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132-620: The name (in the form Elbasan also in Aromanian ) is derived from the Ottoman Turkish il-basan ("the fortress"). In August 2010 archaeologists discovered two Illyrian graves near the walls of the castle of Elbasan. In the second century BC, a Roman trading post recorded in Latin as Mansio Scampa (also in Ancient Greek : Σκάμπα ) near the site of modern Elbasan developed close to

264-611: A United Macedonia . With the Bled agreement , in 1947 Bulgaria formally confirmed the envisioned unification of the Macedonian region, but postponed this act until after the formation of the future Federation. It was the first time it accepted the existence of a separate Macedonian ethnicity and language. After the Tito–Stalin split the region of Pirin Macedonia remained part of Bulgaria and later

396-461: A Greek influence. Other differences are the sound /ts/ , which corresponds to Romanian /tʃ/ , and the sounds: /ʎ/ and /ɲ/ , which exist only in local variants in Romanian. Aromanian is usually written with a version of the Latin script with an orthography that resembles both that of Albanian (in the use of digraphs such as dh , sh , and th ) and Italian (in its use of c and g ), along with

528-406: A Ta, s’yinã amirãria a Ta, si facã vrearea a Ta, cum tu tser, ashã sh'pisti loc. Pãnia a nostã, atsa di cathi dzuã, dãnu sh’azã, sh‘ yiartãni amartiili a nosti, ashe cum li yiãrtãm sh’noi a amãrtor a noci, sh’nu ni du la pirazmo, ma viagljãni di atsel rãu. Cã a Ta esti amirãria sh'puteria, a Tatãlui shi Hiljãlui shi a Ayiului Spirit, tora, totãna sh’tu eta a etilor. Amin. Tati

660-497: A Tatãlui shi Hiljãlui sh a Ayiului Duhu, tora, totna sh tu eta a etilor. Amen. The Macedonian Aromanian publicist, translator and writer Dina Cuvata  [ bg ; mk ] translated Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as follows: Tuti iatsãli umineshtsã s'fac liberi shi egali la nãmuzea shi ndrepturli. Eali suntu hãrziti cu fichiri shi sinidisi shi lipseashti un cu alantu sh si poartã tu duhlu

792-563: A bid to become the alliance's 30th member. On 30 July, the parliament of Macedonia approved plans to hold a non-binding referendum on changing the country's name , which took place on 30 September. Ninety-one percent of voters voted in favour with a 37% turnout, but the referendum was not carried because of a constitutional requirement for a 50% turnout. On 6 February 2019, the permanent representatives of NATO member states and Macedonian Foreign Affairs Minister Nikola Dimitrov, signed in Brussels

924-592: A common stage of all the Eastern Romance varieties. An important source of dissimilarity between Romanian and Aromanian is the adstratum languages (external influences); whereas Romanian has been influenced to a greater extent by the Slavic languages , Aromanian has been more influenced by Greek , with which it has been in close contact throughout its history. Aromanian is native to Albania , Bulgaria , Greece , North Macedonia , Romania and Serbia . In 2018, it

1056-554: A deep moat and three gates. The name Elbasan is thought to mean 'the flat fortress' in Albanian or ‘the flat province’ in Turkish. He had built the castle in order to fight Skanderbeg , due to an ongoing conflict between the Ottomans and Albanians. It became the seat of Sanjak of Elbasan , a centre of Ottoman urban civilisation over the next 445 years. Although Halil Inalcik explains that

1188-532: A different historical context and cultural heritage. In August 2017, what was then the Republic of Macedonia signed a friendship agreement with Bulgaria, aiming to end the "anti-Bulgarian ideology" in the country and to solve the historical issues between the two. Under the Prespa agreement , signed with Greece on 17 June 2018, the country agreed to change its name to the Republic of North Macedonia and stop public use of

1320-404: A etãlu. Amin. Tatã a nostu, tsi eshtsã tu tseru, s'ayiseascã numa a Ta, s'yinã amirãriljea a Ta, si facã vrearea a Ta, cumu tu tseru, ashi sh'pisti locu. Pãnea a nostã atsea di cathi dzuã dãnãu sh'adzã sh'yiartãnã amãrtiile a noasti ashi cum ilj yirtãmu sh'noi a amãrtoshloru a noshtsã. Sh'nu nã du tu pirazmo, Sh'aveagljinã di atsel arãulu. Cã a Ta easti Amirãriljia sh'putearea

1452-567: A frãtsãljiljei. The following text is given for comparison in Aromanian and in Romanian , with an English translation. The spelling of Aromanian is that decided at the Bitola Symposium of August 1997. The word choice in the Romanian version was such that it matches the Aromanian text, although in modern Romanian other words might have been more appropriate. The English translation is only provided as

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1584-579: A guide to the meaning, with an attempt to keep the word order as close to the original as possible. North Macedonia in Europe  (dark grey)  –  [ Legend ] North Macedonia ( / ˌ m æ s ɪ ˈ d oʊ n i ə / MASS -ih- DOH -nee-ə ), officially the Republic of North Macedonia , is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe . It shares land borders with Greece to

1716-570: A junction of two branches of an important Roman road, the Via Egnatia , which connected the Adriatic coast with Byzantium . It was one of the most important routes of the Roman Empire . By the third or fourth century AD, this place had grown into a real city protected by a substantial Roman fortress with towers; the fort covered around 300 square meters. This city appears on late antique itineraries like

1848-500: A member of the United Nations (UN) in 1993, but as a result of a dispute with Greece over the name "Macedonia" , it was admitted under the provisional description "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" (abbreviated as "FYR Macedonia" or "FYROM"). In 2018, the dispute was resolved with an agreement that the country should rename itself "Republic of North Macedonia". This renaming came into effect in early 2019. North Macedonia

1980-541: A national cause, contested among Bulgarian, Greek, and Serbian nationalists. During the interwar period the use of the name "Macedonia" was prohibited in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia , due to the implemented policy of Serbianisation of the local Slavic-speakers. The name "Macedonia" was adopted officially for the first time at the end of the Second World War by the new Socialist Republic of Macedonia , which became one of

2112-449: A national holiday being celebrated nationwide, in all Albania. Elbasan is twinned with: Elbasan also has cooperation and friendship relationships with: Aromanian language The Aromanian language (Aromanian: limba armãneascã , limba armãnã , armãneashti , armãneashte , armãneashci , armãneashce or limba rãmãneascã , limba rãmãnã , rrãmãneshti ), also known as Vlach or Macedo-Romanian ,

