay of Drin ( Albanian : Gjiri i Drinit or Pellgu i Drinit ) is an ocean basin of the Adriatic Sea within the Mediterranean Sea along the northern coast of Albania . Roughly scythe -shaped, it extends immediately from the Delta of the Buna in the north, across the port city of Shëngjin , to the Cape of Rodon in the south. The shoreline of the gulf is a shallow combination of sandy beaches , sand dunes , capes , salty and fresh water wetlands , estuaries , pine and coastal forests , reed beds and coastal meadows . The shoreline of
250-500: 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. There is no more information of Kuber's life. 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
375-626: A United Macedonia . With the Bled agreement , in 1947 Bulgaria formally confirmed the envisioned unification of the Macedonian region, but postponed this act until after the formation of the future Federation. It was the first time it accepted the existence of a separate Macedonian ethnicity and language. After the Tito–Stalin split the region of Pirin Macedonia remained part of Bulgaria and later
500-444: 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', which shares the same root as the adjective μακρός ( makrós , 'long, tall, high') in ancient Greek. The name is believed to have originally meant either 'highlanders' or 'the tall ones', possibly descriptive of
625-678: A Latinis, Grecis et Sclauis ita quod in nullo se intelligunt cum aliis nationibus. (Namely, the above-mentioned Albanians have a language that is different from the languages of Latins, Greeks and Slavs, so that they do not understand each other at all.) The oldest attested document written in Albanian dates to 1462, while the first audio recording in the language was made by Norbert Jokl on 4 April 1914 in Vienna . However, as Fortson notes, Albanian written works existed before this point; they have simply been lost. The existence of written Albanian
750-568: A bid to become the alliance's 30th member. On 30 July, the parliament of Macedonia approved plans to hold a non-binding referendum on changing the country's name , which took place on 30 September. Ninety-one percent of voters voted in favour with a 37% turnout, but the referendum was not carried because of a constitutional requirement for a 50% turnout. On 6 February 2019, the permanent representatives of NATO member states and Macedonian Foreign Affairs Minister Nikola Dimitrov, signed in Brussels
875-417: A boycott, leaving the final decision with parliament to ratify the result. Parliament approved of the name change on 19 October, reaching the required two-thirds majority needed to enact constitutional changes. The vote to amend the constitution and change the name of the country passed on 11 January 2019 in favour of the amendment. The amendment entered into force on 12 February, following the ratification of
1000-480: A brief Norman occupation in the 1080s. 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,
1125-905: A common branch in the current phylogenetic classification of the Indo-European language family. The first written mention of Albanian was in 1284 in a witness testimony from the Republic of Ragusa , while a letter written by Dominican Friar Gulielmus Adea in 1332 mentions the Albanians using the Latin alphabet in their writings. The oldest surviving attestation of modern Albanian is from 1462. The two main Albanian dialect groups (or varieties ), Gheg and Tosk , are primarily distinguished by phonological differences and are mutually intelligible in their standard varieties, with Gheg spoken to
1250-573: A common period of prehistoric coexistence of several Indo-European dialects in the Balkans prior to 2000 BC. To this group would belong Albanian, Ancient Greek , Armenian , Phrygian , fragmentary attested languages such as Macedonian , Thracian , or Illyrian , and the relatively well-attested Messapic in Southern Italy. The common features of this group appear at the phonological, morphological, and lexical levels, presumably resulting from
1375-541: A different historical context and cultural heritage. In August 2017, what was then the Republic of Macedonia signed a friendship agreement with Bulgaria, aiming to end the "anti-Bulgarian ideology" in the country and to solve the historical issues between the two. Under the Prespa agreement , signed with Greece on 17 June 2018, the country agreed to change its name to the Republic of North Macedonia and stop public use of
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#17327797058661500-472: A large amount (or the majority) of their sea environment lexicon. A similar phenomenon could be observed with agricultural terms. While the words for 'arable land', 'wheat', 'cereals', 'vineyard', 'yoke', 'harvesting', 'cattle breeding', etc. are native, the words for 'ploughing', 'farm' and 'farmer', agricultural practices, and some harvesting tools are foreign. This, again, points to intense contact with other languages and people, rather than providing evidence of
1625-475: A number of isoglosses with Albanian. Other linguists linked the Albanian language with Latin , Greek and Armenian , while placing Germanic and Balto-Slavic in another branch of Indo-European. In current scholarship there is evidence that Albanian is closely related to Greek and Armenian, while the fact that it is a satem language is less significant. Armenian Greek Phrygian (extinct) Messapic (extinct) Gheg Tosk Messapic
1750-547: A possible linguistic homeland (also known as a Urheimat ). The centre of Albanian settlement remained the Mat River. In 1079, the Albanians were recorded farther south in the valley of the Shkumbin River. The Shkumbin, a 181 km long river that lies near the old Via Egnatia , is approximately the boundary of the primary dialect division for Albanian, Tosk and Gheg . The characteristics of Tosk and Gheg in
1875-503: A region of central Albania and western North Macedonia with its capital at Manastir or present-day Bitola . 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
