"History of Skopje" a Skopje Travel Page by Olgeorg

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GEOGRAPHIC POSITION

GEOGRAPHIC POSITION

Skopje (also known as Skoplje, Shkupi, Uskub, Skopia) is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Macedonia. It's located in the north-western part of the republic and it's 169 km away from the second largest city in Macedonia, Bitola. It lies on the both banks on the upper course of the Vardar river and on the meridian passing through the Morava-Vardar valley. Near the city passes the main Balkan artery, the E-75 motorway, which is being modernized. This road connects Skopje with Belgrade (440 km away) and Solun (Thessaloniki) and the Aegean sea (250 km) in the eastern Mediterranean. Skopje is just 490 km away from Athens, from Sophia (Sofija) 170 km & from Bucharest 460 km away.
Many other communications that lead to Skopje or pass through it branch off this road. Surmounting the gorge of Kačanik, one road leads to the Serbian province of Kosovo, and continues on to the blue and wonderful Adriatic Sea. This road begins in Skopje, passes by Priština, Kosovska Mitrovica, leads through Rožaj, Podgorica to the Montenegrin coast and brings Skopje closer, just 400 km to the Adriatic coast.
Skopje's location is not important only now, it also has a great future importance. This town has always been an administrative, cultural, political and traffic centre. The strategic importance of Skopje's geographic position was noted long ago in the maps of all the conquerors whose appetites spread to this valley, both in direction of the Aegean and the near East, and also in the opposite direction, to the north.
Skopje is situated on an altitude of 255 meters above the sea level and lies in the Skopje valley. The eastern exit from the valley connects it with Ovče Pole (besides Pelagonija, the second granary of Macedonia) and the Kumanovo-Preševo valley. Several mountains rise above the city on the other side, sheltering it under their peaceful leeward slopes. To the south the natural border if the Skopje vicinity is the Vodno mountain with the peak Krstovar (1,066m), which extends on to the Jakupica-Karadzica mountain range, whose highest top is Solunska Glava (2,540m), with a view of Solun (Thessaloniki) and the Aegean Sea. To the south-west, the Skopje valley stretches to mountains Osoj (1,506m) and Žeden (1,260m), in the directions of the white tops of the Šar Mountain. On the north, the Skopska Crna Gora mountain rises above the Skopje valley with it's highest peak Ramno (1,561m), whose easily accessible slopes are dotted with inns for excursionists. The Vardar river enters the Skopje region at the Derven canyon, north-western and leaves at the Taor canyon south-eastern of the city.

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Skopje as a capital

Skopje as a Capital

:: SKOPJE AS A CAPITAL :::..
After the war, the city was chosen to be the capital of the youngest Yugoslav republic and developed into an economic, administrative, cultural, religious centre. Skopje was one of the most beautiful cities in Yugoslavia until, the 26th of July 1963, date remembered as the longest day in the history of the city. Strong earthquake, of two severe and a few weaker shocks, turned the city into ruins. Before this date the city had 220,000 inhabitants. 80% of the city buildings and houses were demolished.

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Old Skopje

Durring the Wars

Skopje was an Ottoman city for 5 centuries, from 1392 to 1912. The two Balkan Wars (1912-1913) changed the situation in the Balkans, but nevertheless they did not bring freedom to Skopje, Macedonia or the Macedonians. Macedonia the largest Ottoman province, was divided between Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia, while small part were given to Albania. On October 12th 1912 the Turks were driven away from the city, but the Serbian army remained. Together with Skopje, the whole Vardar Macedonia remained under Serbian dominance. The Treaty of Bucharest from 1913 decided the fate of the Macedonians, dividing Macedonia, between Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria and Albania.
During the First World War (1914-1918), Skopje was occupied by the Bulgarian, German and Austrian armies. Terror and crimes increased in violence. After the 1919 Versailles Peace Treaty, according to which the Vardar part of Macedonia - the territory of present-day Republic of Macedonia - became part of the newly-created Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, later known as the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, which existed until 1941. Between the two world wars, the city has expanded on the other bank of the river Vardar. The city expanded on the right bank of the river Vardar. The area from the Stone Bridge to the Railway Station became urban. Hotels, restaurants, bars were built. Skopje got a significant buildings: Assembly, Army House, National Bank, new Railway Station (1938) as well as many other. The city became a seat of a larger district in southern Yugoslavia, Vardarska Banovina. Being a seat, during the Second World War (1941-1945), Skopje became one of the first victim-cities, it was bombed by Fascist planes on April 6th, 1941. The next day, April 7th, units of the German occupation armies entered the city, followed by Bulgarian occupiers with their engines of denationalization. On October 11th, the very same year, 1941, the strong desire for freedom of the Macedonian people flared out more strongly than ever before. The rebellion had started in Prilep and Kumanovo. In a decisive struggle against all the enemies, diversions were organized in Skopje. The First Skopje Partisan Detachment was formed immediately after the occupation, while during the war two Brigades. 5,000 inhabitants of the city lost their lives in the war, some as fighters and some as victims of Fascist terror. About 7,200 Jews were deported from Skopje and Macedonia on March 11th, 1943. They vanished forever in Treblinka and many other Fascist death camps. In the last autumn of the war the city dawned in freedom. The day to remember was November 13th, 1944. Immediately after the liberation, the Second Session of the Antifascist Assembly of National Liberation of Macedonia (ASNOM) was held in the liberated city. This session in Skopje, laid down the broad principles if the Macedonian Republic within the Yugoslav federal system.