History of North Macedonia
The Middle Ages
In this period the area south of the Jirecek line was populated by people of Thracian-Roman or Illyrian-Roman origin, as well as Hellenized citizens of the Byzantine Empire and Byzantine Greeks. The ancient languages of the Thracians and Illyrians had already become extinct before the arrival of the Slavs, and their cultural influence was greatly reduced due to repeated barbarian invasions in the Balkans during the early Middle Ages, accompanied by persistent Hellenization, on which previous romanization and later slavización. The South Slavic tribes settled in the territory of the present Republic of Macedonia until the arrival of the Slavs in Athens in the VI century. The Slavic settlements were referred to by Byzantine Greek historians as "Slavinians". The Slavinians participated in various assaults against the Byzantine Empire — alone or with the help of Bulgars or Avars. Around the year 680 a group of Bulgars, led by the nobleman Kuber, who belonged to the same clan as the Bulgar ruler of the Danube Asparukh, settled in the Pelagonia plain, and launched campaigns over the Thessaloniki region.
At the end of the VII century, Justinian II organized a massive expedition against Slavinia, capturing more than 110 000 Slavs and transferred them to Cappadocia. In the time of Constant II (who also organized campaigns against the Slavs), large numbers of Macedonian Slavs were captured and taken to Asia Minor, where they were forced to acknowledge the authority of the Byzantine emperor and serve in his ranks.
The use of the name "Esclavinia" as a nation on its own it was suspended in Byzantine records after around 836 as the Slavs in the Macedonian region became a population of the Bulgarian Empire. Originally they were two distinct peoples, ancient Macedonians and Bulgarian Slavs; the Bulgars assimilated the Slavic language while maintaining the identity, the Bulgarian name and the name of the empire. The Bulgars incorporated the entire region into their domain in 837. Saints Cyril and Methodius, Byzantine Macedonians born in Thessaloniki, were the creators of the first Glagolitic ("Cyrillic") alphabet. They were also apostle-Christianizers. After 885 the region of Ohrid became an important ecclesiastical center with the appointment of the Saint Clement of Ohrid as "first archbishop in Macedonian language", with residence in this region. In connection with the other disciple of Cyril and Methodius, Saint Naum, he created a flourishing Macedonian cultural center around Ohrid, where more than 3000 students were taught in the Cyrillic alphabet, at what is now called the Ohrid Literary School. Both Ohrid and Skopje became imperial capitals.
By the late X century, much of what is now Macedonia became the political and cultural center of the Tsar Samuel's Macedonian Empire, while Byzantine Emperor Basil II controlled the eastern part of the empire (what is now Bulgaria), including Preslav, then the capital, in 972. The new capital was established at Ohrid, which also became the seat of the Patriarchate of Macedonia. From then on, Bulgaria became a benchmark for Slavic culture. After several decades of almost incessant fighting, Bulgaria fell under Byzantine rule in 1018. The whole of Macedonia was incorporated into the Byzantine Empire as the theme (province) of Bulgaria and the Patriarchate of Bulgaria was reduced to the rank of archbishopric.
In the 13th and 14th centuries, Byzantine control was interrupted by periods of Bulgarian and Serbian rule. After the dissolution of the empire, the area became an independent domain of the local Serbian rulers of the houses of Mrnjavčević and Dragaš. The domain of house Mrnjavčević included the western parts of present-day Macedonia and the domain of house Dragaš included the eastern part. The capital of the home state was Mrnjavčević was Prilep. There are only two known kings of the Mrnjavčević house—Vukasin Mrnjavčević and his son, King Marko. Marko became a vassal of the Ottoman Empire and was later killed in the Battle of Rovine, in which the Wallachian troops faced the Ottomans.
Ottoman Empire
After Dusan's death, a weak successor appeared, and power struggles between nobles divided the Balkans once more. These events 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. Gradually, all of the central Balkans were conquered by the Ottoman Empire and remained under its rule for five centuries as part of the province or Eyalet of Rumelia. The name Rumelia (Turkish: Rumeli) means "land of the Romans" in Turkish, which refers to the lands conquered by the Ottoman Turks from the Byzantine Empire. Over the centuries, Rumelia was reduced in size through administrative reforms, until in the 19th century it consisted of a region from central Albania and northwestern North Macedonia, with its capital at Manastir or present-day Bitola. Rumelia was abolished in 1867 and that Macedonian territory subsequently became part of Manastir Province until the end of Ottoman rule in 1912.
Liberation of the Ottoman Empire
After the First Balkan War of 1912-1913, Vardar Macedonia was made part of Serbia as Vardarska banovina ("Vardar Province") and subsequently the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, whose 1929 constitution also called it Vardarska banovina. The Moscow-based Communist International (Comintern) designed a "Macedonian nation" as a way to prevent further conflicts in the Balkans at the expense of the Bulgarian majority in Vardar Macedonia. This doctrine was adopted in 1934.
Post World War II Period
After World War II, Yugoslavia was reconstituted as a communist state under the leadership of the communist party headed by Josip Broz Tito. In 1944, most of the former province of Vardar was made a separate republic of "Macedonia" (most of the northern territories became part of Serbia). In 1946, the province was given status as a "People's Republic of Macedonia" autonomous in the new Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia. In Yugoslavia's 1963 constitution, it was slightly renamed "Socialist Republic of Macedonia" (like all the others).
