Macedonian nationalism is a general grouping of nationalist ideas and concepts among ethnic Macedonians that were first formed in the late 19th century among separatists seeking the autonomy of the region of Macedonia from the Ottoman Empire. The idea evolved during the early 20th century alongside the first expressions of ethnic nationalism among the Slavs of Macedonia. The separate Macedonian nation gained recognition during World War II when the Socialist Republic of Macedonia was created as part of Yugoslavia. Macedonian historiography has since established links between the ethnic Macedonians and various historical events and individual figures that occurred in and originated from Macedonia, which range from the Middle Ages up to the 20th century. Following the independence of the Republic of Macedonia in the late 20th century, issues of Macedonian national identity have become contested by the country's neighbours, as some adherents to aggressive Macedonian nationalism, called Macedonism, hold more extreme beliefs such as an unbroken continuity between ancient Macedonians, and modern ethnic Macedonians, and views connected to the irredentist concept of a United Macedonia, which involves territorial claims on a large portion of Greece and Bulgaria, along with smaller regions of Albania, Kosovo and Serbia.
Ogledalo issued by Kiril Peychinovich and printed in 1816 in Budapest. It was inspired by a movement on Mount Athos that was fighting for a liturgical renewal within the Orthodox Church. According to the book's title page, it was written in the "most common Bulgarian language of Lower Moesia". Today geographic Macedonia was traditionally called by the local Slavic-speakers either 'Bulgaria' or 'Lower Moesia', but after the Greek War of Independence these names were gradually replaced by 'Macedonia'.
In 1844, this "Alexander Romance" was published in Belgrade, translated from Greek into Bulgarian by Hristo Popvasilev from Karlovo. This book, according to Blaze Ristovski, played an essential role in awakening Macedonianism, which in the middle of the 19th century was still in its infancy.
The Macedonian Question an article from 1871 by Petko Slaveykov published in the newspaper Macedonia in Carigrad (now Istanbul). In this article, Petko Slaveykov writes: "We have many times heard from the Macedonists that they are not Bulgarians, but they are rather Macedonians, descendants of the Ancient Macedonians, and we have always waited to hear some proofs of this, but we have never heard them. The Macedonists have never shown us the bases of their attitude."
Cover of the "General History of the Macedonian Slavs", completed in 1892 in Sofia by Georgi Pulevski. Its author who endorsed the concept of an ethnic Macedonian identity, claimed the ancient inhabitants of Macedonia were not Hellenic but Slav-Macedonian.
Macedonian is an Eastern South Slavic language. It is part of the Indo-European language family, and is one of the Slavic languages, which are part of a larger Balto-Slavic branch. Spoken as a first language by around 1.6 million people, it serves as the official language of North Macedonia. Most speakers can be found in the country and its diaspora, with a smaller number of speakers throughout the transnational region of Macedonia. Macedonian is also a recognized minority language in parts of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania, and Serbia and it is spoken by emigrant communities predominantly in Australia, Canada and the United States.
Krste Petkov Misirkov (pictured) was the first to outline the distinctiveness of the Macedonian language in his book Za makedonckite raboti (On the Macedonian Matters), published in 1903.
Macedonian police car, with the Macedonian word Полиција (Policija), for "police".