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198-467: Ottoman Macedonia may refer to: The region of Macedonia when ruled by the Ottoman Empire from the 14th to early 20th century Salonica vilayet , administrative division of the Ottoman Empire from 1867 to 1912 covering southern and eastern parts of the region Manastir vilayet , administrative division from 1874 to 1877 covering western parts of
396-726: A high speed railway . The Thessaloniki Suburban Railway links the regional capital with Florina , in Western Macedonia, and Larissa , in Thessaly . Thessaloniki Airport is the third-busiest in the country, and the Athens–Thessaloniki air route was the EU's tenth busiest in 2016. Macedonia's three other airports are Kavala Airport , Kozani Airport , and Kastoria Airport ; the two busiest airports, Thessaloniki and Kavala, are operated by Fraport . The Port of Thessaloniki
594-748: A humid subtropical climate ( Cfa ), while higher elevations border a humid continental climate ( Dfa ). Thessaloniki has a cold semi-arid climate ( BSk ) while downtown Thessaloniki and Neos Marmaras are the only areas of Macedonia with a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification: BSh ). The coldest winters are found in Florina , while the mildest are found in Neos Marmaras and Great Lavra , which fall in hardiness zone 10a. Since 1987 Macedonia has been divided into three regions ( Greek : περιφέρειες ). These are Western Macedonia , Central Macedonia , and Eastern Macedonia, which
792-531: A kingdom (later, region ) named after the ancient Macedonians , who were the descendants of a Bronze-Age Greek tribe . Their name, Μακεδόνες ( Makedónes ), is cognate to the Ancient Greek adjective μᾰκεδνός ( makednós ), meaning 'tall, slim'. It is traditionally derived from the Indo-European root *meh₂ḱ- , meaning 'long' or 'slender'. Linguist Robert S. P. Beekes supports
990-579: A Bulgarian majority. Besides, Serbia was now interested in the Macedonian lands, until then only Greece was Bulgaria's main contender, which after the addition of Thessaly to Greece in (1881) was bordering Macedonia. Thus, the Berlin Congress renewed the struggle for Turkey in Europe, including the so-called Macedonia region, rather than setting up a permanent regime. In the following years, all of
1188-684: A branch of the Macedonians invaded Southern Greece towards the end of the second millennium B.C. Upon reaching the Peloponnese the invaders were renamed Dorians , triggering the accounts of the Dorian invasion. For centuries the Macedonian tribes were organised in independent kingdoms, in what is now Central Macedonia, and their role in internal Hellenic politics was minimal, even before the rise of Athens. The Macedonians claimed to be Dorian Greeks (Argive Greeks) and there were many Ionians in
1386-631: A centre of Ottoman administration in the Balkans. While most of Macedonia was ruled by the Ottomans, in Mount Athos the monastic community continued to exist in a state of autonomy. The remainder of the Chalkidiki peninsula also enjoyed an autonomous status: the "Koinon of Mademochoria" was governed by a locally appointed council due to privileges obtained on account of its wealth, coming from
1584-499: A decrease of 26.5%. Greece exited its recession, which began in 2009, in 2016 but data from that year onward is not available for the whole of Macedonia; Central Macedonia grew by 0.57% in real terms that year to €23.85 billion ($ 26.94 billion), while Western Macedonia contracted by 10.6% to €3.85 billion ($ 4.35 billion). Almost half of the economy, 49%, is centred in the Thessaloniki regional unit , which remained in
1782-541: A distinct geographical region in the 19th century, defining the region bounded by Mount Olympus , the Pindus range, mounts Shar and Osogovo , the western Rhodopes , the lower course of the river Mesta (Greek Nestos ) and the Aegean Sea , developing roughly the same borders that it has today. During medieval and modern times, Macedonia has been known as a Balkan region inhabited by many ethnic groups. Today, as
1980-635: A flourishing Slavic cultural center around Ohrid, where pupils were taught theology in the Old Church Slavonic language and the Glagolitic and Cyrillic script at what is now called Ohrid Literary School . The Bulgarian-Byzantine boundary in the beginning of 10th century passed approximately 20 km (12 mi) north of Thessaloniki according to the inscription of Narash. According to the Byzantine author John Kaminiates , at that time
2178-474: A frontier region where several very different cultures meet, Macedonia has an extremely diverse demographic profile. The current demographics of Macedonia include: Most present-day inhabitants of the region are Eastern Orthodox Christians , principally of the Bulgarian Orthodox , Greek Orthodox , Macedonian Orthodox and Serbian Orthodox Churches. Notable Muslim minorities are present among
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#17327649453822376-557: A kilometer (Makryialos). Both types are found at the same time in the same districts and it is presumed that differences in social organisation are reflected by these differences in settlement organisation. Some communities were clearly concerned to protect themselves with different kinds of defensive arrangements: ditches at Makryialos and concentric walls at Paliambela. The best preserved buildings were discovered at Dikili Tas, where long timber-framed structures had been organised in rows and some had been decorated with bulls' skulls fastened to
2574-521: A language spoken originally on the shores of the Black Sea in northeastern Anatolia and the Caucasus , as well as a dialect indigenous to Greek Macedonia and other parts of Northern Greece known as Sarakatsánika ( Greek : Σαρακατσάνικα ); spoken by the traditionally transhumant Greek subgroup of Sarakatsani . Macedonia is also home to an array of non-Greek languages. Slavic languages are
2772-716: A large number of former ELAS fighters who took refuge in communist Bulgaria and Yugoslavia and described themselves as "ethnic Macedonians" were prohibited from reestablishing to their former estates by the Greek authorities. Most of them were accused in Greece for crimes committed during the period of the German occupation. The imminent collapse of the Ottoman Empire was welcomed by the Balkan states, as it promised to restore their European territory. The Young Turk Revolution of 1908 proved
2970-681: A less developed region of the Union for its 2014–2020 funding cycle, and so the region has in recent years benefited from a number of megaprojects co-financed by the Greek government and the EU. These included the A2 motorway (Egnatia Odos) freeway (€5.93 billion) and the Thessaloniki Metro (€1.85 billion) while the railway network has also been partly electrified, allowing Thessaloniki to be linked with Athens in 3.5 hours through
3168-836: A meeting of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg in January 2007, declaring that "I myself am a Macedonian, and another two and a half million Greeks are Macedonians". In the early-to-mid 20th century Greece was invaded by Bulgaria three times with the aim of capturing portions Macedonia; during the Second Balkan War , during the First World War , and during the Second World War . Additionally, Nazi Germany had promised Thessaloniki to Yugoslavia as
3366-707: A nationalistic movement thwarting the peoples' expectations of the empire's modernization and hastened the end of the Ottoman occupation of the Balkans. To this end, an alliance was struck among the Balkan states in Spring 1913. The First Balkan War, which lasted six weeks, commenced in August 1912, when Montenegro declared war on the Ottoman Empire, whose forces ultimately engaged four different wars in Thrace, Macedonia, Northern and Southern Albania and Kosovo. The Macedonian campaign
3564-547: A person supported the Patriarchate they were regarded as Greek, whereas if they supported the Exarchate they were regarded as Bulgarian. Locally, however, villagers were not always able to express freely their association with one or the other institution as there were numerous armed groups trying to defend and/or expand the territory of each. Some were locally recruited and self-organized while others were sent and armed by
3762-543: A population of around five million. Greek Macedonia comprises about half of Macedonia's area and population. Its oldest known settlements date back approximately to 7,000 BC. From the middle of the 4th century BC, the Kingdom of Macedon became the dominant power on the Balkan Peninsula; since then Macedonia has had a diverse history. Both proper nouns Makedṓn and Makednós are morphologically derived from
3960-490: A recession in 2015, declining by 0.4%. The recession had an impact on the per capita income of the region, especially when compared with the European Union average. Western Macedonia, the region with the highest per capita income, saw it drop from 83% the EU average in 2008 to 59% in 2016. The per capita income of Macedonia in 2015 was €12,900 in nominal and €15,900 in purchasing power terms. The Macedonian economy
4158-606: A revolutionary movement, and so they instigated the Ilinden Uprising (1903) to release some Ottoman territory. Bulgaria used this to internationalize the Macedonian question. Ilinden changed Greece's stance which decided to take Para-military action. In order to protect the Greek Macedonians and Greek interests, Greece sent officers to train guerrillas and organize militias ( Macedonian Struggle ), known as makedonomahi (Macedonian fighters), essentially to fight
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#17327649453824356-723: A reward for joining the Axis powers . The perceived existence of a foreign danger had a particularly strong effect on the emergence of a distinct regional identity in Macedonia. The representation of the Macedonian Struggle in Penelope Delta 's popular 1937 teen novel Secrets of the Swamp solidified the image of the chauvinist clash between Greeks and Bulgarians in Macedonia in the minds of many Greeks. Bulgaria
4554-768: A separate ethnic identity to diminish the Bulgarian influence. This choice was the 'Macedonian ethnicity'. The Bulgarians never accepted an ethnic diversity from the Slav Macedonians, giving geographic meaning to the term. In 1893 they established the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (VMRO) aiming to confront the Serbian and Greek action in Macedonia. VMRO hoped to answer the Macedonian question through
4752-565: A single and independent Macedonia in a Balkan Soviet Democracy. Actually, the Soviets desired a common front of the Bulgarian communist agriculturists and the Bulgarian-Macedonian societies to destabilize the Balkan Peninsula. The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO), under the protection of Comintern, promoted the idea of an independent Macedonia in a Federation of Balkan states, unifying all Macedonians. However,
