The Albanians, called by the Turks and Slavs Arnauts, by the Greeks Ἀρβανῖται, and by themselves Shkyipetar, have always been the scourge of western Macedonia. After the first Turkish invasion of Albania many of the chiefs The Albanians, Circassians, &c. or beys adopted Mahommedanism, but the conversion of the great bulk of the people took place in the 16th and 17th centuries. Professing the creed of the dominant power and entitled to bear arms, the Albanians were enabled to push forward their limits at the expense of the defenceless population around them, and their encroachments have continued to the present day. They have not only advanced themselves, but have driven to the eastward numbers of their Christian compatriots and a great portion of the once-prosperous Vlach population of Albania. Albanian revolts and disturbances have been frequent along the western confines of Macedonia, especially in the neighbourhood of Dibra: the Slavonic peasants have been the principal sufferers from these troubles, while the Porte, in pursuance of the “Islamic policy” adopted by the sultan Abdul Hamid II., dealt tenderly with the recalcitrant believers. In southern Macedonia the Albanians of the Tosk race extend over the upper Bistritza valley as far west as Castoria, and reach the southern and western shores of Lakes Prespa and Ochrida: they are also numerous in the neighbourhood of Monastir. In northern Macedonia the Albanians are of the Gheg stock: they have advanced in large numbers over the districts of Dibra, Kalkandelen and Usküb, driving the Slavonic population before them. The total number of Albanians in Macedonia may be estimated at about 120,000, of whom some 10,000 are Christians (chiefly orthodox Tosks). The Circassians, who occupy some villages in the neighbourhood of Serres, now scarcely number 3000: their predatory instincts may be compared with those of the Albanians. The Jews had colonies in Macedonia in the time of St Paul, but no trace remains of these early settlements. The Jews now found in the country descend from refugees who fled from Spain during the persecutions at the end of the 15th century: they speak a dialect of Spanish, which they write with Hebrew characters. They form a flourishing community at Salonica, which numbers more than half the population: their colonies at Monastir, Serres and other towns are poor. A small proportion of the Jews, known as Deunmé by the Turks, have embraced Mahommedanism.
With the exception of the southern and western districts already specified, the principal towns, and certain isolated tracts, the whole of Macedonia is inhabited by a race or races speaking a Slavonic dialect. If language is The Slavonic Population. adopted as a test, the great bulk of the rural population must be described as Slavonic. The Slavs first crossed the Danube at the beginning of the 3rd century, but their great immigration took place in the 6th and 7th centuries. They overran the entire peninsula, driving the Greeks to the shores of the Aegean, the Albanians into the Mirdite country, and the latinized population of Macedonia into the highland districts, such as Pindus, Agrapha and Olympus. The Slavs, a primitive agricultural and pastoral people, were often unsuccessful in their attacks on the fortified towns, which remained centres of Hellenism. In the outlying parts of the peninsula they were absorbed, or eventually driven back, by the original populations, but in the central region they probably assimilated a considerable proportion of the latinized races. The western portions of the peninsula were occupied by Serb and Slovene tribes: the Slavs of the eastern and central portions were conquered at the end of the 7th century by the Bulgarians, a Ugro-Finnish horde, who established a despotic political organization, but being less numerous than the subjected race were eventually absorbed by it. The Mongolian physical type, which prevails in the districts between the Balkans and the Danube, is also found in central Macedonia, and may be recognized as far west as Ochrida and Dibra. In general, however, the Macedonian Slavs differ somewhat both in appearance and character from their neighbours beyond the Bulgarian and Servian frontiers: the peculiar type which they present is probably due to a considerable admixture of Vlach, Hellenic, Albanian and Turkish blood, and to the influence of the surrounding races. Almost all independent authorities, however, agree that the bulk of the Slavonic population of Macedonia is Bulgarian. The principal indication is furnished by the language, which, though resembling Servian in some respects (e.g. the case-endings, which are occasionally retained), presents most of the characteristic features of Bulgarian (see [Bulgaria]: Language). Among these may be mentioned the suffix-article, the nasal vowels (retained in the neighbourhood of Salonica and Castoria, but modified elsewhere as in Bulgarian), the retention of l (e.g. vulk “wolf,” bel “white”; Servian vuk, beo), and the loss of the infinitive. There are at least four Slavonic dialects in Macedonia, but the suffix-article, though varying in form, is a constant feature in all. The Slavs of western Macedonia are of a lively, enterprising character, and share the commercial aptitude of the Vlachs: those of the eastern and southern regions are a quiet, sober, hardworking agricultural race, more obviously homogeneous with the population of Bulgaria. In upper Macedonia large family communities, resembling the Servian and Bulgarian zadruga, are commonly found: they sometimes number over 50 members. The whole Slavonic population of Macedonia may be estimated at about 1,150,000, of whom about 1,000,000 are Christians of the Orthodox faith. The majority of these own allegiance to the Bulgarian exarchate, but a certain minority still remains faithful to the Greek patriarchate. The Moslem Bulgarians form a considerable element: they are found principally in the valley of the upper Mesta and the Rhodope district, where they are known as Pomaks or “helpers,” i.e. auxiliaries to the Turkish army.
