Coordinates	34°03′″N118°15′″N
Native name
Conventional long name	Republic of Macedonia
Common name	the Republic of Macedonia
National anthem	File:Anthem of the Republic of Macedonia (Instrumental).oggДенес над Македонија(English: )
Image coat	Coat of arms of the Republic of Macedonia.svg
Map caption	Location of Macedonia (green), with Europe (green + dark grey)
Capital	Skopje
Official languages	Macedonian
Largest city	capital
Government type	Parliamentary republic
Leader title1	President
Leader name1	Gjorge Ivanov
Leader title2	Prime Minister
Leader name2	Nikola Gruevski
Sovereignty type	Independence from
Sovereignty note	Yugoslavia
Established event5	Independence declared
Established date5	8 September 1991
Established event6	Officially recognized
Established date6	8 April 1993
Area km2	25,713
Area sq mi	9,779
Area rank	148th
Area magnitude	1 E10
Percent water	1.9%
Population estimate	2,050,671
Gdp ppp per capita	$9,728
Gdp nominal	$9.108 billion
Gdp nominal year	2010
Gdp nominal per capita	$4,431
Hdi year	2010
Hdi	0.701
Hdi rank	71st
Hdi category	high
Gini	39
Gini year	2003
Gini category	medium
Currency	Macedonian denar
Currency code	MKD
Time zone	CET
Utc offset	+1
Time zone dst	CEST
Utc offset dst	+2
Ethnic groups	65.2% Macedonians, 24.2% Albanians, 3.9% Turks, 2.7% Roma, 4.0% others and unspecified
Ethnic groups year	2002
Drives on	right
Cctld	.mk
Calling code	389
Iso 3166-1 alpha2	EE
Iso 3166-1 numeric	?
Alt sport code	MK
Vehicle code	MK
Aircraft code	MK
Demonym	Macedonian
Footnote1	Albanian is widely spoken in the west of the country. In some areas Turkish, Serbian, Romany and Aromanian are also spoken. }}

Macedonia ( ; ), officially the Republic of Macedonia (, transliterated: ''Republika Makedonija'' ), is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991. It became a member of the United Nations in 1993 but, as a result of a dispute with Greece over its name, it was admitted under the provisional reference of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, sometimes abbreviated as FYROM.

A landlocked country, the Republic of Macedonia is bordered by Kosovo to the northwest, Serbia to the north, Bulgaria to the east, Greece to the south and Albania to the west. The country's capital is Skopje, with 506,926 inhabitants according to a 2002 census. Other cities include Bitola, Kumanovo, Prilep, Tetovo, Ohrid, Veles, Štip, Kočani, Gostivar and Strumica. It has more than 50 lakes and sixteen mountains higher than . Macedonia is a member of the UN and the Council of Europe. Since December 2005 it has also been a candidate for joining the European Union and has applied for NATO membership.

Name

The country's name derives from the Greek Μακεδονία (''Makedonía''), a kingdom (later, region) named after the ancient Macedonians. Their name, Μακεδόνες (''Makedónes''), derives ultimately from the ancient Greek adjective μακεδνός (''makednós''), meaning "tall, taper", which shares the same root as the noun μάκρος (''mákros''), meaning "length" in both ancient and modern Greek. The name is originally believed to have meant either "highlanders" or "the tall ones", possibly referring to the physical character of the ancient Macedonians and their mountainous land.

History

Ancient history of the territory

In antiquity, the central and northern zones of what is now the Republic of Macedonia was inhabited by Paeonians, whilst the Lakeland region (''Erigon'') was inhabited by tribes known historically as Enchelae, Pelagones and Lyncestae; the latter two are generally regarded as Molossian or Upper Macedonian tribes, whilst the former is considered "Illyrian". The linguistic affinities of the various tribes are difficult to unequivocally establish due to the paucity of data. Moreover, ancient sources did not necessarily categorize tribes on a detailed dialectical knowledge of the area, but on a political basis. For example, the Pelagones or Lyncestae were at times part of the Molossian ''koinon'', the Macedonian Kingdom, or even the "Illyrian Kingdom" of Glaucias; and were therefore variously referred to as Epirotian or Upper Macedonian tribes. Similarly, the Paeonians at times expanded their rule over much of Macedonia, including over the south-western Thracian tribes (Edonoi, Krestonoi, etc.). Whatever the native languages, Greek began to be used as early as the sixth century BCE (coin issued by the Paeonian Kings were in Greek). Strabo remarked that many tribes between Corcyra, Macedonia and the Via Egnatia were bilingual (''δίγλωττοι'') [Strabo C 327].

After the early victories of Philip II of Macedon in 356 BC, he absorbed the regions of Upper Macedonia into the Kingdom of Macedon, including Lynkestis, Pelagonia, and the southern part of Paeonia (Deuriopus), which now lie within the Republic of Macedonia. Philip did not make the people of Upper Macedonia subject but instead made them equal to the Macedonians of Lower Macedonia. Philip's son Alexander the Great conquered the remainder of the region, reaching as far north as the Danube, and incorporated it in his empire. The Romans established the Province of Macedonia in 146 BC. By the time of Diocletian, the province had been subdivided between Macedonia Prima and Macedonia Salutaris; most of country's modern boundaries fell within the latter, with the city of Stobi as the capital of Macedonia Salutaris. Cities to the extreme north such as Scupi fell within the Province of Moesia. Whilst Greek remained the dominant language in the south, Latin made significant inroads in Macedonia.

Medieval period

During the 580s, Byzantine literature attests to the Slavs raiding Byzantine territories in the region of Macedonia, aided by Avars or Bulgars. Historical records document that in c.680 a group of Bulgars, Slavs and Byzantines led by a Bulgar called Kuber settled in the region of Keramisian plain, centred on the city of Bitola. Presian's reign apparently coincides with the extension of Bulgarian control over the Slavic tribes in and around Macedonia. The Slavic peoples that settled in the region of Macedonia accepted Christianity as their own religion around the 9th century, during the reign of Tsar Boris I of Bulgaria.

In 1014, Emperor Basil II finally defeated the armies of Tsar Samuil of Bulgaria and by 1018 the Byzantines restored control over Macedonia (and all of the Balkans) for the first time since the 7th century. However, by the late 12th century, Byzantine decline saw the region contested by various political entities, including a brief Norman occupation in the 1080s.

In the early 13th century, a revived Bulgarian Empire gained control of the region. Plagued by political difficulties the empire did not last and the region came once again under Byzantine control in early 14th century. In the 14th century, it became part of the Serbian Empire, who saw themselves as liberators of their Slavic kin from Byzantine despotism. Skopje became the capital of Tsar Stefan Dusan's empire.

With Dusan's death, a weak successor appeared and power struggles between nobles divided the Balkans once again. This coincided with the entry of the Ottoman Turks into Europe. The Kingdom of Prilep was one of the short lived states that emerged from the collapse of the Serbian Empire in the 14th century. With no major Balkan power left to defend Christianity, the central Balkans fell to Turkish rule — and remained under it for five centuries.

National awakening

Ottoman rule over the region was considered harsh. With the beginning of the Bulgarian National Revival in 18 c. many of the reformers were from this region, including Miladinov Brothers, Rajko Žinzifov, Joakim Krčovski, Kiril Pejčinoviḱ and others. The bishoprics of Skopje, Debar, Bitola, Ohrid, Veles and Strumica voted to join the Bulgarian Exarchate after it was established in 1870.

Several movements whose goals were the establishment of autonomous Macedonia, encompassing the entire region of Macedonia, began to arise in the late 19th century; the earliest of these was the Bulgarian Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Committees, later transformed to SMORO. In 1905 it was renamed as Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization (IMARO) and after World War I the organization separated into the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) and the Internal Thracian Revolutionary Organisation (ITRO).

The early organization did not proclaim any ethnic identities; it was officially open to "...uniting all the disgruntled elements in Macedonia and the Adrianople region, regardless of their nationality..." The majority of its members however were Macedonian Bulgarians In 1903, IMRO organised the Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising against the Ottomans, which after some initial successes, including the forming of the "Krushevo Republic", was crushed with much loss of life. The uprising and the forming of the Krushevo Republic are considered the cornerstone and precursors to the eventual establishment of the Macedonian state.

