The name Macedonia is used in a number of competing or overlapping meanings to describe geographical, political and historical areas, languages and peoples in a part of south-eastern Europe. It has been a major source of political controversy since the early 20th century. The situation is complicated because different ethnic groups use different terminology for the same entity, or the same terminology for different entities, with different political connotations.
The contemporary geographical region of Macedonia is not officially defined by any international organization or state. In some contexts it appears to span six states: Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Kosovo, the Republic of Macedonia and Serbia Aegean Macedonia (or Greek Macedonia) Pirin Macedonia (or Bulgarian Macedonia) Vardar Macedonia (or North Macedonia) Mala Prespa and Golo Bardo Gora and Prohor Pchinski
Macedonians or Macedonian Bulgarians, sometimes also referred to as Macedono-Bulgarians, Macedo-Bulgarians, or Bulgaro-Macedonians are a regional, ethnographic group of ethnic Bulgarians, inhabiting or originating from the region of Macedonia. Today, the larger part of this population is concentrated in Blagoevgrad Province but much is spread across the whole of Bulgaria and the diaspora.
The Bitola inscription is a marble slab with Cyrillic letters of Ivan Vladislav from 1016. The text reports that he was Tsar of Bulgaria and Bulgarian by birth, and his subjects were Bulgarians.
Portrait of the Skopjan Konstantin Asen who was a Bulgarian Tsar (1257-1277).
Portrait of the forefather of the Bulgarian national revival Paisius of Hilandar (1722-1773) from Bansko.
The cover of the book "Folk Songs of the Macedonian Bulgarians" published in 1860, in Belgrade by Stefan Verkovic.
