Macedonians ( mk, Македонци, Makedonci) are a
nation
A nation is a community of people formed on the basis of a combination of shared features such as language, history, ethnicity, culture and/or society. A nation is thus the collective identity of a group of people understood as defined by those ...
and a
South Slavic ethnic group native to the region of
Macedonia in
Southeast Europe
Southeast Europe or Southeastern Europe (SEE) is a geographical subregion of Europe, consisting primarily of the Balkans. Sovereign states and territories that are included in the region are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia (al ...
. They speak
Macedonian
Macedonian most often refers to someone or something from or related to Macedonia.
Macedonian(s) may specifically refer to:
People Modern
* Macedonians (ethnic group), a nation and a South Slavic ethnic group primarily associated with North M ...
, a
South Slavic language
The South Slavic languages are one of three branches of the Slavic languages. There are approximately 30 million speakers, mainly in the Balkans. These are separated geographically from speakers of the other two Slavic branches (West Slavic la ...
. The large majority of Macedonians identify as
Eastern Orthodox Christians
Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism.
Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or "canonical") ...
, who speak a
South Slavic language
The South Slavic languages are one of three branches of the Slavic languages. There are approximately 30 million speakers, mainly in the Balkans. These are separated geographically from speakers of the other two Slavic branches (West Slavic la ...
, and share a cultural and historical "Orthodox Byzantine–Slavic heritage" with their neighbours. About two-thirds of all ethnic Macedonians live in
North Macedonia
North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Socialist Feder ...
and there are also
communities in a number of other countries.
The concept of a Macedonian ethnicity, distinct from their Orthodox Balkan neighbours, is seen to be a comparatively newly emergent one. The earliest manifestations of an incipient Macedonian identity emerged during the second half of the 19th century among limited circles of Slavic-speaking intellectuals, predominantly outside the region of Macedonia. They arose after the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
and especially during 1930s, and thus were consolidated by Communist Yugoslavia's governmental policy after the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
The formation of the ethnic Macedonians as a separate community has been shaped by
population displacement
Forced displacement (also forced migration) is an involuntary or coerced movement of a person or people away from their home or home region. The UNHCR defines 'forced displacement' as follows: displaced "as a result of persecution, conflict, ...
as well as by
language shift
Language shift, also known as language transfer or language replacement or language assimilation, is the process whereby a speech community shifts to a different language, usually over an extended period of time. Often, languages that are perceiv ...
, both the result of the political developments in the region of
Macedonia during the 20th century. Following the
dissolution of the Ottoman Empire
The dissolution of the Ottoman Empire (1908–1922) began with the Young Turk Revolution which restored the constitution of 1876 and brought in multi-party politics with a two-stage electoral system for the Ottoman parliament. At the same tim ...
, the decisive point in the
ethnogenesis
Ethnogenesis (; ) is "the formation and development of an ethnic group".
This can originate by group self-identification or by outside identification.
The term ''ethnogenesis'' was originally a mid-19th century neologism that was later introdu ...
of the South Slavic ethnic group was the creation of the
Socialist Republic of Macedonia
The Socialist Republic of Macedonia ( mk, Социјалистичка Република Македонија, Socijalistička Republika Makedonija), or SR Macedonia, commonly referred to as Socialist Macedonia or Yugoslav Macedonia, was ...
after World War II, a state in the framework of the
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yug ...
. This was followed by the development of a separate Macedonian language and national literature, and the foundation of a distinct
Macedonian Orthodox Church
The Macedonian Orthodox Church – Archdiocese of Ohrid (MOC-AO; mk, Македонска православна црква – Охридска архиепископија), or simply the Macedonian Orthodox Church (MOC) or the Archdiocese o ...
and national historiography.
History
Ancient and Roman period
In antiquity, much of central-northern Macedonia (the
Vardar basin) was inhabited by
Paionians
Paeonians were an ancient Indo-European people that dwelt in Paeonia (kingdom), Paeonia. Paeonia was an old country whose location was to the north of Ancient Macedonia, to the south of Dardania (Roman province), Dardania, to the west of Thrace a ...
who expanded from the lower Strymon basin. The Pelagonian plain was inhabited by the
Pelagones
Pelagonia ( mk, Пелагонија, Pelagonija; el, Πελαγονíα, Pelagonía) is a geographical region of Macedonia named after the ancient kingdom. Ancient Pelagonia roughly corresponded to the present-day municipalities of Bitola, Pri ...
and the
Lyncestae,
ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...
tribes of
Upper Macedonia
Upper Macedonia (Greek: Ἄνω Μακεδονία, ''Ánō Makedonía'') is a geographical and tribal term to describe the upper/western of the two parts in which, together with Lower Macedonia, the ancient kingdom of Macedon was roughly divided. ...
; whilst the western region (Ohrid-Prespa) was said to have been inhabited by
Illyrian tribes, such as the
Enchelae. During the late Classical Period, having already developed several sophisticated ''
polis
''Polis'' (, ; grc-gre, πόλις, ), plural ''poleis'' (, , ), literally means "city" in Greek. In Ancient Greece, it originally referred to an administrative and religious city center, as distinct from the rest of the city. Later, it also ...
''-type settlements and a thriving economy based on mining, Paeonia became a constituent province of the
Argead –
Macedonian kingdom
Macedonia (; grc-gre, Μακεδονία), also called Macedon (), was an ancient kingdom on the periphery of Archaic and Classical Greece, and later the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. The kingdom was founded and initially ruled by ...
. In 310 BC, the
Celts
The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancien ...
attacked deep into the south, subduing various local tribes, such as the
Dardani
The Dardani (; grc, Δαρδάνιοι, Δάρδανοι; la, Dardani) or Dardanians were a Paleo-Balkan people, who lived in a region that was named Dardania after their settlement there. They were among the oldest Balkan peoples, and their ...
ans, the Paeonians and the
Triballi
The Triballi ( grc, Τριβαλλοί, Triballoí, lat, Triballi) were an ancient people who lived in northern Bulgaria in the region of Roman Oescus up to southeastern Serbia, possibly near the territory of the Morava Valley in the late Iron A ...
.
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
conquest brought with it a significant
Romanization
Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and ...
of the region. During the
Dominate
The Dominate, also known as the late Roman Empire, is the name sometimes given to the "despotic" later phase of imperial government in the ancient Roman Empire. It followed the earlier period known as the "Principate". Until the empire was reunit ...
period, '
barbarian
A barbarian (or savage) is someone who is perceived to be either Civilization, uncivilized or primitive. The designation is usually applied as a generalization based on a popular stereotype; barbarians can be members of any nation judged by som ...
'
foederati
''Foederati'' (, singular: ''foederatus'' ) were peoples and cities bound by a treaty, known as ''foedus'', with Rome. During the Roman Republic, the term identified the ''socii'', but during the Roman Empire, it was used to describe foreign stat ...
were settled on Macedonian soil at times; such as the
Sarmatians
The Sarmatians (; grc, Σαρμαται, Sarmatai; Latin: ) were a large confederation of Ancient Iranian peoples, ancient Eastern Iranian languages, Eastern Iranian peoples, Iranian Eurasian nomads, equestrian nomadic peoples of classical ant ...
settled by
Constantine the Great
Constantine I ( , ; la, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, ; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, the first one to Constantine the Great and Christianity, convert to Christiani ...
(330s AD) or the (10 year) settlement of
Alaric I
Alaric I (; got, 𐌰𐌻𐌰𐍂𐌴𐌹𐌺𐍃, , "ruler of all"; c. 370 – 410 AD) was the first king of the Visigoths, from 395 to 410. He rose to leadership of the Goths who came to occupy Moesia—territory acquired a couple of decades ...
's
Goths
The Goths ( got, 𐌲𐌿𐍄𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰, translit=''Gutþiuda''; la, Gothi, grc-gre, Γότθοι, Gótthoi) were a Germanic people who played a major role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of medieval Europe ...
.
[''Macedonia in Late Antiquity'' p. 551. In A Companion to Ancient Macedonia. Wiley -Blackwell, 2011] In contrast to 'frontier provinces', Macedonia (north and south) continued to be a flourishing Christian, Roman province in
Late Antiquity
Late antiquity is the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, generally spanning the 3rd–7th century in Europe and adjacent areas bordering the Mediterranean Basin. The popularization of this periodization in English ha ...
and into the
Early Middle Ages
The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th or early 6th century to the 10th century. They marked the start of the Mi ...
.
Medieval period
Linguistically, the South Slavic languages from which Macedonian developed are thought to have expanded in the region during the post-Roman period, although the exact mechanisms of this linguistic expansion remains a matter of scholarly discussion. Traditional historiography has equated these changes with the commencement of raids and 'invasions' of
Sclaveni
The ' (in Latin) or ' (various forms in Greek, see below) were early Slavic tribes that raided, invaded and settled the Balkans in the Early Middle Ages and eventually became the progenitors of modern South Slavs. They were mentioned by early Byz ...
and
Antes from
Wallachia
Wallachia or Walachia (; ro, Țara Românească, lit=The Romanian Land' or 'The Romanian Country, ; archaic: ', Romanian Cyrillic alphabet: ) is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and so ...
and western Ukraine during the 6th and 7th centuries. However, recent anthropological and archaeological perspectives have viewed the appearance of
Slavs
Slavs are the largest European ethnolinguistic group. They speak the various Slavic languages, belonging to the larger Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout northern Eurasia, main ...
in Macedonia, and throughout the
Balkans
The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...
in general, as part of a broad and complex process of transformation of the cultural, political and ethnolinguistic Balkan landscape before the collapse of Roman authority. The exact details and chronology of population shifts remain to be determined. What is beyond dispute is that, in contrast to "barbarian" Bulgaria, northern Macedonia remained
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
in its cultural outlook into the 7th century.
Yet at the same time, sources attest numerous
Slavic tribes
This is a list of Slavic peoples and Slavic tribes reported in Late Antiquity and in the Middle Ages, that is, before the year AD 1500.
Ancestors
*Proto-Indo-Europeans (Proto-Indo-European speakers)
** Proto-Balto-Slavs (common ancestors of Bal ...
in the environs of
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area, and the capi ...
and further afield, including the
Berziti The Berziti (Bulgarian, Macedonian and sr, Берзити; el, Βερζῆτες) were a South Slavic tribe that settled in Byzantine Macedonia in the 7th century AD with the Slavic invasion of the Balkans. The Berziti settled in the vicinity o ...
in Pelagonia. Apart from Slavs and late Byzantines,
Kuver
Kuber, (also Kouber or Kuver), was a Bulgar leader who, according to the ''Miracles of Saint Demetrius'', liberated a mixed Bulgar and Byzantine Christian population in the 670s, whose ancestors had been transferred from the Eastern Roman Empir ...
's "Bulgars" – a mix of
Byzantine Greeks
The Byzantine Greeks were the Greek-speaking Eastern Romans of Orthodox Christianity throughout Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. They were the main inhabitants of the lands of the Byzantine Empire (Eastern Roman Empire), of Constantinople ...
,
Bulgars
The Bulgars (also Bulghars, Bulgari, Bolgars, Bolghars, Bolgari, Proto-Bulgarians) were Turkic semi-nomadic warrior tribes that flourished in the Pontic–Caspian steppe and the Volga region during the 7th century. They became known as nomad ...
and
Pannonian Avars
The Pannonian Avars () were an alliance of several groups of Eurasian nomads of various origins. The peoples were also known as the Obri in chronicles of Rus, the Abaroi or Varchonitai ( el, Βαρχονίτες, Varchonítes), or Pseudo-Avars ...
– settled the "Keramissian plain" (
Pelagonia
Pelagonia ( mk, Пелагонија, Pelagonija; el, Πελαγονíα, Pelagonía) is a geographical region of Macedonia named after the ancient kingdom. Ancient Pelagonia roughly corresponded to the present-day municipalities of Bitola, Pri ...
) around
Bitola
Bitola (; mk, Битола ) is a city in the southwestern part of North Macedonia. It is located in the southern part of the Pelagonia valley, surrounded by the Baba, Nidže, and Kajmakčalan mountain ranges, north of the Medžitlija-Níki ...
in the late 7th century. Later pockets of settlers included "Danubian"
Bulgars
The Bulgars (also Bulghars, Bulgari, Bolgars, Bolghars, Bolgari, Proto-Bulgarians) were Turkic semi-nomadic warrior tribes that flourished in the Pontic–Caspian steppe and the Volga region during the 7th century. They became known as nomad ...
in the 9th century;
Magyars (Vardariotai) and
Armenians
Armenians ( hy, հայեր, ''hayer'' ) are an ethnic group native to the Armenian highlands of Western Asia. Armenians constitute the main population of Armenia and the ''de facto'' independent Artsakh. There is a wide-ranging diaspora ...
in the 10th–12th centuries,
Cumans
The Cumans (or Kumans), also known as Polovtsians or Polovtsy (plural only, from the Russian language, Russian Exonym and endonym, exonym ), were a Turkic people, Turkic nomadic people comprising the western branch of the Cuman–Kipchak confede ...
and
Pechenegs
The Pechenegs () or Patzinaks tr, Peçenek(ler), Middle Turkic: , ro, Pecenegi, russian: Печенег(и), uk, Печеніг(и), hu, Besenyő(k), gr, Πατζινάκοι, Πετσενέγοι, Πατζινακίται, ka, პა ...
in the 11th–13th centuries, and
Saxon miners in the 14th and 15th centuries.