2244-471: A national minority. Aromanian, Daco-Romanian (Romanian), Istro-Romanian language , and Megleno-Romanian language are descendants of a proto-language called Common Romanian , itself descending from the Proto-Romance language . No later than the 10th century Common Romanian split into southern and northern dialects, and Aromanian and Romanian have developed differently from these two distinct dialects of

2376-416: A nost tsi esht tu tser, s’ayiãsiaste numa a Ta, s’zine amirãria a Ta, si fache vrera a Ta, cum tu tser, ashe sh'pisti loc. Penia a noste, atsa di cathi dzue, denu sh’aze, sh‘ yiartãni amartiãli a nosti, ashe cum li yiãrtem sh’noi a amãrtor a noci, sh’nu ni du la pirazmo, ma viagãni di atsel reu. Che a Ta esti amirãria sh'putera, al Tati shi al Hiyiu shi al Ayiu Duh, tora, totãna sh’tu eta

2508-633: A reintroduction of anti-Bulgarian measures. Bulgarian teachers and clergy were expelled, Bulgarian language signs and books removed, and all Bulgarian organisations dissolved. Also after the Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine , the Strumica region was annexed to Serbian Macedonia in 1919. The Serbian government pursued a policy of forced Serbianisation in the region, which included systematic suppression of Bulgarian activists, altering family surnames, internal colonisation, exploiting workers, and intense propaganda. To aid

2640-468: A significant minority at around 25%, followed by Turks , Roma , Serbs , Bosniaks , Aromanians and a few other minorities. The region's history begins with the kingdom of Paeonia . In the late sixth century BC, the area was subjugated by the Persian Achaemenid Empire , then incorporated into the Kingdom of Macedonia in the fourth century BC. The Roman Republic conquered the region in

2772-656: A strong impetus mostly among people doing business in the cities. The Romanian state began opening schools for the Romanian-influenced Vlachs in the 1860s, but this initiative was regarded with suspicion by the Greeks, who thought that Romania was trying to assimilate them. 19th-century travellers in the Balkans such as W. M. Leake and Henry Fanshawe Tozer noted that Vlachs in the Pindus and Macedonia were bilingual, reserving

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2904-478: A way of putting pressure on Greece as well as for the purposes of domestic identity-building. Statues of Alexander the Great and Philip of Macedon have been erected in several cities across the country. Additionally, many pieces of public infrastructure, such as airports, highways, and stadiums were renamed after Alexander and Philip. These actions were seen as deliberate provocations in neighbouring Greece, exacerbating

3036-593: Is a sensitive one, partly because of opposition within the Greek Vlachs community to actions leading to the introduction of the language into the education system, viewing it as an artificial distinction between them and other Greeks. For example, the former education minister, George Papandreou , received a negative response from Greek-Aromanian mayors and associations to his proposal for a trial Aromanian language education programme. The Panhellenic Federation of Cultural Associations of Vlachs expressed strong opposition to

3168-632: Is also a member of NATO , the Council of Europe , the World Bank , OSCE , CEFTA , BSEC and the WTO . Since 2005, it has also been a candidate for joining the European Union . North Macedonia is an upper-middle-income country according to the World Bank 's definitions and has undergone considerable economic reform since its independence in developing an open economy . It is a developing country , ranked 82nd on

3300-609: Is an Eastern Romance language , similar to Megleno-Romanian , Istro-Romanian and Romanian , spoken in Southeastern Europe . Its speakers are called Aromanians or Vlachs (a broader term and an exonym in widespread use to define Romance communities in the Balkans). Aromanian shares many features with modern Romanian , including similar morphology and syntax, as well as a large common vocabulary inherited from Latin . They are considered to have developed from Common Romanian ,

3432-595: Is an old monastery and orthodox church where notably Saint Jovan Vladimir was buried until 1995 when his remains were transferred to the Orthodox Cathedral in Tirana, being brought back to the monastery only for his feast days. Elbasan is home to the National Autocephalous Albanian Church ( Albanian : Kisha Autoqefale Kombetare ), a relatively new Orthodox Autocephalous church that split from

3564-570: Is due to the historical predominance of the Greek language in the region and the successive destruction of Aromanian books and documents throughout history. The oldest known written text in the language is an inscription from 1731 by Nektarios Terpos at the Ardenica Monastery , now in Albania. It is followed by the inscription of the so-called Simota Vase , dated to the first half of the 18th century. In

3696-448: Is not standardized . However, there have been some efforts to do so. Notable examples include those of Matilda Caragiu Marioțeanu , Tiberius Cunia  [ bg ; ro ; roa-rup ] and Iancu Ballamaci. Aromanian exhibits several differences from standard Romanian in its phonology, some of which are probably due to influence from Greek or Albanian. It has spirants that do not exist in Romanian, such as /θ, ð, x, ɣ/ and which are

3828-489: Is taught as a subject in some primary schools. In North Macedonia, Aromanian-speakers also have the right to use the language in court proceedings. Since 2006, Aromanian has had the status of a second official municipal language in the city of Kruševo , the only place where Aromanian has any kind of official status apart from general state recognition. Apart from North Macedonia, the Aromanians are also recognized in Albania as

3960-525: The Tabula Peutingeriana and Itinerarium Burdigalense as Scampis or Hiscampis . It took part in the spread of Christianity along the Via, and had a bishop, cathedral and basilicas as early as the fifth century. As a town in a wide river valley it was vulnerable to attacks once the legions were withdrawn but Emperor Justinian made an effort to improve the fortifications. The city survived attacks by

4092-575: The Albanian Orthodox Church in 1995. Father Nikolle Marku is the leader of the new denomination. Elbasan is also home to a Catholic church. Elbasan has four museums: Elbasan is home to the Summer Day festivities, a pagan feast celebrating the end of winter and the coming of summer . Ballokume , a kind of cookie made with butter and cornmeal among other ingredients, is the traditional dessert served on this day. Since 2004, it has become

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4224-685: The Balkan Wars of 1912 and 1913, the modern territory of North Macedonia came under Serbian rule. During the First World War , the territory was ruled by Bulgaria. After the end of the war, it returned to Serbian rule as part of the newly formed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes . During the Second World War , it was again ruled by Bulgaria; and in 1945 it was established as a constituent state of communist Yugoslavia , which it remained until its peaceful secession in 1991 . The country became