The Racial Propaganda.—The embittered struggle of the rival nationalities in Macedonia dates from the middle of the 19th century. Until that period the Greeks, owing to their superior culture and their privileged position, exercised an exclusive influence over the whole population professing the Orthodox faith. All Macedonia was either Moslem or Orthodox Christian, without distinction of nationalities, the Catholic or Protestant millets being inconsiderable. The first opposition to Greek ecclesiastical ascendancy came from the Bulgarians. The Bulgarian literary revival, which took place in the earlier part of the 19th century, was the precursor of the ecclesiastical and national movement which resulted in the establishment of the exarchate in 1870 (see [Bulgaria]). In the course of the struggle some of the Bulgarian leaders entered into negotiations with Rome; a Bulgarian Uniate church was recognized by the Porte, and the pope nominated a bishop, who, however, was mysteriously deported to Russia a few days after his consecration (1861). The first exarch, who was elected in 1871, was excommunicated with all his followers by the patriarch, and a considerable number of Bulgarians in Macedonia—the so-called “Bulgarophone Greeks”—fearing the reproach of schism, or influenced by other considerations, refrained from acknowledging the new spiritual power. Many of the recently converted uniates, on the other hand, offered their allegiance to the exarch. The firman of the 28th of February 1870 specified a number of districts within the present boundaries of Bulgaria and Servia, as well as in Macedonia, to which Bulgarian bishops might be appointed; other districts might be subjected to the exarchate should two-thirds of the inhabitants so desire. In virtue of the latter provision the districts of Veles, Ochrida and Usküb declared for the exarchate, but the Turkish government refrained from sanctioning the nomination of Bulgarian bishops to these dioceses. It was not till 1891 that the Porte, at the instance of Stamboloff, the Bulgarian prime minister, whose demands were supported by the Triple Alliance and Great Britain, issued the berat, or exequatur, for Bulgarian bishops at Ochrida and Usküb; the sees of Veles and Nevrokop received Bulgarian prelates in 1894, and those of Monastir, Strumnitza and Dibra in 1898. The Bulgarian position was further strengthened in the latter year by the establishment of “commercial agents” representing the principality at Salonica, Usküb, Monastir and Serres. During this period (1891-1898) the Bulgarian propaganda, entirely controlled by the spiritual power and conducted within the bounds of legality, made rapid and surprising progress. Subsequently the interference of the Macedonian committee at Sofia, in which the advocates of physical force predominated, and the rivalry of factions did much to injure the movement; the hostility of the Porte was provoked and the sympathy of the powers alienated by a series of assassinations and other crimes. According to the official figures, the Bulgarian schools, which in 1893 were 554, with 30,267 pupils and 853 teachers, in 1900 numbered 785 (including 5 gymnasia and 58 secondary schools), with 39,892 pupils and 1250 teachers. A great number of the schools were closed by the Turkish authorities after the insurrection of 1903 and many had not been reopened in 1909; the teachers were imprisoned or had fled into exile.