Having previously been Byzantine clients, the ''Sklaviniae'' of Macedonia probably switched their allegiance to Bulgaria during the reign of
Empress Irene
Irene of Athens ( el, Εἰρήνη, ; 750/756 – 9 August 803), surname Sarantapechaina (), was Byzantine empress consort to Emperor Leo IV from 775 to 780, regent during the childhood of their son Constantine VI from 780 until 790, co-ruler ...
, and was gradually incorporated into the
Bulgarian Empire
In the medieval history of Europe, Bulgaria's status as the Bulgarian Empire ( bg, Българско царство, ''Balgarsko tsarstvo'' ) occurred in two distinct periods: between the seventh and the eleventh centuries and again between the ...
before the mid-9th century. Subsequently, the literary and ecclesiastical centre in
Ohrid
Ohrid ( mk, Охрид ) is a city in North Macedonia and is the seat of the Ohrid Municipality. It is the largest city on Lake Ohrid and the List of cities in North Macedonia, eighth-largest city in the country, with the municipality recording ...
became a second cultural capital of medieval Bulgaria. On the other hand, developments of
Slavic Orthodox Culture occurred in Byzantine Thessaloniki.
Ottoman period
After the final Ottoman conquest of the Balkans by the Ottomans in the 14/15th century, all Eastern Orthodox Christians were included in a specific ethno-religious community under ''Graeco-Byzantine'' jurisdiction called
Rum Millet
Rūm millet (millet-i Rûm), or "''Roman nation''", was the name of the Eastern Orthodox Christian community in the Ottoman Empire. Despite being subordinated within the Ottoman political system, the community maintained a certain internal aut ...
. Belonging to this religious commonwealth was so important that most of the common people began to identify themselves as ''Christians''. However ethnonyms never disappeared and some form of primary ethnic identity was available. This is confirmed from a Sultan's
Firman
A firman ( fa, , translit=farmân; ), at the constitutional level, was a royal mandate or decree issued by a sovereign in an Islamic state. During various periods they were collected and applied as traditional bodies of law. The word firman com ...
from 1680 which describes the ethnic groups in the Balkan territories of the Empire as follows: Greeks, Albanians, Serbs, Vlachs and Bulgarians. The
rise of nationalism under the Ottoman Empire
The rise of the Western notion of nationalism in the Ottoman Empire eventually caused the breakdown of the Ottoman ''millet'' concept. An understanding of the concept of nationhood prevalent in the Ottoman Empire, which was different from the cu ...
in the early 19th century brought opposition to this continued situation. At that time the classical Rum Millet began to degrade. The coordinated actions, carried out by Bulgarian national leaders supported by the majority of the Slavic-speaking population in today Republic of North Macedonia in order to be recognized as a separate ethnic entity, constituted the so-called "
Bulgarian Millet
Bulgarian Millet ( tr, Bulgar Milleti) was an ethno-religious and linguistic community within the Ottoman Empire from the mid-19th to early 20th century. The semi-official term ''Bulgarian millet'', was used by the Sultan for the first time in ...
", recognized in 1870. At the time of its creation, people living in Vardar Macedonia, were not in the Exarchate. However, as a result of plebiscites held between 1872 and 1875, the Slavic districts in the area voted overwhelmingly (over 2/3) to go over to the new national Church. Referring to the results of the plebiscites, and on the basis of statistical and ethnological indications, the
1876 Conference of Constantinople
The 1876–77 Constantinople Conference ( tr, Tersane Konferansı "Shipyard Conference", after the venue ''Tersane Sarayı'' "Shipyard Palace") of the Great Powers (Austria-Hungary, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Russia) was held in Constan ...
included most of Macedonia into the Bulgarian ethnic territory. The borders of new Bulgarian state, drawn by the 1878
Treaty of San Stefano
The 1878 Treaty of San Stefano (russian: Сан-Стефанский мир; Peace of San-Stefano, ; Peace treaty of San-Stefano, or ) was a treaty between the Russian and Ottoman empires at the conclusion of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-187 ...
, also included Macedonia, but the treaty was never put into effect and the
Treaty of Berlin (1878)
The Treaty of Berlin (formally the Treaty between Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Great Britain and Ireland, Italy, Russia, and the Ottoman Empire for the Settlement of Affairs in the East) was signed on 13 July 1878. In the aftermath of the R ...
"returned" Macedonia to the Ottoman Empire.
Throughout the Middle Ages and Ottoman rule up until the early 20th century
the Slavic-speaking population majority in the region of
Macedonia were more commonly referred to (both by themselves and outsiders) as
Bulgarians
Bulgarians ( bg, българи, Bǎlgari, ) are a nation and South Slavic ethnic group native to Bulgaria and the rest of Southeast Europe.
Etymology
Bulgarians derive their ethnonym from the Bulgars. Their name is not completely understo ...
. However, in pre-nationalist times, terms such as "Bulgarian" did not possess a strict ethno-nationalistic meaning, rather, they were loose, often interchangeable terms which could simultaneously denote regional habitation, allegiance to a particular empire, religious orientation, membership in certain social groups. Similarly, a "Byzantine" was a ''Roman'' subject of Constantinople, and the term bore no strict ethnic connotations, Greek or otherwise. Overall, in the Middle Ages, "a person's origin was distinctly regional", and in
Ottoman era
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
, before the 19th-century
rise of nationalism, it was based on the corresponding
confessional community
A confessional community is a group of people with similar religious beliefs.
In the Ottoman Empire, this allowed people to be grouped by religious confession as opposed to nationality or ethnicity, which was more consistent with the existing so ...
. After the rise of nationalism, most of the Slavic-speaking population in the area, joined the
Bulgarian community, through voting in its favor on plebiscites held during the 1870s, by a qualified majority (over two-thirds).
Identity
![Georgi Pulevski](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/Georgi_Pulevski.jpg)
The first expressions of
Macedonian nationalism
Macedonian nationalism (, ) is a general grouping of nationalist ideas and concepts among ethnic Macedonians that were first formed in the late 19th century among separatists seeking the autonomy of the region of Macedonia from the Ottoman Emp ...
occurred in the second half of the 19th century mainly among intellectuals in
Belgrade
Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...
,
Sofia
Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...
,
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area, and the capi ...
and
St. Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
. Since the 1850s some Slavic intellectuals from the area adopted the Greek designation ''Macedonian'' as a regional label, and it began to gain popularity.
[Roumen Daskalov, Tchavdar Marinov, Entangled Histories of the Balkans, Volume One: National Ideologies and Language Policies, BRILL, 2013, , pp. 283–285.] In the 1860s, according to
Petko Slaveykov
Petko Rachov Slaveykov ( bg, Петко Рачов Славейков) (17 November 1827 OS – 1 July 1895 OS ) was a Bulgarian poet, publicist, politician and folklorist.
Biography Early years and educational activity
Slaveykov was born in ...
, some young intellectuals from Macedonia were claiming that they are not Bulgarians, but rather Macedonians, descendants of the Ancient Macedonians. Slaveikov, himself with Macedonian roots, started in 1866 the publication of the newspaper ''
Makedoniya''. Its main task was "to educate these misguided
ic''
Grecomans
Grecoman or Graecoman (Greek: Γραικομάνοι, ''Grekománoi'', Bulgarian: Гъркомани, ''Garkomani'', Macedonian: Гркомани, ''Grkomani'', Romanian: ''Grecomani'', Albanian: ''Grekomanë'', Aromanian: ''Gricumanji'') is a ...
'' there", who he called also ''
Macedonists
Macedonian studies ( mk, Македонистика ''Makedonistika'') is a science that studies the Macedonian language. A person who studies Macedonian is called a Macedonian specialist (Macedonian: ''Македонист / Makedonist'').
Prom ...
''. In a letter written to the Bulgarian Exarch in February 1874 Petko Slaveykov reports that discontent with the current situation "has given birth among local patriots to the disastrous idea of working independently on the advancement of their
own local dialect and what's more, of their own, separate Macedonian church leadership." The activities of these people were also registered by the Serbian politician
Stojan Novaković
Stojan Novaković ( sr-Cyrl, Стојан Новаковић; 1 November 1842 – 18 February 1915) was a Serbian politician, historian, diplomat, writer, bibliographer, literary critic, literary historian, and translator. He held the post ...
, who promoted the idea to use the
Macedonian nationalism
Macedonian nationalism (, ) is a general grouping of nationalist ideas and concepts among ethnic Macedonians that were first formed in the late 19th century among separatists seeking the autonomy of the region of Macedonia from the Ottoman Emp ...
in order to oppose the strong pro-Bulgarian sentiments in the area. The nascent Macedonian nationalism, illegal at home in the theocratic Ottoman Empire, and illegitimate internationally, waged a precarious struggle for survival against overwhelming odds: in appearance against the Ottoman Empire, but in fact against the three expansionist Balkan states and their respective patrons among the great powers.
The first known author that overtly speaks of a Macedonian nationality and language was
Georgi Pulevski
Georgi Pulevski, sometimes also Gjorgji, Gjorgjija Pulevski or Đorđe Puljevski ( mk, Ѓорѓи Пулевски or Ѓорѓија Пулевски, bg, Георги Пулевски, sr, Ђорђе Пуљевски; 1817–1895) was a Mija ...
, who in 1875 published in Belgrade a ''Dictionary of Three languages: Macedonian, Albanian, Turkish'', in which he wrote that the Macedonians are a separate nation and the place which is theirs is called Macedonia. In 1880, he published in Sofia a ''Grammar of the language of the Slavic Macedonian population'', a work that is today known as the first attempt at a grammar of Macedonian. However, per some authors, his Macedonian self-identification was inchoate and resembled a regional phenomenon. In 1885
Theodosius of Skopje
Theodosius of Skopje ( bg, Теодосий Скопски, mk, Теодосиј Гологанов; 1846–1926) was a Bulgarian religious figure from Macedonia who was also a scholar and translator of the Bulgarian language. He was initially i ...
, a priest who have hold a high-ranking positions within the
Bulgarian Exarchate
The Bulgarian Exarchate ( bg, Българска екзархия, Balgarska ekzarhiya; tr, Bulgar Eksarhlığı) was the official name of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church before its autocephaly was recognized by the Ecumenical See in 1945 and th ...
was chosen as a bishop of the
episcopacy
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
of
Skopje
Skopje ( , , ; mk, Скопје ; sq, Shkup) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre.
The territory of Skopje has been inhabited since at least 4000 BC; r ...
. In 1890 he renounced de facto the Bulgarian Exarchate and attempted to restore the
Archbishopric of Ohrid
The Archbishopric of Ohrid, also known as the Bulgarian Archbishopric of Ohrid
*T. Kamusella in The Politics of Language and Nationalism in Modern Central Europe, Springer, 2008, p. 276
*Aisling Lyon, Decentralisation and the Management of Ethni ...
as a separate Macedonian Orthodox Church in all eparchies of
Macedonia, responsible for the spiritual, cultural and educational life of all Macedonian Orthodox Christians.
During this time period Metropolitan Bishop
Theodosius of Skopje
Theodosius of Skopje ( bg, Теодосий Скопски, mk, Теодосиј Гологанов; 1846–1926) was a Bulgarian religious figure from Macedonia who was also a scholar and translator of the Bulgarian language. He was initially i ...
made a plea to the Greek
Patriarchate of Constantinople
The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople ( el, Οἰκουμενικὸν Πατριαρχεῖον Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, translit=Oikoumenikón Patriarkhíon Konstantinoupóleos, ; la, Patriarchatus Oecumenicus Constanti ...
to allow a separate Macedonian church, and ultimately on 4 December 1891 he sent a
letter
Letter, letters, or literature may refer to:
Characters typeface
* Letter (alphabet), a character representing one or more of the sounds used in speech; any of the symbols of an alphabet.
* Letterform, the graphic form of a letter of the alphabe ...
to the Pope Leo XIII to ask for a
recognition
Recognition may refer to:
*Award, something given in recognition of an achievement
Machine learning
*Pattern recognition, a branch of machine learning which encompasses the meanings below
Biometric
* Recognition of human individuals, or biomet ...
and a
protection
Protection is any measure taken to guard a thing against damage caused by outside forces. Protection can be provided to physical objects, including organisms, to systems, and to intangible things like civil and political rights. Although th ...
from the Roman Catholic Church, but failed. Soon after, he repented and returned to pro-Bulgarian positions. In the 1880s and 1890s,
Isaija Mažovski
Isaija Radev Mažovski ( mk, Исаија Радев Мажовски, bg, Исая Радев Мажовски; 1852–1926) was a Mijak painter and activist. Mažovski sought political solutions in the liberation of Ottoman Macedonia. A Slavop ...
designated Macedonian Slavs as "Macedonians" and "Old Slavic Macedonian people", and also distinguished them from Bulgarians as follows: "Slavic-Bulgarian" for Mažovski was synonymous with "Macedonian", while only "Bulgarian" was a designation for the Bulgarians in Bulgaria.