4356-588: The Blagoevgrad Province in southwestern Bulgaria. North Macedonia is a landlocked country that is geographically clearly defined by a central valley formed by the Vardar river and framed along its borders by mountain ranges. The terrain is mostly rugged, located between the Šar Mountains and Osogovo , which frame the valley of the Vardar river. Three large lakes— Lake Ohrid , Lake Prespa and Dojran Lake —lie on

4488-630: The Bulgarian Army . The Bulgarian authorities, under German pressure, were responsible for the round-up and deportation of over 7,000 Jews in Skopje and Bitola . Harsh rule by the occupying forces encouraged many Vardar Macedonians to support the Communist Partisan resistance movement of Josip Broz Tito after 1943, and the National Liberation War ensued. In Vardar Macedonia, after

4620-643: The Bulgarian National Revival in the 19th century, many of the reformers were from this region, including the Miladinov brothers , Rajko Žinzifov , Joakim Krčovski , Kiril Pejčinoviḱ and others. The bishoprics of Skopje, Debar , Bitola , Ohrid , Veles , and Strumica voted to join the Bulgarian Exarchate after it was established in 1870. Several movements whose goals were the establishment of an autonomous Macedonia, which would encompass

4752-506: The Bulgarian coup d'état of 1944 , the Bulgarian troops, surrounded by German forces, fought their way back to the old borders of Bulgaria. Under the leadership of the new Bulgarian pro-Soviet government, four armies, 455,000 strong in total, were mobilised and reorganised. Most of them re-entered occupied Yugoslavia in early October 1944 and moved from Sofia to Niš , Skopje and Pristina with

4884-613: The Bulgars and Ostrogoths and was mentioned in the work of Procopius of Cæsarea . Ruins of a Paleochristian basilica, built in the 5th or 6th century AD, were found in Bezistan area. The site seems to have been abandoned until the Ottoman army built a military camp there, followed by urban reconstruction under Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror in 1466. Mehmet constructed a massive four-sided castle with

5016-569: The Codex Dimonie possibly from the early 19th century. Some scholars mention other old, little-studied written instances of Aromanian. German Byzantinist Peter Schreiner dated a small glossary of Aromanian from Epirus in a manuscript of the Chronicle of Ioannina to the 16th or 17th century based on its writing. There are also claims about an Aromanian inscription from 1426 in the St. Zacharia Church in

5148-579: The European Commission . His conviction met with broad condemnation in Greece, where at least one editorial compared the situation to the suppression of Kurdish and other minority languages in Turkey and noted the irony that some prosecutors in fact came from non-Hellenophone families that had once spoken Aromanian or Turkish. Bletsas was eventually acquitted. Tatã a nostu tsi eshti tu tser, si ayisiascã numa

5280-590: The Human Development Index ; and provides social security , a universal health care system, and free primary and secondary education to its citizens. The state's name derives from the Greek word Μακεδονία ( Makedonía ), a kingdom (later, region ) named after the ancient Macedonians . Their name, Μακεδόνες ( Makedónes ), ultimately derives from the ancient Greek adjective μακεδνός ( makednós ), meaning 'tall' or 'taper', which shares

5412-653: The Internal Thracian Revolutionary Organisation (ITRO). In the early years of the organisation, membership eligibility was exclusive to Bulgarians, but later it was extended to all inhabitants of European Turkey regardless of ethnicity or religion. The majority of its members were Macedonian Bulgarians . In 1903, IMRO organised the Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising against the Ottomans , which after some initial successes, including

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5544-843: The Monastery of the Holy Apostles near Kleino (Aromanian: Clinova ), now Greece, there is an inscription in Aromanian dated from around 1780. The St. Athanasius Church in Moscopole, now Albania, also includes an old Aromanian writing. Other early Aromanian manuscripts are the Aromanian Missal potentially from the beginning of the 18th century, the works of Theodore Kavalliotis (1770), Constantin Ucuta (1797), Daniel Moscopolites (1802), Gheorghe Constantin Roja (1808/1809) and Mihail G. Boiagi (1813) and

5676-573: The Moscopole variant; the Muzachiar variant from Muzachia in central Albania; the variant of Bitola; Pelister , Malovište ( Aromanian : Mulovishti ) , Gopeš ( Aromanian : Gopish ) , Upper Beala; Gorna Belica ( Aromanian : Beala di Suprã ) near Struga, Kruševo ( Aromanian : Crushuva ) , and the variant east of the Vardar river in North Macedonia. The Aromanian language

5808-601: The Myzeqe Plain in central Albania. The municipality of Elbasan consists of the administrative units of Bradashesh , Funarë , Gjergjan , Gjinar , Gracen , Labinot-Fushë , Labinot-Mal , Papër , Shirgjan , Shushicë , Tregan , Zavalinë and Elbasan. It covers 872.03 km. According to the Köppen climate classification , Elbasan has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Csa) with an average annual temperature of 13.1 °C (55.6 °F). Industrial development began during

5940-598: The Ohrid–Debar uprising against the Serbian rule. Within a few days the rebels captured the towns of Gostivar, Struga and Ohrid, expelling the Serbian troops. According to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace report, a Serbian army of 100,000 regulars suppressed the uprising. Many were killed and tens of thousands refugees fled to Bulgaria and Albania. During the First World War , most of today's North Macedonia

6072-463: The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe 's Recommendation 1333 (1997) that the tuition of Aromanian be supported so as to avoid its extinction. This recommendation was issued after pressure from the Union for Aromanian Language and Culture in Germany . On a visit to Metsovo , Epirus in 1998, Greek President Konstantinos Stephanopoulos called on Vlachs to speak and teach their language, but its decline continues. A recent example of

6204-405: The Saints Cosmas and Damian church in Sterstan (built in the 18th century), the Saint Michael ( Albanian : Shen Mehilli ) church in Shalës (built in the 17th century), the Saint Mary church in Dragot (built in the 18th century), the Saint Nicholas church of Elbasan (17th century), and the Elbasan Saint Athanasius church of Elbasan (built in 1554). About 7 km away from Elbasan there