By creating this republic in the southernmost part of Yugoslavia and including "Macedonia" on his behalf, Tito's government offended Greece, which had its own province of Macedonia around Thessaloniki, and interpreted this as an attempt to claim Greek territory. The new Yugoslav authorities also imposed the development of the Slavic-Macedonian nationality and the Macedonian language, which offended Bulgaria where many people had close relatives belonging to the new 'Macedonian nation'.
Emancipation
On September 8, 1991, the Republic of Macedonia declared the independence of Yugoslavia as the Republic of Macedonia. Bulgaria was the first country to recognize the Republic of Macedonia under its constitutional name. However, international recognition of the new country was delayed by Greece's objection to the use of what was considered a Hellenic name and flag symbol, as well as a controversial quote from the republic's constitution. The United Nations (UN) recognized the state under the name of "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" (FYROM [1]) in 1993.
Greece was still not satisfied and imposed a trade blockade in February 1994. The sanctions were lifted in September 1995, after the Republic of Macedonia changed its flag and constitution. The two nations agreed to normalize their relations, but the name of the state remained a source of local and international controversy.
After the state was admitted to the UN under the name of FYROM, other international organizations adopted the same convention. Most of the diplomats were accredited to the republic using the FYROM designation. However, at least 40 countries recognized the country by its constitutional name – the Republic of Macedonia, rather than FYROM.
During a cycle of negotiations between the warring parties, on June 12, 2018 Greece and the then Republic of Macedonia certified that they reached an agreement whereby the latter would be officially renamed the "Republic of North Macedonia" and on June 13 On February 2019, the United Nations announced that it accepted the agreement between Greece and North Macedonia on the name change of the latter.
Kosovo War
During the 1999 Kosovo war, Macedonia cooperated with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), although it remained oblivious to the conflict. Some 360,000 Kosovo Albanian refugees entered Macedonia during the war, threatening to upset the balance between the Macedonian and Albanian ethnic groups in the country. Many returned to Kosovo, but ethnic tensions grew.
Macedonia managed to stay out of the Yugoslav Wars for several years, but the conflict eventually caught up with it through the region's Albanian population. In 1999, the war led almost 400,000 Kosovo Albanian refugees to flee to Macedonia, radically affecting the situation in the region and threatening to upset the balance between Slavs and Albanians. Refugee camps were established in the Republic of Macedonia and Greek Macedonia was used as a transit corridor for NATO forces moving into the region and in the face of a possible invasion by Serbia. In the event, Serbian President Slobodan Milošević capitulated and the refugees were allowed to return under UN protection. However, the war increased tensions in the region. Relations between Slavic Macedonians and Albanians became contentious, while in Greece, popular opposition to the war reacted against NATO.
2000s: Rapprochement with the European Union
In the spring of 2001, Albanian rebels calling themselves the National Liberation Army (probably made up of former members of the Kosovo Liberation Army) took up arms in the western Republic of Macedonia, demanding that the constitution be rewritten to accommodate certain ethnic Albanian interests, such as language rights. The guerrillas received support from Albanians in Kosovo (controlled by NATO) and ethnic Albanian guerrillas in the demilitarized zone between Kosovo and the rest of Serbia. The fighting was concentrated in and around Tetovo, the second largest city in the republic.
Following a joint NATO-Serbian joint over Albanian guerrillas in Kosovo, European Union (EU) officials were able to negotiate a ceasefire in June. The government would give Albanians great civil rights, and guerrilla groups would voluntarily surrender their weapons to NATO monitors. This deal was a success, and in August 2001 3,500 NATO soldiers led "Operations Essential Harvest to recover the weapons. Directly after the operation ended in September, the ENL officially dissolved itself. Ethnic relations have improved significantly, although hardliners on both sides have been a continuing cause for concern and some low-level violence continues, particularly directed against the police.
On February 26, 2004, President Boris Trajkovski died in a plane crash in the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The results of the official investigation revealed that the cause of the accident was procedural errors by the crew made during the landing approach at Mostar airport.
FYROM obtained official candidate status for membership in the EU in December 2005 after formally applying for it in January 2004. FYROM reportedly resolved disputes with Greece, but must resolve its disputes with Bulgaria before that a positive decision can be reached.
2010s and today
In June 2017, Zoran Zaev of the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) was appointed as the new prime minister six months after early elections. The new center-left government ended 11 years of conservative VMRO-DPMNE rule led by former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski.
In June 2018, the Prespa agreement was reached between the governments of Greece and the then Republic of Macedonia to change the name of the latter to the Republic of North Macedonia, or North Macedonia for short. This agreement, after having been accepted by the respective legislatures of both countries, entered into force on February 12, 2019, thus putting an end to the disputes.
Stevo Pendarovski (SDSM) was sworn in as the new President of North Macedonia in May 2019. Early parliamentary elections took place on July 15, 2020. Zoran Zaev has again served as Prime Minister of the Republic of North Macedonia North since August 2020. Prime Minister Zoran Zaev announced his resignation after his party, the Social Democratic Union, suffered losses in the October 2021 local elections. After internal party leadership elections, Dimitar Kovačevski succeeded him as leader of the SDSM on December 12, 2021, and was sworn in as Prime Minister of North Macedonia on January 16, 2022, securing a 62-46 vote of confidence in Parliament for his new SDSM-led coalition Cabinet.