The Rumanian movement comes next to the Bulgarian in order of time. The Vlachs had shown greater susceptibility to Greek influence than any of the other non-Hellenic populations of Macedonia, and, though efforts to create a Rumanian propaganda were made as early as 1855, it was not till after the union of the principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia in 1861 that any indications of a national sentiment appeared amongst them. In 1886 the principal apostle of the Rumanian cause, a priest named Apostol Margaritis, founded a gymnasium at Monastir, and the movement, countenanced by the Porte, supported by the French Catholic missions, and to some extent encouraged by Austria, has made no inconsiderable progress since that time. There are now about forty Rumanian schools in Macedonia, including two gymnasia, and large sums are devoted to their maintenance by the ministry of education at Bucharest, which also provides qualified teachers. The Rumanian and Servian movements are at a disadvantage compared with the Bulgarian, owing to their want of a separate ecclesiastical organization, the orthodox Vlachs and Serbs in Turkey owning allegiance to the Greek patriarchate. The governments of Bucharest and Belgrade therefore endeavoured to obtain the recognition of Vlach and Servian millets, demanding respectively the establishment of a Rumanian bishopric at Monastir and the restoration of the patriarchate of Ipek with the appointment of a Servian metropolitan at Usküb. The Vlach millet was recognized by the Porte by iradé on the 23rd of May 1905, but the aims of the Servians, whose active interference in Macedonia is of comparatively recent date, have not been realized. Previously to 1878 the hopes of the Servians were centred on Bosnia, Herzegovina and the vilayet of Kossovo; but when the Berlin Treaty assigned Bosnia and Herzegovina to Austria, the national aspirations were directed to Macedonia, the Slavonic population of which was declared to be Servian. The strained relations existing between Russia and Bulgaria from 1886 to 1895 were to the advantage of the Servian propaganda, which after 1890 made remarkable progress. Great expenditure has been incurred by the Servian government in the opening and maintenance of schools. At the beginning of 1899 there were stated to be 178 Servian schools in the vilayets of Usküb, Salonica and Monastir (including fifteen gymnasia), with 321 teachers and 7200 pupils.
The Albanian movement is still in an inceptive stage; owing to the persistent prohibition of Albanian schools by the Turks, a literary propaganda, the usual precursor of a national revival, was rendered impossible till the outbreak of the Young Turk revolution in July 1908. After that date numerous schools were founded and an Albanian committee, meeting in November 1908, fixed the national alphabet and decided on the adoption of the Latin character. The educational movement is most conspicuous among the Tosks, or southern Albanians. Notwithstanding the encroachments of their rivals, the impoverishment of the patriarchate, and the injury inflicted on their cause by the Greco-Turkish War of 1897, the Greeks still maintain a large number of schools; according to statistics prepared at Athens there were in 1901, 927 Greek schools in the vilayets of Salonica and Monastir (including five gymnasia), with 1397 teachers and 57,607 pupils. The great educational activity displayed by the proselytizing movements in Macedonia, while tending to the artificial creation of parties, daily widens the contrast between the progressive Christian and the backward Moslem populations.
Antiquities.—Macedonia, like the neighbouring Balkan countries, still awaited exploration at the beginning of the 20th century, and little had been learned of the earlier development of civilization in these regions. The ancient indigenous population has left many traces of its presence in the tumuli which occur on the plains, and more especially along the valley of the Vardar. The unquiet state of the country went far to prevent any systematic investigation of these remains; excavations, however, were made by Körte and Franke at Niausta and near Salonica (see Kretschner, Einleitung in die Geschichte der griechischen Sprache, pp. 176, 421), and fragments of primitive pottery, with peculiar characteristics, were found by Perdrizet at Tchepelje, on the left bank of Lake Tachino. The oldest archaeological monuments of Macedonia are its coins, for which the mines of Crenides (the later Philippi), at the foot of Mt Pangaeus, of Chalcidice, of the island of Thasos, and of the mountains between Lake Prasias and the ancient Macedonian kingdom (Herod. v. 17), furnished abundance of metal. From the reign of Alexander I., in the epoch of the Persian wars (502-479 B.C.), the Macedonian dynasty issued silver coins of a purely Greek style. The Thracian communities around Mt Pangaeus also produced a variety of coins, especially at the beginning of the 5th century. The great octodrachms of this period were perhaps struck for the purpose of paying tribute to the Persians when the country between the Strymon and the Nestos was in their possession; most of the specimens have been found in Asia Minor. These large pieces present many characteristics of the Ionian style; it is evident that the Thracians derived the arts of minting and engraving from the neighbouring Thasos, itself a colony from the Ionian Paros. The monarchs of Pella were enthusiastic admirers of Hellenic culture, and their court was doubtless frequented by Greek sculptors as well as men of letters, such as Herodotus and Euripides. At Pella has been found a funerary stele of the late 5th or early 4th century representing a Macedonian hetaerus—a beautiful specimen of the best Greek art, now preserved in the Imperial Ottoman