6336-426: The Serbs , Bulgarians , Austrians and Italians . Elbasan remained a center of Christianity in Albania even after the Ottoman occupation. After the 1908 Congress of Monastir (in modern Bitola , North Macedonia ) decided to use the Latin alphabet for the written Albanian language , Muslim clerics influenced by the Ottoman Empire held various demonstrations in favor of the Arabic script in Elbasan. In

6468-558: The Vardar Banovina of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) promoted the concept of an Independent Macedonia in the interwar period . Its leaders—including Todor Alexandrov , Aleksandar Protogerov , and Ivan Mihailov —promoted independence of the Macedonian territory split between Serbia and Greece for the whole population, regardless of religion and ethnicity. The Bulgarian government of Alexander Malinov in 1918 offered to give Pirin Macedonia for that purpose after World War I , but

6600-409: The Vergina Sun . It retained the demonym "Macedonian", but clarified this as distinct from the Hellenistic Macedonian identity in northern Greece. The agreement included removal of irredentist material from textbooks and maps in both countries, and official UN recognition of the Slavic Macedonian language . It replaced the bilateral Interim Accord of 1995. The withdrawal of the Greek veto, along with

6732-417: The Yugoslav Wars of the early 1990s. A few very minor changes to its border with Yugoslavia were agreed upon to resolve problems with the demarcation line between the two countries. It was seriously destabilised by the Kosovo War in 1999, when an estimated 360,000 ethnic Albanian refugees from Kosovo took refuge in the country. They departed shortly after the war, and Albanian nationalists on both sides of

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6864-401: The Zog regime with the production of tobacco and alcoholic beverages , and culminated during the communist regime. The city gained prominence after the Chinese built a steel mill in 1974. One travel writer relayed from conversation that during the communist regime, "almost everyone in the country seemed to have a gun, likely manufactured by this Chinese-financed factory in Elbasan," and

6996-411: The accession protocol of North Macedonia into NATO. The protocol was then ratified on 8 February by the Greek parliament, thus completing all the preconditions for putting into force the Prespa agreement. Subsequently, on 12 February the Macedonian government announced the formal activation of the constitutional amendments which effectively renamed the country as North Macedonia and informed accordingly

7128-401: The theme of Macedonia , the name "Macedonia" was largely forgotten as a geographical denomination through the Byzantine and Ottoman eras but was revived by Bulgarian and Greek nationalist movements from the early 19th century onwards. It was revived only in middle of the century, with the rise of nationalism in the Ottoman Empire . In the early 20th century the region was already

7260-413: The "Republic of North Macedonia" eight months later. A non-binding national referendum on the matter passed with 90% approval but did not reach the required 50% turnout amidst a boycott, leaving the final decision with parliament to ratify the result. Parliament approved of the name change on 19 October, reaching the required two-thirds majority needed to enact constitutional changes. The vote to amend

7392-426: The "country did not seem to have tractors, ploughs, or sewing machines." The city also hosts a ferrochrome smelter , which was commissioned in 1989 by the communist regime and now is owned by the Balfin Group . The city was a hub for heavy industry during the communist regime, mostly metallurgic and metal processing factories. All these industries caused big pollution and Elbasan is considered today to be one of

7524-460: The Bulgarian Army, representatives of the Serbian intelligentsia were deported or executed. According to Paul Mojzes the aim of the Bulgarian government was to create pure Bulgarian territories by denationalising the non-Bulgarian Slavic population of Macedonia. After the capitulation of Bulgaria and the end of the First World War, the area returned under Belgrade control as part of the newly formed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and saw

7656-459: The Bulgarian Communist Party revised its view of the existence of a separate Macedonian nation and language. In December 1944, the Anti-fascist Assembly for the National Liberation of Macedonia (ASNOM) proclaimed the People's Republic of Macedonia as part of the People's Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. ASNOM remained an acting government until the end of the war. The Macedonian alphabet was codified by linguists of ASNOM, who based their alphabet on

7788-422: The Byzantine Emperor Basil II defeated his armies, and within four years the Byzantines restored control over the Balkans (modern-day North Macedonia was included into a new province, called Bulgaria ). The rank of the autocephalous Bulgarian Patriarchate was lowered due to its subjugation to Constantinople and it was transformed into the Archbishopric of Ohrid . By the late 12th century, Byzantine decline saw

7920-426: The Farsharot and Grabovean types have neither diphthongs nor the phoneme /ɨ/. The Aromanian alphabet consists of 27 letters and 9 digraphs . In addition, the digraph "gh" ( / ɟ / before "e" and "i") is used as well. The grammar and morphology are very similar to those of other Romance languages: The Aromanian language has some exceptions from the Romance languages, some of which are shared with Romanian :

8052-469: The Great Powers did not adopt this idea because Serbia and Greece opposed it. In 1924, the Communist International (Comintern) suggested that all Balkan communist parties adopt a platform of a " United Macedonia " but the suggestion was rejected by the Bulgarian and Greek communists. IMRO followed by starting an insurgent war in Vardar Macedonia, together with Macedonian Youth Secret Revolutionary Organization , which also conducted guerrilla attacks against

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8184-423: The Latin dialect for inside the home. By 1948, the new Soviet-imposed communist regime of Romania had closed all Romanian-run schools outside Romania and, since the closure, there has been no formal education in Aromanian and speakers have been encouraged to learn and use the Greek language. This has been a process encouraged by the community itself and is not an explicit State policy. The decline and isolation of

8316-468: The North, Kosovo (159 km or 99 mi) to the northwest, Bulgaria (148 km or 92 mi) to the east, Greece (228 km or 142 mi) to the south, and Albania (151 km or 94 mi) to the west. It is a transit way for shipment of goods from Greece, through the Balkans, towards Eastern, Western and Central Europe and through Bulgaria to the east. It is part of the larger region of Macedonia , which also includes Greek Macedonia and

8448-440: The Persians eventually withdrew from their European territories, including from what is today North Macedonia. 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 in 356 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

8580-414: The Romanian-oriented groups was not helped by the fact that they openly collaborated with the Axis powers of Italy and Germany during the occupation of Greece in WWII . In contrast, the vast majority of Vlachs fought in the Greek resistance, including leaders like Alexandros Svolos and Andreas Tzimas , and a number of Vlach villages were destroyed by the Germans. The issue of Aromanian-language education