In 1890, Austrian researcher of Macedonia Karl Hron reported that the Macedonians constituted a separate ethnic group by history and language. Within the next few years, this concept was also welcomed in Russia by linguists including
Leonhard Masing,
Pyotr Lavrov
Pyotr Lavrovich Lavrov (russian: Пётр Ла́врович Лавро́в; alias Mirtov (); (June 14 O.S.">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="une 2 Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. 1823 – February 6 anuary 6 O.S. 1900) was a ...
,
Jan Baudouin de Courtenay
Jan Niecisław Ignacy Baudouin de Courtenay (13 March 1845 – 3 November 1929) was a Polish linguist and Slavist, best known for his theory of the phoneme and phonetic alternations.
For most of his life Baudouin de Courtenay worked at Imperi ...
, and
Pyotr Draganov
Pyotr Danilovich Draganov (russian: Пётр Данилович Драганов; bg, Петър Драганов; mk, Петар Драганов; – February 7, 1928) was a Russian philologist and slavist.
Biography
Draganov was born in K ...
. Draganov, of Bulgarian descent, conducted research in Macedonia and determined that the local language had its own identifying characteristics compared to Bulgarian and Serbian. He wrote in a Saint Petersburg newspaper that the Macedonians should be recognized by Russia in a full national sense.
Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization
The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO; bg, Вътрешна Македонска Революционна Организация (ВМРО), translit=Vatrešna Makedonska Revoljucionna Organizacija (VMRO); mk, Внатр ...
leader
Boris Sarafov
Boris Petrov Sarafov (Bulgarian and mk, Борис Петров Сарафов) (12 June 1872 in Libyahovo, Salonica Vilayet, Ottoman Empire, present-day Bulgaria – 28 November 1907 in Sofia, Bulgaria) was a Bulgarian Army officer and r ...
in 1901 stated that Macedonians had a unique "national element" and, the following year, he stated "We the Macedonians are neither Serbs nor Bulgarians, but simply Macedonians... Macedonia exists only for the Macedonians." However after the failure of the Ilinden Uprising, Sarafov wanted to keep closer ties with Bulgaria, supporting the Bulgarian aspirations towards the area.
Gyorche Petrov
Gyorche Petrov Nikolov born Georgi Petrov Nikolov (April 2, 1865 – June 28, 1921), was a Bulgarian teacher and revolutionary, one of the leaders of the Bulgarian Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Committees. He was their representative i ...
, another IMRO member, stated Macedonia was a "distinct moral unit" with its own "aspirations",
while describing its Slavic population as Bulgarian.
National antagonisms and Macedonian separatism
Macedonian separatism
![Krste P](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/Krste_P._Misirkov.jpg)
In 1903
Krste Misirkov
Krste Petkov Misirkov ( bg, Кръсте (Кръстьо) Петков Мисирков; mk, Крсте Петков Мисирков, ; 18 November 1874 – 26 July 1926) was a philologist, journalist, historian and ethnographer from the regio ...
published in Sofia his book ''
On Macedonian Matters'' in which he laid down the principles of the modern Macedonian nationhood and language. This book written in the standardized
central dialect of Macedonia is considered by ethnic Macedonians as a milestone of the process of Macedonian awakening. Misirkov argued that the dialect of central Macedonia (Veles-Prilep-Bitola-Ohrid) should be taken as a standard Macedonian literary language, in which Macedonians should write, study, and worship; the autocephalous
Archbishopric of Ohrid
The Archbishopric of Ohrid, also known as the Bulgarian Archbishopric of Ohrid
*T. Kamusella in The Politics of Language and Nationalism in Modern Central Europe, Springer, 2008, p. 276
*Aisling Lyon, Decentralisation and the Management of Ethni ...
should be restored; and the Slavic people of Macedonia should be identified in their Ottoman identity cards (''
nofuz
The Republic of Turkey Identity Card ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Kimlik Kartı) is compulsory for all Turkish citizens from birth. The Turkish police are allowed to ask any person to show ID, and refusing to comply may lead to a fine. It can be us ...
'') as "Macedonians".
Another major figure of the Macedonian awakening was
Dimitrija Čupovski
Dimitrija Čupovski ( mk, Димитрија Чуповски) (November 8, 1878 – October 29, 1940) was a Macedonian textbook writer and lexicographer. Dimitrija Čupovski is considered one of the most prominent ethnic Macedonians in history ...
, one of the founders of the
Macedonian Literary Society
The Macedonian Scientific and Literary Society, called also Slavic-Macedonian Scholarly and Literary Society was an organization of Macedonian Slavs in Russia in the first decades of the twentieth century.
Activity
Its founders were Dimitrij ...
, established in
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
in 1902. In 1913, the Macedonian Literary Society submitted the
Memorandum of Independence of Macedonia to the British Foreign Secretary and other European ambassadors, and it was printed in many European newspapers. In the period 1913–1918, Čupovski published the newspaper ''Македонскi Голосъ (
Macedonian Voice
Macedonian most often refers to someone or something from or related to Macedonia.
Macedonian(s) may specifically refer to:
People Modern
* Macedonians (ethnic group), a nation and a South Slavic ethnic group primarily associated with North Ma ...
)'' in which he and fellow members of the Saint Petersburg Macedonian Colony propagated the existence of a Macedonian people separate from the Greeks, Bulgarians and Serbs, and sought to popularize the idea for an independent Macedonian state.
The "Macedonian Slavs" in cartography
From 1878 until 1918 most independent European observers viewed the
Slavs of Macedonia as Bulgarians or as Macedonian Slavs, while their association with Bulgaria was almost universally accepted. Original manuscript versions of population data mentioned "Macedonian Slavs", though the term was changed to "Bulgarians" in the official printing. Western publications usually presented the Slavs of Macedonia as Bulgarians, as happened, partly for political reasons, in Serbian ones. Prompted by the publication of a Serbian map by
Spiridon Gopčević
Spiridon Gopčević (junior), pen name Leo Brenner ( sr-cyr, Спиридон Гопчевић; 9 July 1855 – 1928) was a Serbian-Austrian astronomer and historian born in Trieste.
Life
He was named after his father, Spiridon, who was a grea ...
claiming the Slavs of Macedonia as
Serbs
The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language.
The majority of Serbs live in their na ...
, a version of a Russian map, published in 1891, in a period of deterioration of
Bulgarian-Russian relations, first presented Macedonia inhabited not by Bulgarians, but by Macedonian Slavs. Austrian-Hungarian maps followed suit in an effort to delegitimize the ambitions of Russophile Bulgaria, returning to presenting the Macedonian Slavs as Bulgarians when Austria-Bulgaria relations ameliorated, only to renege and employ the designation "Macedonian Slavs" when Bulgaria changed its foreign policy and Austria turned to envisaging an autonomous Macedonia under Austrian influence within the
Murzsteg process. The term "Macedonian Slavs" was used either as a middle solution between conflicting Serbian and Bulgarian claims, to denote an intermediary grouping of Slavs, associated with the Bulgarians, or to describe a separate Slavic group with no ethnic, national or political affiliation. The differentiation of ethnographic maps representing rival national views produced to satisfy the curiosity of European audience for the inhabitants of Macedonia, after the
Ilinden uprising Ilinden (Bulgarian/ Macedonian Cyrillic: Илинден) or Ilindan ( Serbian Cyrillic: Илиндан), meaning "Saint Elijah's Day", may refer to:
Events
* Republic Day (North Macedonia), 2 August
Geographic locations Bulgaria
* Ilinden, Blagoev ...
of 1903, indicated the complexity of the issue. Influenced by the conclusions of the research of young Serb
Jovan Cvijić
Jovan Cvijić ( sr-cyr, Јован Цвијић, ; 1865 – 16 January 1927) was a Serbian geographer and ethnologist, president of the Serbian Royal Academy of Sciences and rector of the University of Belgrade. Cvijić is considered the ...
, that Macedonia's culture combined
Byzantine influence with Serbian traditions, a map of 1903 by Austrian cartographer
Karl Peucker depicted Macedonia as a peculiar area, where zones of linguistic influence overlapped. In his first ethnographic map of 1906, Cvijic presented all Slavs of Serbia and Macedonia merely as "Slavs". In a pamphlet translated and circulated in Europe the same year, he elaborated his ostensibly impartial views and described the Slavs living south of the
Babuna and
Plačkovica
Plačkovica () is a mountain located the eastern part of North Macedonia, it extends between the cities of Radoviš, and Vinica.
The highest peak is Lisec () at 1,754 m, the length of main valley slopes of the peak Lisec is 34 km. The valley of ...
mountains as "Macedo-Slavs" arguing that the appellation "Bugari" meant simply "peasant" to them, that they had no national consciousness and could become Serbs or Bulgarians in the future. Cvijić thus transformed the political character of the
IMRO
The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO; bg, Вътрешна Македонска Революционна Организация (ВМРО), translit=Vatrešna Makedonska Revoljucionna Organizacija (VMRO); mk, Внатр ...
's appeals to "Macedonians" into an ethnic one. Bulgarian cartographer
Anastas Ishirkov
Academic professor Anastas Todorov Ishirkov ( bg, Анастас Тодоров Иширков; 5 April 1868 – 6 April 1937) was Bulgarian scientist, geographer and ethnographer. He was the founder of geographical science in Bulgaria and was a ...
countered Cvijić's views, pointing to the involvement of Macedonian Slavs in Bulgarian nationalist uprisings and the Macedonian origins of Bulgarian nationalists before 1878. Although Cvijic's arguments attracted the attention of Great Powers, they did not endorse at the time his view on the Macedo-Slavs.
File:Ethnographic map of the central Balkans, ca. 1900.png, Austrian ethnographic map of the vilayets of Kosovo, Saloniki, Scutari, Janina and Monastir, ca. 1900.
File:Cvijic, Jovan - Breisemeister, William A. - Carte ethnographique de la Péninsule balkanique (pd).jpg, Ethnographic map of the Balkans from the Serbian author Jovan Cvijic (1918)
File:Hellenism in the Near East 1918.jpg, Greek map by Georgios Sotiriadis submitted to the Paris Peace Conference (1919)
File:Macedonians coloured on this map from 1922.jpg, Ethnographic map of the Balkans in the ''New Larned History'' (1922)
Cvijić further elaborated the idea that had first appeared in Peucker's map and in his map of 1909 he ingeniously mapped the Macedonian Slavs as a third group distinct from Bulgarians and Serbians, and part of them "under Greek influence". Envisioning a future agreement with Greece, Cvijic depicted the southern half of the Macedo-Slavs "under Greek unfluence", while leaving the rest to appear as a subset of the Serbo-Croats. Cvijić's view was reproduced without acknowledgement by
Alfred Stead
Alfred may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
*''Alfred J. Kwak'', Dutch-German-Japanese anime television series
* ''Alfred'' (Arne opera), a 1740 masque by Thomas Arne
* ''Alfred'' (Dvořák), an 1870 opera by Antonín Dvořák
*"Alfred (Interlu ...
, with no effect on British opinion, but, reflecting the reorientation of Serbian aims towards dividing Macedonia with Greece, Cvijić eliminated the Macedo-Slavs from a subsequent edition of his map. However, in 1913, before the conclusion of the
Treaty of Bucharest he published his third ethnographic map distinguishing the Macedo-Slavs between
Skopje
Skopje ( , , ; mk, Скопје ; sq, Shkup) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre.
The territory of Skopje has been inhabited since at least 4000 BC; r ...
and
Salonica
Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...
from both Bulgarians and
Serbo-Croats, on the basis of the transitional character of their dialect per the linguistic researches of
Vatroslav Jagić
Vatroslav Jagić (; July 6, 1838 – August 5, 1923) was a Croatian scholar of Slavic studies in the second half of the 19th century.
Life
Jagić was born in Varaždin (then known by its German name of ''Warasdin''), where he attended the elem ...
and
Aleksandar Belić
Aleksandar Belić (Serbian Cyrillic: Александар Белић, ; 15 August 1876 – 26 February 1960) was a Serbian linguist and academic.
Biography
Belić was born in Belgrade. After studying Slavic languages in Belgrade, Odessa, and M ...
, and the Serb features of their customs, such as the
zadruga
A zadruga (, ) refers to a type of rural community historically common among South Slavs.
The term has been used by the Communist Party of Yugoslavia to designate their attempt at collective farming after World War II.
History
Originally, gener ...
. For Cvijić, the Macedo-Slavs were a transitional population, with any sense of nationality they displayed being weak, superficial, externally imposed and temporary. Despite arguing that they should be considered neutral, he postulated their division into Serbs and Bulgarians based on dialectical and cultural features in anticipation of Serbian demands regarding the delimitation of frontiers.