Kingdoms of Serbia and Yugoslavia

Following the two Balkan wars of 1912 and 1913 and the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, most of its European held territories were divided between Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia. The territory of the modern Macedonian state was then named '''', "Southern Serbia". After the First World War, Serbia became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. In 1929, the Kingdom was officially renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and divided into provinces called banovinas. Southern Serbia, including all of what is now the Republic of Macedonia, became known as the Vardar Banovina of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

The concept of a United Macedonia was used by the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) in the interbellum. Its leaders – like Todor Alexandrov, Aleksandar Protogerov, Ivan Mihailov, promoted the idea with the aim to liberate the territories occupied by Serbia and Greece and to create an independent and united Macedonia for all Macedonians, regardless of religion and ethnicity. The Bulgarian government of Alexander Malinov in 1918 offered to give Pirin Macedonia for that purpose after World War One, but the Great Powers did not adopt this idea, because Serbia and Greece opposed.

IMRO followed by starting an insurgent war in Vardar Banovina, together with Macedonian Youth Secret Revolutionary Organization, which also conducted guerilla attacks against the Serbian administrative and army officials there. In 1923 in Stip a paramilitary organisation called Union against the Bulgarian bandits was formed by Serbian chetniks, IMRO renegades and MFO members to oppose IMRO and MMTRO.

Yugoslav Macedonia in World War II

During World War II, Yugoslavia was occupied by the Axis Powers from 1941 to 1945. The Vardar Banovina was divided between Bulgaria and Italian-occupied Albania. Bulgarian Action Committees were established and prepared the region for the new Bulgarian administration and army. The Committees were mosltly formed by former members of IMRO, but some communists like Panko Brashnarov, Strahil Gigov and Metodi Shatorov also participated.

Shatorov as leader of Vardar Macedonia communists switched from Yugoslav Communist Party to Bulgarian Communist Party and refused to start military action against the Bulgarian army. Bulgarian authorities, under German pressure, were responsible for the round-up and deportation of over 7,000 Jews in Skopje and Bitola. Harsh rule by the occupying forces encouraged many Macedonians to support the Communist Partisan resistance movement of Josip Broz Tito after 1943, and the National Liberation War ensued, with German forces being driven out of Macedonia by the end of 1944.

In Vardar Macedonia, after Bulgarian coup d'état of 1944 the Bulgarian troops, surrounded by German forces, fought their way back to the old borders of Bulgaria. Under the leadership of the new Bulgarian pro-Soviet government, four armies, 455,000 strong in total, were mobilized and reorganized. Most of them reentered occupied Yugoslavia in the early October 1944 and moved from Sofia to Niš, Skopje and Pristina with the strategic task of blocking the German forces withdrawing from Greece. Compelled by the Soviet Union with a view towards the creation of a large South Slav Federation, Bulgarian government once again offered to give Pirin Macedonia to such a United Macedonia in 1945.

Socialist Yugoslavia

In 1944 the Anti-Fascist Assembly for the National Liberation of Macedonia (ASNOM) proclaimed the People's Republic of Macedonia as part of the ''People's Federal Republic of Yugoslavia''. ASNOM remained an acting government until the end of the war. The Macedonian alphabet was codified by linguists of ASNOM, who based their alphabet on the phonetic alphabet of Vuk Stefanović Karadžić and the principles of Krste Petkov – Misirkov.

The new republic became one of the six republics of the Yugoslav federation. Following the federation's renaming as the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1963, the People's Republic of Macedonia was likewise renamed, becoming the Socialist Republic of Macedonia. During the civil war in Greece (1946–1949) Macedonian communist insurgents supported the Greek communists. Many refugees later came in Socialist Republic of Macedonia from there. The state dropped the "Socialist" from its name in 1991 when it peacefully seceded from Yugoslavia.

Declaration of independence

The country officially celebrates 8 September 1991 as Independence day (, ''Den na nezavisnosta''), with regard to the referendum endorsing independence from Yugoslavia, albeit legalising participation in future union of the former states of Yugoslavia. The anniversary of the start of the Ilinden Uprising (St. Elijah's Day) on 2 August is also widely celebrated on an official level as the Day of the Republic.

Robert Badinter as a head of Arbitration Commission of the Peace Conference on the former Yugoslavia recommended EC recognition in January 1992.

Macedonia remained at peace through the Yugoslav wars of the early 1990s. A few very minor changes to its border with Yugoslavia were agreed upon to resolve problems with the demarcation line between the two countries. However, it was seriously destabilised by the Kosovo War in 1999, when an estimated 360,000 ethnic Albanian refugees from Kosovo took refuge in the country. Although they departed shortly after the war, soon after, Albanian nationalists on both sides of the border took up arms in pursuit of autonomy or independence for the Albanian-populated areas of Macedonia.

Albanian insurgency

A civil war was fought between government and ethnic Albanian insurgents, mostly in the north and west of the country, between March and June 2001. The war ended with the intervention of a NATO ceasefire monitoring force. Under the terms of the Ohrid Agreement, the government agreed to devolve greater political power and cultural recognition to the Albanian minority. The Albanian side agreed to abandon separatist demands and to fully recognise all Macedonian institutions. In addition, according to this accord, the NLA were to disarm and hand over their weapons to a NATO force.

Geography

Macedonia has a total area of . It lies between latitudes 40° and 43° N, and mostly between longitudes 20° and 23° E (a small area lies east of 23°). Macedonia has some of boundaries, shared with Serbia () to the North, Kosovo () to the northwest, Bulgaria () to the east, Greece () to the south, and Albania () to the west. It is a transit way for shipment of goods from Greece, through the Balkans, towards Eastern, Western and Central Europe and through Bulgaria to the East. It is part of a larger region also known as Macedonia, which also includes a region of northern Greece known by the same name; and the Blagoevgrad province in southwestern Bulgaria.

Topography

Macedonia is a landlocked country that is geographically clearly defined by a central valley formed by the Vardar river and framed along its borders by mountain ranges. The terrain is mostly rugged, located between the Šar Mountains and Osogovo, which frame the valley of the Vardar river. Three large lakes — Lake Ohrid, Lake Prespa and Dojran Lake — lie on the southern borders, bisected by the frontiers with Albania and Greece. Ohrid is considered to be one of the oldest lakes and biotopes in the world. The region is seismically active and has been the site of destructive earthquakes in the past, most recently in 1963 when Skopje was heavily damaged by a major earthquake, killing over 1,000.

Macedonia also has scenic mountains. They belong to two different mountain ranges: the first is the Šar Mountains that continues to the West Vardar/Pelagonia group of mountains (Baba Mountain, Nidže, Kozuf and Jakupica), also known as the Dinaric range. The second range is the Osogovo–Belasica mountain chain, also known as the Rhodope range. The mountains belonging to the Šar Mountains and the West Vardar/Pelagonia range are younger and higher than the older mountains that are part of the Osogovo-Belasica mountain group.

Hydrography

In the Republic of Macedonia there are 1,100 larger sources of water. The rivers flow into three different basins: the Aegean, the Adriatic and the Black Sea basin.

The Aegean basin is the largest. It covers 87% of the territory of the Republic, which is 22,075 km. sq. Vardar, the largest river in this basin, drains 80% of the territory or 20,459 km. sq. Its valley plays an important part in the economy and the communication system of the country. The project named 'The Vardar Valley' is considered to be crucial for the strategic development of the country.

The river Black Drin forms the Adriatic basin, which covers an area of about 3,320 km. sq., i. e. 13% of the territory. It receives water from Lakes Prespa and Ohrid.

The Black Sea basin is the smallest with only 37 km. sq. It covers the northern side of Mount Skopska Crna Gora. This is the source of the river Binachka Morava, which joins the Morava, and later, the Danube which flows into the Black Sea.

Even though it is a landlocked country, Macedonia has three lakes and around fifty ponds. Lake Ohrid, Lake Prespa and Lake Dojran are the three natural lakes of the country.

The Macedonian word for spa is бања, transliterated as banja. In the country there are 9 spa towns and resorts: Banište, Banja Bansko, Istibanja, Katlanovo, Kežovica, Kosovrasti, Banja Kočani, Kumanovski Banji and Negorci.

Climate

Macedonia has a transitional climate from Mediterranean to continental. The summers are hot and dry and the winters are moderately cold. Average annual precipitation varies from in the western mountainous area to in the eastern area. There are three main climatic zones in the country: temperate Mediterranean, mountainous and mildly Continental. Along the valleys of the Vardar and Strumica rivers, in the regions of Gevgelija, Valandovo, Dojran, Strumica and Radoviš the climate is temperate Mediterranean. The warmest regions are Demir Kapija and Gevgelija, where the temperature in July and August frequently exceeds . The mountainous climate is present in the mountainous regions of the country and it is characterised by long and snowy winters and short and cold summers. The spring is colder than the fall. The majority of Macedonia has a moderate continental climate with warm and dry summers and relatively cold and wet winters. There are 30 main and regular weather stations in the country.