8712-423: The Sanjak of Elbasan was established as soon as the fortress of Elbasan was constructed in 1466, based on Tursun Beg 's records there is a possibility that Elbasan initially was part of the Sanjak of Ohrid . In 1467 many Christians from Skopje , Ohrid, Serres and Kastoria were forcibly deported to Elbasan. In the late 17th century, the Ottoman traveler Evliya Çelebi passed through Elbasan and noted that "all

8844-443: The Serbian administrative and army officials there. In 1923 in Stip, a paramilitary organisation called Association against Bulgarian Bandits was formed by Serbian chetniks , IMRO renegades and Macedonian Federative Organization (MFO) members to oppose IMRO and MMTRO. On 9 October 1934, IMRO member Vlado Chernozemski assassinated Alexander I of Yugoslavia . The Macedonist ideas increased in Yugoslav Vardar Macedonia and among

8976-457: The United Nations and its member states. In March 2020, after the ratification process by all NATO members was completed, North Macedonia acceded to NATO , becoming the 30th member state. The same month, the leaders of the European Union formally gave approval to North Macedonia to begin talks to join the EU. On 17 November 2020, Bulgaria refused to approve the European Union's negotiation framework for North Macedonia, effectively blocking

9108-406: The ancient kingdom of Paeonia , which was located immediately north of the ancient kingdom of Macedonia . Paeonia was inhabited by the Paeonians , 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

9240-436: The auxiliary verb am (have) as the imperfect ( aviam ) and the past participle, as in Spanish and French , except that French replaces avoir (have) with être (be) for some intransitive verbs. Aromanian shares this feature with Meglenian as well as other languages in the Balkan language area . Only the auxiliary verb inflects according to number and person ( aviam , aviai , avia , aviamu , aviatu , avia ), whereas

9372-431: The blocking of the further country's accession path. The EU's intention regarding the country's accession seems unclear, excluding desire to maintain its geopolitical influence here, countering the Chinese and Russian impact in the Western Balkans. On 25 September 2024, the EU announced the separation of Albania from North Macedonia on the EU accession path, due to the disputes between North Macedonia and Bulgaria. Following

9504-521: The border took up arms soon after in pursuit of autonomy or independence for the Albanian-populated areas of Macedonia. A conflict took place between the government and ethnic Albanian insurgents, mostly in the north and west of the country, between February and August 2001. The war ended with the intervention of a NATO ceasefire monitoring force. Under the terms of the Ohrid Agreement ,

9636-519: The capital of Tsar Stefan Dušan 's empire. Following Dušan's death, a weak successor appeared, and power struggles between nobles divided the Balkans once again. 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, which was seized by the Ottomans at

9768-636: The center of the city, is located the Saint Mary Orthodox Church. The church was built in 1830 on the foundations of an older church, which had partially burned in 1819. Paintings and frescoes of Onufri , restored by David Selenicasi and Kostadin Shelcani can still be seen. The church has been an important religious and cultural center for the Albanian language. Teodor Haxhifilipi , Kostandin Kristoforidhi , and Aleksandër Xhuvani have served in

9900-692: The church. They are the authors of translations into Albanian of many psalms. The church building served as the first Albanian school of Elbasan in modern times, which opened in 1909. Other orthodox churches in the Elbasan District include the Mameli church (built in the 17th century), the Saint Nicholas church ( Albanian : Shen Kolli ) in Shelcan (built in 1554), the Saint Nicholas church in Valesh (built in 1604),

10032-421: The city and the surrounding area remained part of Dardania . After the death of Alexander, Celtic armies began to bear down on the southern regions, threatening the kingdom of Macedon. In 310 BC, they attacked the area, but were defeated. The Romans established the province of Macedonia in 146 BC. By the time of Diocletian , the province had been subdivided between Macedonia Prima ("first Macedonia") on

10164-509: The city to around 75,000 inhabitants. The culmination of this process was the construction of the huge Steel of the Party ( Albanian : Celiku i Partise ) metallurgical complex outside the city, in the Shkumbini valley, built with Chinese assistance in the 1970s. It was emphatically called "The Second National Liberation of Albanian" by Enver Hoxha . The cost of the complex in environmental impact

10296-536: The complete disappearance of verb infinitives , a feature of the Balkan sprachbund . As such, the tenses and moods that, in Romanian, use the infinitive (like the future simple tense and the conditional mood ) are formed in other ways in Aromanian. For the same reason, verb entries in dictionaries are given in their indicative mood, present tense, first-person-singular form. Aromanian verbs are classified in four conjugations. The table below gives some examples and indicates

10428-405: The conjugation of the corresponding verbs in Romanian. The future tense is formed using an auxiliary invariable particle "u" or "va" and the subjunctive mood . In Romanian, declension of the future particle plus an infinitive is used. Whereas in standard Romanian the pluperfect (past perfect) is formed synthetically (as in literary Portuguese ), Aromanian uses a periphrastic construction with

10560-650: The conservative VMRO-DPMNE party, stormed the Macedonian Parliament in response to the election of Talat Xhaferi, an ethnic Albanian and former National Liberation Army commander during the 2001 conflict, as the Speaker of the Assembly. Upon its coming to power in 2006, but especially since the country's non-invitation to NATO in 2008, the VMRO-DPMNE government pursued a policy of " Antiquisation " ("Antikvizatzija") as

10692-693: The constitution and change the name of the country passed on 11 January 2019 in favour of the amendment. The amendment entered into force on 12 February, following the ratification of the Prespa agreement and the Protocol on the Accession of North Macedonia to NATO by the Greek Parliament . Despite the renaming, the country is unofficially referred to as "Macedonia" by most of its citizens and most local media outlets. North Macedonia geographically roughly corresponds to

10824-655: The decision of the Congress of Monastir , which was held in Monastir (modern Bitola , North Macedonia ) to use the Latin alphabet rather than the Arabic script in written Albanian . Albanians, Turks, Aromunians and Sephardic Jews were living in Elbasan. Before the Second World War, Elbasan was a city with a mixture of eastern and medieval buildings, narrow cobbled streets and a large bazaar. There

10956-475: The decision, the EU opened negotiations on the first chapters with Albania separately on October 15, 2024. North Macedonia has a total area of 25,436 km (9,821 sq mi). It lies between latitudes 40° and 43° N , and mostly between longitudes 20° and 23° E (a small area lies east of 23°). North Macedonia has some 748 km (465 mi) of boundaries, shared with Serbia (62 km or 39 mi) to