A Balkan committee of experts rejected Cvijić's concept of the Macedo-Slavs in 1914, However, in 1918 Cvijic published a revised version of his map of 1913, which, now included in a work of his modelling French geographers' standards, was taken as impeccable. This map was reproduced in modified form in French and American journals in 1918 and numerous other maps and atlases, including those produced by the
Allies
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
as the
Entente
Entente, meaning a diplomatic "understanding", may refer to a number of agreements:
History
* Entente (alliance), a type of treaty or military alliance where the signatories promise to consult each other or to cooperate with each other in case o ...
approached victory in the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, replicated its ideas, especially its depiction of the Macedo-Slavs. The prevalence of the
Yugoslav point of view, obliged
Georgios Sotiriades, a professor of History at the
University of Athens
The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; el, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών, ''Ethnikó ke Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the Univers ...
, to map the Macedo-Slavs as a distinct group in his work of 1918, that mirrored Greek views of the time and was used as an official document to advocate for Greece's positions in the
Paris peace conference. After World War I, Cvijić's map became the point of reference for all Balkan ethnographic maps, while his concept of Macedo-Slavs was reproduced in almost all maps, including German maps, that acknowledged a Macedonian nation.
Macedonian Nationalism and Interwar Communism
After the
Balkan Wars
The Balkan Wars refers to a series of two conflicts that took place in the Balkan States in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan States of Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria declared war upon the Ottoman Empire and defe ...
(1912–1913) and the World War I (1914–1918), following the division of the region of
Macedonia amongst the
Kingdom of Greece
The Kingdom of Greece ( grc, label=Greek, Βασίλειον τῆς Ἑλλάδος ) was established in 1832 and was the successor state to the First Hellenic Republic. It was internationally recognised by the Treaty of Constantinople, where ...
, the
Kingdom of Bulgaria
The Tsardom of Bulgaria ( bg, Царство България, translit=Tsarstvo Balgariya), also referred to as the Third Bulgarian Tsardom ( bg, Трето Българско Царство, translit=Treto Balgarsko Tsarstvo, links=no), someti ...
and the
Kingdom of Serbia
The Kingdom of Serbia ( sr-cyr, Краљевина Србија, Kraljevina Srbija) was a country located in the Balkans which was created when the ruler of the Principality of Serbia, Milan I, was proclaimed king in 1882. Since 1817, the Princi ...
, the idea of belonging to a separate Macedonian nation was further spread among the Slavic-speaking population. The suffering during the wars, the endless struggle of the Balkan monarchies for dominance over the population increased the Macedonians' sentiment that the institutionalization of an independent Macedonian nation would put an end to their suffering. On the question of whether they were Serbs or Bulgarians, the people more often started answering: "Neither Bulgar, nor Serb... I am Macedonian only, and I'm sick of war." By the 1920s, following a negative reaction to the national proselytization of the previous decades, a majority of Christian
Slavs inhabiting Greek and
Vardar Macedonia
Vardar Macedonia ( Macedonian and sr, Вардарска Македонија, ''Vardarska Makedonija'') was the name given to the territory of the Kingdom of Serbia (1912–1918) and Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918–1941) roughly corresponding to t ...
used the collective name "Macedonians" to describe themselves, either as a nation or as a distinct ethnicity. The 1928 Greek census recorded 81,844
Slavo-Macedonian speakers, distinct from 16,755 Bulgarian speakers.
[Mavrogordatos, George. ''Stillborn Republic: Social Coalitions and Party Strategies in Greece, 1922–1936''. University of California Press, 1983. , p. 227, 247]
![Dimitar Vlahov, revolucioner](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/Dimitar_Vlahov%2C_revolucioner.jpg)
The consolidation of an international Communist organization (the
Comintern
The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet Union, Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to ...
) in the 1920s led to some failed attempts by the Communists to use the
Macedonian Question
The region of Macedonia is known to have been inhabited since Paleolithic times.
Еarliest historical inhabitants
The earliest historical inhabitants of the region were the Pelasgians, the Bryges and the Thracians. The Pelasgians occupied E ...
as a political weapon. In the 1920 Yugoslav parliamentary elections, 25% of the total Communist vote came from Macedonia, but participation was low (only 55%), mainly because the pro-Bulgarian IMRO organised a boycott against the elections. In the following years, the communists attempted to enlist the pro-IMRO sympathies of the population in their cause. In the context of this attempt, in 1924 the Comintern organized the filed signing of the so-called
May Manifesto The "May Manifesto" of May 6, 1924 was a paper in which the objectives of the unified Macedonian liberation movement were presented: independence and unification of partitioned region of Macedonia, fighting all the neighbouring Balkan monarchies, su ...
, in which independence of partitioned Macedonia was required. In 1925 with the help of the Comintern, the
was created, composed of former left-wing
Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization
The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO; bg, Вътрешна Македонска Революционна Организация (ВМРО), translit=Vatrešna Makedonska Revoljucionna Organizacija (VMRO); mk, Внатр ...
(IMRO) members. This organization promoted for the first time in 1932 the existence of a separate ethnic Macedonian nation. In 1933 the
Communist Party of Greece
The Communist Party of Greece ( el, Κομμουνιστικό Κόμμα Ελλάδας, ''Kommounistikó Kómma Elládas'', KKE) is a political party in Greece.
Founded in 1918 as the Socialist Labour Party of Greece and adopted its curren ...
, in a series of articles published in its official newspaper, the ''
Rizospastis
''Rizospastis'' ( el, Ριζοσπάστης, "The Radical") is the official newspaper of the Communist Party of Greece. It has been published daily since its first issue in 1916. Liana Kanelli is currently one of the senior editors of the news ...
'', criticizing Greek minority policy towards Slavic-speakers in Greek Macedonia, recognized the Slavs of the entire region of Macedonia as forming a distinct Macedonian ethnicity and their language as Macedonian. The idea of a Macedonian nation was internationalized and backed by the Comintern which issued in 1934 a
resolution supporting the development of the entity. This action was attacked by the IMRO, but was supported by the
Balkan
The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...
communists. The Balkan communist parties supported the national consolidation of the ethnic Macedonian people and created Macedonian sections within the parties, headed by prominent IMRO (United) members.
World War II and Yugoslav nation-state building
The sense of belonging to a separate Macedonian nation gained credence during World War II when ethnic Macedonian communist partisan detachments were formed. In 1943 the Communist Party of Macedonia was established and the resistance movement grew up. On the other hand, due to the different trajectories of Macedonian Slavs in the three nation-states that ruled the region, the designation "Macedonian" acquired different meanings for them by the time of the
National Liberation War of Macedonia
World War II in Yugoslav Macedonia started with the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941. Under the pressure of the Yugoslav Partisan movement, part of the Macedonian communists began in October 1941 a political and military c ...
in the 1940s. Those who came from the Bulgarian part and were members of the IMRO (United) practicall felt themselves as Bulgarians, while those who had experienced Serbian rule and had interacted with the Croatian and Slovenian national movements within Yugoslavia had developed a stronger Macedonian consciousness. After the World War II ethnic Macedonian institutions were created in the three parts of the region of Macedonia, then under communist control,
[History of the Balkans, Vol. 2: Twentieth Century. Barbara Jelavich, 1983.] including the establishment of the
People's Republic of Macedonia
The Socialist Republic of Macedonia ( mk, Социјалистичка Република Македонија, Socijalistička Republika Makedonija), or SR Macedonia, commonly referred to as Socialist Macedonia or Yugoslav Macedonia, was ...
within the
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yug ...
(SFRJ).
![Čento-vsv](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e4/%C4%8Cento-vsv.jpg)
The available data indicates that despite the policy of assimilation, pro-Bulgarian sentiments among the Macedonian Slavs in Yugoslavia were still sizable during the interwar period. However, if the Yugoslavs would recognize the Slavic inhabitants of Vardar Macedonia as Bulgarians, it would mean that the area should be part of Bulgaria. Practically in
post-World War II
The aftermath of World War II was the beginning of a new era started in late 1945 (when World War II ended) for all countries involved, defined by the decline of all colonial empires and simultaneous rise of two superpowers; the Soviet Union (US ...
Macedonia, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia's state policy of forced
Serbianisation
Serbianisation or Serbianization, also known as Serbification, and Serbisation or Serbization ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", srbizacija, србизација or sh-Latn-Cyrl, label=none, separator=" / ", posrbljavanje, посрбљавање; ...
was changed with a new one — of
Macedonization
Macedonian nationalism (, ) is a general grouping of nationalist ideas and concepts among ethnic Macedonians that were first formed in the late 19th century among separatists seeking the autonomy of the region of Macedonia from the Ottoman Emp ...
. The codification of Macedonian and the recognition of the Macedonian nation had the main goal: finally to ban any
Bulgarophilia
Bulgarophiles ( bg, българофили; Serbian and Macedonian бугарофили or бугараши ; ; ro, Bulgarofilii) is a term used for Slavic people from the regions of Macedonia and Pomoravlje who are ethnic Bulgarians. In Bulga ...
among the Macedonians and to build a new consciousness, based on identification with Yugoslavia. As a result, Yugoslavia introduced again an abrupt ''de-Bulgarization'' of the people in the
PR Macedonia
The Socialist Republic of Macedonia ( mk, Социјалистичка Република Македонија, Socijalistička Republika Makedonija), or SR Macedonia, commonly referred to as Socialist Macedonia or Yugoslav Macedonia, was ...
, such as it already had conducted in the
Vardar Banovina
The Vardar Banovina, or Vardar Banate ( mk, Вардарска бановина, Vardarska banovina; sr, Вардарска бановина, translit=Vardarska Banovina; al, Banovina e Vardarit, italics=no), was a province (banate) of the King ...
during the
Interwar period
In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the World War I, First World War to the beginning of the World War II, Second World War. The in ...
. Around 100,000 pro-Bulgarian elements were imprisoned for violations of the special ''
Law for the Protection of Macedonian National Honour
The ''Law for the Protection of Macedonian National Honour'' was a statute passed by the government of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia (SR Macedonia) at the end of 1944. The Presidium of Anti-fascist Assembly for the National Liberation of Mac ...
'', and over 1,200 were allegedly killed. In this way generations of students grew up educated in strong anti-Bulgarian sentiment which during the times of
Communist Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yugo ...
, increased to the level of
state policy
Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to solve or address relevant and real-world problems, guided by a conception and often implemented by programs. Public ...
. Its main agenda was a result from the need to distinguish between the Bulgarians and the new Macedonian nation, because Macedonians could confirm themselves as a separate community with its own history, only through differentiating itself from Bulgaria. This policy has continued in the new Republic of Macedonia after 1990, although with less intensity. Thus, the Bulgarian part of the identity of the Slavic-speaking population in Vardar Macedonia has died out.
Contemporary state of identity and polemics
![Киро Глигоров 03 (28-01-1993)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/63/%D0%9A%D0%B8%D1%80%D0%BE_%D0%93%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%B3%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B2_03_%2828-01-1993%29.jpg)
Following the collapse of Yugoslavia, the issue of Macedonian identity emerged again. Nationalists and governments alike from neighbouring countries, especially Greece and Bulgaria, espouse the view that the Macedonian ethnicity is a modern, artificial creation. Such views have been seen by Macedonian historians to represent irredentist motives on Macedonian territory.
Moreover, some historians point out that ''all'' modern nations are recent, politically motivated constructs based on creation "myths", that the creation of Macedonian identity is "no more or less artificial than any other identity",
and that, contrary to the claims of Romantic nationalists, modern, territorially bound and mutually exclusive nation-states have little in common with their preceding large territorial or dynastic medieval empires, and any connection between them is tenuous at best. In any event, irrespective of shifting political affiliations, the Macedonian Slavs shared in the fortunes of the
Byzantine commonwealth
The term Byzantine commonwealth was coined by 20th-century historians to refer to the area where Byzantine general influence ( Byzantine liturgical and cultural tradition) was spread during the Middle Ages by the Byzantine Empire and its missiona ...
and the
Rum millet
Rūm millet (millet-i Rûm), or "''Roman nation''", was the name of the Eastern Orthodox Christian community in the Ottoman Empire. Despite being subordinated within the Ottoman political system, the community maintained a certain internal aut ...
and they can claim them as their heritage.
Loring Danforth states similarly, the ancient heritage of modern Balkan countries is not "the mutually exclusive property of one specific nation" but "the shared inheritance of all Balkan peoples".
A more radical and uncompromising strand of Macedonian nationalism has recently emerged called "ancient Macedonism", or "
Antiquisation
Antiquization ( mk, антиквизација), otherwise known as ancient Macedonism ( mk, links=no, антички македонизам), is a term used mainly to critically describe the identity policies conducted by the nationalist VMRO- ...