National parks

The country has 3 national parks:

! Name	! Established	! Size	Map	Picture
Galičica

Flora

The flora of Republic of Macedonia is represented with around 210 families, 920 genera, and around 3,700 plant species. The most abundant group are the flowering plants with around 3,200 species, which is followed by mosses (350 species) and ferns (42).

Phytogeographically, Macedonia belongs to the Illyrian province of the Circumboreal Region within the Boreal Kingdom. According to the WWF and Digital Map of European Ecological Regions by the European Environment Agency, the territory of the Republic can be subdivided into four ecoregions: the Pindus Mountains mixed forests, Balkan mixed forests, Rhodopes mixed forests and Aegean sclerophyllous and mixed forests.

National Park of Pelister in Bitola is known for the presence of the endemic Macedonian Pine, as well as some 88 species of plants representing almost 30 percent of Macedonian dendroflora. The Macedonian Pine forests on Pelister are divided into two communities; pine forests with ferns and pine forests with junipers. The Macedonian Pine, as a specific conifer species, is a relict of tertiary flora and the five-needle pine Molika, was first noted on Pelister in 1893.

Macedonia's limited forest growth also includes Macedonian Oaks, the sycamore, weeping willows, white willows, alders, poplars, elms, and the common ash. Near the rich pastures on Šar Mountain and Bistra, Mavrovo, is another plant species characteristic of plant life in Macedonia—the poppy. The quality of thick poppy juice is measured worldwide by morphine units; while Chinese opium contains eight such units and is considered to be of high quality, Indian opium contains seven units, and Turkish opium only six, Macedonian opium contains a full 14 morphine units and is one of the best quality opium in the world.

Fauna

The fauna of Macedonian forests is abundant and includes bears, wild boars, wolves, foxes, squirrels, chamois and deer. The lynx is found, although very rarely, in the mountains of western Macedonia, while deer can be found in the region of Demir Kapija. Forest birds include the blackcap, the grouse, the black grouse, the imperial eagle and the forest owl.

The three artificial lakes of the country represent a separate fauna zone, an indication of long-lasting territorial and temporal isolation. The fauna of Lake Ohrid is a relict of an earlier era and the lake is widely known for its letnica trout, lake whitefish, gudgeon, roach, podust, and pior, as well as for certain species of snails of a genus older than 30 million years; similar species can only be found in Lake Baikal. Lake Ohrid is also noted in zoology texts for the European eel and its baffling reproductive cycle: it comes to Lake Ohrid from the distant Sargasso Sea, thousands of kilometres away, and lurks in the depths of the lake for 10 years. When sexually mature, the eel is driven by unexplained instincts in the autumn to set off back to its point of birth. There it spawns and dies, leaving its offspring to seek out Lake Ohrid to begin the cycle anew.

Domestic animals

The shepherd dog of Šar Mountain is known worldwide as Šarplaninec (Yugoslav shepherd). It stands some 60 centimeters tall and is a brave and fierce fighter that may be called upon to fight bears or wolf packs in guarding and defending flocks. The Šarplaninec originates from the shepherd's dog of the ancient Epirotes, the molossus, but the Šarplaninec was recognized as its own species in 1939 under the name of "Illyrian shepherd" and since 1956 has been known as Šarplaninec.

Politics

Macedonia is a parliamentary democracy with an executive government composed of a coalition of parties from the unicameral legislature () and an independent judicial branch with a constitutional court. The Assembly is made up of 120 seats and the members are elected every four years. The role of the President of the Republic is mostly ceremonial, with the real power resting in the hands of the President of the Government. The President is the commander-in-chief of the state armed forces and a president of the state Security Council. The President is elected every five years and he or she can be elected twice at most. On the second run of the presidential elections held on 5 April 2009, Gjorge Ivanov was elected as new Macedonian president.

With the passage of a new law and elections held in 2005, local government functions are divided between 78 municipalities (; singular: ). The capital, Skopje, is governed as a group of ten municipalities collectively referred to as the "City of Skopje". Municipalities in Macedonia are units of local self-government. Neighbouring municipalities may establish co-operative arrangements.

The country's main political divergence is between the largely ethnically based political parties representing the country's ethnic Macedonian majority and Albanian minority. The issue of the power balance between the two communities led to a brief war in 2001, following which a power-sharing agreement was reached. In August 2004, Macedonia's parliament passed legislation redrawing local boundaries and giving greater local autonomy to ethnic Albanians in areas where they predominate.

After a troublesome pre-election campaign, Macedonia saw a relatively calm and democratic change of government in the elections held on 5 July 2006. The elections were marked by a decisive victory of the centre-right party VMRO-DPMNE led by Nikola Gruevski. Gruevski's decision to include the Democratic Party of Albanians in the new government, instead of the Democratic Union for Integration – Party for Democratic Prosperity coalition which won the majority of the Albanian votes, triggered protests throughout the parts of the country with a respective number of Albanian population. However, recently a dialogue was established between the Democratic Union for Integration and the ruling VMRO-DMPNE party as an effort to talk about the disputes between the two parties and to support European and NATO aspirations of the country.

After the early parliamentary elections held in 2008, VMRO-DPMNE and Democratic Union for Integration formed a ruling coalition in Macedonia.

In April 2009, presidential and local elections in the country were carried out peacefully, which was crucial for Macedonian aspirations to join the EU The ruling conservative VMRO-DPMNE party won a victory in the local elections and the candidate supported by the party, Gjorgi Ivanov, was elected as the new Macedonian president.

Parliament

The Macedonian parliament or ''Sobranie'' () is the country's legislative body. It makes, proposes and adopts laws. The 120 members are elected for a mandate of four years through a general election. Each Macedonian citizen that is above 18 years can vote for one of the Macedonian political parties. The current president of the Macedonian Parliament is Trajko Veljanovski.

Government

Executive power in Macedonia is exercised by the Government, whose prime minister is the most politically powerful person in the country. The members of the government are chosen by the Prime Minister and there are ministers for each branch of the society. There are ministers for economy, finance, information technology, society, internal affairs, foreign affairs and other areas. The members of the Government are elected for a mandate of four years. The current Prime Minister is Nikola Gruevski who is serving his third consecutive term in office.

Law and courts

Judiciary power is exercised by courts, with the court system being headed by the Judicial Supreme Court, Constitutional Court and the Republican Judicial Council. The assembly appoints the judges.

Foreign relations

Macedonia became a member state of the UN on 8 April 1993, eighteen months after its independence from Yugoslavia. It is referred to within the UN as "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia", pending a resolution of the long-running dispute with Greece about the country's name.

The major interest of the country is a full integration in the European and the Trans-Atlantic integration processes. Five foreign policy priorities are:

NATO membership

Commencing negotiations for full-fledged membership in the European Union

Lifting the visa regime for Macedonian nationals

Resolving the naming issue with Greece

Strengthening the economic and public diplomacy

Macedonia is member of the following international and regional organizations: IMF (since 1992), WHO (since 1993), EBRD (since 1993), Central European Initiative (since 1993), Council of Europe (since 1995), OSCE (since 1995), SECI (since 1996), WTO (since 2003), CEFTA (since 2006), La Francophonie (since 2001).

In 2005, the country was officially recognized as a European Union candidate state.

On the NATO summit held in Bucharest in April 2008, Macedonia failed to gain an invitation to join the organisation because Greece vetoed the move after the dispute over the name issue. The USA had previously expressed support for an invitation, but the summit then decided to extend an offer only on condition of a prior resolution of the conflict with Greece.

In March 2009 the European Parliament expressed support for Macedonia's EU candidacy and asked the EU Commission to grant the country a date for the start of accession talks by the end of 2009. The parliament also recommended a speedy lifting of the visa regime for Macedonian citizens.

Naming dispute

After the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991, the name of Macedonia became the object of a dispute between Greece and the newly independent Republic of Macedonia. In the south, the Republic of Macedonia borders the region of Greek Macedonia, which administratively is split into three peripheries (one of them comprising both Western Thrace and a part of Greek Macedonia). Because of that, Greece raised the issue of possible territorial aspirations and also historical concerns regarding the association of the country with the history of the Greek region.