11088-528: The definite article is a clitic particle appended at the end of the word, both the definite and indefinite articles can be inflected , and nouns are classified in three genders , with neuter in addition to masculine and feminine. Unlike other Romance languages, Aromanian lacks an infinitive form for verbs, the synthetic infinitive inherited from Latin became a noun like in Romanian (for example cântare < CANTARE ). Aromanian grammar has features that distinguish it from Romanian, an important one being

11220-437: The dispute and further stalling the country's EU and NATO applications. The policy has also attracted criticism domestically, as well as from EU diplomats, and, following the Prespa agreement, it has been partly reversed after 2016 by the new SDSM government of North Macedonia. Moreover, per Prespa agreement both countries have acknowledged that their respective understanding of the terms "Macedonia" and "Macedonian" refers to

11352-628: The end of the same century. Gradually, all of the central Balkans were conquered by the Ottoman Empire and remained under its domination for five centuries as part of the province or Eyalet of Rumelia . The name Rumelia ( Turkish : Rumeli ) means "Land of the Romans" in Turkish, referring to the lands conquered by the Ottoman Turks from the Byzantine Empire. Over the centuries, Rumelia Eyalet

11484-742: The entire region of Macedonia, began to arise in the late 19th century; the earliest of these was the Bulgarian Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Committees , later becoming Secret Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization (SMARO). In 1905 it was renamed the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization (IMARO), and after World War I the organisation separated into the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) and

11616-669: The extension of Bulgarian control over the Slavic tribes in and around Macedonia. The Slavic tribes that settled in the region of Macedonia converted to Christianity around the 9th century during the reign of Tsar Boris I of Bulgaria . The Ohrid Literary School became one of the two major cultural centres of the First Bulgarian Empire, along with the Preslav Literary School . Established in Ohrid in 886 by Saint Clement of Ohrid on

11748-511: The first in Aromanian. Even before the incorporation of various Aromanian-speaking territories into the Greek state (1832, 1912), the language was subordinated to Greek , traditionally the language of education and religion in Constantinople and other prosperous urban cities. The historical studies cited below (mostly Capidan ) show that especially after the fall of Moscopole (1788) the process of Hellenisation via education and religion gained

11880-621: The first is the Šar Mountains that continues to the West Vardar/Pelagonia group of mountains ( Baba Mountain , Nidže , Kožuf and Jakupica ), also known as the Dinaric range . The second range is the Osogovo – Belasica mountain chain, also known as the Rhodope range . The mountains belonging to the Šar Mountains and the West Vardar/Pelagonia range are younger and higher than the older mountains of

12012-632: The former two are considered Illyrian . The headwaters of the Axios river are mentioned by Homer as the home of the Paeonians allies of Troy . In the late 6th century BC, the Achaemenid Persians under Darius the Great conquered the Paeonians , incorporating what is today North Macedonia within their vast territories. Following the loss in the Second Persian invasion of Greece in 479 BC,

12144-692: The former village of Linotopi  [ bg ; el ; mk ; sq ] in Greece, but according to Hristu Cândroveanu , it was destroyed during restoration works by order of Greek priests because it was not in Greek. Aromanian is not a homogenous linguistic entity. Its main varieties include the Pindus type, the Gramoste type, the Farsherot type, Olympus type, and the Moscopole type. It has also several regional variants, named after places that were home to significant populations of Aromanians (Vlachs); nowadays located in Albania, North Macedonia and Greece. Examples are

12276-611: The forming of the Kruševo Republic , was crushed with much loss of life. The uprising and the forming of the Kruševo Republic are considered the cornerstone and precursors to the eventual establishment of the Macedonian state. The leaders of the Ilinden uprising are celebrated as national heroes in North Macedonia. The names of IMRO revolutionaries like Gotse Delchev , Pitu Guli , Dame Gruev and Yane Sandanski were included into

12408-695: The government agreed to devolve greater political power and cultural recognition to the Albanian minority. The Albanian side agreed to abandon separatist demands and to recognise all Macedonian institutions fully. In addition, according to this accord, the NLA were to disarm and hand over their weapons to a NATO force. However the Macedonian security forces had two more armed confrontations with Albanian militant groups, in 2007 and 2015 respectively. Inter-ethnic tensions flared in Macedonia in 2012, with incidents of violence between ethnic Albanians and Macedonians. In April 2017, about 200 protesters - reportedly mostly from

12540-588: The implementation of this policy, some 50,000 Serbian army and gendarmerie were stationed in present-day North Macedonia. By 1940 about 280 Serbian colonies (comprising 4,200 families) were established as part of the government's internal colonisation program (initial plans envisaged 50,000 families settling in present-day North Macedonia). In 1929, the Kingdom was officially renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia , and divided into provinces called banovinas . South Serbia, including all of present-day North Macedonia, became

12672-626: The inhabitants speak Albanian" having knowledge of Turkish with Muslim clergy being literate in Persian, while merchants also used the Greek and " Frankish " languages. By the end of the 17th century it had 2,000 inhabitants.The fortress was dismantled by Reshit Pasha in 1832.In 1864, the Sanjak of Elbasan became a part of Monastir Vilayet . In the late nineteenth century, Elbasan was inhabited by 3,000 Muslim families and 280 Orthodox Christian families, of which 100 were old Orthodox Albanian families living in

12804-498: The installation of Prince Wied in 1914. Elbasan was occupied successively by Serbs , Bulgarians , Austrians and Italians between 1915 and 1918. The Bulgarian army occupied Elbasan on January 29, 1916, during Bulgarian occupation of Albania In March 1916 the army of Austria-Hungary took over control of Elbasan From June 1916 to March 1917 Stanislav Kostka Neumann fought with the Austrian army there and called his war memoirs about

12936-663: The left diaspora in Bulgaria during the interwar period. They were supported by the Comintern. In 1934, the Comintern issued a special resolution in which for the first time directions were provided for recognising the existence of a separate Macedonian nation and Macedonian language. During World War II, Yugoslavia was occupied by the Axis powers from 1941 to 1945. The Vardar Banovina was divided between Bulgaria and Italian-occupied Albania. Bulgarian Action Committees were established to prepare