". Proponents of this view see modern Macedonians as direct descendants of the ancient Macedonians. This view faces criticism by academics as it is not supported by archaeology or other historical disciplines and also could marginalize the Macedonian identity. Surveys on the effects of the controversial
nation-building
Nation-building is constructing or structuring a national identity using the power of the state. Nation-building aims at the unification of the people within the state so that it remains politically stable and viable in the long run. According to ...
project
Skopje 2014
Skopje 2014 ( mk, Скопје 2014) was a project financed by the Macedonian government of the then-ruling nationalist party VMRO-DPMNE, with the official purpose of giving the capital Skopje a more classical appeal. The project, officially anno ...
and on the perceptions of the population of Skopje revealed a high degree of uncertainty regarding the latter's national identity. A supplementary national poll showed that there was a great discrepancy between the population's sentiment and the narrative the state sought to promote.
Additionally, during the last two decades, tens of thousands of citizens of North Macedonia have applied for Bulgarian citizenship. In the period since 2002 some 97,000 acquired it, while ca. 53,000 applied and are still waiting. Bulgaria has a special ethnic dual-citizenship regime which makes a constitutional distinction between ''ethnic Bulgarians'' and ''Bulgarian citizens''. In the case of the Macedonians, merely declaring their national identity as Bulgarian is enough to gain a citizenship. By making the procedure simpler, Bulgaria stimulates more Macedonian citizens (of Slavic origin) to apply for a Bulgarian citizenship. However, many Macedonians who apply for Bulgarian citizenship as ''Bulgarians by origin'', have few ties with Bulgaria. Further, those applying for
Bulgarian citizenship
Bulgarian nationality law is governed by the Constitution of Bulgaria (article 25 and 26) of 1991 and the citizenship law of 1999 (with changes made in various years through to 2009).
It is mainly based on jus sanguinis; however, it is possibl ...
usually say they do so to gain access to
member states of the European Union rather than to assert Bulgarian identity. This phenomenon is called ''
placebo
A placebo ( ) is a substance or treatment which is designed to have no therapeutic value. Common placebos include inert tablets (like sugar pills), inert injections (like Saline (medicine), saline), sham surgery, and other procedures.
In general ...
identity''. Some Macedonians view the Bulgarian policy as part of a strategy to destabilize the Macedonian national identity. As a nation engaged in a dispute over its distinctiveness from Bulgarians, Macedonians have always perceived themselves as threatened by their neighbor. Bulgaria insists its neighbor admit the common historical roots of their languages and nations, a view Skopje continues to reject. As a result, Bulgaria blocked the official start of EU accession talks with North Macedonia.
Despite sizable number of Macedonians that have acquired Bulgarian citizenship since 2002 (ca. 9.7% of the Slavic population), only 3,504 citizens of North Macedonia declared themselves as ethnic Bulgarians in the
2021 census (roughly 0.31% from the Slavic population). The Bulgarian side does not accept these results as completely objective, citing as an example the census has counted less than 20,000 people with Bulgarian citizenship in the country, while in fact they are over 100,000.
Ethnonym
The national name derives from the
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
term ''Makedonía'', related to the name of the
region
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...
, named after the
ancient Macedonians
The Macedonians ( el, Μακεδόνες, ''Makedónes'') were an ancient tribe that lived on the alluvial plain around the rivers Haliacmon and lower Vardar, Axios in the northeastern part of Geography of Greece#Mainland, mainland Greece. Es ...
and their
kingdom
Kingdom commonly refers to:
* A monarchy ruled by a king or queen
* Kingdom (biology), a category in biological taxonomy
Kingdom may also refer to:
Arts and media Television
* ''Kingdom'' (British TV series), a 2007 British television drama s ...
. It originates from the
ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...
adjective
makednos
In Greek mythology, Makedon, also Macedon ( grc, Μακεδών) or Makednos (), was the eponymous ancestor of the ancient Macedonians according to various ancient Greek fragmentary narratives. In most versions, he appears as a native or immigra ...
, meaning "tall", which shares its roots with the adjective ''makrós'', meaning the same. The name is originally believed to have meant either "highlanders" or "the tall ones", possibly descriptive of these
ancient people.
[Macedonia](_blank)
Online Etymology Dictionary In the
Late Middle Ages
The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the Periodization, period of European history lasting from AD 1300 to 1500. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period (and in much of Eur ...
the name of Macedonia had different meanings for Western Europeans and for the Balkan people. For the Westerners it denoted the historical territory of the
Ancient Macedonia
Macedonia (; grc-gre, Μακεδονία), also called Macedon (), was an ancient kingdom on the periphery of Archaic and Classical Greece, and later the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. The kingdom was founded and initially ruled by ...
, but for the Balkan Christians, it covered the territories of the former
Byzantine province of Macedonia, situated around modern Turkish
Edirne
Edirne (, ), formerly known as Adrianople or Hadrianopolis (Greek: Άδριανούπολις), is a city in Turkey, in the northwestern part of the province of Edirne in Eastern Thrace. Situated from the Greek and from the Bulgarian borders, ...
.
With the conquest of the Balkans by the
Ottomans
The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922).
Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...
in the late 14th century, the name of Macedonia disappeared as a geographical designation for several centuries. The name was revived just during the early 19th century, after the foundation of the modern
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
state with its Western Europe-derived
obsession with Ancient Greece. As a result of the
rise of nationalism in the Ottoman Empire
The rise of the Western notion of nationalism in the Ottoman Empire eventually caused the breakdown of the Ottoman ''millet'' concept. An understanding of the concept of nationhood prevalent in the Ottoman Empire, which was different from the c ...
, massive Greek
religious and school propaganda occurred, and a process of ''
Hellenization
Hellenization (other British spelling Hellenisation) or Hellenism is the adoption of Greek culture, religion, language and identity by non-Greeks. In the ancient period, colonization often led to the Hellenization of indigenous peoples; in the ...
'' was implemented among Slavic-speaking population of the area. In this way, the name ''Macedonians'' was applied to the local Slavs, aiming to stimulate the development of
close ties between them and the
Greeks
The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, oth ...
, linking both sides to the
ancient Macedonians
The Macedonians ( el, Μακεδόνες, ''Makedónes'') were an ancient tribe that lived on the alluvial plain around the rivers Haliacmon and lower Vardar, Axios in the northeastern part of Geography of Greece#Mainland, mainland Greece. Es ...
, as a counteract against the growing
Bulgarian cultural influence into the region.
Although the local intellectuals initially rejected the Macedonian designation as Greek, since 1850s some of them, adopted it as a regional identity, and this name began to gain popularity.
Serbian politics then, also encouraged this kind of
regionalism to neutralize the Bulgarian influx, thereby promoting Serbian interests there. The local educator
Kuzman Shapkarev
Kuzman Anastasov Shapkarev, ( bg, Кузман Анастасов Шапкарев), (1 January 1834 in Ohrid – 18 March 1909 in Sofia) was a Bulgarian folklorist, ethnographer and scientist from the Ottoman region of Macedonia, author of tex ...
concluded that since the 1870s this foreign ethnonym began to replace the traditional one ''Bulgarians''.
[In a letter to Prof. ]Marin Drinov
Marin Stoyanov Drinov ( bg, Марин Стоянов Дринов, russian: Марин Степанович Дринов; 20 October 1838 - 13 March 1906) was a Bulgarian historian and philologist from the National Revival period who lived and w ...
of May 25, 1888 Kuzman Shapkarev writes: "But even stranger is the name Macedonians, which was imposed on us only 10–15 years ago by outsiders, and not as some think by our own intellectuals.... Yet the people in Macedonia know nothing of that ancient name, reintroduced today with a cunning aim on the one hand and a stupid one on the other. They know the older word: "Bugari", although mispronounced: they have even adopted it as peculiarly theirs, inapplicable to other Bulgarians. You can find more about this in the introduction to the booklets I am sending you. They call their own Macedono-Bulgarian dialect the "Bugarski language", while the rest of the Bulgarian dialects they refer to as the "Shopski language". (Makedonski pregled, IX, 2, 1934, p. 55; the original letter is kept in the Marin Drinov Museum in Sofia, and it is available for examination and study) At the dawn of the 20th century the Bulgarian teacher
Vasil Kanchov
Vasil Kanchov ( bg, Васил Кънчов, Vasil Kanchov) (26 July 1862 – 6 February 1902) was a Bulgarian geographer, ethnographer and politician.
Biography
Vasil Kanchov was born in Vratsa. Upon graduating from High school in Lom, ...
marked that the local Bulgarians and
Koutsovlachs
The Aromanians ( rup, Armãnji, Rrãmãnji) are an ethnic group native to the southern Balkans who speak Aromanian, an Eastern Romance language. They traditionally live in central and southern Albania, south-western Bulgaria, northern and c ...
call themselves Macedonians, and the surrounding people also call them in the same way. During the
interbellum
In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the First World War to the beginning of the Second World War. The interwar period was relativel ...
Bulgaria also supported to some extent the Macedonian ''regional identity'', especially in Yugoslavia. Its aim was to prevent the
Serbianization
Serbianisation American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), or Serbianization, also known as Serbification, and Serbisation American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), or ...
of the local Slavic speakers, because the very name ''Macedonia'' was prohibited in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Ultimately the designation Macedonian, changed its status in 1944, and went from being predominantly a regional, ethnographic denomination, to a national one.
Population
The vast majority of Macedonians live along the valley of the river
Vardar
The Vardar (; mk, , , ) or Axios () is the longest river in North Macedonia and the second longest river in Greece, in which it reaches the Aegean Sea at Thessaloniki. It is long, out of which are in Greece, and drains an area of around . Th ...
, the central region of the Republic of North Macedonia. They form about 64.18% of the population of North Macedonia (1,297,981 people according to th
2002 census. Smaller numbers live in eastern
Albania
Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...
, northern Greece, and southern
Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...
, mostly abutting the border areas of the
Republic of North Macedonia
North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Yugoslavia. It ...
. A large number of Macedonians have immigrated overseas to Australia, the United States, Canada, New Zealand and to many European countries: Germany, Italy, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and Austria among others.
Balkans
Greece
The existence of an ethnic Macedonian minority in Greece is rejected by the Greek government. The number of people speaking Slavic dialects has been estimated at somewhere between 10,000 and 250,000. Most of these people however do not have an ethnic Macedonian national consciousness, with most choosing to identify as ethnic
Greeks
The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, oth ...
or rejecting both ethnic designations and preferring terms such as ''"natives"'' instead.
In 1999 the
Greek Helsinki Monitor Greek Helsinki Monitor is a human rights organization in Greece, founded as part of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights. In 2021, GHM was one of a group of organizations that sued Frontex at the European Court of Justice over its ...
estimated that the number of people identifying as ethnic Macedonians numbered somewhere between 10,000 and 30,000,
[Report about Compliance with the Principles of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (Greece) – GREEK HELSINKI MONITOR (GHM)](_blank)
Macedonian sources generally claim the number of ethnic Macedonians living in Greece at somewhere between 200,000 and 350,000. The ethnic Macedonians in Greece have faced difficulties from the Greek government in their ability to self-declare as members of a ''"Macedonian minority"'' and to refer to their native language as ''"Macedonian"''.
Since the late 1980s there has been an ethnic Macedonian revival in Northern Greece, mostly centering on the region of
Florina
Florina ( el, Φλώρινα, ''Flórina''; known also by some alternative names) is a town and municipality in the mountainous northwestern Macedonia, Greece. Its motto is, 'Where Greece begins'.
The town of Florina is the capital of the F ...
. Since then ethnic Macedonian organisations including the
Rainbow political party have been established. ''Rainbow'' first opened its offices in Florina on 6 September 1995. The following day, the offices had been broken into and had been ransacked. Later Members of ''Rainbow'' had been charged for "causing and inciting mutual hatred among the citizens" because the party had bilingual signs written in both
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
and
Macedonian
Macedonian most often refers to someone or something from or related to Macedonia.
Macedonian(s) may specifically refer to:
People Modern
* Macedonians (ethnic group), a nation and a South Slavic ethnic group primarily associated with North M ...
. On 20 October 2005, the
European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) ordered the Greek government to pay penalties to the ''Rainbow Party'' for violations of 2 ECHR articles.
''Rainbow'' has seen limited success at a national level, its best result being achieved in the 1994 European elections, with a total of 7,263 votes. Since 2004 it has participated in European Parliament elections and local elections, but not in national elections. A few of its members have been elected in local administrative posts. ''Rainbow'' has recently re-established ''Nova Zora'', a newspaper that was first published for a short period in the mid-1990s, with reportedly 20,000 copies being distributed free of charge.
Serbia
Within
Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...
, Macedonians constitute an officially recognised ethnic minority at both a local and national level. Within
Vojvodina
Vojvodina ( sr-Cyrl, Војводина}), officially the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is an autonomous province that occupies the northernmost part of Serbia. It lies within the Pannonian Basin, bordered to the south by the national capital ...
, Macedonians are recognised under the
Statute of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, along with other ethnic groups. Large Macedonian settlements within Vojvodina can be found in
Plandište
Plandište (, ; hu, Zichyfalva; german: Zichydorf) is a village and municipality located in the South Banat District of the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. The village has a population of 3,832, while Plandište municipality has 11,3 ...