From 1992 to 1995, the two countries also engaged in a dispute over the Macedonian state's first flag, which incorporated the Vergina Sun symbol, a symbol associated with the ancient Kingdom of Macedon. Its adoption by Macedonia, on 3 July 1992, was seen as a reaction by Skopje to Athens' pressure to change the name. This aspect of the dispute was resolved when the flag was changed under the terms of an interim accord agreed between the two states in October 1995. The UN adopted the provisional reference "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" () when the country was admitted to the organization in 1993. Most international organizations, such as the European Union, the European Broadcasting Union, and the International Olympic Committee, adopted the same convention. NATO also uses the reference in official documents but adds an explanation on which member countries recognize the constitutional name. The same reference is also used in any discussion to which Greece is a party

However, most UN member countries have abandoned the provisional reference and have recognised the country as the ''Republic of Macedonia'' instead. These include four of the five permanent UN Security Council members—the United States, Russia, United Kingdom and the People's Republic of China; several members of the European Union such as Bulgaria, Poland, and Slovenia; and over 100 other UN members. The UN has set up a negotiating process with a mediator, Matthew Nimetz, and the two disputed parties, Macedonia and Greece, to try to mediate the dispute. Negotiations continue between the two sides but have yet to reach any settlement of the dispute.

Initially the European Community-nominated Arbitration Commission's opinion was that "the use of the name 'Macedonia' cannot therefore imply any territorial claim against another State"; despite the commission's opinion, Greece continued to object to the establishment of relations between the Community and the Republic under its constitutional name.

In November 2008, Macedonia instituted proceedings before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Greece alleging violations of the 1995 Interim Accord that blocked its accession to NATO. The ICJ is requested to order Greece to observe its obligations within the Accord, which is legally binding for both countries. The Macedonian side asserts that Article 11 of the 1995 accord obliges Greece not to object to Macedonia's application to join NATO and other international organizations, except if the country is going to be referred to in such organization with a name different than the provisional reference.

In April 2009, the President-elect Gjorge Ivanov and opposition leader Zaev held a meeting about the name issue. Ivanov called for a state strategy regarding the negotiations with Greece on the name issue and also called for a reasonable compromise that will not bring harm to Macedonia's interests. The SDSM accepts a name with a geographic determinant that will replace the reference FYROM in the organizations where it is currently used and guarantee the country's constitutional name, national identity and language. The government of Greece expressed support for the name ''‘Republic of North Macedonia’'' as the basis for resolving the name issue.

In 2010, the Macedonian Human Rights Movement International (MHRMI) and the Australian Macedonian Human Rights Committee (AMHRC) have launched a campaign placing advertisements in newspapers and billboards across Macedonia "demanding an end to all negotiations with Greece over its name".

Human rights

The Republic of Macedonia is a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights and the U.N. Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and Convention against Torture, and the Macedonian Constitution guarantees basic human rights to all Macedonian citizens.

There do however continue to be problems with human rights. According to human rights organisations, in 2003 there were suspected extrajudicial executions, threats and intimidation against human rights activists and opposition journalists and allegations of torture by the police.

The country has problems with the human rights of its ethic minorities. Although Albanians have recently been allowed to study in the Albanian language, before graduating from university they are required to pass a test of their comprehension and use of the Macedonian language.

Military

The Macedonian Armed Forces comprise the army, air force and Special Forces. The government's national defence policy aims to guarantee the preservation of the independence and sovereignty of the state, the integrity of its land area and airspace and its constitutional order. Its main goals remain the development and maintenance of a credible capability to defend the nation's vital interests and development of the Armed Forces in a way that ensures their interoperability with the armed forces of NATO and the European Union member states and their capability to participate in the full range of NATO missions.

The Ministry of Defence develops the defence strategy and works out the assessment of the possible threats and risks. The MOD is also responsible for the defence system, training, readiness of the Armed Forces, the equipment and the development and it proposes the defence budget.

Economy

Recently ranked as the fourth 'best reformatory state' out of 178 countries ranked by the World Bank, Macedonia has undergone considerable economic reform since independence. The country has developed an open economy with trade accounting for more than 90% of GDP in recent years. Since 1996, Macedonia has witnessed steady, though slow, economic growth with GDP growing by 3.1% in 2005. This figure was projected to rise to an average of 5.2% in the 2006–2010 period. The government has proven successful in its efforts to combat inflation, with an inflation rate of only 3% in 2006 and 2% in 2007 and has implemented policies focused on attracting foreign investment and promoting the development of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). The current government introduced a flat tax system with the intention of making the country more attractive to foreign investment. The flat tax rate was 12% in 2007 and was further lowered to 10% in 2008.

Despite these reforms, as of 2005 Macedonia's unemployment rate was 37.2% and as of 2006 its poverty rate was 22%. Macedonia has one of the highest shares of people struggling financially, with 72% of its citizens stating that they could only manage on their household’s income ‘with difficulty’ or ‘with great difficulty', though Macedonia, along with Croatia, was the only country in the Western Balkans to not report an increase in this statistic. Corruption and a relatively ineffective legal system also act as significant restraints on successful economic development. Macedonia still has one of the lowest per capita GDPs in Europe. Furthermore, the country's grey market is estimated at close to 20% of GDP.

In terms of structure, as of 2005 the service sector constituted by far the largest part of GDP at 57.1%, up from 54.2% in 2000. The industrial sector represents 29.3% of GDP, down from 33.7% in 2000 while agriculture represents only 12.9%, up from 12%. Textiles represent the most significant sector for trade, accounting for more than half of total exports. Other important exports include iron, steel, wine and vegetables.

With a GDP per capita of $9,157 at purchasing power parity and a Human Development Index of 0.701, Macedonia is less developed and has a considerably smaller economy than most of the former Yugoslav states.

According to Eurostat data, Macedonian PPS GDP per capita stood at 32 per cent of the EU average in 2008.

Infrastructure and e-infrastructure

Macedonia, together with Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo, belonged to the less developed southern region of the former Yugoslavia. It suffered severe economic difficulties after independence, when the Yugoslav internal market collapsed and subsidies from Belgrade ended. In addition, it faced many of the same problems faced by other former socialist East European countries during the transition to a market economy. Its main land and rail exports route, through Serbia, remains unreliable with high transit costs, thereby affecting the export of its formerly highly profitable, early vegetables market to Germany. Macedonia's IT market increased 63.8% year on year in 2007, which is the Fastest Growing in the Adriatic Region.

Trade and investment

The outbreak of the Yugoslav wars and the imposition of sanctions on Serbia and Montenegro caused great damage to the Republic's economy, with Serbia constituting 60% of its markets prior to the disintegration of Yugoslavia. When Greece imposed a trade embargo on the Republic in 1994–95, the economy was also affected. Some relief was afforded by the end of the Bosnian war in November 1995 and the lifting of the Greek embargo, but the Kosovo War of 1999 and the 2001 Albanian crisis caused further destabilisation. Since the end of the Greek embargo, Greece has become the country's most important business partner. (See also: Greek investments in the Republic of Macedonia). Many Greek companies have bought former state companies in Macedonia, such as the oil refinery Okta, the baking company Zhito Luks, a marble mine in Prilep, textile facilities in Bitola etc., and employ 20,000 people. However, local cross-border trade between Greece and the Republic of Macedonia sees thousands of Greek shoppers crossing the border to purchase cheaper domestic products. Other key partners are Germany, Italy, the United States, Slovenia, Austria and Turkey.

Tourism

Tourism is an important part of the economy of the Republic of Macedonia. The country's large abundance of natural and cultural attractions make it an attractive destination of visitors. It receives about 700,000 tourists annually.

Administrative regions

Macedonia's statistical regions exist solely for legal and statistical purposes. The regions are:

Skopje

Pelagonia

Polog

Eastern

Southeastern

Northeastern

Southwestern

Vardar

Municipalities

In August 2004, the Republic of Macedonia was reorganised into 84 municipalities (''''; sing. ''''); 10 of the municipalities constitute the City of Skopje, a distinct unit of local self-government and the country's capital.

Most of the current municipalities were unaltered or merely amalgamated from the previous 123 municipalities established in September 1996; others were consolidated and their borders changed. Prior to this, local government was organised into 34 administrative districts, communes, or counties (also opštini).

Demographics

The last census data from 2002 shows a population of 2,022,547 inhabitants. The last official estimate from 2009, without significant change, gives a figure of 2,050,671. According to the last census data the largest ethnic group in the country are the Macedonians. The second largest group are the Albanians who dominated much of the northwestern part of the country. Some unofficial estimates indicate that in the Republic of Macedonia there are possibly up to 260,000 Roma.

{{bar box |width = 300px |float = right |title = Ethnic groups in the Republic of Macedonia in 2002 |titlebar = #ddd |bars = }}

Cities

Religion

Orthodox Christianity is the majority faith of the Republic of Macedonia making up 64.7% of the population, the vast majority of which belong to the Macedonian Orthodox Church. Various other Christian denominations account for 0.37% of the population. Muslims comprise 33.3% of the population; Macedonia has the fourth-highest proportion of Muslims in Europe, after those of Kosovo (90%), Albania (80%), and Bosnia-Herzegovina (48%). Most Muslims are Albanians, Turks, or Roma, although some are Macedonian Muslims. The remaining 1.63% is recorded as "unspecified" in the 2002 national census.