13068-459: The letter ã , used for the sounds represented in Romanian by ă and â/î . It can also be written with a modified Romanian alphabet that includes two additional letters, ń and ľ , and rarely with a version of the Greek script . Compared to Daco-Romanian, the Aromanian varieties have preserved from Proto-Romanian the word-final glide [w] alongside [j] (in the Pindean and Gramostean types), while

13200-452: The local populations to form mixed Byzantine-Slavic communities. Historical records document that in c.  680 a Bulgar ruler called Kuber led a group of largely Christians called Sermesianoi , who were his subjects, and they settled in the region of Pelagonia . They may have consisted of Bulgars, Byzantines, Slavs and even Germanic tribes. There is no more information of Kuber's life. Presian 's reign apparently coincides with

13332-572: The lyrics of the national anthem of the state of North Macedonia " Denes nad Makedonija " ("Today over Macedonia"). The major national holiday of North Macedonia, the Republic Day , is celebrated on 2 August, Ilinden (St. Elijah day), the day of the Ilinden uprising. Following the two Balkan Wars of 1912 and 1913 and the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire , most of its European-held territories were divided between Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia. Almost

13464-481: The most polluted cities of Albania. In recent years Elbasan, like the rest of Albania, has had to deal not only with local pollution, but also with what environmentalists call "imported pollution", because of the waste imported from abroad for the recycling process in private companies. The population of the municipality of Elbasan as of the 2023 census is 115,101, of which 66,834 is in the municipal unit. Elbasan has been occupied by several different groups, including

13596-553: The occupation in Elbasan . Industrial development began in the Zogist period when tobacco and alcohol factories were established. The city was also noted for its good public buildings, advanced educational provisions, public gardens and timber-built shops. There was much wartime damage, which was followed by an intensive programme of industrial development in the Communist period that boosted

13728-569: The official start of accession talks with this country. The explanation from the Bulgarian side was: no implementation of the friendship treaty from 2017, state-supported hate speech, minority claims, and an "ongoing nation-building process" based on historical negationism of the Bulgarian identity, culture and legacy in the broader region of Macedonia . The veto received condemnation by intellectuals from both states and criticism from international observers. Protests broke out in July 2022 , organized by

13860-604: The old Christian neighbourhood within the fortress and 180 Aromanian families residing in the St. Nicholas neighbourhood on the edge of town. At the beginning of the 20th century it was estimated that 15,000 people lived in Elbasan. In 1909, after the Young Turks revolution in Istanbul , an Albanian National Congress was held in Elbasan to study educational and cultural questions. The delegates, all from central and southern Albania, endorsed

13992-449: The opposition parties, over the French proposal for the accession of North Macedonia to the EU . The accession talks for the accession of North Macedonia to the EU officially began in the same month, after the French proposal was passed by the Assembly of North Macedonia. The 2023 European Commission Progress Report has cited the unfulfilled constitutional changes, as the primary reasons for

14124-639: The order of Boris I, the Ohrid Literary School was involved in the spreading of the Cyrillic script . After Sviatoslav's invasion of Bulgaria , the Byzantines took control of East Bulgaria. Samuil was proclaimed Tsar of Bulgaria . He moved the capital to Skopje and then to Ohrid, which had been the cultural and military centre of southwestern Bulgaria since Boris I's rule. Samuil re-established Bulgarian power, but after several decades of conflicts, in 1014,

14256-467: The past participle does not change. The Aromanian gerund is applied to some verbs, but not all. These verbs are: A literature in the Aromanian language exists. The Macedonian Radio Television (MRT) produces radio and television broadcasts in Aromanian. Radio Romania International has Aromanian service producing radio shows in Aromanian. Films produced in the Aromanian language include Toma Enache 's I'm Not Famous but I'm Aromanian (2013),

14388-467: The phonetic alphabet of Vuk Stefanović Karadžić and the principles of Krste Petkov Misirkov . During the civil war in Greece (1946–1949), Macedonian communist insurgents supported the Greek communists. Many refugees fled to the Socialist Republic of Macedonia from there. The state removed "Socialist" from its name in 1991 when it peacefully seceded from Yugoslavia. The new republic became one of

14520-460: The proto language over the course of the next one thousand years. Greek influences are much stronger in Aromanian than in other Eastern Romance languages, especially because Aromanian has used Greek words to coin new words ( neologisms ), especially within Greece, while Romanian has based most of its neologisms on French . However, there has also been an increasing tendency for Aromanian-speakers outside of Greece to borrow terms from Romanian, due to

14652-465: The region contested by various political entities, including a brief Norman occupation in the 1080s. In the early 13th century, a revived Bulgarian Empire gained control of the region. Plagued by political difficulties, the empire did not last, and the region came once again under Byzantine control in the early 14th century. In the 14th century, it became part of the Serbian Empire . Skopje became

14784-640: The region for the new Bulgarian administration and army. The committees were mostly formed by former members of IMRO and Macedonian Youth Secret Revolutionary Organization (MYSRO, but some IMRO (United) former members also participated. As leader of the Vardar Macedonian communists, Metodi Shatorov ("Sharlo") switched from the Yugoslav Communist Party to the Bulgarian Communist Party and refused to start military action against

14916-479: The same root as the adjective μακρός ( makrós , 'long, tall, high') in ancient Greek. The name is believed to have originally meant either 'highlanders' or 'the tall ones', possibly descriptive of the people . According to linguist Robert S. P. Beekes , both terms are of pre-Greek substrate origin and cannot be explained in terms of Indo-European morphology. According to linguist Filip De Decker, Beekes's arguments are insufficiently supported. Apart from

15048-537: The second century BC and made it part of its larger province of Macedonia . The area remained part of the Byzantine Empire , but was often raided and settled by Slavic tribes beginning in the sixth century of the Christian era. Following centuries of contention between the Bulgarian , Byzantine, and Serbian Empires , it was part of the Ottoman Empire from the mid-14th until the early 20th century, when, following

15180-590: The sensitivity of the issue was the 2001 conviction (later overturned in the Appeals Court) to 15 months in jail of Sotiris Bletsas , a Greek Aromanian who was found guilty of "dissemination of false information" after he distributed informative material on minority languages in Europe (which included information on minority languages of Greece), produced by the European Bureau for Lesser Used Languages and financed by

