Skopje

Skopje (/ˈskɒpjeɪ/ SKOP-yay,[5][6] .mw-parser-output .IPA-label-small{font-size:85%}.mw-parser-output .references .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .infobox .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .navbox .IPA-label-small{font-size:100%}US also /ˈskoʊpjeɪ/ SKOHP-yay;[7] Macedonian: Скопје [ˈskɔpjɛ] ⓘ; Albanian: Shkup, Albanian definite form: Shkupi) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre. Skopje lies in the Skopje Basin.

Scupi is attested for the first time in the second century AD as a city in Roman Dardania.[8][9] 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. In 1004, when it was seized by the Byzantine Empire, the city became a centre of a new province called Bulgaria. From 1282, the town was part of the Serbian Empire and was its capital city from 1346 to 1371.

In 1392, Skopje was conquered by the Ottoman Turks, who called it Üsküb (اسکوب).[a] The town stayed under Ottoman control for over 500 years, serving as the capital of the pashasanjak of Üsküp and later the Vilayet of Kosovo. Its central position in the Ottoman Balkans made it a significant centre of commerce and administration during the Ottoman era. In 1912, it was annexed by the Kingdom of Serbia during the Balkan Wars.[10] During World War I the city was seized by the Kingdom of Bulgaria, and, after the war, it became part of the newly formed Kingdom of Yugoslavia as the capital of Vardarska Banovina. In World War II, the city was again captured by Bulgaria and in 1945 became the capital of SR Macedonia, a federated state within Yugoslavia.[11] The city developed rapidly, but this was interrupted in 1963 when it was hit by a disastrous earthquake.

Skopje is on the upper course of the Vardar River and is on a major north–south Balkan route between Belgrade and Athens. It is a centre for the chemical, timber, textile, leather, printing, and metal-processing 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 census from 2021, Skopje had a population of 526,502 inhabitants.[2]