Museum at Constantinople. To the Hellenic period belong the vaulted tombs under tumuli discovered at Pella, Pydna, Palatitza, and other places; the dead were laid in marble couches ornamented with sculptures, like those of the so-called sarcophagus of Alexander at Constantinople. These tombs doubtless received the remains of the Macedonian nobles and hetaeri: in one of them a fresco representing a conflict between a horseman and a warrior on foot has been brought to light by Kinch. Similarly constructed places of sepulture have been found at Eretria and elsewhere in Greece. At Palatitza the ruins of a remarkable structure, perhaps a palace, have been laid bare by Heuzey and Daumet. Unlike Greece, where each independent city had its acropolis, Macedonia offers few remnants of ancient fortification; most of the country towns appear to have been nothing more than open market-centres. The most interesting ruins in the country are those of the Roman and Byzantine epochs, especially those at Salonica (q.v.). The Byzantine fortifications and aqueduct of Kavala are also remarkable. At Verria (Beroea) may be seen some Christian remains, at Melnik a palace of the age of the Comneni, at Serres a fortress built by the Servian tsar Stephen Dushan (1336-1356). The remains at Filibejik (Philippi) are principally of the Roman and Byzantine periods; the numerous ex voto rock-tablets of the acropolis are especially interesting. The Roman inscriptions found in Macedonia are mainly funerary, but include several ephebic lists. The funerary tablets afford convincing proof of the persistence of the Thracian element, notwithstanding hellenization and latinization; many of them, for instance, represent the well-known Thracian horseman hunting the wild boar. The monastic communities on the promontory of Athos (q.v.), with their treasures of Byzantine art and their rich collections of manuscripts, are of the highest antiquarian interest.
History.—For the history of ancient Macedonia see [Macedonian Empire].[1] After its subjugation by the Romans the country was divided into four districts separated by rigid political and social limitations. Before long it was constituted a province, which in the time of Augustus was assigned to the senate. Thenceforward it followed the fortunes of the Roman empire, and, after the partition of that dominion, of its eastern branch. Its Thraco-Illyrian inhabitants had already been largely latinized when Constantine the Great made Byzantium the imperial residence in A.D. 330; they called themselves Romans and spoke Latin. Towards the close of the 4th century the country was devastated by the Goths and Avars, whose incursions possessed no lasting significance. It was otherwise with the great Slavonic immigration, which took place at intervals from the 3rd to the 7th century. An important ethnographic change was brought about, and the greater part of Macedonia was colonized by the invaders (see [Balkan Peninsula]).
The Slavs were in their turn conquered by the Bulgarians (see [Bulgaria]: History) whose chief Krum (802-815) included central Macedonia in his dominions. The Byzantines retained the southern regions and Salonica, which temporarily fell into Byzantine and Bulgarian Domination. the hands of the Saracens in 904. With the exception of the maritime districts, the whole of Macedonia formed a portion of the empire of the Bulgarian tsar Simeon (893-927); the Bulgarian power declined after his death, but was revived in western Macedonia under the Shishman dynasty at Ochrida; Tsar Samuel (976-1014), the third ruler of that family, included in his dominions Usküb, Veles, Vodena and Melnik. After his defeat by the emperor Basil II. in 1014 Greek domination was established for a century and a half. The Byzantine emperors endeavoured to confirm their positions by Asiatic colonization; Turkish immigrants, afterwards known as Vardariotes, the first of their race who appeared in Macedonia, were settled in the neighbourhood of Salonica in the 9th century; colonies of Uzes, Petchenegs and Kumans were introduced at various periods from the 11th to the 13th century. While Greeks and Bulgarians disputed the mastery of Macedonia the Vlachs, in the 10th century, established an independent state in the Pindus region, which, afterwards known as Great Walachia, continued to exist till the beginning of the 14th century. In 1185 southern Macedonia was exposed to a raid of the Normans under William of Sicily, who captured Salonica and massacred its inhabitants. After the taking of Constantinople in 1204 by the Franks of the fourth crusade, the Latin empire of Romania was formed and the feudal kingdom of Thessalonica was bestowed on Boniface, marquis of Montferrat; this was overthrown in 1222 by Theodore, despot of Epirus, a descendant of the imperial house of the Comneni, who styled himself emperor of Thessalonica and for some years ruled over all Macedonia. He was defeated and captured by the Bulgarians in 1230 and the remnant of his possessions, to which his son John succeeded, was absorbed in the empire of Nicaea in 1234. Bulgarian rule was now once more established in Macedonia under the powerful monarch Ivan Asen II. (1218-1241) whose dynasty, of Vlach origin, had been founded at Trnovo in 1186 after a revolt of the Vlachs and Bulgars against the Greeks. A period of decadence followed the extinction of the Asen dynasty in 1257; the Bulgarian power was overthrown by the Servians at Velbuzhd (1330), and Macedonia was included in the realm of the great Servian tsar Dushan (1331-1355) who fixed his capital at Usküb. Dushan’s empire fell to pieces after his death, and the anarchy which followed prepared the way for the advance of the Turks, to whom not only contending factions at Constantinople but Servian and Bulgarian princes alike made overtures.
