Skopje

Skopje (/ˈskɒpji, -jeɪ/, US also /ˈskoʊp-/;[3] Macedonian: Скопје [ˈskɔpjɛ] (About this
soundlisten), Albanian: Shkup) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It is the
country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre.

The territory of Skopje has been inhabited since at least 4000 BC; remains of Neolithic
settlements have been found within the old Kale Fortress that overlooks the modern city centre.
Originally a Paeonian city, Scupi became the capital of Dardania in the second century BC. On
the eve of the 1st century AD, the settlement was seized by the Romans and became a military
camp.[4][5] When the Roman Empire was divided into eastern and western halves in 395 AD,
Scupi came under Byzantine rule from Constantinople. During much of the early medieval
period, the town was contested between the Byzantines and the Bulgarian Empire, whose
capital it was between 972 and 992.

From 1282, the town was part of the Serbian Empire and acted as its capital city from 1346 to
1371. In 1392, Skopje was conquered by the Ottoman Turks who called it Üsküb, with this name
also being in use in English for a time. The town stayed under Ottoman control for over 500
years, serving as the capital of pashasanjak of Üsküp and later the Vilayet of Kosovo. At that
time the city was famous for its oriental architecture.[citation needed] In 1912, it was annexed by
the Kingdom of Serbia during the Balkan Wars.[6] During the First World War the city was
seized by the Kingdom of Bulgaria, and after this war, it became part of the newly formed
Kingdom of Yugoslavia becoming the capital of the Vardarska banovina. In the Second World
War the city was again captured by Bulgaria and in 1944 became the capital of SR Macedonia,
then a federated state of Yugoslavia. The city developed rapidly, but this trend was interrupted
in 1963 when it was hit by a disastrous earthquake.

Skopje is located on the upper course of the Vardar River, and is located on a major north-south
Balkan route between Belgrade and Athens. It is a center for metal-processing, chemical,
timber, textile, leather, and printing industries. Industrial development of the city has been
accompanied by development of the trade, logistics, and banking sectors, as well as an
emphasis on the fields of transportation, culture and sport. According to the last official count
from 2002, Skopje had a population of 506,926 inhabitants; according to official estimates, the
city had a population of 544,086 inhabitants, as of 30 June 2015, meaning slightly more than a
quarter of all North Macedonia's population lives in the city and its immediate surrounding area.
[7]