Larry Murphy, age 16, of Lake Charles, La., for his question:
IS THERE A COUNTRY CALLED MACEDONIA?
Macedonia is a mountainous region in the Balkan Peninsula in southeastern Europe. The area is inhabited chiefly by Slavs in the north and Greeks in the south. The Balkan Wars in 1912 and 1913 divided Macedonia between Serbia (which is now Yugoslavia), Greece and Bulgaria.
Macedonia was never an independent country. The area became a Roman province in 148 B.C. and it was then made part of the Byzantine Empire when the Roman Empire was divided in A.D. 395.
In the 800s Macedonia was included in the first Bulgarian empire and then it became part of the Serbian empire in the 1300s.
From 1389 until 1912, the Turks had possession of Macedonia.
The Bulgarian, Greek and Serb inhabitants of Macedonia struggled against Turkey from the 1890s to 1912. The Balkan allies defeated Turkey in the First Balkan War in 1912, and Macedonia was divided among Greece, Serbia (Yugoslavia) and Bulgaria.
Bulgaria started the Second Balkan War in 1913 to get more land but was defeated by the other Balkan countries. In attempts to gain more of Macedonia, Bulgaria invaded the region during both world wars. Both times, the Greeks and Serbs fought on the victorious side and drove the Bulgarians from Macedonia.
Earlier in history, back about 200 B.C., the area was home to a savage European people called the Thracians. Then after 100 B.C., the region known as Macdeonia came under the influence of the Greeks.
King Philip II of Macedonia unified the Greeks in 338 B.C. and prepared an expedition against the Persians. His son, Alexander the Great, founded a vast new empire on ruins of the Persian Empire. After his death in 323 B.C., his generals divided his empire.
Macedonia covers about 25,000 square miles and is populated by about 4 million people.
Greek Macedonia covers about 13,000 square miles and has a population of about 2 million. Much of Greek Macedonia is a plain, watered by the Axios, Strimon and Nestos rivers. Its capital is Salonika.
Yugoslavian Macedonia is one of Yugoslavia's six "republics." It covers a bit less than 10,000 square miles and has about 1.7 million people. Skopje is the capital.
Bulgarian Macedonia covers about 2,500 square miles and has a population of about 300,000. Its apital is Blagoevgard.
Most of the people in all of Macedonia are farmers. They raise barley, corn, rice, rye, tobacco, wheat and a variety of fruits and vegetables. They also raise sheep and goats.