15312-553: The shared alphabet and contact with Romanian over the Internet, where Romanian-language material is much more available than it is in Aromanian. With the arrival of the Turks in the Balkans , Aromanian also received some Turkish words. Still, the lexical composition remains mainly Romance. Compared to other Balkan languages, the earliest documents and manuscripts of Aromanian appear late. This

15444-413: The signing the friendship agreement with Bulgaria, resulted in the European Union on 27 June approving the start of accession talks , which were expected to take place in 2019, under the condition that the Prespa deal was implemented. On 5 July, the Prespa agreement was ratified by the Macedonian parliament with 69 MPs voting in favour of it. On 12 July, NATO invited Macedonia to start accession talks in

15576-486: The six constituent countries of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia . After the breakup of Yugoslavia , this federal entity declared independence and changed its official name to the "Republic of Macedonia" in 1991. Prior to June 2018, the use of the name "Macedonia" was disputed between Greece and the then-Republic of Macedonia . The Prespa agreement of June 2018 saw the country change its name to

15708-569: The six republics of the Yugoslav federation. Following the federation's renaming as the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1963, the People's Republic of Macedonia was likewise renamed the Socialist Republic of Macedonia. North Macedonia officially celebrates 8 September 1991 as Independence day ( Macedonian : Ден на независноста , Den na nezavisnosta ), with regard to the referendum endorsing independence from Yugoslavia . The anniversary of

15840-419: The south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the north. It constitutes approximately the northern third of the larger geographical region of Macedonia . Skopje , the capital and largest city, is home to a quarter of the country's population of 1.83 million. The majority of the residents are ethnic Macedonians , a South Slavic people . Albanians form

15972-453: The south, encompassing most of the kingdom of Macedon, and Macedonia Salutaris (meaning "wholesome Macedonia", 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. Roman expansion brought the Scupi area under Roman rule in

16104-434: The southern borders, bisected by the frontiers with Albania and Greece. Ohrid is considered to be one of the oldest lakes and biotopes in the world. The region is seismically active and has been the site of destructive earthquakes in the past, most recently in 1963 when Skopje was heavily damaged by a major earthquake, killing over 1,000. North Macedonia also has scenic mountains. They belong to two different mountain ranges:

16236-706: The start of the Ilinden Uprising ( St. Elijah 's Day) on 2 August is also widely celebrated on an official level as the Day of the Republic . Robert Badinter , as the head of the Arbitration Commission of the Peace Conference on Yugoslavia , recommended EC recognition in January 1992. On 15 January 1992, Bulgaria was the first country to recognise the independence of the republic. Macedonia remained at peace through

16368-674: The strategic task of blocking the German forces withdrawing from Greece. The Bulgarian army would reach the Alps in Austria, participating in the expulsion of the Germans to the west, through Yugoslavia and Hungary. Compelled by the Soviet Union with a view towards the creation of a large South Slav Federation , in 1946 the new Communist government, led by Georgi Dimitrov , agreed to give Bulgarian Macedonia to

16500-550: The territory that was to become North Macedonia was annexed by Serbia conforming to the treaty of peace concluded at Bucharest. However, Strumica region was passed to Bulgaria. Following the partition, an anti-Bulgarian campaign was carried out in the areas under Serbian and Greek control. As many as 641 Bulgarian schools and 761 churches were closed by the Serbs, while Exarchist clergy and teachers were expelled. The use of all Macedonian dialects and standard Bulgarian were proscribed. IMRO, together with local Albanians, organised

16632-472: The time of Domitian (81–96 AD), and it fell within the Province of Moesia . Whilst Greek remained the dominant language in the eastern part of the Roman empire, especially south of the Jireček Line , Latin spread to some extent in Macedonia. Slavic tribes settled in the Balkan region including North Macedonia by the late 6th century AD. They were led by Pannonian Avars . The Slavs settled on places of earlier settlements and probably merged later with

16764-638: The whole police structure, enforcing the Bulgarisation of the region. According to Robert Gerwarth , the Bulgarian denationalisation policy, including its paramilitary aspect, was almost identical in its intent and execution to the Serbian policy that preceded it. Bulgarian language was to be exclusively used, Serbian Cyrillic was forbidden, Serbian priests were arrested and deported, Serbian-sounding names had to be changed to Bulgarian ones, school teachers were brought from Bulgaria while Serbian books were taken from schools and libraries and publicly destroyed. Adult males were sent to labour camps or forced to join

16896-558: Was a clearly defined Muslim settlement within the castle walls, an Aromanian district on the outskirts of the city and several fine mosques and Islamic buildings. At the time the population was about 15,000 people. The very first teachers' training college in Albania, the Shkolla Normale e Elbasanit , was established in Elbasan. During First Balkan War , it was occupied by Serbian troops on 29 November 1912. They withdrew from Elbasan on 25 October 1913 due to United Kingdom and Austria Hungary's ultimatum. The Muslim majority of Elbasan opposed

17028-428: Was estimated that Aromanian had 210,000 native speakers, of which 50,000 were in Albania, 50,000 in Greece, 50,000 in Romania, 32,000 in Serbia, 18,200 in North Macedonia, and 9,800 in Bulgaria. Aromanian-speakers also exist in the diaspora, with at least 53 speakers recorded to be living in Australia at the time of the 2021 Australian census . Aromanian has a degree of official recognition in North Macedonia, where it

17160-410: Was high for the Shkumbin valley. Elbasan Railway Station was opened in 1950. In 2014, the Albanian government reconstructed former Ruzhdi Bizhuta Stadium. The renovated Elbasan Arena became the home stadium of the Albania national football team and Albania's de facto stadium meeting FIFA's criteria. The city of Elbasan lies to the north of the river Shkumbin between the Skanderbeg Mountains and

17292-452: Was part of the Bulgarian occupied zone of Serbia after the country was invaded by the Central Powers in the fall of 1915. The region was known as the "Military Inspection Area of Macedonia" and was administered by a Bulgarian military commander. A policy of Bulgarisation of the region and its population was immediately initiated, during the period the IMRO arose from a clandestine organisation to serve as gendarmerie, taking control of

17424-409: Was reduced in size through administrative reforms, until by the 19th century it consisted of a region of central Albania and western North Macedonia with its capital at Manastir or present-day Bitola . Rumelia Eyalet was abolished in 1867 and that territory of Macedonia subsequently became part of vilayets of Manastir , Kosova and Selanik until the end of Ottoman rule in 1912. With the beginning of

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