2000-642: A reintroduction of anti-Bulgarian measures. Bulgarian teachers and clergy were expelled, Bulgarian language signs and books removed, and all Bulgarian organisations dissolved. Also after the Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine , the Strumica region was annexed to Serbian Macedonia in 1919. The Serbian government pursued a policy of forced Serbianisation in the region, which included systematic suppression of Bulgarian activists, altering family surnames, internal colonisation, exploiting workers, and intense propaganda. To aid
2125-933: A strong sense of identity and are unique in that they speak an archaic dialect of Tosk Albanian called Arbëresh . In the United States and Canada, there are approximately 250,000 Albanian speakers. It is primarily spoken on the East Coast of the United States, in cities like New York City, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Detroit, as well as in parts of the states of New Jersey, Ohio, and Connecticut. In Argentina, there are nearly 40,000 Albanian speakers , mostly in Buenos Aires. Approximately 1.3 million people of Albanian ancestry live in Turkey , with more than 500,000 recognizing their ancestry, language and culture . There are other estimates, however, that place
2250-482: A way of putting pressure on Greece as well as for the purposes of domestic identity-building. Statues of Alexander the Great and Philip of Macedon have been erected in several cities across the country. Additionally, many pieces of public infrastructure, such as airports, highways, and stadiums were renamed after Alexander and Philip. These actions were seen as deliberate provocations in neighbouring Greece, exacerbating
2375-660: 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. Gradually, all of the central Balkans were conquered by
2500-558: Is also classified as an Important Bird and Plant Area , because it supports numerous bird and plant species. The region lies mainly within the catchment area of the Drin that is officially recognized as an important biodiversity hotspot . The gulf is one of the most important places in the Adriatic Sea for sea turtles . Its beaches are nesting and foraging grounds for 2 important and endangered species of sea turtles including
2625-667: Is also spoken by 450,000 Albanian immigrants in Greece, making it one of the commonly spoken languages in the country after Greek. Albanian is the third most common mother tongue among foreign residents in Italy . This is due to a substantial Albanian immigration to Italy. Italy has a historical Albanian minority of about 500,000, scattered across southern Italy, known as Arbëreshë . Approximately 1 million Albanians from Kosovo are dispersed throughout Germany , Switzerland and Austria . These are mainly immigrants from Kosovo who migrated during
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#17327797058662750-709: Is also spoken in Greece and by the Albanian diaspora , which is generally concentrated in the Americas , Europe and Oceania . Albanian is estimated to have as many as 7.5 million native speakers. Albanian and other Paleo-Balkan languages had their formative core in the Balkans after the Indo-European migrations in the region. Albanian in antiquity is often thought to have been an Illyrian language for obvious geographic and historical reasons, or otherwise an unmentioned Balkan Indo-European language that
2875-601: Is an Indo-European language and the only surviving representative of the Albanoid branch , which belongs to the Paleo-Balkan group . It is the native language of the Albanian people . Standard Albanian is the official language of Albania and Kosovo , and a co-official language in North Macedonia and Montenegro , as well as a recognized minority language of Italy , Croatia , Romania and Serbia . It
3000-608: Is considered the closest language to Albanian, grouped in a common branch titled Illyric in Hyllested & Joseph (2022). Hyllested & Joseph (2022) in agreement with recent bibliography identify Greco-Phrygian as the IE branch closest to the Albanian-Messapic one. These two branches form an areal grouping – which is often called "Balkan IE" – with Armenian. The hypothesis of the " Balkan Indo-European " continuum posits
3125-687: Is explicitly mentioned in a letter attested from 1332, and the first preserved books, including both those in Gheg and in Tosk, share orthographic features that indicate that some form of common literary language had developed. By the Late Middle Ages , during the period of Humanism and the European Renaissance , the term lingua epirotica ' Epirotan language ' was preferred in the intellectual, literary, and clerical circles of
3250-598: Is spoken in North-western Greece, while Arvanitika is spoken by the Arvanites in southern Greece. In addition, Arbëresh is spoken by the Arbëreshë people, descendants of 15th and 16th century migrants who settled in southeastern Italy, in small communities in the regions of Sicily and Calabria . These settlements originated from the (Arvanites) communities probably of Peloponnese known as Morea in
3375-486: Is spoken in the south, and Gheg spoken in the north. Standard Albanian is based on the Tosk dialect. The Shkumbin River is the rough dividing line between the two dialects. Gheg is divided into four sub-dialects: Northwest Gheg, Northeast Gheg, Central Gheg and Southern Gheg. It is primarily spoken in northern Albania, Kosovo , and throughout Montenegro and northwestern North Macedonia . One fairly divergent dialect
3500-576: Is the Upper Reka dialect , which is however classified as Central Gheg. There is also a diaspora dialect in Croatia , the Arbanasi dialect . Tosk is divided into five sub-dialects, including Northern Tosk (the most numerous in speakers), Labërisht , Cham , Arvanitika , and Arbëresh . Tosk is spoken in southern Albania, southwestern North Macedonia and northern and southern Greece. Cham Albanian
3625-399: Is the most probable. Although Albanian shares lexical isoglosses with Greek , Germanic , and to a lesser extent Balto-Slavic , the vocabulary of Albanian is quite distinct. In 1995, Taylor, Ringe , and Warnow used quantitative linguistic techniques that appeared to obtain an Albanian subgrouping with Germanic, a result which the authors had already reasonably downplayed. Indeed,