Altogether, there are more than 1200 churches and 400 mosques in the country. The Orthodox and Islamic religious communities have secondary religion schools in Skopje. There is an Orthodox theological college in the capital. The Macedonian Orthodox Church has jurisdiction over 10 provinces (seven in the country and three abroad), has 10 bishops and about 350 priests. A total of 30,000 people are baptised in all the provinces every year.

There is a tension between the Macedonian and Serbian Orthodox Churches which arose from the former's separation and self-declared autocephaly in 1967. However, the Archbishop's Council of the Serbian Orthodox Church, with Decision No. 06/1959, has recognised the autonomy (self-dependence) of the Macedonian Orthodox Church. After the negotiations between the two churches were suspended, the Serbian Orthodox Church recognised a group led by Zoran Vraniškovski (also known as Archbishop Jovan of Ohrid, a former Macedonian church bishop, as the Archbishop of Ohrid.

The reaction of the Macedonian Orthodox Church was to cut off all relations with the new Ohrid Archbishopric and to prevent bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church from entering Macedonia. Bishop Jovan was jailed for 18 months for "defaming the Macedonian Orthodox church and harming the religious feelings of local citizens" by distributing Serbian Orthodox church calendars and pamphlets.

The Macedonian Byzantine Catholic Church has approximately 11,000 adherents in Macedonia. The Church was established in 1918, and is made up mostly of converts to Catholicism and their descendants. The Church is of the Byzantine Rite and is in communion with the Roman and Eastern Catholic Churches. Its liturgical worship is performed in Macedonian.

There is a small Protestant community. The most famous Protestant in the country is the late president Boris Trajkovski. He was from the Methodist community, which is the largest and oldest Protestant church in the Republic, dating back to the late 19th century. Since the 1980s the Protestant community has grown, partly through new confidence and partly with outside missionary help.

The Macedonian Jewish community, which numbered some 7,200 people on the eve of World War II, was almost entirely destroyed during the war: only 2% of Macedonian Jews survived the Holocaust. After their liberation and the end of the War, most opted to emigrate to Israel. Today, the country's Jewish community numbers approximately 200 persons, almost all of whom live in Skopje. Most Macedonian Jews are Sephardic – the descendants of 15th century refugees who had fled the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions.

According to the 2002 Census, 46.5% of the children aged 0–4 were Muslim.

Languages

The official and most widely spoken language is Macedonian, which belongs to the Eastern branch of the South Slavic language group. Macedonian is closely related to and mutually intelligible with Standard Bulgarian. It also has some similarities with standard Serbian and the intermediate Torlakian and Shop dialects spoken mostly in southern Serbia and western Bulgaria (and by speakers in the north and east of Macedonia). The standard language was codified in the period following World War II and has accumulated a thriving literary tradition. Although it is the only language explicitly designated as an official national language in the constitution, in municipalities where at least 20% of the population is part of another ethnic minority, those individual languages are used for official purposes in local government, alongside Macedonian.

According to the last census, 1,344,815 Macedonian citizens declared that speak Macedonian, 507,989 citizens spoke Albanian, 71,757 citizens spoke Turkish, 38,528 citizens spoke Roma, 6,884 citizens spoke Aromanian, 24,773 citizens spoke Serbian, 8.560 citizens spoke Bosnian and 19,241 citizens spoke on other languages.

A wide variety of languages are spoken in Macedonia, reflecting its ethnic diversity. Besides the official national language Macedonian, minority languages with substantial numbers of speakers are: Albanian, Romani, Turkish (including Balkan Gagauz), Serbian/Bosnian and Aromanian (including Megleno-Romanian). There are a few villages of Adyghe speakers and an immigrant Greek community.

Science

Education

The Macedonian education system consists of:

pre-school education

primary

secondary

higher

The higher levels of education can be obtained at one of the five state universities: Ss. Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje, St. Clement of Ohrid University of Bitola, Goce Delčev University of Štip, State University of Tetovo and University for Information Science and Technology "St. Paul The Apostle" in Ohrid. There are a number of private university institutions, such as the European University, Slavic University in Sveti Nikole, the South East European University and others.

The United States Agency for International Development has underwritten a project called "Macedonia Connects" which has made Macedonia the first all-broadband wireless country in the world. The Ministry of Education and Sciences reports that 461 schools (primary and secondary) are now connected to the internet. In addition, an Internet Service Provider (On.net), has created a MESH Network to provide WIFI services in the 11 largest cities/towns in the country.

Society

Cinema and media

The history of film making in the republic dates back over 110 years. The first film to be produced on the territory of the present-day the country was made in 1895 by Janaki and Milton Manaki in Bitola. Throughout the past century, the medium of film has depicted the history, culture and everyday life of the Macedonian people. Over the years many Macedonian films have been presented at film festivals around the world and several of these films have won prestigious awards. The first Macedonian feature film was "''Frosina''", released in 1952. The first feature film in colour was "''Miss Stone''", a movie about a Protestant missionary in Ottoman Macedonia. It was released in 1958. The highest grossing feature film in the Republic of Macedonia was Bal-Can-Can, having been seen by over 500,000 people in its first year alone.

The oldest newspaper in the country is ''Nova Makedonija'' from 1944. Other well known newspaper and magazines are: ''Utrinski Vesnik'', ''Dnevnik'', ''Vest'', ''Vreme'', ''Špic'', ''Večer'', ''Tea Moderna'', ''Makedonsko Sonce'', and ''Koha''. Public channel is Macedonian Radio-Television founded in 1993 by the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia. TEKO TV (1989) from Štip is the first private television channel in the country. Other popular private TV's also are: ''A1 TV'', ''Sitel'', ''Kanal 5'', ''Telma'', ''Alfa TV'', ''Naša TV'', ''Alsat-M'', ''MTV Adria'' and etc.

In 1994 Milco Manchevski's film "Before the Rain" was nominated as Best Foreign Film. Manchevski continues to be the most prominent modern filmmaker in the country having subsequently written and directed "Dust" and "Shadows."

Culture

Macedonia has a rich cultural heritage in art, architecture, poetry, and music. It has many ancient, protected religious sites. Poetry, cinema, and music festivals are held annually. Macedonian music styles developed under the strong influence of Byzantine church music. Macedonia has a significant number of preserved Byzantine fresco paintings, mainly from the period between the 11th and 16th centuries. There are several thousands square metres of fresco painting preserved, the major part of which is in very good condition and represent masterworks of the Macedonian School of ecclesiastical painting.

The most important cultural events in the country are the Ohrid Summer festival of classical music and drama, the Struga Poetry Evenings which gather poets from more than 50 countries in the world, International Camera Festival in Bitola, Open Youth Theatre and Skopje Jazz Festival in Skopje etc. The Macedonian Opera opened in 1947 with a performance of ''Cavalleria rusticana'' under the direction of Branko Pomorisac. Every year, the May Opera Evenings are held in Skopje for around 20 nights. The first May Opera performance was that of Kiril Makedonski's ''Tsar Samuil'' in May 1972.

Public holidays

The main public holidays in the Republic of Macedonia are:

Christmas Day (Eastern Orthodox ChurchGood Friday (Orthodox) Easter Sunday (Orthodox) Easter Monday (Orthodox) Labour Day Saints Cyril and Methodius DayASNOMHistory of the Republic of Macedonia#1990sNational Liberation War of Macedonia Day of the Macedonian Revolutionary Struggle Eid ul-FitrClement of Ohrid

Date !! English name !! Macedonian name !! Remarks
1–2 January	New Year	Нова Година, ''Nova Godina''
7 January	Orthodox) ||	Прв ден Божик, ''Prv den Božik''
March/April	|	Велики Петок, ''Veliki Petok''	Date of easter>Date of Easter
March/April	|	Прв ден Велигден, ''Prv den Veligden''	-"-
March/april	|	Втор ден Велигден, ''Vtor den Veligden''	-"-
1 May	|	Ден на трудот, ''Den na trudot''
24 May	|	Св. Кирил и Методиј, Ден на сèсловенските просветители; ''Sv. Kiril i Metodij, Den na sèslovenskite prosvetiteli''
2 August	Day of the Republic ||	Ден на Републиката, ''Den na Republikata''	Day when the Republic was established in 1944, also Ilinden uprising in 1903 and victory in Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC.
8 September	Independence Day ||	Ден на независноста, ''Den na nezavisnosta''	Day of independence from Yugoslavia
11 October	Revolution Day ||	Ден на востанието, ''Den na vostanieto''	Beginning of Anti-fascist war during WWII in 1941
23 October	|	Ден на македонската револуционерна борба,''Den na makedonskata revolucionarna borba''	Day when the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) was established in 1893.
1 Shawwal	|	Рамазан Бајрам, ''Ramazan Bajram''	moveable, see: Islamic Calendar
8 December	Saint Clement of Ohrid Day ||	Св. Климент Охридски, ''Sv. Kliment Ohridski''

Besides these, there are several major religious & minorities holidays. (See:''Public holidays in the Republic of Macedonia'')

Cuisine

Macedonian cuisine is a representative of the cuisine of the Balkans—reflecting Mediterranean (Greek and Turkish) and Middle Eastern influences, and to a lesser extent Italian, German and Eastern European (especially Hungarian) ones. The relatively warm climate in Macedonia provides excellent growth conditions for a variety of vegetables, herbs and fruits. Thus, Macedonian cuisine is particularly diverse.