4950-556: Is Greece's second-largest in domestic freight and fourth-largest in international freight by tonnage, while Kavala is Macedonia's other major port. Macedonia, being a border region of an EU member state, benefits from EU programs promoting cross-border economic collaboration both between members of the Union ( Bulgaria ), as well as the Republic of North Macedonia , an EU candidate country, and Albania . The EU invested €210 million ($ 237.24 million) in these three programmes for
5148-581: Is Macedonia's most popular beach destination, combining 550 kilometres (340 mi) of sandy beaches with dense forests. There were 116 Blue Flag beaches in Macedonia in 2018, 85 of which were in Chalkidiki. Additionally, the region was home to three Blue Flag marinas and one sustainable boating tourism operator. Kavala is an important economic centre of Northern Greece, a center of commerce, tourism, fishing and oil-related activities. Pieria combines extensive plains, high mountains and sandy beaches and
5346-645: Is a geographical and historical region of the Balkan Peninsula in Southeast Europe . Its boundaries have changed considerably over time; however, it came to be defined as the modern geographical region by the mid-19th century. Today the region is considered to include parts of six Balkan countries: all of North Macedonia , large parts of Greece and Bulgaria , and smaller parts of Albania , Serbia , and Kosovo . It covers approximately 67,000 square kilometres (25,869 sq mi) and has
5544-462: Is a self-governing part of Greece, and the powers of the state are exercised through a governor appointed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs . The European Union takes this special status into consideration, particularly on matters of taxation exemption and rights of installation. Macedonia borders the sovereign states of Albania to the north-west, North Macedonia to the north, and Bulgaria to
5742-530: Is also a hub for urban tourism and gastronomy . Macedonia is also home to various lake and wetland tourist destinations. The main religion in the Greek region of Macedonia is Christianity, with majority of population belonging to the Eastern Orthodox Church . In early centuries of Christianity, the see of Thessaloniki became the metropolitan diocese of the ancient Roman province of Macedonia . The archbishop of Thessaloniki also became
5940-584: Is also the name for the region in Megleno-Romanian . Macedonia lies at the crossroads of human development between the Aegean and the Balkans. The earliest signs of human habitation date back to the palaeolithic period, notably with the Petralona cave in which was found the oldest yet known European humanoid, Archanthropus europaeus petraloniensis . The Ouranopithecus macedoniensis is perhaps
6138-461: Is another UNESCO World Heritage Site . These are important poles for cultural tourism . Thessaloniki is home to numerous notable Byzantine monuments , including the Paleochristian and Byzantine monuments of Thessaloniki , a UNESCO World Heritage Site , as well as several Roman , Ottoman and Sephardic Jewish structures. Apart from being the cultural centre of Macedonia, Thessaloniki
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6336-807: Is characterized by variety, since Western and Eastern Macedonia is mountainous with the exception of some fertile valleys, while the Thessaloniki-Giannitsa plain, the largest in Greece, is located in Central Macedonia . Mount Olympus , the highest mountain in Greece, is located in the Olympus Range on the border between Thessaly and Macedonia, between the regional units of Pieria and Larissa, about 80 km (50 mi) southwest from Thessaloniki. Some other mountain ranges are Vermio Mountains , Pierian Mountains , Voras Mountains . The islands of Macedonia are Thasos , opposite
6534-432: Is estimated to have further decreased to 2,382,857. In the 2011 Greek census the capital city, Thessaloniki , had an urban population of 824,676, up from 794,330 in 2001, while its metropolitan population increased to over a million. 281,458 people in Macedonia (or 12% of the population) were born in a foreign country, compared to 11.89% for the whole of Greece. 51.32% of the population was female, and 48.68% male. Like
6732-479: Is home to Greece's richest farmland, and the region accounts for 9,859 square kilometres (3,807 sq mi) of the country's agricultural area (30% of total). Macedonia's agricultural production has historically been dominated by tobacco, with the cash crop being grown in large quantities due to its value. Central and Western Macedonia still produce 41% of Greece's total tobacco, but it only represents 1.4% of these regions' agricultural production value. Nowadays
6930-590: Is not an elected position, and is instead appointed at the pleasure of the Prime Minister of Greece . The current Deputy Minister in the Cabinet of Kyriakos Mitsotakis is Stavros Kalafatis [ el ] of New Democracy . The various regions of Greece are also constituencies to the Hellenic Parliament , and Macedonia is represented through its 66 members of parliament. Thessaloniki
7128-525: Is often claimed that macédoine , the fruit or vegetable salad, was named after the area's very mixed population, as it could be witnessed at the end of the 19th century. From the Middle Ages to the early 20th century the Slavic-speaking population in Macedonia was identified mostly as Bulgarian. During the period of Bulgarian National Revival many Bulgarians from these regions supported
7326-521: Is part of the region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace . These three regions are subdivided into 14 regional units ( περιφερειακές ενότητες ) which are in turn further divided into municipalities ( δήμοι – roughly equivalent to British shires or American Townships). They are overseen by the Ministry for the Interior , while the Deputy Minister for Macedonia and Thrace is responsible for
7524-425: Is primarily service-based , with services contributing €16.46 billion (60.4%) of the region's gross value added in 2015. The industrial and agricultural sectors contributed €9.06 billion (33.3%) and €1.72 billion (6.3%) respectively. The regional labour force was similarly mostly employed in services (60.4%), with industry and agriculture making up 25.6% and 14.0% of the labour force. Macedonia
7722-402: Is split into two constituencies, Thessaloniki A and Thessaloniki B , while Grevena is the smallest constituency with only 1 seat. Thessaloniki A is the second-largest constituency in Greece with 16 MPs. Macedonia is bordered by the neighbouring Greek regions of Thessaly to the south, Thrace (part of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace ) to the east, and Epirus to the west. It also includes
7920-583: Is the most popular tourist destination in Greece that is not an island, and its fourth overall, outperforming all other regions of the Greek mainland with 9.7 million overnight stays in 2017. There were a further 2.1 million stays in Eastern Macedonia and Thrace and 294 thousand in Western Macedonia . Macedonia is a diverse region which allows it to cater to a variety of different types of tourism. The Chalkidiki peninsula
8118-458: Is the music of the geographic region of Macedonia in Greece , which is a part of the music of whole region of Macedonia . Notable element of the local folk music is the use of trumpets and koudounia (called chálkina in the local dialect). In 2011 the permanent population of the region stood at 2,406,393 residents, a decrease from 2,422,533 in 2001. As of 2017, the population of Macedonia
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8316-424: Is the second-largest city and a major economic, industrial, cultural, commercial and political centre of Greece. Central Macedonia is Greece's fourth-most-popular tourist region and the most popular destination that is not an island. It is home to four UNESCO World Heritage sites , including Aigai (modern day Vergina , about 12 km (7 mi) from Veria ), one of the ancient Macedonian capital cities, where
8514-555: Is today considered a Greek hero along with the unnamed Macedonians that fought with him. The fall and massacre of Naoussa marked the end of the Greek Revolution in Macedonia, and the region remained in the Ottoman Empire. In the early 20th century the region was already a national cause, contested among the states of Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia. After the Macedonian Struggle and the Balkan Wars (in 1912 and 1913),
8712-738: Is unknown). Many Aromanian villages can be found along the slopes of the Vermion Mountains and Mount Olympus . Smaller numbers can be found in the Prespes region and near the Gramos mountains. Megleno-Romanians can be found in the Moglena region of Macedonia. The Megleno-Romanian language is traditionally spoken in the 11 Megleno-Romanian villages spread across Greece and the Republic of North Macedonia , including Archangelos , Notia , Lagkadia , and Skra . They are generally adherents to
8910-548: The Battle of Maritsa (1371), Byzantine rule was reestablished in eastern regions, including Serres . During the 1380s, the region was gradually conquered by the advancing Ottomans , with Serres holding out until 1383, and Thessaloniki until 1387. After a brief Byzantine interval in 1403–1430 (during the last seven years of which the city was handed over to the Venetians), Thessaloniki and its immediate surrounding area returned to
9108-612: The Battle of Pydna (22 June 168 BC), in which the Roman general Aemilius Paulus defeated King Perseus of Macedon , ending the reign of the Antigonid dynasty over Macedonia. For a brief period a Macedonian republic called the "Koinon of the Macedonians" was established. It was divided into four administrative districts by the Romans in the hope that this would make revolts more difficult, but this manoeuvre failed. Then in 148 BC, Macedonia
9306-774: The Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347 . Taking advantage of this conflict, the Serb ruler Stefan Dushan expanded his realm and founded the Serbian Empire , which included all of Macedonia, northern and central Greece – excluding Thessaloniki, Athens and the Peloponnese. Dushan's empire however broke up shortly after his death in 1355. After his death local rulers in the regions of Macedonia were despot Jovan Uglješa in eastern Macedonia, and kings Vukašin Mrnjavčević and his son Marko Mrnjavčević in western regions of Macedonia. Since
9504-518: The Despotate of Epirus , all of which helped promote a distinct Greek Macedonian identity. In the contemporary period this is reinforced by Greek Macedonia's proximity to other states in the southern Balkans, the continuing existence of ethnic and religious minorities in Eastern Macedonia and Thrace not found in southern Greece, and the fact that migrants and refugees from elsewhere in the Balkans, southern Russia, and Georgia (including Pontic Greeks and Caucasus Greeks from northeastern Anatolia and