3750-569: Is the official language of Albania and Kosovo and a co-official language in North Macedonia and Montenegro . Albanian is a recognised minority language in Croatia , Italy , Romania and in Serbia . Albanian is also spoken by a minority in Greece , specifically in the Thesprotia and Preveza regional units and in a few villages in Ioannina and Florina regional units in Greece. It
3875-605: The Blagoevgrad Province in southwestern Bulgaria. North Macedonia is a landlocked country that is geographically clearly defined by a central valley formed by the Vardar river and framed along its borders by mountain ranges. The terrain is mostly rugged, located between the Šar Mountains and Osogovo , which frame the valley of the Vardar river. Three large lakes— Lake Ohrid , Lake Prespa and Dojran Lake —lie on
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4000-659: The Bulgarian Army . The Bulgarian authorities, under German pressure, were responsible for the round-up and deportation of over 7,000 Jews in Skopje and Bitola . Harsh rule by the occupying forces encouraged many Vardar Macedonians to support the Communist Partisan resistance movement of Josip Broz Tito after 1943, and the National Liberation War ensued. In Vardar Macedonia, after
4125-516: The Bulgarian coup d'état of 1944 , the Bulgarian troops, surrounded by German forces, fought their way back to the old borders of Bulgaria. Under the leadership of the new Bulgarian pro-Soviet government, four armies, 455,000 strong in total, were mobilised and reorganised. Most of them re-entered occupied Yugoslavia in early October 1944 and moved from Sofia to Niš , Skopje and Pristina with
4250-463: The Congress of Dibra decided that Albanian schools would finally be allowed. Albanian is an isolate within the Indo-European language family; no other language has been conclusively linked to its branch . The only other languages that are the sole surviving members of a branch of Indo-European are Armenian and Greek. The Albanian language is part of the Indo-European language family and
4375-661: The Cyrillic script . 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
4500-675: The Internal Thracian Revolutionary Organisation (ITRO). In the early years of the organisation, membership eligibility was exclusive to Bulgarians, but later it was extended to all inhabitants of European Turkey regardless of ethnicity or religion. The majority of its members were Macedonian Bulgarians . In 1903, IMRO organised the Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising against the Ottomans , which after some initial successes, including
4625-629: The Janissary of Muhammad Ali Pasha , an Albanian who became Wāli , and self-declared Khedive of Egypt and Sudan . In addition to the dynasty that he established, a large part of the former Egyptian and Sudanese aristocracy was of Albanian origin. In addition to the recent emigrants, there are older diasporic communities around the world. Albanian is also spoken by Albanian diaspora communities residing in Australia and New Zealand . The Albanian language has two distinct dialects, Tosk which
4750-512: The Jireček Line , Latin spread to some extent in Macedonia. Slavic tribes settled in the Balkan region including North Macedonia by the late 6th century AD. They were led by Pannonian Avars . The Slavs settled on places of earlier settlements and probably merged later with the local populations to form mixed Byzantine-Slavic communities. Historical records document that in c. 680
4875-605: 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
5000-611: The Kingdom of Yugoslavia , due to the implemented policy of Serbianisation of the local Slavic-speakers. 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
5125-753: The Korçë District , Kamnik in Kolonja , Kolsh in the Kukës District , Rashtan in Librazhd , and Nezir in the Mat District . As in other parts of Europe, these PreIE people joined the migratory Indo-European tribes that entered the Balkans and contributed to the formation of the historical Paleo-Balkan tribes. In terms of linguistics, the pre-Indo-European substrate language spoken in the southern Balkans probably influenced pre-Proto-Albanian ,
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5250-867: The League of Prizren and culminated with the Congress of Manastir held by Albanian intellectuals from 14 to 22 November 1908, in Manastir (present day Bitola ), which decided on which alphabet to use, and what the standardised spelling would be for standard Albanian. This is how the literary language remains. The alphabet is the Latin alphabet with the addition of the letters ⟨ ë ⟩ , ⟨ ç ⟩ , and ten digraphs : dh , th , xh , gj , nj , ng , ll , rr , zh and sh . According to Robert Elsie : The hundred years between 1750 and 1850 were an age of astounding orthographic diversity in Albania. In this period,
5375-530: The Miladinov brothers , Rajko Žinzifov , Joakim Krčovski , Kiril Pejčinoviḱ and others. The bishoprics of Skopje, Debar , Bitola , Ohrid , Veles , and Strumica voted to join the Bulgarian Exarchate after it was established in 1870. Several movements whose goals were the establishment of an autonomous Macedonia, which would encompass the entire region of Macedonia, began to arise in
5500-675: The Ohrid–Debar uprising against the Serbian rule. Within a few days the rebels captured the towns of Gostivar, Struga and Ohrid, expelling the Serbian troops. According to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace report, a Serbian army of 100,000 regulars suppressed the uprising. Many were killed and tens of thousands refugees fled to Bulgaria and Albania. During the First World War , most of today's North Macedonia
5625-416: 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. Over the centuries, Rumelia Eyalet was reduced in size through administrative reforms, until by the 19th century it consisted of
5750-439: The Paeonians allies of Troy . 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. 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
5875-399: The Republic of North Macedonia , 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 to the northwest and Serbia to the north. 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