Famous for its rich Šopska salad, an appetizer and side dish which accompanies almost every meal, Macedonian cuisine is also noted for the diversity and quality of its dairy products, wines, and local alcoholic beverages, such as rakija. Tavče Gravče and mastika are considered the national dish and drink of the Republic of Macedonia, respectively.

Sport

Football is the most popular sport in Macedonia. Macedonia national football team is the national football team of Macedonia and is controlled by the Football Federation of Macedonia. The home stadium of the National team is the Philip II Arena. The most popular Macedonian footballer is Goran Pandev, which currently plays for Internazionale. Apart from football, handball is the most important team sport in the country. 2002 Kometal Skopje won the European Cup EHF Women's Champions League. The European Women's Handball Championship took place in 2008 in Macedonia. The venues in which the tournament took place were located in Skopje and Ohrid. The Macedonian women's national handball team arrived here a seventh place. The Macedonian national basketball team represents the Republic of Macedonia in international basketball. The Macedonian national basketball team is run by the Basketball Federation of Macedonia, the governing body of basketball in Macedonia which was created in 1992 and joined FIBA in 1993. Macedonian participated in EuroBasket 2009 and finished on the 9th place together with Poland. Currently National Macedonian Basketball Team plays the qualification rounds for EuroBasket 2011. It plays its home games at the Boris Trajkovski Arena in Skopje. In the summer months The Ohrid Swimming Marathon is an annual event on Lake Ohrid and during the winter months there is skiing in Macedonia's winter sports centres. Macedonia also takes part in the Olympic Games. Participation in the Games is organized by the Macedonian Olympic Committee.

Gallery

International rankings

{|class="wikitable" |- !Organization !Survey !Ranking |- | Institute for Economics and Peace | Global Peace Index | 88 out of 144 |- |Reporters Without Borders | Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2009 |34 out of 175 |- |The Heritage Foundation/The Wall Street Journal |Index of Economic Freedom 2010 |56 out of 179 |- |Transparency International | Corruption Perceptions Index 2009 |71 out of 180 |- |United Nations Development Programme | Human Development Index 2009 |72 out of 182 |}

See also

Symbols of the Republic of Macedonia

Telecommunications in the Republic of Macedonia

Transport in the Republic of Macedonia

Notes

References

External links

Category:European countries Category:Landlocked countries Category:Member states of La Francophonie Category:Republics Category:Slavic countries Category:States and territories established in 1991 Category:Member states of the United Nations

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Coordinates	34°03′″N118°15′″N
name	Cleopatra VII Philopator
imgw	200px
succession	Ptolemaic Queen of Egypt
reign	51 BC - 13 January 47 BC(4 years)(alongside Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator)
predecessor	Ptolemy XII Auletes
successor	Herself(alongside Ptolemy XIV of Egypt)
succession1	Ptolemaic Queen of Egypt
reign1	13 January 47 BC - 44 BC(3 years)(alongside Ptolemy XIV)
predecessor1	Herself(alongside Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator)
successor1	Herself(alongside Caesarion)
succession2	Ptolemaic Queen of Egypt
reign2	2 September 44 BC - 12 August 30 BC()(alongside Caesarion)
predecessor2	Herself (alongside Ptolemy XIV)
successor2	None (Egypt annexed by Rome)
full name	Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator
spouse	Ptolemy XIII Theos PhilopatorPtolemy XIVJulius CaesarMark Antony
issue	Caesarion, Ptolemy XV Philopator Philometor CaesarAlexander HeliosCleopatra Selene, Queen of MauretaniaPtolemy XVI Philadelphus
royal house	Ptolemaic Dynasty
father	Ptolemy XII Auletes
mother	Unknown, but believed to be Cleopatra V of Egypt
birth date	69 BC
birth place	Alexandria, Egypt
death date	12 August 30 BC (aged 39)
death place	Alexandria, Egypt
place of burial	Unknown }}

{{infobox hieroglyphs |title	Cleopatra VII
name	q:rw-i-wA-p-A-d:r-t-A-H8
name transcription	Cleopatra''Qlwpdrt''
Name in cartouche	yes
Name2	wr:r-nb-nfr-nfr-nfr-H2:x-O22
Name2 in serekh	yes
Name2 serekh symbol	G5
Name2 explanation	Horus name (1): Wer(et)-neb(et)-neferu-achet-seh'''' ''The great Lady of perfection, excellent in counsel''
Name3	wr*t:r-t:W:t-A53-n:X2*t:z
Name3 in serekh	yes
Name3 serekh symbol	G5
Name3 explanation	Horus name (2): Weret-tut-en-it-es''Wr.t-twt-n-jts'' ''The great one, sacred image of her father''
Name4	q:rw-W:p-d:r:t*H8-nTr-t:H8-R7:t-z:N36
Name4 in cartouche	yes
Name4 transcription	Cleopatra netjeret mer(et) ites''Qlwpdrt mr(t) jts''''The goddess Cleopatra who is beloved of her father''
Image1 description	}}

Cleopatra VII Philopator (Greek, ''Κλεοπάτρα Φιλοπάτωρ''; Late 69 BC – August 12, 30 BC) was the last pharaoh of Ancient Egypt.

She was a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, a family of Greek origin that ruled Egypt after Alexander the Great's death during the Hellenistic period. The Ptolemies, throughout their dynasty, spoke Greek and refused to speak Egyptian, which is the reason that Greek as well as Egyptian languages were used on official court documents such as the Rosetta Stone. By contrast, Cleopatra did learn to speak Egyptian and represented herself as the reincarnation of an Egyptian goddess, Isis.

Cleopatra originally ruled jointly with her father Ptolemy XII Auletes and later with her brothers, Ptolemy XIII and Ptolemy XIV, whom she married as per Egyptian custom, but eventually she became sole ruler. As pharaoh, she consummated a liaison with Julius Caesar that solidified her grip on the throne. She later elevated her son with Caesar, Caesarion, to co-ruler in name.

After Caesar's assassination in 44 BC, she aligned with Mark Antony in opposition to Caesar's legal heir, Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus (later known as Augustus). With Antony, she bore the twins Cleopatra Selene II and Alexander Helios, and another son, Ptolemy Philadelphus. Her unions with her brothers produced no children. After losing the Battle of Actium to Octavian's forces, Antony committed suicide. Cleopatra followed suit, according to tradition killing herself by means of an asp bite on August 12, 30 BC. She was briefly outlived by Caesarion, who was declared pharaoh by his supporters, but he was soon killed on Octavian's orders. Egypt became the Roman province of ''Aegyptus''.

To this day, Cleopatra remains a popular figure in Western culture. Her legacy survives in numerous works of art and the many dramatizations of her story in literature and other media, including William Shakespeare's tragedy ''Antony and Cleopatra'', Jules Massenet's opera ''Cléopâtre'' and the 1963 film ''Cleopatra''. In most depictions, Cleopatra is put forward as a great beauty, and her successive conquests of the world's most powerful men are taken as proof of her aesthetic and sexual appeal. In his ''Pensées'', philosopher Blaise Pascal contends, evidently speaking ironically because a large nose has symbolized dominance in different periods of history, that Cleopatra's classically beautiful profile changed world history: "Cleopatra's nose, had it been shorter, the whole face of the world would have been changed."

Biography

Accession to the throne

The identity of Cleopatra's mother is unknown, but she is generally believed to be Cleopatra V Tryphaena of Egypt, the sister or cousin and wife of Ptolemy XII, or possibly another Ptolemaic family member who was the daughter of Ptolemy X and Cleopatra Berenice III Philopator if Cleopatra V was not the daughter of Ptolemy X and Berenice III. Cleopatra's father Auletes was a direct descendant of Alexander the Great's general, Ptolemy I Soter, son of Arsinoe and Lagus, both of Macedon.

