Macedonian History

In ancient times the historical region known as Macedonia was controlled by the Greeks, Romans, Bulgarians, Byzantines, Serbs, and Ottoman Turks. They were constantly fighting over the territory. The Ottoman Turks kept power over Macedonia until the beginning of the 20th century. In 1918 as a result of the Balkan Wars, held between Serbia and Greece, Vardar Macedonia became part of the new “Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes”. From 1929 it was called Yugoslavia. After World War II a new Macedonian nation was formed, but the republic’s neighbors didn’t accept it as legislative. The first multi-party elections in the country were held in December 1990, following the collapse of communism in Yugoslavia. During the international recognition Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia has some territorial claims with Greece. The country joined the United Nations in April 1993. The same year because of violent conflicts Macedonia had to close its border with Kosovo. The crisis erupted again at the beginning of 2001. Nowadays the situation in the country is rather peaceful but still very tense.