6000-558: The Vardar Banovina of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) promoted the concept of an Independent Macedonia in the interwar period . Its leaders—including Todor Alexandrov , Aleksandar Protogerov , and Ivan Mihailov —promoted independence of the Macedonian territory split between Serbia and Greece for the whole population, regardless of religion and ethnicity. The Bulgarian government of Alexander Malinov in 1918 offered to give Pirin Macedonia for that purpose after World War I , but
6125-409: The Vergina Sun . It retained the demonym "Macedonian", but clarified this as distinct from the Hellenistic Macedonian identity in northern Greece. The agreement included removal of irredentist material from textbooks and maps in both countries, and official UN recognition of the Slavic Macedonian language . It replaced the bilateral Interim Accord of 1995. The withdrawal of the Greek veto, along with
6250-417: The World Bank 's definitions 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 ),
6375-417: The Yugoslav Wars of the early 1990s. A few very minor changes to its border with Yugoslavia were agreed upon to resolve problems with the demarcation line between the two countries. It was seriously destabilised by the Kosovo War in 1999, when an estimated 360,000 ethnic Albanian refugees from Kosovo took refuge in the country. They departed shortly after the war, and Albanian nationalists on both sides of
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#17327797058666500-411: The accession protocol of North Macedonia into NATO. The protocol was then ratified on 8 February by the Greek parliament, thus completing all the preconditions for putting into force the Prespa agreement. Subsequently, on 12 February the Macedonian government announced the formal activation of the constitutional amendments which effectively renamed the country as North Macedonia and informed accordingly
6625-481: The green sea and loggerhead sea turtle . Apart from the famous endangered sea turtles , which are to be found in almost all the coasts, it hosts whales such as the cuvier's beaked whale and dolphins amongst them the striped dolphin , risso's dolphin and common bottlenose dolphin . Albanian language Albanian ( endonym : shqip [ʃcip] , gjuha shqipe [ˈɟuha ˈʃcipɛ] , or arbërisht [aɾbəˈɾiʃt] )
6750-422: The people . 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. According to linguist Filip De Decker, Beekes's arguments are insufficiently supported. Apart from the theme of Macedonia , the name "Macedonia" was largely forgotten as a geographical denomination through the Byzantine and Ottoman eras but
6875-409: 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. A non-binding national referendum on the matter passed with 90% approval but did not reach the required 50% turnout amidst
7000-530: The 14th century, but they failed to cite specific words. The oldest surviving documents written in Albanian are the " formula e pagëzimit " (Baptismal formula), Un'te paghesont' pr'emenit t'Atit e t'Birit e t'Spertit Senit . ("I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit ") recorded by Pal Engjelli, Bishop of Durrës in 1462 in the Gheg dialect, and some New Testament verses from that period. The linguists Stefan Schumacher and Joachim Matzinger (University of Vienna) assert that
7125-410: The 1990s. In Switzerland , the Albanian language is the sixth most spoken language with 176,293 native speakers. Albanian became an official language in North Macedonia on 15 January 2019. There are large numbers of Albanian speakers in the United States, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and Canada . Some of the first ethnic Albanians to arrive in the United States were the Arbëreshë. The Arbëreshë have
7250-453: The Albanian and Germanic branches share a relatively moderate number of lexical cognates. Many shared grammatical elements or features of these two branches do not corroborate the lexical isoglosses. Albanian also shares lexical linguistic affinity with Latin and Romance languages. Sharing linguistic features unique to the languages of the Balkans , Albanian also forms a part of the Balkan linguistic area or sprachbund . The place and
7375-426: The Albanian language was on 14 July 1284 in Ragusa in modern Croatia ( Dubrovnik ) when a crime witness named Matthew testified: "I heard a voice crying on the mountain in the Albanian language" ( Latin : Audivi unam vocem, clamantem in monte in lingua albanesca ). The Albanian language is also mentioned in the Descriptio Europae Orientalis dated in 1308: Habent enim Albani prefati linguam distinctam
7500-435: The Albanian language was put to writing in at least ten different alphabets – most certainly a record for European languages. ... the diverse forms in which this old Balkan language was recorded, from the earliest documents to the beginning of the twentieth century ... consist of adaptations of the Latin, Greek, Arabic, and Cyrillic alphabets and (what is even more interesting) a number of locally invented writing systems. Most of
7625-460: The Bulgarian Army, representatives of the Serbian intelligentsia were deported or executed. According to Paul Mojzes the aim of the Bulgarian government was to create pure Bulgarian territories by denationalising the non-Bulgarian Slavic population of Macedonia. After the capitulation of Bulgaria and the end of the First World War, the area returned under Belgrade control as part of the newly formed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and saw
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#17327797058667750-459: The Bulgarian Communist Party revised its view of the existence of a separate Macedonian nation and language. In December 1944, the Anti-fascist Assembly for the National Liberation of Macedonia (ASNOM) proclaimed the People's Republic of Macedonia as part of the People's Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. ASNOM remained an acting government until the end of the war. The Macedonian alphabet was codified by linguists of ASNOM, who based their alphabet on
7875-408: 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
