North Macedonia

Where the name comes from

North Macedonia names the northern part of historic Macedonia; ancient Greek makednos, “tall”, may describe the Macedonians as “highlanders” or “tall people”.

First people

Slavic-speaking Macedonians, Albanians and other communities share the region’s history, and the ancient kingdom of Paeonia lay here.^1,2

Known for

North Macedonia is known for Lake Ohrid, one of Europe’s oldest lakes, with the old town of Ohrid on its shore.³

Outside contact

The Ottomans took Skopje in 1392, and Serbia annexed the area in 1913.¹

The modern country

It joined the South Slav kingdom in 1918 and became independent from Yugoslavia in 1991; it took its present name in 2019 after an agreement with Greece, and joined NATO in March 2020.⁴