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- This article is about the region in Greece. For other uses, see Macedonia.
Macedonia (IPA /maceðo'nia/, Greek: Μακεδονία, Makedonia) is the largest and the second most populous region of Greece. Together with the regions of Thrace and Epirus, it is often referred to unofficially as northern Greece. It is located at coordinates 40°45′N 22°54′E / 40.750°N 22.900°E / 40.750; 22.900.
It is part of a larger Balkan region also known in modern times as Macedonia, until 1912 was under the Ottoman Empire. The region of Macedonia was divided in 1913 among its neighbours Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria. Greek Macedonia represents just over half of the wider region of Macedonia, with the remainder now falling within the territory of Bulgaria and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
Local government
Macedonia is divided into three peripheries comprising thirteen prefectures or nomoi. The prefectures are further divided into demoi (municipalities) or koinotetes (roughly equivalent to British or Australian shires). The geographical region of Macedonia also includes the male-only autonomous monastic republic of Mount Athos, but this is not part of the Macedonia precincts. Indeed, Mount Athos lies outside the jurisdiction of most Greek and European laws, - due to to whole mountain's monastic status, it is inaccessible to women.
The three Macedonian peripheries and their prefectures are:
- West Macedonia, comprising:
- Central Macedonia, comprising:
- 5. Pella
- 6. Imathia
- 7. Pieria
- 8. Kilkis
- 9. Thessaloniki
- 10. Chalcidice
- 11. Serres
- and East Macedonia and Thrace, two prefectures of which are in Macedonia:
These are overseen by the national government's Ministry of Macedonia and Thrace.
Macedonia borders the neighboring peripheries of Thessaly and Epirus.
Geography
Macedonia covers an area of some 42,755 km² (16,507 square miles). High ground makes up much of the region with mountains reaching up to 2,000 m (6,500 ft); extensive fertile plains lie along the Aegean Sea coast. Macedonia is traversed by the valleys of the Aliakmon, Axios/Vardaris, Nestos, and Strymon rivers, all of which drain into the Aegean. It borders the countries of Albania, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria, and the Greek provinces of Epirus, Thessaly and Thrace. The offshore island of Thasos is within the precincts of Macedonia; together with Samothrace, it belongs to the region of 'Anatoliki Madedonia kai Thraki' link title.
The region has a population of approximately 2,450,000, and its capital and largest city is Thessaloniki, with a population of around 1,350,000. Other major Macedonian towns and cities include Drama, Edessa, Florina, Grevena, Kastoria, Katerini, Kavala, Kilkis, Kozani, Polygyros, Serai/Serres, and Veria.
Greek Macedonia is sometimes called "Aegean Macedonia" to distinguish it from "Pirin Macedonia" (in Bulgaria) and "Vardar Macedonia" . Although this term is now used mostly by Slavic Macedonians and occasionally in historical contexts, it is strongly disliked by many Greeks, who regard it as implying territorial claims on Greek Macedonia due to the origin and the usage of that term. The area in South Slavic languages is also called Makedonija.
History
Demography
The demographic history of the region of Macedonia is characterized by uncertainty both about numbers and identification. The 1904 Ottoman census of Hilmi Pasha records 373,227 Greeks and 204,317 Bulgarians in the vilaeti of Thessaloniki alone, while it makes no mention on a Macedonian Slavic ethnicity. According to the same census, Greek population was also dominant in the vilaet of Monastiri (Bitola), counting 261,283 Greeks and 178,412 Bulgarians. Hugh Poulton, in his Who Are the Macedonians, notes "assessing population figures is problematic" for the territory of Greek Macedonia before its re-incorporation into Greece in 1912. Poulton cites two sources, the "detailed" Todor Simovksi, a Yugoslavian writer, who puts the total population at slightly more than one million people, of which "more than 360,000 were Macedonian Slavs and just over 250,000 were Macedonian Greeks" . Simovski's use of "Macedonians" refers to the Slavic language-speaking ethnic group, which today self-identifies as ethnic Macedonian. Simovski is not referring to ethnic Greeks residing in Macedonia, who also refer to themselves as Macedonians but in a regional and historical sense. Poulton also cites a Greek writer, Dimitri Nicolaidis, who gives the percentags of "forty-four percent Greek and nine percent Slav". Complicating the issue is the fact that the Slav-speaking population's allegiance was claimed by Bulgarian, Serbian and Macedonian nationalists. The area's remaining population was principally composed of Albanians, Jews, Roma, Turks and Vlachs.
