Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of the Balkan Peninsula in Southeast Europe. Its boundaries have changed considerably over time; however, it came to be defined as the modern geographical region by the mid-19th century. Today the region is considered to include parts of six Balkan countries: all of North Macedonia, large parts of Greece and Bulgaria, and smaller parts of Albania, Serbia, and Kosovo. It covers approximately 67,000 square kilometres (25,869 sq mi) and has a population of around five million. Greek Macedonia comprises about half of Macedonia's area and population.
The kingdom of Macedon with its provinces
Distribution of ethnic groups in Macedonia in 1892 (Deutsche Rundschau für Geographie und Statistik – German Bevieiofor Geography and Statistics)
Distribution of ethnic groups in the Balkan Peninsula and Asia Minor in 1910 (Historical Atlas by William R. Shepherd, New York)
Saint Gregory Palamas Cathedral in Thessaloniki
North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to 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 1.83 million people population. The majority of the residents are ethnic Macedonians, a South Slavic people. Albanians form a significant minority at around 25%, followed by Turks, Roma, Serbs, Bosniaks, Aromanians and a few other minorities.
Heraclea Lyncestis, a city founded by Philip II of Macedon in the 4th century BC; ruins of the Byzantine "Small Basilica"
Miniature from the Manasses Chronicle, depicting the defeat of Samuil by Basil II and the return of his blinded soldiers
Nikola Karev, head of the provisional government of the short-lived Kruševo Republic during the Ilinden uprising
Celebration of the Ilinden Uprising in Kruševo during WWI Bulgarian occupation of Southern Serbia.