Centralization of power and corruption led to uprisings in and the losses of Cyprus and Cyrenaica, making Ptolemy's reign one of the most calamitous of the dynasty. When Ptolemy went to Rome with Cleopatra, Cleopatra VI Tryphaena seized the crown but died shortly afterwards in suspicious circumstances. It is believed, though not proven by historical sources, that Berenice IV poisoned her so she could assume sole rulership. Regardless of the cause, she did until Ptolemy Auletes returned in 55 BC, with Roman support, capturing Alexandria aided by Roman general Aulus Gabinius. Berenice was imprisoned and executed shortly afterwards, her head allegedly being sent to the royal court on the decree of her father, the king. Cleopatra was now, at age 14, put as joint regent and deputy of her father, although her power was likely to have been severely limited.

Ptolemy XII died in March 51 BC, thus by his will making the 18-year-old Cleopatra and her brother, the 10-year-old Ptolemy XIII joint monarchs. The first three years of their reign were difficult, due to economic difficulties, famine, deficient floods of the Nile, and political conflicts. Although Cleopatra was married to her young brother, she quickly made it clear that she had no intention of sharing power with him.

In August 51 BC, relations between Cleopatra and Ptolemy completely broke down. Cleopatra dropped Ptolemy's name from official documents and her face appeared alone on coins, which went against Ptolemaic tradition of female rulers being subordinate to male co-rulers. In 50 BC Cleopatra came into a serious conflict with the Gabiniani, powerful Roman troops of Aulus Gabinius who had left them in Egypt to protect Ptolemy XII after his restoration to the throne in 55 BC. This conflict was one of the main causes of Cleopatra's fall from power shortly afterward.

The sole reign of Cleopatra was finally ended by a cabal of courtiers, led by the eunuch Pothinus, removing Cleopatra from power and making Ptolemy sole ruler in circa 48 BC (or possibly earlier, as a decree exists from 51 BC with Ptolemy's name alone). She tried to raise a rebellion around Pelusium, but she was soon forced to flee with her only remaining sister, Arsinoë.

Relations with Rome

Assassination of Pompey

While Cleopatra was in exile, Pompey became embroiled in the Roman civil war. In the autumn of 48 BC, Pompey fled from the forces of Caesar to Alexandria, seeking sanctuary. Ptolemy, only thirteen years old at that time, had set up a throne for himself on the harbour, from where he watched as on September 28, 48 BC, Pompey was murdered by one of his former officers, now in Ptolemaic service. He was beheaded in front of his wife and children, who were on the ship from which he had just disembarked. Ptolemy is thought to have ordered the death to ingratiate himself with Caesar, thus becoming an ally of Rome, to which Egypt was in debt at the time, though this act proved a miscalculation on Ptolemy's part. When Caesar arrived in Egypt two days later, Ptolemy presented him with Pompey's severed head; Caesar was enraged. Although he was Caesar's political enemy, Pompey was a Roman consul and the widower of Caesar's only legitimate daughter, Julia (who died in childbirth with Pompey's son). Caesar seized the Egyptian capital and imposed himself as arbiter between the rival claims of Ptolemy and Cleopatra.

Relationship with Julius Caesar

Eager to take advantage of Julius Caesar's anger toward Ptolemy, Cleopatra had herself smuggled secretly into the palace to meet with Caesar. Plutarch in his Julius Caesar gives a vivid description on how she entered past Ptolemy’s guards rolled up in a carpet. She became Caesar’s mistress, and nine months after their first meeting, in 47 BC, Cleopatra gave birth to their son, Ptolemy Caesar, nicknamed Caesarion, which means "little Caesar."

At this point Caesar abandoned his plans to annex Egypt, instead backing Cleopatra's claim to the throne. After a war lasting six months between the party of Ptolemy XIII and the Roman army of Caesar, Ptolemy XIII was drowned in the Nile and Caesar restored Cleopatra to her throne, with another younger brother Ptolemy XIV as her new co-ruler. Although Cleopatra was 21 years old when they met and Caesar was 52, they became lovers during Caesar’s stay in Egypt between 48 BC and 47 BC. Cleopatra claimed Caesar was the father of her son and wished him to name the boy his heir, but Caesar refused, choosing his grandnephew Octavian instead. During this relationship, it was also rumored that Cleopatra introduced Caesar to her astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria, who first proposed the idea of leap days and leap years.

Cleopatra, Ptolemy XIV and Caesarion visited Rome in summer 46 BC, where the Egyptian queen resided in one of Caesar's country houses. The relationship between Cleopatra and Caesar was obvious to the Roman people and it was a scandal, because the Roman dictator was already married to Calpurnia Pisonis. But Caesar even erected a golden statue of Cleopatra represented as Isis in the temple of Venus Genetrix (the mythical ancestress of Caesar's family), which was situated at the Forum Julium. The Roman orator Cicero said in his preserved letters that he hated the foreign queen. Cleopatra and her entourage were in Rome when Caesar was assassinated on 15 March, 44 BC. She returned with her relatives to Egypt. When Ptolemy XIV died – allegedly poisoned by his older sister – Cleopatra made Caesarion her co-regent and successor and gave him the epithets ''Theos Philopator Philometor'' (= ''Father- and motherloving God'').

Cleopatra in the Roman Civil War

In the Roman civil war between the Caesarian party, led by Mark Antony and Octavian, and the party of the assassins of Caesar, led by Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus, Cleopatra sided with the Caesarian party because of her past. Brutus and Cassius left Italy and sailed to the East of the Roman Empire, where they conquered large areas and established military bases. At the beginning of 43 BC, Cleopatra formed an alliance with the leader of the Caesarian party in the East, Publius Cornelius Dolabella, who recognized Caesarion as her co-ruler. But soon, Dolabella was encircled in Laodicea and committed suicide (July 43 BC).

Cassius then wanted to invade Egypt to seize the treasures of that country and to punish the queen for her refusal to send him supplies and her support for Dolabella. Egypt seemed an easy target because the land did not have strong land forces and there was famine and an epidemic. Cassius also wanted to prevent Cleopatra from bringing reinforcements for Antony and Octavian. But he could not execute an invasion of Egypt, because at the end of 43 BC Brutus summoned him back to Smyrna. Cassius tried to blockade Cleopatra’s route to the Caesarians. For this purpose Lucius Staius Murcus moved with 60 ships and a legion of elite troops into position at Cape Matapan in the south of the Peloponnese. Nevertheless, Cleopatra sailed with her fleet from Alexandria to the west along the Libyan coast to join the Caesarian leaders, but she was forced to return to Egypt because her ships were damaged by a violent storm and she became ill. Staius Murcus learned of the queen's misfortune and saw wreckage from her ships on the coast of Greece. He then sailed with his ships into the Adriatic Sea.

Cleopatra and Mark Antony

In 41 BC, Mark Antony, one of the triumvirs who ruled Rome in the power vacuum following Caesar's death, sent his intimate friend Quintus Dellius to Egypt. Dellius had to summon Cleopatra to Tarsus to meet Antony and answer questions about her loyalty. During the Roman civil war she allegedly had paid much money to Cassius. It seems that in reality Antony wanted Cleopatra’s promise to support his intended war against the Parthians. Cleopatra arrived in great state, and so charmed Antony that he chose to spend the winter of 41 BC–40 BC with her in Alexandria.

To safeguard herself and Caesarion, she had Antony order the death of her sister Arsinoe, who was living at the temple of Artemis in Ephesus, which was under Roman control. The execution was carried out in 41 BC on the steps of the temple, and this violation of temple sanctuary scandalised Rome. Cleopatra had also executed her strategos of Cyprus, Serapion, who had supported Cassius against her wishes.

On 25 December 40 BC, Cleopatra gave birth to twins fathered by Antony, Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene II. Four years later, Antony visited Alexandria again en route to make war with the Parthians. He renewed his relationship with Cleopatra, and from this point on, Alexandria was his home. He married Cleopatra according to the Egyptian rite (a letter quoted in Suetonius suggests this), although he was at the time married to Octavia Minor, sister of his fellow triumvir Octavian. He and Cleopatra had another child, Ptolemy Philadelphus.

At the Donations of Alexandria in late 34 BC, following Antony's conquest of Armenia, Cleopatra and Caesarion were crowned co-rulers of Egypt and Cyprus; Alexander Helios was crowned ruler of Armenia, Media, and Parthia; Cleopatra Selene II was crowned ruler of Cyrenaica and Libya; and Ptolemy Philadelphus was crowned ruler of Phoenicia, Syria, and Cilicia. Cleopatra was also given the title of "Queen of Kings" by Antonius. Her enemies in Rome feared that Cleopatra, "...was planning a war of revenge that was to array all the East against Rome, establish herself as empress of the world at Rome, cast justice from Capitolium, and inaugurate a new universal kingdom." Caesarion was not only elevated having coregency with Cleopatra, but also proclaimed with many titles, including god, son of god and king of kings, and was depicted as Horus. Egyptians thought Cleopatra was a reincarnation of the goddess Isis, as she called herself ''Nea Isis''.

