Explore Skopje

Brief History

Standing on the banks of the Vardar River amid mountainous country, Skopje began as ancient Scupi, an Illyrian tribal centre. It became the capital of the district of Dardania (part of the Roman province of Moesia Superior) under the emperor Diocletian in the 4th century. In 518 it was totally destroyed by an earthquake. A brief Slav incursion occurred in the 7th century, and in the 9th and 10th centuries the town grew rapidly. The Serbs first captured Skopje in 1189, and in 1392 the Turks after conquering Macedonia made it their provincial capital and an important commercial centre. In 1689 it was burned to the ground by Austrian forces to eradicate a cholera epidemic, after which it declined until a revival in the 19th century with the building of the Belgrade–Thessaloníki railway. By treaty Skopje was in 1913 incorporated into Serbia, and in 1918 it became part of the new Yugoslavia. During World War II the Germans occupied it in April 1941, and it was then garrisoned by Bulgarian troops. Liberated in 1944, it became the capital of the People’s (later Socialist) Republic of Macedonia in 1945. In 1991 it became the capital of the newly independent Republic of Macedonia, which changed its name to the Republic of North Macedonia in 2019.