9702-417: The Eastern Macedonia and Thrace division after 2010. The region is further divided between the third-level administrative divisions of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace , and the Decentralized Administration of Epirus and Western Macedonia . It also includes the autonomous monastic community of Mount Athos , which is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (through
9900-426: The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople in the middle of the 18th century. During the period of Ottoman rule, a partial islamization was also recorded. In spite of that, the Eastern Orthodox Christianity remained the dominant religion of local population. During the 19th century, religious life in the region was strongly influenced by rising national movements. Several major ethnoreligious disputes arose in
10098-430: The First Balkan War , and expanded its share in the Second Balkan War against Bulgaria. The boundaries of Greek Macedonia were finalised in the Treaty of Bucharest . In World War I , Macedonia became a battlefield. The Greek Prime Minister, Eleftherios Venizelos , favoured entering the war on the side of the Entente , while the Germanophile King Constantine I favoured neutrality. Invited by Venizelos, in autumn 1915,
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#173276494538210296-403: The Great Idea (Greek: Μεγάλη Ιδέα, Megáli Idéa ) which meant the reconstruction of the classical Greek world or the revival of the Byzantine Empire . The important idea here is that for Greece, Macedonia was a region with large Greek populations expecting annexation to the new Greek state. The 1878 Congress of Berlin changed the Balkan map again. The treaty restored Macedonia and Thrace to
10494-421: The Greek Communist Party and forced to flee to the Yugoslav Socialist Republic of Macedonia and other countries in Eastern and Central Europe. Some also immigrated to Canada, Australia, and the United States. Current Greek law still forbids the reentry and restitution of property by Macedonians that are not "Greek by origin." Macedonia is the largest and second-most-populous Greek region . The landscape
10692-485: The Greek War of Independence . The revolt spread from Central to Western Macedonia . In the autumn of 1821, Nikolaos Kasomoulis was sent to southern Greece as the "representative of South-East Macedonia", and met Demetrius Ypsilantis. At the beginning of 1822, Anastasios Karatasos and Angelis Gatsos arranged a meeting with other armatoloi and decided that the insurrection should be based on three towns: Naoussa, Kastania , and Siatista . In 1854 Theodoros Ziakas ,
10890-426: The Haliacmon Valley in western Macedonia, where the typical red-on-cream pottery in the Sesklo style emphasises the settlement's southern orientation. Pottery of this date has been found at a number of sites in Central and Eastern Macedonia but so far none has been extensively excavated. The Late Neolithic period ( c. 4500 to 3500 BCE) is well represented by both excavated and unexcavated sites throughout
11088-459: The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization , which organized the so-called Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising in 1903, fighting for an autonomous or independent Macedonian state, and the Greek efforts from 1904 until 1908 ( Greek Struggle for Macedonia ). Diplomatic intervention by the European powers led to plans for an autonomous Macedonia under Ottoman rule. The restricted borders of the modern Greek state at its inception in 1830 disappointed
11286-399: The Macedonia naming dispute in the aftermath of the break-up of Yugoslavia , in which Greece objected to its northern neighbour calling itself the " Republic of Macedonia ". This objection is the direct result of this regional identity, and a matter of heritage for northern Greeks. A characteristic expression of this self-identification was manifested by Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis at
11484-423: The Macedonians to resist both Ottoman and Bulgarian forces, by sending military officers who formed bands made up of Macedonians and other Greek volunteers, something that resulted in the Macedonian Struggle from 1904 to 1908, which ended with the Young Turk Revolution . The Macedonians fought alongside the regular Greek army during the struggle for Macedonia. There are monuments in Macedonia commemorating
11682-411: The Makedonomachoi , the local Macedonian and other Greek fighters, who took part in the wars and died to liberate Macedonia from the Ottoman rule, officially memorialized as heroes. Greece gained the southern parts of the region (with Thessaloniki ), which corresponded to that of ancient Macedonia attributed as part of Greek history and had a strong Greek presence, from the Ottoman Empire after
11880-413: The Nuremberg Laws , which saw some 43,000–49,000 of Thessaloniki's 56,000 Jews exterminated in the Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps . In its own zone of annexation, Bulgaria actively persecuted the local Greek population with the help of Bulgarian collaborationists. Further demographic change happened in the aftermath of the Greek Civil War , when many Slavs of Macedonia who fought on
12078-445: The Peloponnesian War , Macedonia became the theatre of many military actions by the Peloponnesian League and the Athenians, and saw incursions of Thracians and Illyrians, as attested by Thucydides. Many Macedonian cities were allied to the Spartans (both the Spartans and the Macedonians were Dorian, while the Athenians were Ionian), but Athens maintained the colony of Amphipolis under her control for many years. The kingdom of Macedon ,
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#173276494538212276-442: The Rus'–Byzantine War of 970–971 . The Bulgarian capital Preslav and the Bulgarian Tsar Boris II were captured, and with the deposition of the Bulgarian regalia in the Hagia Sophia , Bulgaria was officially annexed to Byzantium. A new capital was established at Ohrid, which also became the seat of the Bulgarian Patriarchate . A new dynasty, that of the Comitopuli under Tsar Samuil and his successors, continued resistance against
12474-421: The Third Macedonian War in (171–168 BC), he lost his kingdom when he was defeated. Macedonia was initially divided into four republics subject to Rome before finally being annexed in 146 BC as a Roman province . Around this time, vulgar Latin was introduced in the Balkans by Latin-speaking colonists and military personnel. With the division of the Roman Empire into west and east in 298 AD, Macedonia came under
12672-468: The centre-right New Democracy party, while Karypidis is an independent . Elections take place in a two-round system , where the two candidates with the most votes face each other in a second round if no one has managed to get a majority of more than 50% of the votes in the first round. Regional councils, mayors, and other officials are also elected in this way. The next local elections will take place in 2019. The Deputy Minister for Macedonia and Thrace
12870-401: The civil administrator of Mount Athos ) in its political aspect, and of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople in its religious aspect. The region remains an important economic centre for Greece. Macedonia accounts for the majority of Greece's agricultural production and is also a major contributor to the country's industrial and tourism sectors. The metropolis of the region, Thessaloniki
13068-495: The south Caucasus ) have usually gravitated to Greek Macedonia rather than southern Greece. Greek is the majority language throughout Greece today, with an estimated 5% of the population speaking a language other than Greek, and is the only language of administration and education in the region. Greek is spoken universally in Greek Macedonia, even in the border regions where there is a strong presence of languages other than Greek. The Greek government exhibits some tolerance toward
13266-426: The tomb of Philip II of Macedon is located. Pella (about 1 km (0.62 mi) from modern town of Pella and about 7 km (4.3 mi) from Giannitsa ), which replaced Aigai as the capital of Macedon in the fourth century BC and was the birthplace of Alexander the Great, is also located in the Greek region of Macedonia. The name Macedonia derives from the Greek : Μακεδονία ( Makedonía ),
13464-433: The vilayet of Selânik ( Thessaloniki ), 261,283 Greeks in the vilayet of Monastir ( Bitola ) and 13,452 Greeks in the villayet of Kosovo . Of those 648,962 Greeks by church, 307,000 identified as Greek speakers, while about 250,000 as Slavic speakers and 99,000 as "Vlach" (Aromanian or Megleno-Romanian). However, these figures extend to territories both inside and outside of Greek Macedonia. Hugh Poulton, in his Who Are
13662-404: 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
13860-437: The 13th century, following the Fourth Crusade , Macedonia was disputed among Byzantine Greeks , Latin crusaders of the short-lived Kingdom of Thessalonica , and the revived Bulgarian state . Most of southern Macedonia was secured by the Despotate of Epirus and then by the Empire of Nicaea , while the north was ruled by Bulgaria. After 1261 however, all of Macedonia returned to Byzantine rule, where it largely remained until
14058-418: The 2014–2020 funding cycle. A€10 billion ($ 11.3 billion) Egnatia Railway crossing Macedonia and linking Alexandroupoli in Western Thrace with Igoumenitsa in Epirus was proposed to the European Commission in 2017 but remains in planning with a projected start date in 2019. If completed, the 565 km (351 mi) railway line will be Europe's largest rail megaproject . Central Macedonia
14256-410: The 2nd century, Macedonia covered approximately the area where it is considered to be today, but the northern regions of today Republic of North Macedonia were not identified as Macedonian lands. For reasons that are still unclear, over the next eleven centuries Macedonia's location was changed significantly. The Roman province of Macedonia consisted of what is today Northern and Central Greece, much of
14454-403: The 3rd century, especially among rural provincials who were crippled by harsh taxation and famines. Given this background, penetrations carried by successive waves of relatively small numbers of Slavic warriors and their families might have been capable of assimilating large numbers of indigenes into their cultural model, which was sometimes seen as a more attractive alternative . In this way and in
