Macedonia, country in the central Balkans, bordered by bulgaria, serbia, kosovo, albania, greece, officially the Republic of Macedonia but still described by the UN as FYROM (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) due to an ongoing dispute over the name Macedonia, which Greece has registered as a pgi. The geographical and historical region of Macedonia covers a much larger area, including parts of Greece and south-western Bulgaria. At one time, under the rule of Philip II (359 bc) and then his son Alexander the Great (until his early death in 323 bc), it was the most powerful state in the world. By 146 bc it had been defeated and became a Roman province. Like the rest of the Balkans, Macedonia came under Ottoman rule for five centuries until 1913. The region of Macedonia was then partitioned between Bulgaria, Greece, and Serbia (this last part went on to become today’s republic). After the Second World War, Macedonia became part of the kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, later to become part of yugoslavia. Secession from Yugoslavia was recognized in 1992, and Macedonia largely avoided the intra-ethnic bloodshed that afflicted so many of its neighbours. A rebel uprising in 2001 was brought to a relatively peaceful conclusion, with increased recognition for the ethnic albanians, who make up about a quarter of the population. The Republic of Macedonia became an eu candidate country in 2005 although progress towards membership is hampered by the dispute with Greece over names.