Macedonia and Thrace were soon desolated by Turkish raids; when it was too late the Slavonic states combined against the invaders, but their forces, under the Servian tsar Lazar, were routed at Kossovo in 1389 by the sultan Turkish Rule. Murad I. Salonica and Larissa were captured in 1395 by Murad’s son Bayezid, whose victory over Sigismund of Hungary at Nicopolis in 1396 sealed the fate of the peninsula. The towns in the Struma valley were yielded to the Turks by John VII. Palaeologus in 1424; Salonica was taken for the last time in 1428 by Murad II. and its inhabitants were massacred. Large tracts of land were distributed among the Ottoman chiefs; a system of feudal tenure was developed by Mahommed II. (1451-1481), each fief furnishing a certain number of armed warriors. The Christian peasant owners remained on the lands assigned to the Moslem feudal lords, to whom they paid a tithe. The condition of the subject population was deplorable from the first, and became worse during the period of anarchy which coincided with the decadence of the central power in the 17th and 18th centuries; in the latter half of the 17th century efforts to improve it were made by the grand viziers Mehemet and Mustafa of the eminent house of Koprülü. The country was policed by the janissaries (q.v.). Numbers of the peasant proprietors were ultimately reduced to serfdom, working as labourers on the farms or tchifliks of the Moslem beys. Towards the end of the 18th century many of the local governors became practically independent; western Macedonia fell under the sway of Ali Pasha of Iannina; at Serres Ismail Bey maintained an army of 10,000 men and exercised a beneficent despotism. For more than two centuries Albanian incursions, often resulting in permanent settlements, added to the troubles of the Christian population. The reforms embodied in the Hatt-i-Sherif of Gulhané (1839) and in the Hatt-i-humayun (1856), in both of which the perfect equality of races and religions was proclaimed, remained a dead letter; the first “Law of the Vilayets” (1864), reforming the local administration, brought no relief, while depriving the Christian communities of certain rights which they had hitherto possessed.
In 1876 a conference of the powers at Constantinople proposed the reorganization of the Bulgarian provinces of Turkey in two vilayets under Christian governors-general aided by popular assemblies. The “western” vilayet, of European Intervention.
Treaties of San Stefano and Berlin. which Sofia was to be the capital, included northern, central and western Macedonia, extending south as far as Castoria. The projet de règlement elaborated by the conference was rejected by the Turkish parliament convoked under the constitution proclaimed on the 23rd of December 1876; the constitution, which was little more than a device for eluding European intervention, was shortly afterwards suspended. Under the treaty of San Stefano (March 3, 1878) the whole of Macedonia, except Salonica and the Chalcidic peninsula, was included in the newly formed principality of Bulgaria; this arrangement was reversed by the Treaty of Berlin (July 13) which left Macedonia under Turkish administration but provided (Art. xxiii.) for the introduction of reforms analogous to those of the Cretan Organic Statute of 1868. These reforms were to be drawn up by special commissions, on which the native element should be largely represented, and the opinion of the European commission for eastern Rumelia was to be taken before their promulgation. The Porte, however, prepared a project of its own, and the commission, taking this as a basis, drew up the elaborate “Law of the Vilayets” (Aug. 23, 1880). The law never received the sultan’s sanction, and European diplomacy proved unequal to the task of securing its adoption.