14652-491: The 6th century the Byzantine dominions were subject to frequent raids by various Slavic tribes which, in the course of centuries, eventually resulted in drastic demographic and cultural changes in the Empire's Balkan provinces. Although traditional scholarship attributes these changes to large-scale colonizations by Slavic-speaking groups, it has been proposed that a generalized dissipation of Roman identity might have commenced in
14850-536: The Albanian, Bulgarian ( Pomaks ), Macedonian ( Torbeš ), Bosniak , and Turkish populations. During the period of classical antiquity , main religion in the region of Macedonia was the Ancient Greek religion . After the Roman conquest of Macedonia, the Ancient Roman religion was also introduced. Many ancient religious monuments, dedicated to Greek and Roman deities are preserved in this region. During
15048-608: The Allies landed forces in Thessaloniki to aid Serbia in its war against Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria, but their intervention came too late to prevent the Serbian collapse. The Macedonian front was established, with Thessaloniki at its heart, while in summer 1916 the Bulgarians took over Greek eastern Macedonia without opposition. This provoked a military uprising among pro-Venizelist officers in Thessaloniki, resulting in
15246-640: The Ancient Greek adjective makednós meaning "tall, slim", and are related to the term Macedonia . The definition of Macedonia has changed several times throughout history. Prior to its expansion under Alexander the Great , the ancient kingdom of Macedonia , to which the modern region owes its name, lay entirely within the central and western parts of the current Greek province of Macedonia and consisted of 17 provinces/districts or eparchies ( Ancient Greek : επαρχία). Expansion of Kingdom of Macedon: In
15444-400: The Bulgarian administration of Eastern Greek Macedonia, some 100,000 Bulgarian refugees from the region were resettled there and perhaps as many Greeks were deported or fled to other parts of Greece. Western Aegean Macedonia was occupied by Italy , with the western parts of Yugoslav Macedonia being annexed to Italian-occupied Albania. The remainder of Greek Macedonia (including all of the coast)
15642-656: The Bulgarian government was insisting to keep its military units on Greek soil. The Bulgarian Macedonia returned fairly rapidly to normality, but the Bulgarian patriots in Yugoslav Macedonia underwent a process of ethnic cleansing by the Belgrade authorities, and Greek Macedonia was ravaged by the Greek Civil War , which broke out in December 1944 and did not end until October 1949. After this civil war,
15840-576: The Bulgarians. After that it was obvious that the Macedonian question could be answered only with a war. The rise of the Albanian and the Turkish nationalism after 1908, however, prompted Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria to bury their differences with regard to Macedonia and to form a joint coalition against the Ottoman Empire in 1912. Disregarding public opinion in Bulgaria, which was in support of
16038-547: The Byzantine Empire, a province under the name of Macedonia was carved out of the original Theme of Thrace , which was well east of the Struma River. This thema variously included parts of 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
16236-605: The Byzantine Empire, either independently, or aided by Bulgar or Avar contingents. Around 680 AD a "Bulgar" group (which was largely composed of the descendants of former Roman Christians taken captive by the Avars), led by Khan Kuber (theorized to have belonged to the same clan as the Danubian Bulgarian khan Asparukh ), settled in the Pelagonian plain , and launched campaigns to the region of Thessaloniki. When
16434-597: The Byzantines for several more decades, before also succumbing in 1018. The western part of Bulgaria including Macedonia was incorporated into the Byzantine Empire as the province of Bulgaria ( Theme of Bulgaria ) and the Bulgarian Patriarchate was reduced in rank to an Archbishopric . Intermittent Bulgarian uprisings continued to occur, often with the support of the Serbian princedoms to the north. Any temporary independence that might have been gained
16632-466: The Empire could spare imperial troops, it attempted to regain control of its lost Balkan territories. By the time of Constans II a significant number of the Slavs of Macedonia were captured and transferred to central Asia Minor where they were forced to recognize the authority of the Byzantine emperor and serve in his ranks. In the late 7th century, Justinian II again organized a massive expedition against
16830-517: The Great and his father Philip II . Before the expansion of Macedonia under Philip in the 4th century BC, the kingdom of the Macedonians covered an area corresponding roughly to the administrative regions of Western and Central Macedonia in modern Greece. The name Macedonia was later applied to a number of widely-differing administrative areas in the Roman and Byzantine empires. With
17028-497: The Great 's father. His discoveries were drawn upon as evidence of ethnic and cultural links between the ancient Macedonians and southern Greek city-states by Greeks in Macedonia. The distinct regional identity of Greek Macedonians is also the product of the fact that it was closer to the centres of power in both the Byzantine and Ottoman period, was considered culturally, politically, and strategically more important than other parts of Greece during these two periods, and also
17226-454: The Great, the kingdom of Macedonia forcefully expanded, placing the whole of the region of Macedonia under their rule. Alexander's conquests produced a lasting extension of Hellenistic culture and thought across the ancient Near East , but his empire broke up on his death. His generals divided the empire between them, founding their own states and dynasties. The kingdom of Macedon was taken by Cassander , who ruled it until his death in 297 BC. At
17424-498: The Greek Despotate of Epirus , Theodore Komnenos Doukas in 1224, when Greek Macedonia and the city of Thessaloniki were at the heart of the short-lived Empire of Thessalonica . Returning to the restored Byzantine Empire shortly thereafter, Greek Macedonia remained in Byzantine hands until the 1340s, when all of Macedonia (except Thessaloniki, and possibly Veria ) was conquered by the Serbian ruler Stefan Dušan . After
17622-565: The Greek region of Macedonia , most of the Republic of North Macedonia , and a small part of western Bulgaria. By 500 BCE, the ancient kingdom of Macedon was centered somewhere between the southern slopes of Lower Olympus and the lowest reach of the Haliakmon River. Since 512/511 BCE, the kingdom of Macedonia was subject to the Persians , but after the battle of Plataia it regained its independence. Under Philip II and Alexander
17820-592: The Greek-dominated community of Orthodox Christians. The Slavs of Macedonia generally referred to themselves and were known as "Bulgarians". By the middle of the 19th century, peasant communities of Macedonia experienced the formation of deep divisions with rise of nationalism in the Ottoman Empire . From then, the Slavic speaking communities of northern Greece split into two hostile and opposed groups with two different national identities – Greek and Bulgarian. By
18018-571: The Greeks it was a good war". The first Balkan War managed to liberate Balkans from Turks and settled the major issues except Macedonia. In the spring 1913 the Serbs and Greeks begun the ' Serbianization ' and the ' Hellenization ' of the parts in Macedonia they already controlled, while Bulgarians faced some difficulties against the Jews and the Turkish populations. Moreover, the possession of Thessalonica
18216-401: The Macedonian is really a peaceable, fairly industrious agriculturist and if the (Serbian) government give him adequate protection, education, freedom from malaria and decent communications, there seems no reason why he should not become just as Serbian in sentiment as he was Bulgarian 10 years ago". As a result of this game of tug-of-war, the development of a distinct Macedonian national identity
18414-578: The Macedonians , notes that "assessing population figures is problematic" for the territory of Greek Macedonia before its incorporation into the Greek state in 1913. The area's remaining population was principally composed of Ottoman Turks (including non-Turkish Muslims of mainly Bulgarian and Greek Macedonian convert origin) and also a sizeable community of mainly Sephardic Jews (centred in Thessaloniki), and smaller numbers of Romani , Albanians , Aromanians and Megleno-Romanians . When Macedonia
18612-594: The Middle Ages to the early 20th century, the ethnic composition of the region of Macedonia is characterised by uncertainty both about numbers and identification. The earliest estimation we have is from the Greek consulate of Thessaloniki in 1884, which according to it the nowadays Greek region of Macedonia had 1,073,000 Greeks (Grecophones, Slavophones, Albanophones), 565,000 Muslims , 215,000 Bulgarians and 16,000 Aromanians . The 1904 Ottoman census of Hilmi Pasha people were assigned to ethnicity according which church/language they belonged, it recorded 373,227 Greeks in
18810-717: The Orthodox Church while the former majority in Notia was Muslim. Arvanite communities exist in Serres regional unit , while many can also be found in Thessaloniki. There are three Arvanite villages in the Florina regional unit ( Drosopigi , Lechovo and Flampouro ) with others located in Kilkis and Thessaloniki regional units. Other minority groups include Armenians and Romani . Romani communities are concentrated mainly around
19008-538: The Ottoman Empire. Serbia, Romania and Montenegro were granted full independence, and some territorial expansion at the expense of the Ottoman Empire. Russia would maintain military advisors in Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia until May 1879. Austria-Hungary was permitted to occupy Bosnia, Herzegovina and the Sanjak of Novi Pazar. The Congress of Berlin also forced Bulgaria, newly given autonomy by the 1878 Treaty of San Stefano , to return over half of its newly gained territory to
19206-529: The Ottoman Empire. This included Macedonia, a large part of which was given to Bulgaria, due to Russian pressure and the presence of significant numbers of Bulgarians and adherents to the Bulgarian Exarchate . The territorial losses dissatisfied Bulgaria; this fuelled the ambitions of many Bulgarian politicians for the following seventy years, who wanted to review the treaty – by peaceful or military means and to reunite all lands which they claimed had