,
Jabuka
Jabuka, meaning ''apple'' in Serbo-Croatian, may refer to:
Places
* Jabuka (island), a Croatian island
* Jabuka, Croatia, a village near Trilj
* Jabuka (mountain), a mountain and plateau on the border between Serbia and Montenegro
* Jabuka, Pan ...
,
Glogonj
Glogonj ( sr-Cyrl, Глогоњ, ) is a village in Serbia, situated in the South Banat District of the province of Vojvodina. It is located on the banks of the Tamiš River, about 20 kilometers northwest of Pančevo, and about 20 kilometers dir ...
,
Dužine and
Kačarevo
Kačarevo (Serbian language, Serbian and mk, Качарево) is a village in northern Serbia, situated in the municipality of Pančevo, South Banat District, Vojvodina province. The village has a Serb ethnic majority and its population num ...
. These people are mainly the descendants of economic migrants who left the
Socialist Republic of Macedonia
The Socialist Republic of Macedonia ( mk, Социјалистичка Република Македонија, Socijalistička Republika Makedonija), or SR Macedonia, commonly referred to as Socialist Macedonia or Yugoslav Macedonia, was ...
in the 1950s and 1960s. The
Macedonians in Serbia
Macedonians of Serbia are an officially recognized ethnic minority in Serbia.
History
The first session of the Anti-fascist Assembly for the National Liberation of Macedonia (ASNOM) was held on 2 August 1944, the anniversary of the Ilinden Upris ...
are represented by a national council and in recent years Macedonian has begun to be taught. The most recent census recorded 22,755 Macedonians living in Serbia.
Albania
Macedonians represent the second largest ethnic minority population in
Albania
Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...
. Albania recognises the existence of a Macedonian minority within the
Mala Prespa
Mala Prespa ( Macedonian and bg, Мала Преспа, ) is a term used to denote a geographical area in eastern Albania, part of the wider region of Prespa. It is located on the western shore of Lake Prespa along the southeastern edge of Alba ...
region, most of which is comprised by
Pustec Municipality
Pustec Municipality ( sq, Bashkia Pustec; mk, Општина Пустец, ''Opshtina Pustets''), previously known as Liqenas Commune ( sq, Komuna Liqenas) from 1973 to 2013, is a municipality in the Korçë County of Albania. The population at th ...
. Macedonians have full minority rights within this region, including the right to education and the provision of other services in
Macedonian
Macedonian most often refers to someone or something from or related to Macedonia.
Macedonian(s) may specifically refer to:
People Modern
* Macedonians (ethnic group), a nation and a South Slavic ethnic group primarily associated with North M ...
. There also exist unrecognised Macedonian populations living in the
Golo Brdo region, the "Dolno Pole" area near the town of
Peshkopi
Peshkopi ( sq-definite, Peshkopia, Latin: ''Penestae'') is a town in Dibër County, northeastern Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision of the municipality Dibër. The population at the 2011 census was 13,251. , around
Lake Ohrid
Lake Ohrid ( mk, Охридско Езеро , al, Liqeni i Ohrit , also referred as ''Liqeni i Pogradecit'';) is a lake which straddles the mountainous border between the southwestern part of North Macedonia and eastern Albania. It is one of Eu ...
and
Korce as well as in
Gora. 4,697 people declared themselves Macedonians in the 1989 census.
Bulgaria
Bulgarians
Bulgarians ( bg, българи, Bǎlgari, ) are a nation and South Slavic ethnic group native to Bulgaria and the rest of Southeast Europe.
Etymology
Bulgarians derive their ethnonym from the Bulgars. Their name is not completely understo ...
are considered most closely related to the neighboring Macedonians and it is sometimes claimed that there is no clear ethnic difference between them. As regards self-identification, a total of 1,654 people officially declared themselves to be ethnic Macedonians in the last Bulgarian census in 2011 (0,02%) and 561 of them are in
Blagoevgrad Province
Blagoevgrad Province ( bg, област Благоевград, ''oblast Blagoevgrad'' or Благоевградска област, ''Blagoevgradska oblast''), also known as Pirin Macedonia or Bulgarian Macedonia ( bg, Пиринска Маке ...
(0,2%). 1,091 of them are Macedonian citizens, who are
permanent resident
Permanent residency is a person's legal resident status in a country or territory of which such person is not a citizen but where they have the right to reside on a permanent basis. This is usually for a permanent period; a person with such ...
s in Bulgaria. Krassimir Kanev, chairman of the non-governmental organization
Bulgarian Helsinki Committee
The Bulgarian Helsinki Committee is an independent non-governmental organization for human rights founded on July 14, 1992 in Sofia, Bulgaria. Its main objectives are protection and promotion of human rights in Bulgaria. With more than 30 associat ...
, claimed 15,000–25,000 in 1998 (se
here. In the same report Macedonian nationalists (Popov et al., 1989) claimed that 200,000 ethnic Macedonians live in Bulgaria. However, ''Bulgarian Helsinki Committee'' stated that the vast majority of the Slavic-speaking population in
Pirin Macedonia
Pirin Macedonia or Bulgarian Macedonia ( bg, Пиринска Македония; Българска Македония) (''Pirinska Makedoniya or Bulgarska Makedoniya'') is the third-biggest part of the geographical region Macedonia located on t ...
has a Bulgarian national self-consciousness and a
regional Macedonian identity similar to the Macedonian regional identity in
Greek Macedonia
Macedonia (; el, Μακεδονία, Makedonía ) is a geographic and former administrative region of Greece, in the southern Balkans. Macedonia is the largest and Greek geographic region, with a population of 2.36 million in 2020. It is ...
. Finally, according to personal evaluation of a leading local ethnic Macedonian political activist, Stoyko Stoykov, the number of Bulgarian citizens with ethnic Macedonian self-consciousness in 2009 was between 5,000 and 10,000. In 2000, the
Bulgarian Constitutional Court banned
UMO Ilinden-Pirin UMO can refer to:
* Unknown Mortal Orchestra, a psychedelic rock band from New Zealand
* United Macedonian Organisation: Ilinden–Pirin, a Macedonian organization in Bulgaria
* University of Maine at Orono (unofficial abbreviation)
* Mozilla Add ...
, a small Macedonian political party, as a separatist organization. Subsequently, activists attempted to re-establish the party but could not gather the required number of signatures.
File:Map of the majority ethnic groups of Macedonia by municipality.svg, Macedonians in North Macedonia, according to the 2002 census
File:Macedonians in Serbia.png, Concentration of Macedonians in Serbia
File:MalaPrespaiGoloBrdo.png, Regions where Macedonians live within Albania
File:Torbesija.png, Macedonian Muslims in North Macedonia
Diaspora
![Map of the Macedonian Diaspora in the World](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Map_of_the_Macedonian_Diaspora_in_the_World.svg)
Significant Macedonian communities can also be found in the traditional immigrant-receiving nations, as well as in Western European countries. Census data in many European countries (such as Italy and Germany) does not take into account the ethnicity of émigrés from the Republic of North Macedonia.
Argentina
Most Macedonians can be found in
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
,
the Pampas
The Pampas (from the qu, pampa, meaning "plain") are fertile South American low grasslands that cover more than and include the Argentine provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Santa Fe, Entre Ríos, and Córdoba; all of Uruguay; and Brazil ...
and
Córdoba. An estimated 30,000 Macedonians can be found in Argentina.
[Nasevski, Boško; Angelova, Dora. Gerovska, Dragica (1995). Македонски Иселенички Алманах '95. Skopje: Матица на Иселениците на Македонија.]
Australia
The official number of Macedonians in Australia by birthplace or birthplace of parents is 83,893
2001. The main Macedonian communities are found in Melbourne,
Geelong
Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...
, Sydney,
Wollongong
Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near wate ...
,
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to:
*Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England
*Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England
*Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
,
Canberra
Canberra ( )
is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...
and
Perth
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...
. The 2006 census recorded 83,983 people of Macedonian ancestry and the 2011 census recorded 93,570 people of Macedonian ancestry.
Brazil
An estimated 45,000 people in Brazil are of Macedonian ancestry. The Macedonians can be primarily found in
Porto Alegre
Porto Alegre (, , Brazilian ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of 1,488,252 inhabitants (2020) makes it the List of largest cities in Brazil, twelfth most populous city in the country ...
,
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
,
São Paulo
São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...
and
Curitiba
Curitiba () is the capital and largest city in the state of Paraná (state), Paraná in Brazil. The city's population was 1,948,626 , making it the List of cities in Brazil by population, eighth most populous city in Brazil and the largest in ...
.
Canada
The Canadian census in 2001 records 37,705 individuals claimed wholly or partly Macedonian heritage in Canada, although community spokesmen have claimed that there are actually 100,000–150,000 Macedonians in Canada.
United States
A significant Macedonian community can be found in the United States. The official number of Macedonians in the US is 49,455
2004. The Macedonian community is located mainly in
Michigan
Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
, New York,
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
,
Indiana
Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...
and
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
Germany
There are an estimated 61,000 citizens of North Macedonia in Germany (mostly in the
Ruhrgebiet
The Ruhr ( ; german: Ruhrgebiet , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr area, sometimes Ruhr district, Ruhr region, or Ruhr valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 2,800/km ...
)
2001.
Italy
There are 74,162 citizens of North Macedonia in Italy
Foreign Citizens in Italy.
Switzerland
In 2006 the Swiss Government recorded 60,362 Macedonian Citizens living in Switzerland.
Romania
Macedonians are an officially recognised minority group in Romania. They have a special reserved seat in the nation's parliament. In 2002, they numbered 731.
Slovenia
Macedonians began relocating to Slovenia in the 1950s when the two regions formed a part of a single country,
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...
.
Other countries
Other significant Macedonian communities can also be found in the other Western European countries such as Austria, France, Luxembourg, Netherlands, United Kingdom, and the whole European Union. Also in Uruguay, with a significant population in
Montevideo
Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...
.
Culture
The culture of the people is characterized with both traditionalist and modernist attributes. It is strongly bound with their native land and the surrounding in which they live. The rich cultural heritage of the Macedonians is accented in the folklore, the picturesque traditional folk costumes, decorations and ornaments in city and village homes, the architecture, the monasteries and churches, iconostasis, wood-carving and so on. The culture of Macedonians can roughly be explained as Balkanic, closely related to that of
Bulgarians
Bulgarians ( bg, българи, Bǎlgari, ) are a nation and South Slavic ethnic group native to Bulgaria and the rest of Southeast Europe.
Etymology
Bulgarians derive their ethnonym from the Bulgars. Their name is not completely understo ...
and
Serbs
The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language.
The majority of Serbs live in their na ...
.
Architecture
![Makedonski Nosii 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/90/Makedonski_Nosii_2.jpg)
The typical Macedonian village house is influenced by
Ottoman Architecture
Ottoman architecture is the architectural style that developed under the Ottoman Empire. It first emerged in northwestern Anatolia in the late 13th century and developed from earlier Seljuk architecture, Seljuk Turkish architecture, with influen ...
. Presented as a construction with two floors, with a hard facade composed of large stones and a wide balcony on the second floor. In villages with predominantly agricultural economy, the first floor was often used as a storage for the harvest, while in some villages the first floor was used as a cattle-pen.
The stereotype for a traditional Macedonian city house is a two-floor building with white façade, with a forward extended second floor, and black wooden elements around the windows and on the edges.
Cinema and theater
The history of film making in North Macedonia dates back over 110 years. The first film to be produced on the territory of the present-day the country was made in 1895 by
Janaki and Milton Manaki in
Bitola
Bitola (; mk, Битола ) is a city in the southwestern part of North Macedonia. It is located in the southern part of the Pelagonia valley, surrounded by the Baba, Nidže, and Kajmakčalan mountain ranges, north of the Medžitlija-Níki ...
. In 1995
''Before the Rain'' became the first Macedonian movie to be nominated for an Academy Award.
From 1993 to 1994, 1,596 performances were held in the newly formed republic, and more than 330,000 people attended. The Macedonian National Theater (drama, opera, and ballet companies), the Drama Theater, the Theater of the Nationalities (Albanian and Turkish drama companies) and the other theater companies comprise about 870 professional actors, singers, ballet dancers, directors, playwrights, set and costume designers, etc. There is also a professional theatre for children and three amateur theaters. For the last thirty years a traditional festival of Macedonian professional theaters has been taking place in
Prilep
Prilep ( mk, Прилеп ) is the fourth-largest city in North Macedonia. It has a population of 66,246 and is known as "the city under Marko's Towers" because of its proximity to the towers of Prince Marko.
Name
The name of Prilep appear ...
in honor of
Vojdan Černodrinski, the founder of the modern Macedonian theater. Each year a festival of amateur and experimental Macedonian theater companies is held in
Kočani
Kočani ( mk, Кочани ) is a town in the eastern part of North Macedonia, situated around east from Skopje. It has a population of 28,330 and is the seat of the Kočani Municipality.
