During the 580s, Byzantine literature attests to the Slavs raiding Byzantine territories in the region of Macedonia, later aided by Bulgars. Slavic peoples settled in the Balkan region including Macedonia by the late 6th century AD. Medieval and Ottoman period įurther information: Bulgaria (theme) and Ottoman Vardar Macedonia Whilst Greek remained the dominant language in the eastern part of the Roman empire, Latin spread to some extent in Macedonia. Roman expansion brought the Scupi area under Roman rule in the time of Domitian (81–96 AD), and it fell within the Province of Moesia. By the time of Diocletian, the province had been subdivided between Macedonia Prima ("first Macedonia") on the south, encompassing most of the kingdom of Macedon, and Macedonia Salutaris (known also as Macedonia Secunda, "second Macedonia") on the north, encompassing partially Dardania and the whole of Paeonia most of the country's modern boundaries fell within the latter, with the city of Stobi as its capital. The Romans established the Province of Macedonia in 146 BC. Philip's son Alexander the Great conquered the remainder of the region, and incorporated it in his empire, reaching as far north as Scupi, but the city and the surrounding area remained part of Dardania. In 356 BC Philip II of Macedon absorbed the regions of Upper Macedonia (Lynkestis and Pelagonia) and the southern part of Paeonia ( Deuriopus) into the kingdom of Macedon. Following the loss in the Second Persian invasion of Greece in 479 BC, the Persians eventually withdrew from their European territories, including thus from what is today the Republic of Macedonia. In the late 6th century BC, the Achaemenid Persians under Darius the Great conquered the Paeonians, incorporating what is today the Republic of Macedonia within their vast territories. Paeonia was inhabited by the Paeonians, a Thracian people, whilst the northwest was inhabited by the Dardani and the southwest by tribes known historically as the Enchelae, Pelagones and Lyncestae the latter two are generally regarded as Molossian tribes of the northwestern Greek group, whilst the former two are considered Illyrian. The Republic of Macedonia roughly corresponds to the ancient kingdom of Paeonia, which was located immediately north of the ancient kingdom of Macedonia. Heraclea Lyncestis, a city founded by Philip II of Macedon in the 4th century BC: ruins of the Byzantine "Small Basilica" Main articles: Paeonia (kingdom), Kingdom of Macedon, and Dardanian Kingdom 8.1 Infrastructure and e-infrastructure.Since 2005 it has also been a candidate for joining the European Union and has applied for NATO membership. Macedonia is a member of the UN and of the Council of Europe.
It has over fifty lakes, and sixteen mountains higher than 2,000 m (6,562 ft). Other cities include Bitola, Kumanovo, Prilep, Tetovo, Ohrid, Veles, Štip, Kočani, Gostivar, Kavadarci, and Strumica. The country's capital is Skopje, with 506,926 inhabitants according to the 2002 census. It constitutes approximately the northwestern third of the larger geographical region of Macedonia, which also comprises the neighbouring parts of northern Greece and smaller portions of southwestern Bulgaria and southeastern Albania. Ī landlocked country, the Republic of Macedonia is bordered by Kosovo to the northwest, Serbia to the north, Bulgaria to the east, Greece to the south, and Albania to the west. It became a member of the United Nations in 1993, but, as a result of an ongoing dispute with Greece over the use of the name Macedonia, was admitted under the provisional description the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (sometimes unofficially abbreviated as FYROM), a term that is also used by international organizations such as the European Union, the Council of Europe and NATO. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991. Republika Makedonija), is a country in the Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. Makedonija, IPA: ), officially the Republic of Macedonia (Macedonian: Република Македонија ( help