19404-428: The Ottomans. The capture of Thessaloniki in 1430 threw the Byzantine world into consternation, being regarded correctly as a prelude to the fall of Constantinople itself. The memory of the event has survived through folk traditions containing fact and myths. Apostolos Vacalopoulos records the following Turkish tradition connected with the capture of Thessaloniki: "While Murad was asleep in his palace at Yenitsa,
19602-531: The Second World War and following the defeat of Bulgaria, another further split between the Slavic groups occurred. Conservatives departed with the occupying Bulgarian Army to Bulgaria. Leftists who identified as Macedonians (Slavic), joined the communist-dominated rebel Democratic Army of Greece . At the conclusion of the Greek Civil War (1946–49), most Macedonians of Slavic background were evacuated by
19800-635: The Sklaviniai and Bulgars of Macedonia. Launching from Constantinople, he subdued many Slavic tribes and established the Theme of Thrace in the hinterland of the Great City, and pushed on into Thessaloniki. However, on his return he was ambushed by the Slavo-Bulgars of Kuber, losing a great part of his army, booty, and subsequently his throne. Despite these temporary successes, rule in the region
19998-473: The Slavic element in the area led two brothers from Thessaloniki , Saints Cyril and Methodius , to be chosen to convert the Slavs to Christianity. Following the campaigns of Basil II , all of Macedonia returned to the Byzantine state. Following the Fourth Crusade 1203–1204, a short-lived Crusader realm, the Kingdom of Thessalonica , was established in the region. It was subdued by the co-founder of
20196-426: The already existing Thracian and Helladic themes. There are no Byzantine records of "Sklaviniai" after 836/837 as they were absorbed into the expanding First Bulgarian Empire . Slavic influence in the region strengthened along with the rise of this state, which incorporated parts of the region to its domain in 837. In the early 860s Saints Cyril and Methodius , two Byzantine Greek brothers from Thessaloniki, created
20394-444: The assistance of the Patriarchate that was responsible for the schools, could more easily maintain control, because they were spreading Greek identity. For the very same reason the Bulgarians, when preparing the Exarchate's government (1871) included Macedonians in the assembly as "brothers" to prevent any ethnic diversification. On the other hand, the Serbs, unable to establish Serbian-speaking schools, used propaganda. Their main concern
20592-635: The autonomous monastic community of Mount Athos , which has existed as a religious sanctuary since the Middle Ages . The community of the mount Athos is under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and is inaccessible to women, punishable by a penalty of incarceration of up to twelve months. This has been criticised by the European Parliament . The territory of Mount Athos
20790-555: The battles against Bulgarian enemies in these wars—on the strength of the Macedonian-Adrianopolitan Volunteer Corps and other units. After World War I Macedonian Campaign the status quo of Macedonia remained the same. The establishment of the 'Kingdom of Serbians, Croats and Slovenes' in 1918, which in 1929 was renamed 'Yugoslavia' (South Slavia) predicted no special regime for Skopje neither recognized any Macedonian national identity. In fact,
20988-704: The brunt of the war fighting on the Thracian front against the main Ottoman forces. Both her war expenditures and casualties in the First Balkan War were higher than those of Serbia, Greece and Montenegro combined. Macedonia itself was occupied by Greek, Serbian and Bulgarian forces. The Ottoman Empire in the Treaty of London in May 1913 assigned the whole of Macedonia to the Balkan League , without, specifying
21186-563: The burial sites of several kings of Macedon were found, including the tomb of Philip II of Macedon . It is also the site of an extensive royal palace. The archaeological museum of Vergina was built to house all the artifacts found at the site and is one of the most important museums in Greece. Pella , which replaced Aigai as the capital of Macedon in the fourth century BC, is also located in Central Macedonia , as well as Dion in Pieria and Amphipolis . Philippi , located in eastern Macedonia ,
21384-598: The claims to Macedonian identity remained silent at a propaganda level because, eventually, North Macedonia had been a Serbian conquest. The situation in Serbian Macedonia changed after the Communist Revolution in Russia (1918–1919). According to Sfetas, Comintern was handling Macedonia as a matter of tactics, depending on the political circumstances. In the early 1920s it supported the position for
21582-467: The coastal areas and nearer Thrace remaining in Byzantine hands, while most of the hinterland was disputed between the Byzantium and Bulgaria . The Macedonian regions under Byzantine control passed under the tourma of Macedonia to the province of Thrace . A new system of administration came into place in 789–802 AD, following the Byzantine empire 's recovery from these invasions. The new system
21780-474: The coastal regions. The rest of the region was inhabited by various Thracian and Illyrian tribes as well as mostly coastal colonies of other Greek states such as Amphipolis , Olynthos, Potidea, Stageira and many others, and to the north another tribe dwelt, called the Paeonians . During the late 6th and early 5th century BC, the region came under Persian rule until the destruction of Xerxes at Plataea . During
21978-434: The coasts of Eastern Macedonia and the port of Kavala , and Ammouliani , opposite the coasts of Central Macedonia, in Chalkidiki . Haliacmon , which flows through Kastoria , Grevena , Kozani , Imathia and Pieria regional units, is the longest river in Greece. Some other rivers are Axios ( Vardar ), Strymonas , Loudias . Macedonia for the most part enjoys a Mediterranean climate ( Köppen : Csa ). Some parts have
22176-504: The coordination and application of the government's policies in all three Macedonian regions. Prior to 1987 Macedonia was a single administrative and geographical unit. The heads of the various administrative units are elected. The last Greek local elections were in 2014 , and saw Apostolos Tzitzikostas elected regional governor of Central Macedonia , Giorgos Pavlidis in Eastern Macedonia and Thrace , and Theodoros Karypidis in Western Macedonia. Tzitzikostas and Pavlidis are members of
22374-475: The course of time, great parts of Macedonia came to be controlled by Slavic-speaking communities. Despite numerous attacks on Thessaloniki, the city held out, and Byzantine-Roman culture continued to flourish, although Slavic cultural influence steadily increased. The Slavic settlements organized themselves along tribal and territorially based lines which were referred to by Byzantine Greek historians as "Sklaviniai". The Sklaviniai continued to intermittently assault
22572-405: 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. The Middle Neolithic period ( c. 5500 to 4500 BCE) is at present best represented at Servia in
22770-633: The cultural groups of Bulgaria and Roumania to the North. Principal excavated settlements of this period include Makryialos and Paliambela near the western shore of the Thermaic gulf, Thermi to the south of Thessaloniki and Sitagroi and Dikili Tas in the Drama plain. Some of these sites were densely occupied and formed large mounds (known to the local inhabitants of the region today as 'toumbas'). Others were much less densely occupied and spread for as much as
22968-411: The division of Macedonia according to the existing lines of control. Both Serbia and Greece, as well as Bulgaria, started to prepare for a final war of partition. In June 1913, Bulgarian Tsar Ferdinand , without consulting the government, and without any declaration of war, ordered Bulgarian troops to attack the Greek and Serbian troops in Macedonia, initiating the Second Balkan War . The Bulgarian army
23166-462: The division of the region, to promote problems between the allies. Dissatisfied with the creation of an autonomous Albanian state, which denied her access to the Adriatic , Serbia asked for the suspension of the pre-war division treaty and demanded from Bulgaria greater territorial concessions in Macedonia. Later in May the same year, Greece and Serbia signed a secret treaty in Thessaloniki stipulating
23364-535: The earliest known settlements, such as Nea Nikomedeia in Imathia (today's Greek Macedonia), date back 9,000 years. 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
23562-607: The east, Macedonia ended according to Strabo at the river Strymon , although he mentions that other writers placed Macedonia's border with Thrace at the river Nestos , which is also the present geographical boundary between the two administrative districts of Greece . The Acts of the Apostles ( Acts 16:9–10 ) records a vision in which the apostle Paul is said to have seen a ' man of Macedonia ' pleading with him, saying, "Come over to Macedonia and help us". The passage reports that Paul and his companions responded immediately to
23760-567: The establishment of a " Provisional Government of National Defence " in the city, headed by Venizelos, which entered the war alongside the Allies. After intense diplomatic negotiations and an armed confrontation in Athens between Entente and royalist forces the King abdicated, and his second son Alexander took his place. Venizelos returned to Athens in June 1917 and Greece, now unified, officially joined
23958-461: The establishment of an autonomous Macedonian province under a Christian governor, the Bulgarian government entered a pre-war treaty with Serbia which divided the region into two parts. The part of Macedonia west and north of the line of partition was contested by both Serbia and Bulgaria and was subject to the arbitration of the Russian Tsar after the war. Serbia formally renounced any claims to
24156-411: The fact that the region had a far more ethnically and religiously diverse population in both the medieval and Ottoman periods. In the late Byzantine period Greek Macedonia had also been the centre of significant Byzantine successor states, such as the Kingdom of Thessalonica , the short-lived state established by the rival Byzantine emperor, Theodore Komnenos Doukas , and – in parts of western Macedonia –
24354-661: The first Slavic Glagolitic alphabet in which the Old Church Slavonic language was first transcribed, and are thus commonly referred to as the apostles of the Slavic world. Their cultural heritage was acquired and developed in medieval Bulgaria, where after 885 the region of Ohrid (present-day Republic of North Macedonia) became a significant ecclesiastical center with the nomination of the Saint Clement of Ohrid for "first archbishop in Bulgarian language" with residence in this region. In conjunction with another disciple of Saints Cyril and Methodius, Saint Naum , Clement created