Geography and population
The town spreads across the Nort ...
.
Music and art
Macedonian music has many things in common with the music of neighboring
Balkan
The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...
countries, but maintains its own distinctive sound.
The founders of modern Macedonian painting included
Lazar Licenovski
Lazar may refer to:
* Lazar (name), any of various persons with this name
* Lazar BVT, Serbian mine resistant, ambush-protected, armoured vehicle
* Lazar 2, Serbian armored vehicle
* Lazar 3, Serbian armored van
* Lazăr, a tributary of the river ...
,
Nikola Martinoski
Nikola Martinoski (18 August 1903 – 7 February 1973), sometimes spelled Martinovski ( mk, Никола Мартиноски), was a Yugoslav Aromanian painter. He is considered as a founder of contemporary Macedonian art. Martinoski is best ...
,
Dimitar Pandilov Dimitar ( bg, Димитър; Macedonian language, Macedonian: Димитар) is a South Slavs, South Slavic masculine given name. It is widely found in Bulgaria and North Macedonia. Dimitar is derived from Saint Demetrius (280–306), alternate fo ...
, and
Vangel Kodzoman. They were succeeded by an exceptionally talented and fruitful generation, consisting of
Borka Lazeski,
Dimitar Kondovski,
Petar Mazev
Petar Mazev (February 10, 1927 in Kavadarci, Kingdom of Yugoslavia – March 13, 1993 in Skopje, Republic of Macedonia) was a Macedonian academic painter, who is considered one of the most important postwar painters who introduced new energy into ...
who are now deceased, and
Rodoljub Anastasov and many others who are still active. Others include:
Vasko Taskovski and
Vangel Naumovski. In addition to
Dimo Todorovski, who is considered to be the founder of modern
Macedonian sculpture
Macedonian most often refers to someone or something from or related to Macedonia (disambiguation), Macedonia.
Macedonian(s) may specifically refer to:
People Modern
* Macedonians (ethnic group), a nation and a South Slavic ethnic group primari ...
, the works of
Petar Hadzi Boskov Petar ( sr, Петар, bg, Петър) is a South Slavic masculine given name, their variant of the Biblical name Petros cognate to Peter.
Derivative forms include Pero, Pejo, Pera, Perica, Petrica, Periša. Feminine equivalent is Petra.
P ...
,
Boro Mitrikeski __NOTOC__
Boro may refer to:
People
* Boro people, indigenous peoples of Amazonas, Brazil
* A variant spelling for the Bodo people of northeast India
* Charan Boro, Indian politician
* Isaac Adaka Boro, a celebrated Niger Delta nationalist and Nig ...
,
Novak Dimitrovski
Novak (in Serbo-Croatian and Slovene language, Slovene; Cyrillic script, Cyrillic: ), Novák (in Hungarian language, Hungarian, Czech language, Czech and Slovak language, Slovak), Nowak or Novack (in German and Polish), is a surname and masculine ...
and
Tome Serafimovski
Tome Serafimovski (July 14, 1935 – March 3, 2016) was a Macedonian sculptor, author of more than 500 sculptures of durable materials – wood, bronze and marble – 100 miniatures, as well as 40-odd notable monuments across the country and arou ...
are also outstanding.
Economy
In the past, the Macedonian population was predominantly involved with
agriculture
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...
, with a very small portion of the people who were engaged in trade (mainly in the cities). But after the creation of the People's Republic of Macedonia which started a social transformation based on Socialist principles, middle and heavy industries were started.
Language
Macedonian () is a member of the Eastern group of
South Slavic languages
The South Slavic languages are one of three branches of the Slavic languages. There are approximately 30 million speakers, mainly in the Balkans. These are separated geographically from speakers of the other two Slavic branches (West and East) ...
.
Standard Macedonian was implemented as the official language of the
Socialist Republic of Macedonia
The Socialist Republic of Macedonia ( mk, Социјалистичка Република Македонија, Socijalistička Republika Makedonija), or SR Macedonia, commonly referred to as Socialist Macedonia or Yugoslav Macedonia, was ...
after being
codified in the 1940s, and has accumulated a thriving
literary tradition.
The closest relative of Macedonian is
Bulgarian
Bulgarian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria
* Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group
* Bulgarian language, a Slavic language
* Bulgarian alphabet
* A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria
* Bul ...
, followed by
Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian () – also called Serbo-Croat (), Serbo-Croat-Bosnian (SCB), Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), and Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS) – is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and ...
. All the
South Slavic languages
The South Slavic languages are one of three branches of the Slavic languages. There are approximately 30 million speakers, mainly in the Balkans. These are separated geographically from speakers of the other two Slavic branches (West and East) ...
form a
dialect continuum
A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of Variety (linguistics), language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are Mutual intelligibility, mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulat ...
, in which Macedonian and Bulgarian form an
Eastern subgroup. The
Torlakian
Torlakian, or Torlak is a group of South Slavic dialects of southeastern Serbia, Kosovo, northeastern North Macedonia, and northwestern Bulgaria. Torlakian, together with Bulgarian and Macedonian, falls into the Balkan Slavic linguistic ar ...
dialect group is intermediate between Bulgarian, Macedonian and Serbian, comprising some of the northernmost
dialects of Macedonian
The dialects of Macedonian comprise the Slavic dialects spoken in the Republic of North Macedonia as well as some varieties spoken in the wider geographic region of Macedonia. They are part of the dialect continuum of South Slavic languages that ...
as well as varieties spoken in southern Serbia and western Bulgaria. Torlakian is often classified as part of the Eastern South Slavic dialects.
The
Macedonian alphabet
The orthography of the Macedonian language includes an alphabet consisting of 31 letters ( mk, Македонска азбука, Makedonska azbuka), which is an adaptation of the Cyrillic script, as well as language-specific conventions of spelli ...
is an adaptation of the
Cyrillic script
The Cyrillic script ( ), Slavonic script or the Slavic script, is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic languages, Slavic, Turkic languages, Turkic, Mongolic languages, ...
, as well as language-specific conventions of spelling and punctuation. It is rarely
Romanized
Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and ...
.
Religion
![2011 Ochryda, Cerkiew św](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6b/2011_Ochryda%2C_Cerkiew_%C5%9Bw._Pantelejmona_%2802%29.jpg)
Most Macedonians are members of the
Macedonian Orthodox Church
The Macedonian Orthodox Church – Archdiocese of Ohrid (MOC-AO; mk, Македонска православна црква – Охридска архиепископија), or simply the Macedonian Orthodox Church (MOC) or the Archdiocese o ...
. The official name of the church is Macedonian Orthodox Church – Ohrid Archbishopric and is the body of Christians who are united under the Archbishop of Ohrid and North Macedonia, exercising jurisdiction over Macedonian Orthodox Christians in the Republic of North Macedonia and in
exarchate
An exarchate is any territorial jurisdiction, either secular or ecclesiastical, whose ruler is called an exarch. The term originates from the Greek word ''arkhos'', meaning a leader, ruler, or chief. Byzantine Emperor Justinian I created the firs ...
s in the
Macedonian diaspora
The Macedonian diaspora ( mk, Македонска дијаспора, ''Makedonska dijaspora'') consists of ethnic Macedonian emigrants and their descendants in countries such as Australia, Italy, the United Kingdom, Germany, New Zealand, Canada, ...
.
The church gained autonomy from the
Serbian Orthodox Church
The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous (ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodox Christian denomination, Christian churches.
The majori ...
in 1959 and declared the restoration of the historic
Archbishopric of Ohrid
The Archbishopric of Ohrid, also known as the Bulgarian Archbishopric of Ohrid
*T. Kamusella in The Politics of Language and Nationalism in Modern Central Europe, Springer, 2008, p. 276
*Aisling Lyon, Decentralisation and the Management of Ethni ...
. On 19 July 1967, the Macedonian Orthodox Church declared
autocephaly
Autocephaly (; from el, αὐτοκεφαλία, meaning "property of being self-headed") is the status of a hierarchical Christian church whose head bishop does not report to any higher-ranking bishop. The term is primarily used in Eastern O ...
from the Serbian church. Due to protest from the Serbian Orthodox Church, the move was not recognised by any of the churches of the
Eastern Orthodox Communion, and since then, the Macedonian Orthodox Church is not in communion with any Orthodox Church. A small number of Macedonians belong to the
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
and the
Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
churches.
Between the 15th and the 20th centuries, during
Ottoman rule
Ottoman is the Turkish spelling of the Arabic masculine given name Uthman ( ar, عُثْمان, ‘uthmān). It may refer to:
Governments and dynasties
* Ottoman Caliphate, an Islamic caliphate from 1517 to 1924
* Ottoman Empire, in existence fro ...
, a number of Orthodox Macedonian Slavs converted to Islam. Today in the Republic of North Macedonia, they are regarded as
Macedonian Muslims
The Macedonian Muslims ( mk, Македонци-муслимани, Makedonci-muslimani), also known as Muslim Macedonians or ''Torbeši'' ( mk, Торбеши), and in some sources grouped together with Pomaks, are a minority religious group w ...
, who constitute the second largest religious community of the country.
Names
Cuisine
Macedonian cuisine
Macedonian cuisine ( mk, Македонска кујна, Makedonska kujna) is the traditional cuisine of North Macedonia. It is influenced by Balkan cuisines. The relatively warm climate of the country provides excellent growth conditions for ...
is a representative of the cuisine of the
Balkans
The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...
—reflecting Mediterranean (Greek) and Middle Eastern (Turkish) influences, and to a lesser extent Italian, German and Eastern European (especially Hungarian) ones. The relatively warm climate in North Macedonia provides excellent growth conditions for a variety of vegetables, herbs and fruits. Thus, Macedonian cuisine is particularly diverse.
Shopska salad
Shopska salad (Bulgarian, Macedonian and Serbian: ''Шопска салата''; hr, Šopska salata; ro, Salata bulgărească; cs, Šopský salát; pl, Sałatka szopska; sq, Sallatë Shope; hu, Sopszka saláta; el, Σαλάτα σόπσ ...
, a food from Bulgaria, is an appetizer and side dish which accompanies almost every meal. Macedonian cuisine is also noted for the diversity and quality of its
dairy products
Dairy products or milk products, also known as lacticinia, are Food product, food products made from (or containing) milk. The most common dairy animals are cow, water buffalo, dairy goat, nanny goat, and Sheep, ewe. Dairy products include commo ...
, wines, and local alcoholic beverages, such as
rakija
Rakia, Rakija, Rachiu or Raki (), is the collective term for fruit spirits (or fruit brandy) popular in the Balkans. The alcohol content of rakia is normally 40% ABV, but home-produced rakia can be stronger (typically 50%).
Etymology
Fruit sp ...
.
Tavče Gravče and
mastika
Mastika or mastiha is a liqueur seasoned with mastic, a resin with a slightly pine or cedar-like flavor gathered from the mastic tree, a small evergreen tree native to the Mediterranean region. In Greece, mastiha ( el, μαστίχα) or mastic ...
are considered the national dish and drink of North Macedonia, respectively.
Symbols
Symbols used by members of the ethnic group include:
*
Lion
The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphi ...
: The lion first appears in the
Fojnica Armorial
Fojnica Armorial ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Fojnički grbovnik, Фојнички грбовник) is a prominent Illyrian armorial which contains South Slavic heraldic symbols, and expresses romantic nationalism and Illyrism rather than historical accuracy ...
from 17th century, where the coat of arms of
Macedonia is included among those of other entities. On the coat of arms is a crown; inside a yellow crowned lion is depicted standing rampant, on a red background. On the bottom enclosed in a red and yellow border is written "Macedonia". The use of the lion to represent Macedonia was continued in foreign heraldic collections throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. Nevertheless, during the late 19th century the
arose, which modeled itself after the earlier
Bulgarian revolutionary traditions and adopted their symbols as the
lion
The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphi ...
, etc. Modern versions of the historical lion has also been added to the emblem of several political parties, organizations and sports clubs. However, this symbol is not totally accepted while the state
coat of arms of Bulgaria
coat of arms of Bulgaria ( bg, Герб на България ) consists of a crowned golden Lion (heraldry), lion rampant over a dark red Escutcheon (heraldry), shield; above the shield is the Bulgarian historical Crown (headgear), crown. The sh ...
is somewhat similar.
![Flag of Macedonia (1992–1995)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/Flag_of_Macedonia_%281992%E2%80%931995%29.svg)
*
Vergina Sun
The Vergina Sun ( el, Ήλιος της Βεργίνας, Ilios tis Vergínas, Sun of Vergina), also known as the Star of Vergina, Vergina Star or Argead Star, is a rayed solar symbol first appearing in ancient Greek art of the period between th ...
