"Old Balkan" a Skopje Travel Page by traveloturc

Skopje or Uskup for turkish is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Macedonia.In 1963 when it was hit by a disastrous earthquake. Today Skopje is a modern city with a range of cultural monuments.

Skopje has been inhabited since 3500 BC; remains of Neolithic settlements have been found within the old Kale fortress on the top of the modern city centre.The settlement appears to have been founded around the 3rd century BC by the Dardanians, a people on the fringes of the Kingdom of Macedon.Than Romans rule from 148 BC. From 395 AD, it passed into the hands of Byzantine Empire.The Byzantine Emperor Justinian I was born near Skupi.The town was conquered by the Serbs in 1282. In 1346 it was named the capital of the Serbian Empire of Stefan Dušan.
In 1389, Skopje was captured by the Ottoman Empire. For the next five hundred years it was known by the Turkish name Üsküp. The city's character changed during this period. The Ottomans were expelled from the city in August 12, 1912 .Following the wars, Skopje and the rest of Yugoslav Macedonia was incorporated into Tito's Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In 1991 the Yugoslav federation broke up and Skopje became the capital of the independent Republic of Macedonia.

Skopje is important because My wife 's family used to live in this city (Family Hadji Agus Zade) and they are imigrated to Turkey after the second war.
Some of the family members are probably still living there.