Macedonia

Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of the Balkan peninsula in southeastern Europe whose area was re-defined in the early 20th century. There is no official recognition of these arbitrary delimitations, especially since they include territories of Bulgaria, Serbia and Albania that are not called "Macedonia". The region in question covers parts of six Balkan countries: Greece, Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria and minor parts of Albania, Serbia, and Kosovo and covers approximately 67,000 square kilometers (km2) and a population of 4.76 million.
This arbitrary territory corresponds to the basins of (from west to east) the Aliákmon, Vardar and Struma/Strymon rivers (of which the Axios/Vardar drains by far the largest area) and the plains around Thessaloniki and Serres.
According to geographer H.R. Wilkinson, "it defies definition". Its current 'geographical' limits are nonhomogeneous - either ethnically or geographically - and they were established only in 1899, by the Greek cartographer C. Nicolaides for political purposes. His map took hold a few years later. The map area was adopted by Bulgarian geographers V. Kancev, in 1900 and D.M.Brancoff in 1905. The perception of the 'division' of a single area emerged as a historical hindsight.

Demographics

During medieval and modern times, Macedonia was known as a Balkan region inhabited by ethnic Greeks, Albanians, Vlachs, Serbs, Bulgarians, Jews, and Turks.
Today as a frontier region where several very different cultures meet, Macedonia has an extremely diverse demographic profile. Greek Macedonians or "Makedones" (also known as Macedonian Greeks or simply Macedonians), form the majority of the region's population, living almost entirely in Macedonia (Greece) although there are also Greek minorities in Albania, Bulgaria and the Republic of Macedonia. In Albania, Greeks number 58,785 according to the 1989 census, and in the Blagoevgrad Province (Pirin Macedonia) in Bulgaria, 86 people declared themselves Greeks in the 2001 census (out of a total of 3,408 in all Bulgaria) and the number of Greeks in the Republic of Macedonia is 442 according to the 2002 census.
Ethnic Macedonians (also known as Macedonian Slavs) are the second largest ethnic group in the region. They are primarily of Slavic origin forming the majority of the population in the Republic of Macedonia. According to the 2002 census, approximately 1,300,000 people declared themselves as Macedonians. According to the latest Bulgarian census held in 2001, there are 3,117 people declaring as ethnic Macedonians in the Blagoevgrad Province of Bulgaria (Pirin Macedonia). The official number of ethnic Macedonians in Bulgaria is 5,071. The number of ethnic Macedonians and Slavic speakers in Greek Macedonia is uncertain. The 1951 census recorded 41,017 Slavophones mostly in the Periphery of Western Macedonia. The linguistic classification of the Slavic dialects spoken by these people can be either Bulgarian or Macedonia Slavic, although the people themselves call their language Slavic. Most of these people declare themselves as Greeks (Slavophone Greeks), although there are small groups espousing ethni Macedonian and Bulgarian national identities. A political party promoting the concept and rights of what they describe as the "Macedonian minority in Greece" - the Rainbow (Greek: Ουράνιο Τόξο, Ouránio Tóxo) - was founded in September 1998, and received 2,955 votes in Macedonia in the 2004 elections. Similarly, a pro-Bulgarian political party, known as Bulgarian Huma Rights in Macedonia (Greek: Βουλγαρικά Ανθρώπινα Δικαιώματα στη Μακεδονία, Voulgariká Anthrópina Dikaiómata sti Makedonía) was established in June 2000, promoting the concept and rights of what they describe as the "Bulgarian minority in Greece", although they have yet to participate in elections. In the 1989 Albanian census approximately 5,000 Albanian citizens declared themselves Macedonians. The identity of the Macedonians is a disputed question in the region.
The other two major ethnic groups in the region are the Bulgarians and the Albanians. Bulgarians represent the bulk of the population of Pirin Macedonia (Blagoevgrad Province), although there are Bulgarian-identifying groups in Albania, Greece and the Republic of Macedonia. Albania and Greece each have both a Bulgarian and an ethnic Macedonian organization, and in the Republic of Macedonia, 1,417 people claimed a Bulgarian ethnic identity in the 2002 census. Paradoxically, during the last few years there has been around 60,000 Macedonians applying for Bulgarian citizenship and some 10,000 ethnic Macedonians have already obtained Bulgarian passports. Bulgaria’s admission to the EU is evidently a powerful motivation factor. In order to obtain it they must sign a statement proving they are Bulgarian by origin, effectively not recognising their rights as a minority. Ethnic Albanians make up the majority in certain northern and western parts of the Republic of Macedonia, and account for 25.2% of the total population of the Republic of Macedonia, according to the last census held in 2002.
Smaller numbers of Turks, Bosniaks, Roma, Serbs, Vlachs (Aromanians and Megleno-Romanians), Egyptians, Armenians and Jews (Sephardim and Romaniotes) are also be found in Macedonia.
Most of the inhabitants of the regions are Christians of the Eastern Orthodox rite (principally the Greek Orthodox, the Bulgarian Orthodox, and the Serbian Orthodox Churches, as well as the unrecognized Macedonian Orthodox Church). There is, however, a substantial Muslim minority - principally among the Albanians, Pomaks (Muslim Slavic Speakers), Macedonian Muslims or Torbeshi, Bosniaks, and Turks.