Vinica ( ) is a town in

North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

, in the Eastern Statistical Region of the country. The town of Vinica is the seat of Vinica Municipality. The town is located under the mountain of

Plačkovica Plačkovica () is a mountain located in the eastern part of North Macedonia, it extends between the cities of Radoviš, and Vinica, North Macedonia, Vinica. The highest Summit (topography), peak is Lisec () at 1,754 m, the length of main valley s ...

, in the southeastern part of the Kočani Valley. It covers the northern part of the river Bregalnica sinks. There are also several other

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

s that flow through Vinica, like the Vinička, Gradečka and Osojnica. The town is known for its historic Roman fortress, Viničko Kale, situated on a

hill A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct summit, and is usually applied to peaks which are above elevation compared to the relative landmass, though not as prominent as Mountain, mountains. Hills ...

overlooking the modern town.

Etymology

The name Vinica is derived from word vine, since the city was formerly noted for its vineyards. On terracotta icons found in Viničko Kale, the name of town is noted as Vinea or Vince.

History

Neolithic times

The territory of Vinica was inhabited in

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

times. More recent evidence of habitation comes from findings on Viničko Kale from the 6th to the 12th century AD.

Byzantine Empire

The original settlement was a fort from the time of

Byzantium Byzantium () or Byzantion () was an ancient Greek city in classical antiquity that became known as Constantinople in late antiquity and Istanbul today. The Greek name ''Byzantion'' and its Latinization ''Byzantium'' continued to be used as a n ...

, when it was a centre of wine production.

Ottoman Empire

The city was a nahiye and was governed by a

Kaymakam Kaymakam, also known by #Names, many other romanizations, was a title used by various officials of the Ottoman Empire, including acting grand viziers, governors of provincial sanjaks, and administrators of district kazas. The title has been reta ...

of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

between the 14th and 20th centuries.

Yugoslavia time

Before 1980, on the hill where the fortress was found, there were many vineyards, which were abandoned after excavations.

Demographics

As of 2002, the town had 10,863 inhabitants and the ethnic composition was the following: * Macedonians 9.706 (89.84%) * Roma 809 (7.49%) * Turks 216 (1.99%) *

Aromanians The Aromanians () are an Ethnic groups in Europe, ethnic group native to the southern Balkans who speak Aromanian language, Aromanian, an Eastern Romance language. They traditionally live in central and southern Albania, south-western Bulgari ...

101 (0.93%) *Others 31

Culture

In Vinica, there are two

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

s ''Goce Delčev'' and ''Slavčo Stojmenski'', one

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

and

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

library A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...

''Vančo Prke'' which was founded in 1946, there is also a cinema and a house of culture, ''Tošo Arsov'', which is a centre of all cultural activities. The town has two folk

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

groups, ''Raspeani Viničani'' and ''Jana'', and one

folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...

group ''Kitka''. Vinica info
/ref> There are several archeological sites in and around Vinica: *Vinica, medieval settlement. *Pazarište, settlement from Roman times. * Vinica Fortress, fortified settlement from late ancient times. *Gorica, settlement and early Christian

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica (Greek Basiliké) was a large public building with multiple functions that was typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek Eas ...

from late ancient times. *Ila, necropolis from the

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

Economy

One of the major activities in Vinica is

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

Farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer ...

s engage in the production of

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

, which is very characteristic of the basin in which Vinica is located. The

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

also has industrial activities, among which is the best represented the

textile Textile is an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term that includes various Fiber, fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, Staple (textiles)#Filament fiber, filaments, Thread (yarn), threads, and different types of #Fabric, fabric. ...

s and

wood Wood is a structural tissue/material found as xylem in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulosic fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin t ...

furniture Furniture refers to objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., Stool (seat), stools, chairs, and sofas), eating (table (furniture), tables), storing items, working, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Furnitur ...

production industry. The major companies are: ''Makprogres'', ''Viničanka'', ''Vinka'', ''Triko'', ''Treska'', ''Mebel-Vi''. The city has many shops, bars,

restaurant A restaurant is an establishment that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and Delivery (commerce), food delivery services. Restaurants ...

s, two night clubs, and three major

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

s, which are offering a broader range of services.

Sport and leisure

The leading sport in Vinica is

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

. The town formed its first football club in 1934 called ''

'', later renamed ''Sloga Vinica'', now FK Sloga 1934 Vinica. There is also a

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

club ''Slavčo Stojmenski'', a

karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ), also , is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tī'' in Okinawan) un ...

club ''Blatec'' and a

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

club ''Viničani''.

References

External links

Official municipal siteVinica on net
{{Authority control Cities in North Macedonia Vinica Municipality, Macedonia