24552-453: The founders of the Macedonian nation. After the revival of Greek, Serbian, and Bulgarian statehood in the 19th century, the Ottoman lands in Europe that became identified as "Macedonia", were contested by all three governments, leading to the creation in the 1890s and 1900s of rival armed groups who divided their efforts between fighting the Turks and one another. The most important of these was
24750-582: The geographical area of the Republic of North Macedonia and southeast Albania. Simply put, the Romans created a much larger administrative area under that name than the original ancient Macedon . In late Roman times, the provincial boundaries were reorganized to form the Diocese of Macedonia , consisting of most of modern mainland Greece right across the Aegean to include Crete , southern Albania, southwest Bulgaria , and most of Republic of North Macedonia. In
24948-493: The gold and silver mines in the area. There were several uprisings in Macedonia during Ottoman rule , including an uprising after the Battle of Lepanto that ended in massacres of the Greek population, the uprising in Naousa of the armatolos Zisis Karademos in 1705, a rebellion in the area of Grevena by a Klepht called Ziakas (1730–1810). The Greek Declaration of Independence in Macedonia by Emmanuel Pappas in 1821, during
25146-524: The gradual conquest of south-eastern 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. With the rise of nationalism in the Ottoman Empire , the name Macedonia was revived in the nineteenth century as a geographical term, and for educated Greeks it corresponded to the ancient historical land. The economic ascent of Thessaloniki and of
25344-610: The history of Macedonia began with the Makednoi tribe, among the first to use the name, migrating to the region from Histiaeotis in the south. There they lived near Thracian tribes such as the Bryges who would later leave Macedonia for Asia Minor and become known as Phrygians . Macedonia was named after the Makednoi. Accounts of other toponyms such as Emathia are attested to have been in use before that. Herodotus claims that
25542-598: The idea that both terms are of Pre-Greek substrate origin and cannot be explained in terms of Indo-European morphology. However, Beekes' views are not mainstream and De Decker argues that his arguments are insufficient. The region has historically also been known as Македония (Makedonija) in Bulgarian and the local South Slavic dialects , Makedonya in Turkish , and Machedonia in Aromanian . Machedonia
25740-622: The inhabitants of northern Greece (Epirus and Macedonia). Addressing these concerns in 1844, the Greek Prime Minister Kolettis addressed the constitutional assembly in Athens that "the Kingdom of Greece is not Greece; it is only a part, the smallest and poorest, of Greece. The Greek is not only he who inhabits the kingdom, but also he who lives in Ioannina, or Thessaloniki, or Serres, or Odrin" . He mentions cities and islands that were under Ottoman possession as composing
25938-443: The invitation. Subsequently the provinces of Epirus and Thessaly as well as other regions to the north were incorporated into a new Provincia Macedonia, but in 297 AD under a Diocletianic reform many of these regions were removed and two new provinces were created: Macedonia Prima and Macedonia Salutaris (from 479 to 482 AD Macedonia Secunda). Macedonia Prima coincided approximately with Strabo's definition of Macedonia and with
26136-712: The jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople . During the Middle Ages and up to 1767, western and northern regions of Macedonia were under the jurisdiction of the Archbishopric of Ohrid . Northern fringes of the region (areas surrounding Skopje and Tetovo ) had temporary jurisdiction under the Serbian Patriarchate of Peć . Both the Archbishopric of Ohrid and the Patriarchate of Peć became abolished and absorbed into
26334-436: The land they had conquered during the first war. The Treaty of Bucharest (August 1913) took off most of the Bulgarian conquests of the previous years. A large part of Macedonia became southern Serbia, including the territory of what today is the Republic of North Macedonia, and southern Macedonia became northern Greece . Greece almost doubled its territory and population size and its northern frontiers remain today, more or less
26532-540: The linguistic and ethnic minority groups in Macedonia is not known with any degree of scientific accuracy, as Greece has not conducted a census on the question of mother tongue since 1951. Aromanians form a minority population throughout much of Macedonia. They largely identify as Greeks and most belong to the Greek Orthodox Church, many refusing to be called a minority group. In the 1951 census they numbered 39,855 in all Greece (the number in Macedonia proper
26730-425: The middle of the 14th century, the Ottoman threat was looming in the Balkans, as the Ottomans defeated the various Christian principalities, whether Serb, Bulgarian or Greek. After the Ottoman victory in the Battle of Maritsa in 1371, most of Macedonia accepted vassalage to the Ottomans and by the end of the 14th century the Ottoman Empire gradually annexed the region. The final Ottoman capture of Thessalonica (1430)
26928-600: The modern Greek region of Macedonia became part of the modern Greek state in 1912–13, in the aftermath of the Balkan Wars and the Treaty of Bucharest (1913) . It continued as an administrative division of Greece until the reform of 1987, when it was split into the second-level administrative divisions of Western Macedonia and Central Macedonia ; while the eastern part, into the Drama-Kavala-Xanthi Super-prefecture until 2010, and part of
27126-558: The modern administrative district of Greece and had Thessaloniki as its capital, while Macedonia Salutaris had the Paeonian city of Stobi (near Gradsko ) as its capital. This subdivision is mentioned in Hierocles ' Synecdemon (527–528) and remained through the reign of emperor Justinian . The Slavic , Avar , Bulgarian and Magyar invasions in the 6–7th centuries devastated both provinces with only parts of Macedonia Prima in
27324-573: The modern times. Contemporary Greek Macedonian cooking shares much with general Greek and wider Balkan and Mediterranean cuisine, including dishes from the Ottoman past. Specific influences include dishes of the Pontic , Aromanian , Armenian and Sephardi Jewish population. The mix of the different people inhabiting the region gave the name to the Macedonian salad . Music of Macedonia
27522-416: The most prevalent minority languages in the region, while Aromanian , Arvanitic , Megleno-Romanian , Turkish , and Romani are also spoken. Judaeo-Spanish , also known as Ladino , was historically the language of the Jewish community of Thessaloniki, although the Holocaust nearly eradicated the city's previously-vibrant Jewish community of 70,000 to a mere 3,000 individuals today. The exact size of
27720-532: The neighboring states struggled over Turkey in Europe; they were only kept at bay by their own restraints, the Ottoman Army and the territorial ambitions of the Great Powers in the region. Serbian policy had a distinct anti-Bulgarian flavor, attempting to prevent the Bulgarian influencing the inhabitants of Macedonia. On the other hand, Bulgaria was using the power of its religious institutions (Bulgarian Exarchate established in 1870) to promote its language and make more people identify with Bulgaria. Greece, in addition,
27918-425: The neighbouring settlements around Thessaloniki were inhabited by "Scythians" (Bulgarians) and the Slavic tribes of Drugubites and Sagudates , in addition to Greeks. At the end of the 10th century, what is now the Republic of North Macedonia became the political and cultural heartland of the First Bulgarian Empire , after Byzantine emperors John I Tzimiskes conquered the eastern part of the Bulgarian state during
28116-494: The north-east. The table below is a concise list of the various subdivisions of Macedonia: The Gross Domestic Product of Macedonia peaked at €41.99 billion ($ 47.44 billion) in nominal value and €46.87 billion ($ 52.95 billion) in purchasing power parity just before the Great Recession in 2008; it has since then contracted to its lowest point in 2015, during the Greek government-debt crisis , to €30.85 billion ($ 34.85 billion) and €38.17 billion ($ 43.12 billion);
28314-405: The oldest, dating to 9.6–8.7 million years ago. During the early Neolithic period, the settlement of Nea Nikomedeia was developed. In the Late Neolithic period ( c. 4500 – c. 3500 BC ), trade took place with quite distant regions, indicating rapid socio-economic changes. One of the most important innovations was the start of copper working. According to Herodotus ,
28512-403: The other urban centres of Macedonia coincided with the cultural and political renaissance of the Greeks . The leader and coordinator of the Greek Revolution in Macedonia was Emmanouel Pappas from Dovista (in Serres ), and the revolt spread from Central to Western Macedonia. Letters from the period show Pappas either being addressed or signing himself as "Leader and Defender of Macedonia" and
28710-476: The outside of the walls and plastered over with clay. Remarkable evidence for cult activity has been found at Promachonas -Topolnica, which straddles the Greek Bulgarian border to the north of Serres . Here a deep pit appeared to have been roofed to make a subterranean room; in it were successive layers of debris including large numbers of figurines, bulls' skulls, and pottery, including several rare and unusual shapes. The farming economy of this period continued
28908-506: The part of Macedonia south and east of the line, which was declared to be within the Bulgarian sphere of interest. The pre-treaty between Greece and Bulgaria, however, did not include any agreement on the division of the conquered territories – evidently both countries hoped to occupy as much territory as possible having their sights primarily set on Thessaloniki. In the First Balkan War , Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece and Montenegro occupied almost all Ottoman-held territories in Europe. Bulgaria bore
29106-445: The period of Early Christianity , ecclesiastical structure was established in the region of Macedonia, and the see of Thessaloniki became the metropolitan diocese of the Roman province of Macedonia . The archbishop of Thessaloniki also became the senior ecclesiastical primate of the entire Eastern Illyricum , and in 535 his jurisdiction was reduced to the administrative territory of the Diocese of Macedonia . Later it came under
29304-421: The plans of the Serbians and Bulgarians to make them adopt their ethnic idea and eventually a social divide became apparent. The British Ambassador in Belgrade in 1927 said: "At present the unfortunate Macedonian peasant is between the hammer and the anvil. One day 'comitadjis' come to his house and demand under threat lodging, food and money and the next day the gendarm hales him off to prison for having given them;
