Macedonia

The contemporary country of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), referred to here as Macedonia, is a small, democratic nation nestled on the Balkan peninsula with Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Greece to the south, and Yugoslavia (Kosovo and Serbia) to the north. In terms of land mass, with 25,333 square kilometers (9,781 square miles), Macedonia is roughly the size of the American state of Vermont. Macedonia, which is a multi-party democracy, became a republic in 1991 when it broke off from the federation of states that had comprised Yugoslavia after World War II.

Macedonia (Makedonija in the slavic Macedonian language), has a population of 2,041,467 people, with a population growth rate of 0.04 percent. The country's rural population is about 38 percent. Macedonia is comprised of 66.6 percent ethnic Macedonians, 22.7 percent ethnic Albanians, 4.0 percent ethnic Turks, 2.2 percent Romanys, 2.1 percent Serbs, and 2.4 percent other minorities such as Vlachs and Bosnians. However, any census taken to date remains disputed by all parties.

The percentage of Gross National Product (GNP) that is spent on education is approximately 5.1 percent. The literacy rate in Macedonia is somewhat different for males and females, with 94 percent of males and 84 percent of females aged 10 and older with the ability to read and write.

Geographic Macedonia, to be distinguished from today's nation of Macedonia (FYROM), is the entire Balkan region stretching northwest to northeast from the Sâr mountains to the Osogoveska mountains to the Rila mountains, over to the eastern Pirin and Rhodope mountains. Across to the southwest, geographic Macedonia is cupped by the Pindus mountains, and to the south is Mount Olympus, Greece, and the Aegean Sea. There is, however, little agreement as to the precise borders of geographic Macedonia.

Macedonia has a complicated history in part because it has long been the crossroads of Eastern Europe. Ancient invaders traversed Asia Minor and Europe, first bringing the Vlachs (descendants of the Romanic Thracians) to mix with Greeks and smaller indigenous tribes. The Albanians inside Macedonia's current western border could be the descendants of the early Illyrians and possibly also the Thracians. In Classical times, Macedonia was permeated by Greek influences, although total control of Macedonia by Greece was inhibited by the harsh geographic and climatic differences between the two regions. The Turks ruled Macedonia for 500 years during the Ottoman Empire. Later, rule over Macedonia changed hands among the varied states of Serbia, Bulgaria, and Greece. When the Ottoman Empire fell in the early twentieth century, Macedonia came under Serbian rule.

After World War I, geographic Macedonia was divided among Greece, Serbia, and Bulgaria. Macedonians in what had become Greek territory (Aegean Macedonia) were penalized for speaking Macedonian and many were expelled. During World War II, Yugoslavia disintegrated into civil war. Bulgaria regained portions of Vardar Macedonia, eastern Aegean Macedonia, and a small part of western Aegean Macedonia. Following WWII, Josip Broz Tito gained power in Yugoslavia and incorporated the remaining Macedonian territory into Yugoslavia. Thus, by the end of WWII, several separate republics had been incorporated into Yugoslavia; Macedonia was the southernmost of these republics.

The Yugoslav government began developing a system of quality, formal education that was similar to systems found in western Europe, but it also had some aspects similar to systems in the Soviet bloc countries, such as required courses in Marxism and National Defense. By the end of the twentieth century, conflict in Kosovo and Albanian terrorist activity heightened tensions between Macedonians and Albanians inside Macedonia.