8000-469: The Great Powers did not adopt this idea because Serbia and Greece opposed it. In 1924, the Communist International (Comintern) suggested that all Balkan communist parties adopt a platform of a " United Macedonia " but the suggestion was rejected by the Bulgarian and Greek communists. IMRO followed by starting an insurgent war in Vardar Macedonia, together with Macedonian Youth Secret Revolutionary Organization , which also conducted guerrilla attacks against
8125-404: The Middle Ages. Among them the Arvanites call themselves Arbëror and sometime Arbëresh. The Arbëresh dialect is closely related to the Arvanites dialect with more Italian vocabulary absorbed during different periods of time. The Albanian language has been written using many alphabets since the earliest records from the 15th century. The history of Albanian language orthography is closely related to
8250-468: The North, Kosovo (159 km or 99 mi) to the northwest, Bulgaria (148 km or 92 mi) to the east, Greece (228 km or 142 mi) to the south, and Albania (151 km or 94 mi) to the west. It is a transit way for shipment of goods from Greece, through the Balkans, towards Eastern, Western and Central Europe and through Bulgaria to the east. It is part of the larger region of Macedonia , which also includes Greek Macedonia and
8375-420: The Prespa agreement and the Protocol on the Accession of North Macedonia to NATO by the Greek Parliament . Despite the renaming, the country is unofficially referred to as "Macedonia" by most of its citizens and most local media outlets. North Macedonia geographically roughly corresponds to the ancient kingdom of Paeonia , which was located immediately north of the ancient kingdom of Macedonia . Paeonia
8500-443: The Serbian administrative and army officials there. In 1923 in Stip, a paramilitary organisation called Association against Bulgarian Bandits was formed by Serbian chetniks , IMRO renegades and Macedonian Federative Organization (MFO) members to oppose IMRO and MMTRO. On 9 October 1934, IMRO member Vlado Chernozemski assassinated Alexander I of Yugoslavia . The Macedonist ideas increased in Yugoslav Vardar Macedonia and among
8625-443: The Shkumbin river since the Post-Roman and Pre-Slavic period, straddling the Jireček Line . Centuries-old communities speaking Albanian dialects can be found scattered in Greece (the Arvanites and some communities in Epirus , Western Macedonia and Western Thrace ), Croatia (the Arbanasi ), Italy (the Arbëreshë ) as well as in Romania , Turkey and Ukraine . The Malsia e Madhe Gheg Albanian and two varieties of
8750-412: The Tosk dialect, Arvanitika in Greece and Arbëresh in southern Italy, have preserved archaic elements of the language. Ethnic Albanians constitute a large diaspora , with many having long assimilated in different cultures and communities. Consequently, Albanian-speakers do not correspond to the total ethnic Albanian population, as many ethnic Albanians may identify as Albanian but are unable to speak
8875-457: The United Nations and its member states. In March 2020, after the ratification process by all NATO members was completed, North Macedonia acceded to NATO , becoming the 30th member state. The same month, the leaders of the European Union formally gave approval to North Macedonia to begin talks to join the EU. On 17 November 2020, Bulgaria refused to approve the European Union's negotiation framework for North Macedonia, effectively blocking
9000-625: The ancestor idiom of Albanian. The extent of this linguistic impact cannot be determined with precision due to the uncertain position of Albanian among Paleo-Balkan languages and their scarce attestation. Some loanwords, however, have been proposed, such as shegë ' pomegranate ' or lëpjetë ' orach '; compare Pre-Greek λάπαθον , lápathon ' monk's rhubarb '. North Macedonia in Europe (dark grey) – [ Legend ] North Macedonia ( / ˌ m æ s ɪ ˈ d oʊ n i ə / MASS -ih- DOH -nee-ə ), officially
9125-599: The blocking of the further country's accession path. The EU's intention regarding the country's accession seems unclear, excluding desire to maintain its geopolitical influence here, countering the Chinese and Russian impact in the Western Balkans. On 25 September 2024, the EU announced the separation of Albania from North Macedonia on the EU accession path, due to the disputes between North Macedonia and Bulgaria. Following
9250-536: The border took up arms soon after in pursuit of autonomy or independence for the Albanian-populated areas of Macedonia. A conflict took place between the government and ethnic Albanian insurgents, mostly in the north and west of the country, between February and August 2001. The war ended with the intervention of a NATO ceasefire monitoring force. Under the terms of the Ohrid Agreement ,
9375-675: The conservative VMRO-DPMNE party, stormed the Macedonian Parliament in response to the election of Talat Xhaferi, an ethnic Albanian and former National Liberation Army commander during the 2001 conflict, as the Speaker of the Assembly. Upon its coming to power in 2006, but especially since the country's non-invitation to NATO in 2008, the VMRO-DPMNE government pursued a policy of " Antiquisation " ("Antikvizatzija") as
9500-457: The contact between the various languages. The concept of this linguistic group is explained as a kind of language league of the Bronze Age (a specific areal-linguistics phenomenon), although it also consisted of languages that were related to each other. A common prestage posterior to PIE comprising Albanian, Greek, and Armenian, is considered as a possible scenario. In this light, due to
9625-526: 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. 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
9750-796: The cultural orientation and knowledge of certain foreign languages among Albanian writers. The earliest written Albanian records come from the Gheg area in makeshift spellings based on Italian or Greek. Originally, the Tosk dialect was written in the Greek alphabet and the Gheg dialect was written in the Latin script . Both dialects had also been written in the Ottoman Turkish version of the Arabic script , Cyrillic , and some local alphabets ( Elbasan , Vithkuqi , Todhri , Veso Bey, Jan Vellara and others, see original Albanian alphabets ). More specifically,