: (official flag, 1992–1995) The
Vergina Sun
The Vergina Sun ( el, Ήλιος της Βεργίνας, Ilios tis Vergínas, Sun of Vergina), also known as the Star of Vergina, Vergina Star or Argead Star, is a rayed solar symbol first appearing in ancient Greek art of the period between th ...
is used unofficially by various associations and cultural groups in the Macedonian diaspora. The
Vergina
Vergina ( el, Βεργίνα, ''Vergína'' ) is a small town in northern Greece, part of Veria municipality in Imathia, Central Macedonia. Vergina was established in 1922 in the aftermath of the population exchanges after the Treaty of Laus ...
Sun is believed to have been associated with
ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...
kings such as
Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, wikt:Ἀλέξανδρος, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Maced ...
and
Philip II Philip II may refer to:
* Philip II of Macedon (382–336 BC)
* Philip II (emperor) (238–249), Roman emperor
* Philip II, Prince of Taranto (1329–1374)
* Philip II, Duke of Burgundy (1342–1404)
* Philip II, Duke of Savoy (1438-1497)
* Philip ...
, although it was used as an ornamental design in ancient Greek art long before the Macedonian period. The symbol was depicted on a golden larnax found in a 4th-century BC royal tomb belonging to either Philip II or Philip III of Macedon in the
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
region of
Macedonia. The
Greeks
The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, oth ...
regard the use of the symbol by North Macedonia as a misappropriation of a
Hellenic symbol, unrelated to Slavic cultures, and a direct claim on the legacy of Philip II. However, archaeological items depicting the symbol have also been excavated in the territory of
North Macedonia
North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Socialist Feder ...
. Toni Deskoski, Macedonian professor of International Law, argues that the Vergina Sun is not a Macedonian symbol but it's a Greek symbol that is used by Macedonians in the nationalist context of
Macedonism
Macedonian nationalism (, ) is a general grouping of nationalist ideas and concepts among ethnic Macedonians that were first formed in the late 19th century among separatists seeking the autonomy of the region of Macedonia from the Ottoman Emp ...
and that the Macedonians need to get rid of it. In 1995, Greece lodged a claim for
trademark protection of the Vergina Sun as a state symbol under
WIPO
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO; french: link=no, Organisation mondiale de la propriété intellectuelle (OMPI)) is one of the 15 specialized agencies of the United Nations (UN). Pursuant to the 1967 Convention Establishin ...
. In Greece the symbol against a blue field is used vastly in the area of
Macedonia and it has official status.The Vergina sun on a red field was the first flag of the independent Republic of Macedonia, until it was removed from the state flag under an agreement reached between the Republic of Macedonia and Greece in September 1995. On 17 June 2018, Greece and the Republic of Macedonia signed the
Prespa Agreement
The Prespa agreement,; In mk, Договорот од Преспа, translit=Dogovorot od Prespa or Преспански договор, ''Prespanski dogovor'' also known as the Treaty of Prespa, the Prespes deal or the Prespa accord, is an agre ...
, which stipulates the removal of the Vergina Sun's public use across the latter's territory.
In a session held on early July 2019, the
government of North Macedonia
Politics in North Macedonia occur within the framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Prime Minister is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Leg ...
announced the complete removal of the Vergina Sun from all public areas, institutions and monuments in the country, with the deadline for its removal being set to 12 August 2019, in line with the Prespa Agreement.
Genetics
Anthropologically, Macedonians possess genetic lineages postulated to represent Balkan prehistoric and historic
demographic processes. Such lineages are also typically found in neighboring
South Slavs
South Slavs are Slavic peoples who speak South Slavic languages and inhabit a contiguous region of Southeast Europe comprising the eastern Alps and the Balkan Peninsula. Geographically separated from the West Slavs and East Slavs by Austria, Hu ...
such as
Bulgarians
Bulgarians ( bg, българи, Bǎlgari, ) are a nation and South Slavic ethnic group native to Bulgaria and the rest of Southeast Europe.
Etymology
Bulgarians derive their ethnonym from the Bulgars. Their name is not completely understo ...
and
Serbs
The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language.
The majority of Serbs live in their na ...
, in addition to
Greeks
The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, oth ...
,
Albanians
The Albanians (; sq, Shqiptarët ) are an ethnic group and nation native to the Balkan Peninsula who share a common Albanian ancestry, culture, history and language. They primarily live in Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Se ...
,
Romanians
The Romanians ( ro, români, ; dated exonym ''Vlachs'') are a Romance languages, Romance-speaking ethnic group. Sharing a common Culture of Romania, Romanian culture and Cultural heritage, ancestry, and speaking the Romanian language, they l ...
and
Gagauzes
The Gagauz ( gag, Gagauzlar) are a Turkic people living mostly in southern Moldova (Gagauzia, Taraclia District, Basarabeasca District) and southwestern Ukraine (Budjak). Gagauz are mostly Eastern Orthodox Christians. The term Gagauz is also of ...
.
Y-DNA studies suggest that Macedonians along with neighboring South Slavs are distinct from other
Slavic-speaking populations in Europe and near half of their
Y-chromosome DNA haplogroups are likely to be inherited from inhabitants of the Balkans that predated sixth-century Slavic migrations.
A diverse set of Y-DNA haplogroups are found in Macedonians at significant levels, including I2a1b, E-V13, J2a, R1a1, R1b, G2a, encoding a complex pattern of demographic processes. Similar distributions of the same haplogroups are found in neighboring populations.
[Trombetta B. "Phylogeographic Refinement and Large Scale Genotyping of Human Y Chromosome Haplogroup E Provide New Insights into the Dispersal of Early Pastoralists in the African Continent" http://gbe.oxfordjournals.org/content/7/7/1940.long] I2a1b and R1a1 are typically found in Slavic-speaking populations across Europe while haplogroups such as E-V13 and J2 occur at high frequencies in neighboring non-Slavic populations.
On the other hand R1b is the most frequently occurring haplogroup in
Western Europe
Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context.
The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...
and G2a is most frequently found in
Caucasus
The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...
and the adjacent areas. According to a DNA data for 17 Y-chromosomal
STR loci in Macedonians, in comparison to other South Slavs and
Kosovo Albanians
The Albanians of Kosovo ( sq, Shqiptarët e Kosovës, ), also commonly called Kosovo Albanians, Kosovar/Kosovan Albanians or Kosovars/Kosovans, constitute the largest ethnic group in Kosovo.
Kosovo Albanians belong to the ethnic Albanian sub-gr ...
, the Macedonian population had the lowest genetic (Y-STR) distance against the Bulgarian population while having the largest distance against the
Croatian population. However, the observed populations did not have significant differentiation in Y-STR population structure, except partially for Kosovo Albanians. Genetic similarity, irrespective of language and ethnicity, has a strong correspondence to geographic proximity in European populations.
In regard to population genetics, not all regions of Southeastern Europe had the same ratio of native Byzantine and invading Slavic population, with the territory of the
Eastern Balkans (
Macedonia,
Thrace
Thrace (; el, Θράκη, Thráki; bg, Тракия, Trakiya; tr, Trakya) or Thrake is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe, now split among Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, which is bounded by the Balkan Mountains to t ...
and
Moesia
Moesia (; Latin: ''Moesia''; el, Μοισία, Moisía) was an ancient region and later Roman province situated in the Balkans south of the Danube River, which included most of the territory of modern eastern Serbia, Kosovo, north-eastern Alban ...
) having a significant percentage of locals compared to Slavs. Considering that the majority of Balkan Slavs came via the Eastern Carpathian route, lower percentage in the east does not imply that the number of the Slavs there was lesser than among the
Western South Slavs. Most probably on the territory of Western South Slavs was a state of desolation which produced there a
founder effect
In population genetics, the founder effect is the loss of genetic variation that occurs when a new population is established by a very small number of individuals from a larger population. It was first fully outlined by Ernst Mayr in 1942, using ...
. The region of Macedonia suffered less disruption than frontier provinces closer to the Danube, with towns and forts close to
Ohrid
Ohrid ( mk, Охрид ) is a city in North Macedonia and is the seat of the Ohrid Municipality. It is the largest city on Lake Ohrid and the List of cities in North Macedonia, eighth-largest city in the country, with the municipality recording ...
,
Bitola
Bitola (; mk, Битола ) is a city in the southwestern part of North Macedonia. It is located in the southern part of the Pelagonia valley, surrounded by the Baba, Nidže, and Kajmakčalan mountain ranges, north of the Medžitlija-Níki ...
and along the
Via Egnatia
The Via Egnatia was a road constructed by the Romans in the 2nd century BC. It crossed Illyricum, Macedonia, and Thracia, running through territory that is now part of modern Albania
Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . of ...
. Re-settlements and the cultural links of the Byzantine Era further shaped the demographic processes which the Macedonian ancestry is linked to. Nevertheless, even present-day
Peloponnesian
The Peloponnese (), Peloponnesus (; el, Πελοπόννησος, Pelopónnēsos,(), or Morea is a peninsula and geographic regions of Greece, geographic region in southern Greece. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmu ...
Greeks carry a small, but significant amount of Slavic ancestry; the
admixture ranged from 0.2% to 14.4%.
See also
*
Demographic history of North Macedonia
*
List of Macedonians
*
Demographics of the Republic of North Macedonia demographics, Demographic features of the population of North Macedonia include population density, Ethnic group, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.
The ...
*
Macedonian language
Macedonian (; , , ) is an Eastern South Slavic language. It is part of the Indo-European language family, and is one of the Slavic languages, which are part of a larger Balto-Slavic branch. Spoken as a first language by around two million ...
*
Ethnogenesis
Ethnogenesis (; ) is "the formation and development of an ethnic group".
This can originate by group self-identification or by outside identification.
The term ''ethnogenesis'' was originally a mid-19th century neologism that was later introdu ...
*
South Slavs
South Slavs are Slavic peoples who speak South Slavic languages and inhabit a contiguous region of Southeast Europe comprising the eastern Alps and the Balkan Peninsula. Geographically separated from the West Slavs and East Slavs by Austria, Hu ...
*
Macedonians (Greeks)
Macedonians ( el, Μακεδόνες, ''Makedónes''), also known as Greek Macedonians or Macedonian Greeks, are a regional and historical population group of ethnic Greeks, inhabiting or originating from the Macedonia (Greece), Greek region o ...
*
Macedonians (Bulgarians)
Macedonians or Macedonian Bulgarians ( bg, македонци or македонски българи), sometimes also referred to as Macedono-Bulgarians, Macedo-Bulgarians, or Bulgaro-Macedonians are a regional, ethnographic group of et ...
References
Bibliography
*
*
Further reading
* Brown, Keith, ''The Past in Question: Modern Macedonia and the Uncertainties of Nation'',
Princeton University Press
Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large.
The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial su ...
, 2003. .
*
* Cowan, Jane K. (ed.), ''Macedonia: The Politics of Identity and Difference'', Pluto Press, 2000. A collection of articles.
*
*
*
*
* Danforth, Loring M., ''The Macedonian Conflict: Ethnic Nationalism in a Transnational World'', Princeton University Press, 1995. .
*
* Karakasidou, Anastasia N., ''Fields of Wheat, Hills of Blood: Passages to Nationhood in Greek Macedonia, 1870–1990'',
University of Chicago Press
The University of Chicago Press is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including ''The Chicago Manual of Style'', ...
, 1997, . Reviewed in ''
Journal of Modern Greek Studies
The ''Journal of Modern Greek Studies'' is an academic journal founded in 1983, and is the official publication of the Modern Greek Studies Association. It is devoted to the study of social, cultural, and political affairs in modern Greece, define ...
'' 18:2 (2000), p465.
* Mackridge, Peter, Eleni Yannakakis (eds.), ''Ourselves and Others: The Development of a Greek Macedonian Cultural Identity since 1912'', Berg Publishers, 1997, .
* Poulton, Hugh, ''Who Are the Macedonians?'',
Indiana University Press
Indiana University Press, also known as IU Press, is an academic publisher founded in 1950 at Indiana University that specializes in the humanities and social sciences. Its headquarters are located in Bloomington, Indiana. IU Press publishes 140 ...
, 2nd ed., 2000. .
* Roudometof, Victor, ''Collective Memory, National Identity, and Ethnic Conflict: Greece, Bulgaria, and the Macedonian Question'', Praeger Publishers, 2002. .
* Κωστόπουλος, Τάσος, ''Η απαγορευμένη γλώσσα: Η κρατική καταστολή των σλαβικών διαλέκτων στην ελληνική Μακεδονία σε όλη τη διάρκεια του 20ού αιώνα'' (εκδ. Μαύρη Λίστα, Αθήνα 2000).
asos Kostopoulos, ''The forbidden language: state suppression of the Slavic dialects in Greek Macedonia through the 20th century'', Athens: Black List, 2000* The Silent People Speak, by Robert St. John, 1948, xii, 293, 301–313 and 385.
*
*
External links
New Balkan Politics – Journal of PoliticsMacedonians in the UKUnited Macedonian DiasporaWorld Macedonian CongressHouse of Immigrants
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macedonians (Ethnic Group)
Ethnic groups in Albania
Ethnic groups in Greece
Ethnic groups in Macedonia (region)
Ethnic groups in Serbia
Ethnic groups in North Macedonia
Slavic ethnic groups
South Slavs