During the first half of the twentieth century, major demographic shifts took place which resulted in the region's population becoming overwhelmingly ethnic Greek. Many of the region's Slavs moved north to Bulgaria and the Serbian-ruled territory that is now the Republic of Macedonia. After the Balkan wars the first population exchange occurred when large numbers of ethnic Greeks were expelled from Bulgaria to the region, and large numbers of Slavs were expelled north. Hundreds of thousands of Asian Greeks from Anatolia were resettled in the region and most Macedonian Turks and other Muslims (of Albanian, Greek, Roma, Slavic and Vlach ethnicity) travelled the opposite way following the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923. A large number of Slavic and Turkish place names and Slavic personal surnames were renamed during this period. On the other sides of the Greek borders the same process of replacing Greek and Turkish place names occurred.
The population was badly affected by the Second World War, during which the large Jewish population of Thessaloniki was almost entirely exterminated by Nazi Germany. Nazi-aligned Bulgaria's occupation forces also deported all Jews in their occupation zone in Greece. Further heavy fighting affected the region during the Greek Civil War which, combined with post-war poverty, drove many inhabitants of rural Macedonia to migrate either to the towns and cities or to emigrate abroad. Even today, many parts of Macedonia are fairly sparsely inhabited.
Greek is by far the most widely spoken language in Macedonia. There are also some smaller linguistic communities, including speakers of the Slavic Macedonian, Armenian, Aromanian, Arvanitic, Ladino, Meglenitic, Romany, and Bulgarian languages. A number of mostly non-native Albanians also live in the region, having immigrated since the collapse of communism in Albania in 1992.
The exact size of the minority groups of Macedonia is unclear, as Greece has not conducted a census on the question of mother tongue since 1951, when 41,017 speakers of the Slavic language were recorded. The Greek government's position is that the native-born minorities are in fact Greeks who happen to speak other languages. This has been a cause of controversy for some time, particularly regarding the Slavic Macedonians, who regard themselves as culturally and linguistically different from the Greek majority. The issue is a sensitive one for many Greeks, and the Greek government's treatment of its minority populations has attracted criticism from international human rights groups . However, the Slavic Macedonians have been represented by their own political party, the "rainbow party" (Ουράνιο Τόξο in Greek), for quite a few years now. Its percentage in the 2004 European Parliament election was 0.1% (with 6176 votes).
Economy and Transport
Despite its rugged terrain, Macedonia possesses some of the richest farmland in Greece in the plain of Drama and the valleys of the Strimon and Axios. A wide variety of foodstuffs and cash crops are grown, including rice, wheat, beans, olives, cotton, tobacco, fruit, grapes, wine and other alcoholic beverages. Food processing and textile weaving constitute the principal manufacturing industries. Tourism is a major industry along the coast, particularly in the Chalcidice peninsula, the island of Thasos and the northern approaches to Mount Olympus.
Thessaloniki is a major port city and industrial centre; Kavala is the other harbour of Macedonia. Apart from the principal airport at Thessaloniki, airports also exist in Kavala, Kozani and Kastoria. The "Via Egnatia" motorway crosses the full distance of Macedonia, linking its main cities.
See also
External links
- Macedonian information center
- The truth about Macedonia
- Museums of Macedonia
- Region of Central Macedonia
- Region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace
- City of Thessaloniki
- City of Edessa
- University of Macedonia
- University of Western Macedonia
- Macedonian Press Agency
- An online review of Macedonian affairs, history and culture
- Map of Macedonia
- Pan-Macedonian Network
- Macedonia, The Historical Profile of Northern Greece
- Macedonia guide for visitors
- Macedonia On The Web
Notes and references
- . ISBN 0253213592 http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&id=8_zeaeTOz6YC&pg=PA85&lpg=PA85&dq=85&prev=http://books.google.com/books%3Fq%3D%2522Who%2Bare%2Bthe%2BMacedonians%2522%2BPoulton&sig=NobKDU7Unvc2AqCZLCn0vSM5VIo.
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