9875-430: The decision, the EU opened negotiations on the first chapters with Albania separately on October 15, 2024. North Macedonia has a total area of 25,436 km (9,821 sq mi). It lies between latitudes 40° and 43° N , and mostly between longitudes 20° and 23° E (a small area lies east of 23°). North Macedonia has some 748 km (465 mi) of boundaries, shared with Serbia (62 km or 39 mi) to
10000-490: The dispute and further stalling the country's EU and NATO applications. The policy has also attracted criticism domestically, as well as from EU diplomats, and, following the Prespa agreement, it has been partly reversed after 2016 by the new SDSM government of North Macedonia. Moreover, per Prespa agreement both countries have acknowledged that their respective understanding of the terms "Macedonia" and "Macedonian" refers to
10125-651: 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
10250-645: The first is the Šar Mountains that continues to the West Vardar/Pelagonia group of mountains ( Baba Mountain , Nidže , Kožuf and Jakupica ), also known as the Dinaric range . The second range is the Osogovo – Belasica mountain chain, also known as the Rhodope range . The mountains belonging to the Šar Mountains and the West Vardar/Pelagonia range are younger and higher than the older mountains of
10375-459: The first literary records of Albanian date from the 16th century. The oldest known Albanian printed book, Meshari , or "missal", was written in 1555 by Gjon Buzuku , a Roman Catholic cleric. In 1635, Frang Bardhi wrote the first Latin–Albanian dictionary. The first Albanian school is believed to have been opened by Franciscans in 1638 in Pdhanë . One of the earliest Albanian dictionaries
10500-681: The forming of the Kruševo Republic , was crushed with much loss of life. The uprising and the forming of the Kruševo Republic are considered the cornerstone and precursors to the eventual establishment of the Macedonian state. The leaders of the Ilinden uprising are celebrated as national heroes in North Macedonia. The names of IMRO revolutionaries like Gotse Delchev , Pitu Guli , Dame Gruev and Yane Sandanski were included into
10625-698: The government agreed to devolve greater political power and cultural recognition to the Albanian minority. The Albanian side agreed to abandon separatist demands and to recognise all Macedonian institutions fully. In addition, according to this accord, the NLA were to disarm and hand over their weapons to a NATO force. However the Macedonian security forces had two more armed confrontations with Albanian militant groups, in 2007 and 2015 respectively. Inter-ethnic tensions flared in Macedonia in 2012, with incidents of violence between ethnic Albanians and Macedonians. In April 2017, about 200 protesters - reportedly mostly from
10750-520: The gulf has a length of approximately 60 kilometres and is dotted with cliffs and beaches fed by fluvial imputes. The region is drained by numerous rivers and has formed a characteristic ecosystem and biodiversity . It is named after the Drin River that runs through a mountainous area towards the coast, however, the Ishëm and Mat also drain into the gulf. In consideration to the flat landscape,
10875-563: The gulf's shoreline are dotted with extensive wetlands and lagoons that continuously change in size and shape. The biodiversity of the gulf is relatively high and several protected areas have been established along the coasts amongst them the Buna River-Velipoja Protected Landscape in the north, Kune-Vain Nature Reserve in the centre and Patoku-Fushë Kuqja Nature Reserve in the south. It
11000-593: The implementation of this policy, some 50,000 Serbian army and gendarmerie were stationed in present-day North Macedonia. By 1940 about 280 Serbian colonies (comprising 4,200 families) were established as part of the government's internal colonisation program (initial plans envisaged 50,000 families settling in present-day North Macedonia). In 1929, the Kingdom was officially renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia , and divided into provinces called banovinas . South Serbia, including all of present-day North Macedonia, became
11125-541: The language. Standard Albanian is a standardised form of spoken Albanian based on Tosk . The language is spoken by approximately 6 million people in the Balkans, primarily in Albania, Kosovo , North Macedonia , Serbia , Montenegro and Greece . However, due to old communities in Italy and the large Albanian diaspora , the worldwide total of speakers is much higher than in Southern Europe and numbers approximately 7.5 million. The Albanian language
11250-601: The larger number of possible shared innovations between Greek and Armenian, it appears reasonable to assume, at least tentatively, that Albanian was the first Balkan IE language to branch off. This split and the following ones were perhaps very close in time, allowing only a narrow time frame for shared innovations. Albanian represents one of the core languages of the Balkan Sprachbund . Glottolog and Ethnologue recognize four Albanian languages. They are classified as follows: The first attested written mention of
11375-752: The late 19th century; the earliest of these was the Bulgarian Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Committees , later becoming Secret Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization (SMARO). In 1905 it was renamed the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization (IMARO), and after World War I the organisation separated into the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) and
11500-465: The latter alphabets have now been forgotten and are unknown, even to the Albanians themselves. Albanian constitutes one of the eleven major branches of the Indo-European language family , within which it occupies an independent position. In 1854, Albanian was demonstrated to be an Indo-European language by the philologist Franz Bopp . Albanian was formerly compared by a few Indo-European linguists with Germanic and Balto-Slavic , all of which share
