The Republic of Macedonia is a landlocked country about the size of Vermont in the central Balkan Peninsula in Southeastern Europe, bordered by Kosovo to the northwest, Serbia to the north, Bulgaria to the east, Greece to the south and Albania to the west.  The country’s capital is Skopje, where over a half a million of its 2 million citizens live.  Macedonia is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991.  It became a member of the United Nations in 1993, but because of a dispute with Greece over using what it considered a Hellenic name and symbols, international recognition was delayed.  In 1995, Greece lifted a 20-month trade embargo and the two countries agreed to normalize relations.  In 2001 some ethnic Albanians mounted an insurgency over perceived political and economic inequities, which led to the internationally-brokered Ohrid Framework Agreement establishing new laws enhancing the rights of minorities.  Fully implementing this agreement and stimulating economic growth and development continue to be challenges.  Since December 2005 Macedonia has been a candidate for joining the European Union and has applied for NATO membership.

This land of 50 lakes and 16 mountains higher than 2,000 m (6562 ft) was included in the kingdom of Paeonia in antiquity, which was populated by the Paeonians, a people of Thracian origins, but also part of ancient Illyria and Dardania, inhabited by various Illyriana peoples, and Lyncestis and Pelagonia populated by Molossian tribes.  None of these had fixed boundaries; they were sometimes subject to the Kings of Macedon, and sometimes broke away.  In 336 BC Philip II of Macedon conquered Upper Macedonia, including its northern part and southern Paeonia, which both now lie within the Republic of Macedonia.  Philip’s son Alexander the Great conquered the remainder of the region, reaching as far north as the Danube, and incorporated it in his empire.  The Romans included most of the area of the current Republic in their Province of Macedonia, but the northernmost parts lay in Moesia; by the time of Diocletian, they had been subdivided, and the area of the current Republic was split between Macedonia Salurtaris and Moesia prima.

During the 580s, Slavs raided in the region of Macedonia, aided by Avars of Bulgars.  Presian’s reign apparently coincides with the extension of Bulgarian control over the Slavic tribes in and around Macedonia.  The Slavic peoples that settled in the region of Macedonia accepted Christianity as their own religion around the 9th century, during the reign of Prince Boris I of Bulgaria.  In 1014 Emperor Basil II finally defeated the armies of Tsar Samuil of Bulgaria and by 1018 the Byzantines restored control over Macedonia (and all of the Balkans) for the first time since the 600s.  By the late 12th century, Byzantine decline saw the region contested by various political entities, and in the early 13th century, a revived Bulgarian Empire regained control of the region.  The empire did not last, and the region went under Byzantine control in the early 14th century.  In the 14th century, it became part of the Serbian Empire, and Skopje became the capital.  With the death of Tsar Stefan Dusan, a weak successor and power struggles between nobles divided the Balkans once again.  This coincided with the entry of the Ottoman Turks into Europe.  The Kingdom of Prilep was one of the short lived states that emerged from the collapse of the Serbian Empire in the 14th century.  With no major Balkan power left, the entire Balkans fell to Turkish rule, and remained under it for five centuries.

After some failed attempts to become autonomous in the late 1800s, following the two Balkan wars of 1912 and 1913 and the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, the territory of the modern Macedonian state was named Southern Serbia, and after World War I became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929.  After being occupied by the Axis Powers from 1941 to 1945, the People’s Republic of Macedonia became part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Macedonia.  Then in 1991 the Republic of Macedonia peacefully seceded from Yugoslavia, declaring September 8, 1991, its Independence Day.  After the Kosovo War in 1999, which caused 360,000 ethnic Albanian refugees from Kosovo to take refuge in Macedonia, many left after the war, but Albanian radicals on both sides of the border took up arms in pursuit of autonomy or independence from the Albanian-populated areas of Macedonia.  A civil war was fought between the government and ethnic Albanians between March and June 2001.  The war ended with the intervention of a NATO ceasefire monitoring force, and under the terms of the Ohrid Agreement, the government agreed to devolve greater political power and cultural recognition to the Albanian minority.  The Albanians agreed to abandon separatist demands and to fully recognize Macedonian institutions.  In 1993 Macedonia became a member of the United Nations, and is referred to as “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,” pending resolution of a long-standing dispute with Greece about the country’s name.  Macedonia continues to seek membership in the European Union.

Today this nation of 2 million largely Slavic-speaking ethnic Macedonian pagans living in 84 municipalities is ruled by President Gjorge Ivanov (since May 2009), and Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski (since August 2006), along with a cabinet of Council of Ministers elected by majority vote of all the deputies in a unicameral Assembly or Sobranie (120 seats); and a Judicial Supreme Court, Constitutional Court and the Republican Judicial Counsel, with judges appointed by the Assembly. The Macedonian Armed Forces comprise the army, air force and Special Forces, with a national defense policy aimed at guaranteeing the preservation of the independence and sovereignty of the state, and the integrity of its land area and air space, and constitutional order. 

Macedonia’s economy while witnessing steady, though slow, growth is still not strong.  Macedonia has an unemployment rate over 30%, and a poverty rate over 20%. Corruptive and a relatively ineffective legal system cause significant restraints on successful economic development.  Macedonia still has one of the lowest per capita GDPs in Europe, and the country’s grey market is estimated at close to 20% of GDB.  The service sector is the largest part of GDP at 57%, with an industrial sector representing 29%, and textiles representing the most significant sector for trade, along with iron, steel, wine and vegetables.