Relations between Antony and Octavian, disintegrating for several years, finally broke down in 33 BC, and Octavian convinced the Senate to levy war against Egypt. In 31 BC Antony's forces faced the Romans in a naval action off the coast of Actium. Cleopatra was present with a fleet of her own. Popular legend states that when she saw that Antony's poorly equipped and manned ships were losing to the Romans' superior vessels, she took flight and that Antony abandoned the battle to follow her, but no contemporary evidence states this was the case. Following the Battle of Actium, Octavian invaded Egypt. As he approached Alexandria, Antony's armies deserted to Octavian on August 1, 30 BC.

There are a number of unverifiable stories about Cleopatra, of which one of the best known is that, at one of the lavish dinners she shared with Antony, she playfully bet him that she could spend ten million sesterces on a dinner. He accepted the bet. The next night, she had a conventional, unspectacular meal served; he was ridiculing this, when she ordered the second course — only a cup of strong vinegar. She then removed one of her priceless pearl earrings, dropped it into the vinegar, allowed it to dissolve, and drank the mixture. The earliest report of this story comes from Pliny the Elder and dates to about 100 years after the banquet described would have happened. The calcium carbonate in pearls does dissolve in vinegar, but slowly unless the pearl is first crushed.

Death

The ancient sources, particularly the Roman ones, are in general agreement that Cleopatra killed herself by inducing an Egyptian cobra to bite her. The oldest source is Strabo, who was alive at the time of the event, and might even have been in Alexandria. He says that there are two stories: that she applied a toxic ointment, or that she was bitten by an asp on her breast. Several Roman poets, writing within ten years of the event, all mention bites by two asps, as does Florus, a historian, some 150 years later. Velleius, sixty years after the event, also refers to an asp. Other authors have questioned these historical accounts, stating that it is possible that Augustus had her killed.

In 2010, the German historian Christoph Schaefer challenged all other theories, declaring that the queen had actually been poisoned and died from drinking a mixture of poisons. After studying historical texts and consulting with toxicologists, the historian concluded that the asp could not have caused a slow and pain-free death, since the asp (Egyptian cobra) venom paralyses parts of the body, starting with the eyes, before causing death. Schaefer and his toxicologist Dietrich Mebs decided Cleopatra used a mixture of hemlock, wolfsbane and opium.

Plutarch, writing about 130 years after the event, reports that Octavian succeeded in capturing Cleopatra in her mausoleum after the death of Antony. He ordered his freedman Epaphroditus to guard her to prevent her from committing suicide, because he allegedly wanted to present her in his triumph. But Cleopatra was able to deceive Epaphroditus and kill herself nevertheless. Plutarch states that she was found dead, her handmaiden Iras dying at her feet, and another handmaiden, Charmion, adjusting her crown before she herself fell. He then goes on to state that an asp was concealed in a basket of figs that was brought to her by a rustic, and, finding it after eating a few figs, she held out her arm for it to bite. Other stories state that it was hidden in a vase, and that she poked it with a spindle until it got angry enough to bite her on the arm. Finally, he indicates that in Octavian's triumphal march back in Rome, an effigy of Cleopatra that had an asp clinging to it was part of the parade.

Suetonius, writing about the same time as Plutarch, also says Cleopatra died from an asp bite.

Shakespeare gave us the final part of the image that has come down to us, Cleopatra clutching the snake to her breast. Before him, it was generally agreed that she was bitten on the arm.

Plutarch tells us of the death of Antony. When his armies deserted him and joined with Octavian, he cried out that Cleopatra had betrayed him. She, fearing his wrath, locked herself in her monument with only her two handmaidens and sent messengers to tell Antony that she was dead. Believing them, Antony stabbed himself in the stomach with his sword, and lay on his couch to die. Instead, the blood flow stopped, and he begged any and all to finish him off. Another messenger came from Cleopatra with instructions to bring him to her, and he, rejoicing that Cleopatra was still alive, consented. She wouldn't open the door, but tossed ropes out of a window. After Antony was securely trussed up, she and her handmaidens hauled him up into the monument. This nearly finished him off. After dragging him in through the window, they laid him on a couch. Cleopatra tore off her clothes and covered him with them. She raved and cried, beat her breasts and engaged in self-mutilation. Antony told her to calm down, asked for a glass of wine, and died upon finishing it.

The site of their mausoleum is uncertain, though the Egyptian Antiquities Service believes it is in or near the temple of Taposiris Magna, southwest of Alexandria.

Cleopatra's son by Caesar, Caesarion, was proclaimed pharaoh by the Egyptians, after Alexandria fell to Octavian. Caesarion was captured and killed, his fate reportedly sealed when one of Octavian's advisers paraphrased Homer: "It is bad to have too many Caesars." This ended not just the Hellenistic line of Egyptian pharaohs, but the line of all Egyptian pharaohs. The three children of Cleopatra and Antony were spared and taken back to Rome where they were taken care of by Antony's wife, Octavia Minor. The daughter, Cleopatra Selene, was married through arrangements of Octavian to Juba II of Mauretania.

Character and cultural depictions

Cleopatra was regarded as a great beauty, even in the ancient world. In his ''Life of Antony'', Plutarch remarks that "judging by the proofs which she had had before this of the effect of her beauty upon Caius Caesar and Gnaeus the son of Pompey, she had hopes that she would more easily bring Antony to her feet. For Caesar and Pompey had known her when she was still a girl and inexperienced in affairs, but she was going to visit Antony at the very time when women have the most brilliant beauty." Later in the work, however, Plutarch indicates that "her beauty, as we are told, was in itself not altogether incomparable, nor such as to strike those who saw her." Rather, what ultimately made Cleopatra attractive were her wit, charm and "sweetness in the tones of her voice."

Cassius Dio also spoke of Cleopatra's allure: "For she was a woman of surpassing beauty, and at that time, when she was in the prime of her youth, she was most striking; she also possessed a most charming voice and knowledge of how to make herself agreeable to every one. Being brilliant to look upon and to listen to, with the power to subjugate every one, even a love-sated man already past his prime, she thought that it would be in keeping with her role to meet Caesar, and she reposed in her beauty all her claims to the throne."

These accounts influenced later cultural depictions of Cleopatra, which typically present her using her charms to influence the most powerful men in the Western world.

Ancestry

The high degree of inbreeding amongst the Ptolemies is also evident when one considers Cleopatra's immediate family. Her parents were likely brother and sister and hence she had only one set of grandparents. Those grandparents were uncle and niece again limiting the number of ancestors. The relatively small number of ancestors can be seen from the possible ancestry of Cleopatra VII as shown below.

References

Further reading

Primary sources

Hegesippus, ''Historiae'' i.29–32''.

Lucan, ''Bellum civile ix.909–911, x''.

Macrobius, ''Saturnalia iii.17.14–18''.

Orosius, ''Historiae adversus paganos vi.16.1–2, 19.4–18''.

Pliny, ''Naturalis historia vii.2.14, ix.58.119–121, xxi.9.12''.

Suetonius, ''De vita Caesarum'' ''Iul '' i.35.52, ii.17''.

Modern sources

External links

General

Cleopatra VII (VI) at LacusCurtius – Chapter XIII of E. R. Bevan's ''House of Ptolemy'', 1923

Cleopatra, a Victorian children's book by Jacob Abbott, 1852, Project Gutenberg edition.

James Grout: ''Cleopatra'' part of the Encyclopædia Romana

"Mysterious Death of Cleopatra" at the Discovery Channel

Cleopatra VII at BBC History

Paintings

Sir Thomas Browne: Of the Picture describing the death of Cleopatra (1672)

John Sartain: On the Antique Portrait of Cleopatra (1818)

{{S-ttl|title=Queen of Egypt|years=51–30 BC |regent1=Ptolemy XII, |regent2=Ptolemy XIII, |regent3=Ptolemy XIV and |regent4=Ptolemy XV Caesarion}}

Category:69 BC births Category:30 BC deaths Category:1st-century BC female rulers Category:Ancient Egyptian queens consort Category:Ancient Egyptian women in warfare Category:Deaths due to snake bites Category:Egyptian queens regnant Category:Female Shakespearean characters Category:Pharaohs of the Ptolemaic dynasty Category:Royal suicides in the classical world Category:Women in Hellenistic warfare

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