29502-455: The port of Kavala . The region was, however, restored to Greece following the victory of the Allies in 1918. After the destruction of the Greek Army in Asia Minor in 1922 Greece and Turkey exchanged most of Macedonia's Turkish minority and the Greek inhabitants of Thrace and Anatolia , as a result of which Aegean Macedonia experienced a large addition to its population and became overwhelmingly Greek in ethnic composition. Serbian-ruled Macedonia
29700-422: The possible participation of Bulgaria in a new war, on the Axis side, ended the Soviet support some years later. Macedonia (Greece) Macedonia ( / ˌ m æ s ɪ ˈ d oʊ n i ə / MASS -ih- DOH -nee-ə ; Greek : Μακεδονία , romanized : Makedonía , pronounced [maceðoˈni.a] ) is a geographic and former administrative region of Greece , in
29898-438: The practices established at the beginning of the Neolithic, although sheep and goats were less dominant among the animals than they had previously been, and the cultivation of vines ( Vitis vinifera ) is well attested. Only a few burials have been discovered from the whole of the Neolithic period in northern Greece and no clear pattern can be deduced. Grave offerings, however, seem to have been very limited. In classical times,
30096-402: The protecting states. The aim of the adversaries, however, was not primarily to extend their influence over Macedonia but merely to prevent Macedonia succumbing to the influence of the other. This often violent attempt to persuade the people that they belonged to one ethnic group or another pushed some people to reject both. The severe pressure on the peaceful peasants of Macedonia worked against
30294-474: The region (though in Eastern Macedonia levels of this period are still called Middle Neolithic according to the terminology used in the Balkans). Rapid changes in pottery styles, and the discovery of fragments of pottery showing trade with quite distant regions, indicate that society, economy and technology were all changing rapidly. Among the most important of these changes were the start of copper working, convincingly demonstrated by Renfrew to have been learnt from
30492-405: The region are known. Macedonians came to be of particular importance prior to the Balkan Wars , during the Macedonian Struggle , when they were a minority population inside the multiethnic Ottoman Macedonia . The Macedonians now have a strong regional identity, manifested both in Greece and by emigrant groups in the Greek diaspora . This sense of identity has been highlighted in the context of
30690-428: The region of Drama which led to a massacre of Greek civilians. In September 1915, the Greek government authorized the landing of the troops in Thessaloniki. In 1916 the pro-German King of Greece agreed with the Germans to allow military forces of the Central Powers to enter Greek Macedonia to attack Bulgarian forces in Thessaloniki. As a result, Bulgarian troops occupied the eastern part of Greek Macedonia, including
30888-506: The region of Macedonia Kosovo vilayet , administrative division from 1878 until 1909 covering some northern parts of the region of Macedonia Macedonia (Greece) § Ottoman rule , for history of Ottoman rule on the territory of present-day Greek Macedonia North Macedonia under the Ottoman Empire , for history of Ottoman rule on the territory of present-day North Macedonia See also [ edit ] Demographic history of Macedonia § Ottoman rule , demographic history of
31086-429: The region of Macedonia comprised parts of what at the time was known as Macedonia, Illyria and Thrace. Among others, in its lands were located the kingdoms of Paeonia, Dardania, Macedonia and Pelagonia, historical tribes like the Agrianes, and colonies of southern Greek city states. Prior to the Macedonian ascendancy, parts of southern Macedonia were populated by the Bryges , while western, (i. e., Upper ) Macedonia,
31284-416: The region of Macedonia under the Ottoman Empire Slavic speakers in Ottoman Macedonia , Slavic ethnolinguistic groups in Ottoman Macedonia Pirin Macedonia , part of the geographical region Macedonia formerly within Ottoman Bulgaria Macedonia (disambiguation) Macedonia (terminology) Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with
31482-421: The region of Macedonia, main of them being schisms between the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople and the newly created Bulgarian Exarchate (1872), and later between the Serbian Orthodox Church and the newly created Macedonian Orthodox Church (1967). While Macedonia shows signs of human habitation as old as the paleolithic period (among which is the Petralona cave with the oldest European humanoid),
31680-406: The region's beauty gives it a great potential for further tourist development. The island of Thasos , lying close to the coast of eastern Macedonia, is another tourist destination. Chalkidiki is home to Mount Athos , which is an important centre of religious tourism . The mountainous interior allows for hiking activities and adventure sports , while ski resorts like Vasilitsa also operate in
31878-413: The regional agricultural economy is centered around cereal, fruit, and industrial crops . Overall Central and Western Macedonia account for 25% of the value of Greek agricultural produce (including 41% of fruit and 43% cereal). A brand identity for products made in Macedonia, called "Macedonia the GReat", was launched in 2019 by the Greek government. The European Union considers most of Macedonia to be
32076-414: The rest of Greece Macedonia is faced with an aging population; the largest age group in the region is that of the over 70, at 15.59% of the population, while the 0–9 and 10–19 groups combined made up 20.25% of the population. The largest urban centres in Macedonia in 2011 were: The inhabitants of Greek Macedonia are nowadays overwhelmingly ethnic Greeks , and most are also Greek Orthodox Christians. From
32274-413: The rule of Rome's Byzantine successors. The population of the entire region was, however, depleted by destructive invasions of various Gothic and Hun tribes c. 300 – 5th century AD. Despite this, other parts of the Byzantine empire continued to flourish, in particular some coastal cities such as Thessaloniki became important trade and cultural centres. Despite the empire's power, from the beginning of
32472-522: The same since the Balkan Wars. However, when Serbia acquired 'Vardarska Banovina' (the present-day Republic of North Macedonia), it launched having expansionist views aiming to descend to the Aegean, with Thessalonica as the highest ambition. However, Greece after the population exchange with Bulgaria, soon after its victory in the Balkan wars, managed to give national homogeneity in the Aegean and any remaining Slavic-speakers were absorbed. Many volunteers from Macedonia joined Bulgarian army and participated in
32670-403: The senior ecclesiastical primate of the entire Eastern Illyricum , and in 535 his jurisdiction was reduced to the administrative territory of the Diocese of Macedonia . In the 8th century, from Rome it came under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople , and remained the main ecclesiastical centre in the historical region of Macedonia throughout the Middle Ages, and up to
32868-420: The side of the Democratic Army of Greece and fought to separate Greek Macedonia from the rest of Greece under the auspices of Yugoslavia , left Greece. These expatriates were the primary source of ethnic Macedonian irredentism and the appropriation of ancient Macedonian heritage. Macedonians ( Greek : Μακεδόνες , Makedónes [makeˈðones] ) is the term by which ethnic Greeks originating from
33066-524: The son of the klepht Ziakas, together with Dimitrios Karatasos , who had been among the captains at the siege of Naousa in 1821, led another uprising in Western Macedonia that has been profusely commemorated in Greek folk song. To strengthen Greek efforts for Macedonia, the Hellenic Macedonian Committee was formed in 1903, under the leadership of Dimitrios Kalapothakis ; its members included Ion Dragoumis and Pavlos Melas . Its fighters were known as Makedonomachoi ("Macedonian fighters"). Greece helped
33264-433: The southern Balkans . Macedonia is the largest and second-most-populous geographic region in Greece, with a population of 2.36 million (as of 2020). It is highly mountainous, with major urban centres such as Thessaloniki and Kavala being concentrated on its southern coastline. Together with Thrace , along with Thessaly and Epirus occasionally, it is part of Northern Greece . Greek Macedonia encompasses entirely
33462-433: The southern part of the wider region of Macedonia , making up 51% of the total area of that region. Additionally, it widely constitutes Greece's borders with three countries: Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia to the north, and Bulgaria to the northeast. Greek Macedonia incorporates most of the territories of ancient Macedon , a Greek kingdom ruled by the Argeads , whose most celebrated members were Alexander
33660-466: The story has it that, God appeared to him in a dream and gave him a lovely rose to smell, full of perfume. The sultan was so amazed by its beauty that he begged God to give it to him. God replied, "This rose, Murad, is Thessalonica. Know that it is to you granted by heaven to enjoy it. Do not waste time; go and take it". Complying with this exhortation from God, Murad marched against Thessalonica and, as it has been written, captured it." Thessaloniki became
33858-418: The struggle for creation of Bulgarian cultural educational and religious institutions, including Bulgarian Exarchate . Eventually, in the 20th century, 'Bulgarians' came to be understood as synonymous with 'Macedonian Slavs' and, eventually, 'ethnic Macedonians'. Krste Misirkov , a philologist and publicist, wrote his work " On the Macedonian Matters " (1903), for which he is heralded by Macedonians as one of
34056-407: The time, Macedonian control over the Thracoillyrian states of the region slowly waned, although the kingdom of Macedonia remained the most potent regional power. This period also saw several Celtic invasions into Macedonia. However, the Celts were each time successfully repelled by Cassander, and later Antigonus, leaving little overall influence on the region. Macedonian sovereignty in the region
34254-607: The title Ottoman Macedonia . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ottoman_Macedonia&oldid=1153260489 " Categories : Disambiguation pages Place name disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Macedonia (region) Macedonia ( / ˌ m æ s ɪ ˈ d oʊ n i ə / MASS -ih- DOH -nee-ə )