11625-677: The left diaspora in Bulgaria during the interwar period. They were supported by the Comintern. In 1934, the Comintern issued a special resolution in which for the first time directions were provided for recognising the existence of a separate Macedonian nation and Macedonian language. During World War II, Yugoslavia was occupied by the Axis powers from 1941 to 1945. The Vardar Banovina was divided between Bulgaria and Italian-occupied Albania. Bulgarian Action Committees were established to prepare
11750-585: The lyrics of the national anthem of the state of North Macedonia " Denes nad Makedonija " ("Today over Macedonia"). The major national holiday of North Macedonia, the Republic Day , is celebrated on 2 August, Ilinden (St. Elijah day), the day of the Ilinden uprising. Following the two Balkan Wars of 1912 and 1913 and the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire , most of its European-held territories were divided between Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia. Almost
11875-429: The names for fish and for agricultural activities (such as ploughing ) are borrowed from other languages. A deeper analysis of the vocabulary, however, shows that could be a consequence of a prolonged Latin domination of the coastal and plain areas of the country, rather than evidence of the original environment in which the Albanian language was formed. For example, the word for 'fish' is borrowed from Latin, but not
12000-456: The north and Tosk spoken to the south of the Shkumbin river . Their characteristics in the treatment of both native words and loanwords provide evidence that the split into the northern and the southern dialects occurred after Christianisation of the region (4th century AD), and most likely not later than the 6th century AD, hence possibly occupying roughly their present area divided by
12125-581: 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. 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 . Whilst Greek remained the dominant language in the eastern part of the Roman empire, especially south of
12250-518: The number of people in Turkey with Albanian ancestry and or background upward to 5 million. However, the vast majority of this population is assimilated and no longer possesses fluency in the Albanian language, though a vibrant Albanian community maintains its distinct identity in Istanbul to this day. Egypt also lays claim to about 18,000 Albanians, mostly Tosk speakers. Many are descendants of
12375-573: The official start of accession talks with this country. The explanation from the Bulgarian side was: no implementation of the friendship treaty from 2017, state-supported hate speech, minority claims, and an "ongoing nation-building process" based on historical negationism of the Bulgarian identity, culture and legacy in the broader region of Macedonia . The veto received condemnation by intellectuals from both states and criticism from international observers. Protests broke out in July 2022 , organized by
12500-412: The only surviving representative of its own branch , which belongs to the Paleo-Balkan group . Although it is still uncertain which ancient mentioned language of the Balkans it continues, or where in the region its speakers lived. In general, there is insufficient evidence to connect Albanian with one of those languages, whether Illyrian , Thracian , or Dacian . Among these possibilities, Illyrian
12625-453: The opposition parties, over the French proposal for the accession of North Macedonia to the EU . The accession talks for the accession of North Macedonia to the EU officially began in the same month, after the French proposal was passed by the Assembly of North Macedonia. The 2023 European Commission Progress Report has cited the unfulfilled constitutional changes, as the primary reasons for
12750-527: The phonetic alphabet of Vuk Stefanović Karadžić and the principles of Krste Petkov Misirkov . During the civil war in Greece (1946–1949), Macedonian communist insurgents supported the Greek communists. Many refugees fled to the Socialist Republic of Macedonia from there. The state removed "Socialist" from its name in 1991 when it peacefully seceded from Yugoslavia. The new republic became one of
12875-669: The region for the new Bulgarian administration and army. The committees were mostly formed by former members of IMRO and Macedonian Youth Secret Revolutionary Organization (MYSRO, but some IMRO (United) former members also participated. As leader of the Vardar Macedonian communists, Metodi Shatorov ("Sharlo") switched from the Yugoslav Communist Party to the Bulgarian Communist Party and refused to start military action against
13000-681: 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
13125-425: The regions of Upper Macedonia (Lynkestis and Pelagonia) and the southern part of Paeonia ( Deuriopus ) into the kingdom of Macedon in 356 BC. 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 . After the death of Alexander, Celtic armies began to bear down on
13250-413: The signing the friendship agreement with Bulgaria, resulted in the European Union on 27 June approving the start of accession talks , which were expected to take place in 2019, under the condition that the Prespa deal was implemented. On 5 July, the Prespa agreement was ratified by the Macedonian parliament with 69 MPs voting in favour of it. On 12 July, NATO invited Macedonia to start accession talks in
13375-578: The six republics of the Yugoslav federation. Following the federation's renaming as the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1963, the People's Republic of Macedonia was likewise renamed the Socialist Republic of Macedonia. North Macedonia officially celebrates 8 September 1991 as Independence day ( Macedonian : Ден на независноста , Den na nezavisnosta ), with regard to the referendum endorsing independence from Yugoslavia . The anniversary of
13500-434: The southern borders, bisected by the frontiers with Albania and Greece. Ohrid is considered to be one of the oldest lakes and biotopes in the world. The region is seismically active and has been the site of destructive earthquakes in the past, most recently in 1963 when Skopje was heavily damaged by a major earthquake, killing over 1,000. North Macedonia also has scenic mountains. They belong to two different mountain ranges:
13625-461: The southern regions, threatening the kingdom of Macedon. In 310 BC, they attacked the area, but were defeated. 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
13750-740: The start of the Ilinden Uprising ( St. Elijah 's Day) on 2 August is also widely celebrated on an official level as the Day of the Republic . Robert Badinter , as the head of the Arbitration Commission of the Peace Conference on Yugoslavia , recommended EC recognition in January 1992. On 15 January 1992, Bulgaria was the first country to recognise the independence of the republic. Macedonia remained at peace through
13875-698: The strategic task of blocking the German forces withdrawing from Greece. The Bulgarian army would reach the Alps in Austria, participating in the expulsion of the Germans to the west, through Yugoslavia and Hungary. Compelled by the Soviet Union with a view towards the creation of a large South Slav Federation , in 1946 the new Communist government, led by Georgi Dimitrov , agreed to give Bulgarian Macedonia to
14000-602: The territory that was to become North Macedonia was annexed by Serbia conforming to the treaty of peace concluded at Bucharest. However, Strumica region was passed to Bulgaria. Following the partition, an anti-Bulgarian campaign was carried out in the areas under Serbian and Greek control. As many as 641 Bulgarian schools and 761 churches were closed by the Serbs, while Exarchist clergy and teachers were expelled. The use of all Macedonian dialects and standard Bulgarian were proscribed. IMRO, together with local Albanians, organised
14125-478: The time that the Albanian language was formed are uncertain. The American linguist Eric Hamp has said that during an unknown chronological period a pre-Albanian population (termed as "Albanoid" by Hamp) inhabited areas stretching from Poland to the southwestern Balkans. Further analysis has suggested that it was in a mountainous region rather than on a plain or seacoast. The words for plants and animals characteristic of mountainous regions are entirely original, but
14250-564: The time, and used as a synonym for the Albanian language. Published in Rome in 1635, by the Albanian bishop and writer Frang Bardhi, the first dictionary of the Albanian language was titled Latin : Dictionarium latino-epiroticum ' Latin-Epirotan dictionary ' . During the five-century period of the Ottoman presence in Albania , the language was not officially recognised until 1909, when
14375-518: The treatment of the native words and loanwords from other languages are evidence that the dialectal split preceded the Slavic migrations to the Balkans , which means that in that period (the 5th to 6th centuries AD), Albanians were occupying nearly the same area around the Shkumbin river, which straddled the Jireček Line . References to the existence of Albanian as a distinct language survive from
14500-701: The whole police structure, enforcing the Bulgarisation of the region. According to Robert Gerwarth , the Bulgarian denationalisation policy, including its paramilitary aspect, was almost identical in its intent and execution to the Serbian policy that preceded it. Bulgarian language was to be exclusively used, Serbian Cyrillic was forbidden, Serbian priests were arrested and deported, Serbian-sounding names had to be changed to Bulgarian ones, school teachers were brought from Bulgaria while Serbian books were taken from schools and libraries and publicly destroyed. Adult males were sent to labour camps or forced to join
14625-421: The word for 'gills' which is native. Indigenous are also the words for 'ship', 'raft', 'navigation', 'sea shelves' and a few names of fish kinds, but not the words for 'sail', 'row' and 'harbor'; objects pertaining to navigation itself and a large part of sea fauna. This rather shows that Proto-Albanians were pushed away from coastal areas in early times (probably after the Latin conquest of the region) and thus lost
14750-544: The writers from northern Albania and under the influence of the Catholic Church used Latin letters, those in southern Albania and under the influence of the Greek Orthodox church used Greek letters, while others throughout Albania and under the influence of Islam used Arabic letters. There were initial attempts to create an original Albanian alphabet during the 1750–1850 period. These attempts intensified after
14875-518: 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,
15000-409: Was closely related to Illyrian and Messapic . The Indo-European subfamily that gave rise to Albanian is called Albanoid in reference to a specific ethnolinguistically pertinent and historically compact language group. Whether descendants or sisters of what was called ' Illyrian ' by classical sources, Albanian and Messapic , on the basis of shared features and innovations, are grouped together in
15125-623: 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 . The headwaters of the Axios river are mentioned by Homer as the home of
15250-566: Was part of the Bulgarian occupied zone of Serbia after the country was invaded by the Central Powers in the fall of 1915. The region was known as the "Military Inspection Area of Macedonia" and was administered by a Bulgarian military commander. A policy of Bulgarisation of the region and its population was immediately initiated, during the period the IMRO arose from a clandestine organisation to serve as gendarmerie, taking control of
15375-613: 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. 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
15500-411: Was revived by Bulgarian and Greek nationalist movements from the early 19th century onwards. It was revived only in middle of the century, with the rise of nationalism in the Ottoman Empire . 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
15625-735: Was written in 1693; it was the Italian manuscript Pratichae Schrivaneschae authored by the Montenegrin sea captain Julije Balović and includes a multilingual dictionary of hundreds of the most frequently used words in everyday life in Italian, Slavic, Greek, Albanian, and Turkish . Pre-Indo-European (PreIE) sites are found throughout the territory of Albania. Such PreIE sites existed in Maliq , Vashtëmi , Burimas , Barç , Dërsnik in
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