34452-432: The total population in 1920 to 12% in 1928, with the Great Greek Encyclopedia noting in 1934 that those minorities that remained "do not yet possess a Greek national consciousness ". The population of Macedonia was greatly affected by the Second World War , as it was militarily occupied by Nazi Germany while its ally, Bulgaria , annexed eastern Macedonia. Germany administered its occupation zone by implementation of
34650-422: The use of minority languages, though Greece is one of the countries which has not signed the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages ; a number of court cases have been brought to the attention of the European Parliament regarding the suppression of minority linguistic rights. Apart from Standard Modern Greek, a number of other Greek dialects are spoken in Macedonia. This includes Pontic Greek ,
34848-403: The war on the side of the Allies. In World War II Macedonia was occupied by the Axis (1941–44), with Germany taking western and central Macedonia with Thessaloniki and Bulgaria occupying and annexing eastern Macedonia. At the beginning of the 19th century, Slavic peasants identified themselves based on belonging to their family, village, or local region, or as " Rum Millet ", i.e. members of
35046-442: The war, in order to satisfy its territorial claims against Bulgaria. The Ottoman Empire also interfered, easily reassuming control of Eastern Thrace with Edirne . The Second Balkan War, also known as Inter-Ally War, left Bulgaria only with the Struma valley and a small part of Thrace with minor ports at the Aegean sea. Vardar Macedonia was incorporated into Serbia and thereafter referred to as South Serbia. Southern (Aegean) Macedonia
35244-448: The winter months. Macedonia is home to four of Greece's 18 UNESCO World Heritage sites . Vergina is best known as the site of ancient Aigai (Αἰγαί, Aigaí , Latinized : Aegae ), the first capital of Macedon . Aigai has been awarded UNESCO World Heritage Site status. In 336 BC Philip II was assassinated in Aigai's theatre and his son, Alexander the Great , was proclaimed king. The most important recent finds were made in 1977 when
35442-424: Was a living dream for the Bulgarians that were preparing for a new war. For this, the Bulgarian troops had a secret order in June 1913 to launch surprise attacks on the Serbs. Greece and Serbia signed a previous bilateral defensive agreement (May 1913). Consequently, Bulgaria decided to attack Greece and Serbia. After some initial gains the Bulgarians were forced to retreat back to Bulgaria proper and lose nearly all of
35640-496: Was based on administrative divisions called Themata . The region of Macedonia Prima (the territory of modern Greek administrative district of Macedonia) was divided between the Thema of Thessaloniki and the Thema of Strymon , so that only the region of the area from Nestos eastwards continued to carry the name Macedonia, referred to as the Thema of Macedonia or the Thema of "Macedonia in Thrace". The Thema of Macedonia in Thrace had its capital in Adrianople . Familiarity with
35838-485: Was brought to an end at the hands of the rising power of Rome in the 2nd century BC. Philip V of Macedon took his kingdom to war against the Romans in two wars during his reign (221–179 BC). The First Macedonian War (215–205 BC) was fairly successful for the Macedonians but Philip was decisively defeated in the Second Macedonian War in (200–197 BC). Although he survived war with Rome, his successor Perseus of Macedon (reigned 179–168 BC) did not; having taken Macedon into
36036-407: Was far from stable since not all of the Sklaviniae were pacified, and those that were often rebelled. The emperors rather resorted to withdrawing their defensive line south along the Aegean coast, until the late 8th century. Although a new theme—that of "Macedonia"—was subsequently created, it did not correspond to today's geographic territory, but one farther east (centred on Adrianople), carved out of
36234-490: Was first incorporated in Greece in 1913, however, Greeks were a marginal plurality in the region. The treaties of Neuilly (1919) and Lausanne (1923) mandated a forceful exchange of populations with Bulgaria and Turkey respectively, and some 776,000 Greek refugees (mostly from Turkey) were resettled in Macedonia, displacing 300,000–400,000 non-Greeks who were forced to move as part of the population exchange. The population of ethnic minorities in Macedonia dropped from 48% of
36432-446: Was fought in atrocious conditions. The retreat of the Ottoman army from Macedonia succeeded the desperate effort of the Greek and Bulgarian forces to reach the city of Thessalonica , the "single prize of the first Balkan War" for whose status no prior agreements were done. In this case possession would be equal to acquisition. The Greek forces entered the city first liberating officially, a progress only positive for them. Glenny says: "for
36630-400: Was fully annexed by the Romans. The northern boundary at that time ended at Lake Ohrid and Bylazora , a Paeonian city near the modern city of Veles . Strabo , writing in the first century AD places the border of Macedonia on that part at Lychnidos , Byzantine Achris and presently Ochrid . Therefore, ancient Macedonia did not significantly extend beyond its current borders (in Greece). To
36828-479: Was impeded and delayed. Moreover, when the imperialistic plans of the surrounding states made possible the division of Macedonia, some Macedonian intellectuals such as Misirkov mentioned the necessity of creating a Macedonian national identity which would distinguish the Macedonian Slavs from Bulgarians, Serbians or Greeks. Baptizing Macedonian Slavs as Serbian or Bulgarian aimed therefore to justify these countries' territorial claims over Macedonia. The Greek side, with
37026-432: Was in an advantageous position for protecting its interests through the influence of Patriarchate of Constantinople which traditionally sponsored Greek-language and Greek-culture schools also in villages with few Greeks. This put the Patriarchate in dispute with the Exarchate, which established schools with Bulgarian education. Indeed, belonging to one or another institution could define a person's national identity. Simply, if
37224-444: Was in full retreat in all fronts. The Serbian army chose to stop its operations when achieved all its territorial goals and only then the Bulgarian army took a breath. During the last two days the Bulgarians managed to achieve a defensive victory against the advancing Greek army in the Kresna Gorge . However at the same time the Romanian army crossed the undefended northern border and easily advanced towards Sofia . Romania interfered in
37422-445: Was incorporated into Greece and thereafter was referred to as northern Greece. The region suffered heavily during the Second Balkan War. During its advance at the end of June, the Greek army set fire to the Bulgarian quarter of the town of Kilkis and over 160 villages around Kilkis and Serres driving some 50,000 refugees into Bulgaria proper. The Bulgarian army retaliated by burning the Greek quarter of Serres and by arming Muslims from
37620-454: Was incorporated into the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later the Kingdom of Yugoslavia ) in 1918. Yugoslav Macedonia was subsequently subjected to an intense process of " Serbianization " during the 1920s and 1930s. During World War II the boundaries of the region shifted yet again. When the German forces occupied the area, most of Yugoslav Macedonia and part of Aegean Macedonia were transferred for administration to Bulgaria. During
37818-399: Was inhabited by Macedonian and Illyrian tribes . Whilst numerous wars are later recorded between the Illyrian and Macedonian Kingdoms, the Bryges might have co-existed peacefully with the Macedonians. In the time of Classical Greece , Paionia , whose exact boundaries are obscure, originally included the whole Axius River valley and the surrounding areas, in what is now the northern part of
38016-414: Was occupied by Nazi Germany . One of the worst episodes of the Holocaust happened here when 60,000 Jews from Thessaloniki were deported to extermination camps in occupied Poland . Only a few thousand survived. Macedonia was liberated in 1944, when the Red Army's advance in the Balkan Peninsula forced the German forces to retreat. The pre-war borders were restored under U.S. and British pressure because
38214-485: Was reorganised by Philip II and achieved the union of Greek states by forming the League of Corinth . After his assassination, his son Alexander succeeded to the throne of Macedon and carrying the title of Hegemon of League of Corinth started his long campaign towards the east. After the death of Alexander the Great and the Wars of the Diadochi , Macedonia was a powerful state of Hellenistic Greece . Macedonia remained an important and powerful kingdom until
38412-415: Was ruled by the First Bulgarian Empire throughout the 9th and the 10th century, was incorporated into the Byzantine Empire in 1018 as the Themе 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. The name was again revived to mean
38610-521: Was seen as the prelude to the fall of Constantinople itself. Macedonia remained a part of the Ottoman Empire for nearly 500 years, during which time it gained a substantial Turkish minority. Thessaloniki later become the home of a large Sephardi Jewish population following the expulsions of Jews after 1492 from Spain . Over the centuries Macedonia had become a multicultural region. The historical references mention Greeks, Bulgarians, Turks, Albanians, Gypsies, Jews, Aromanians and Megleno-Romanians. It
38808-413: Was specifically mentioned as the enemy in Greek Macedonia's unofficial anthem, Famous Macedonia , the reference only being replaced by vague 'Barbarians' with the normalization of Greco-Bulgarian relations in the 1970s. During the same period, Manolis Andronikos made major archaeological discoveries at Aigai , the first capital of ancient Macedonia , which included the tomb of Phillip II , Alexander
39006-418: Was to prevent the Slavic-speaking Macedonians from acquiring Bulgarian identity through concentrating on the myth of the ancient origins of the Macedonians and simultaneously by the classification of Bulgarians as Tatars and not as Slavs, emphasizing their 'Macedonian' characteristics as an intermediate stage between Serbs and Bulgarians. To sum up the Serbian propaganda attempted to inspire the Macedonians with
39204-401: Was usually crushed swiftly by the Byzantines. It was also marked by periods of war between the Normans and Byzantium. The Normans launched offensives from their lands acquired in southern Italy, and temporarily gained rule over small areas in the northwestern coast. At the end of the 12th century, some northern parts of Macedonia were temporarily conquered by Stefan Nemanja of Serbia . In
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