Macedonia is a small land-locked republic (25,713 sq. km.) in the Balkans, situated north of Greece, South of  Yugoslavia and between  Albania and Bulgaria.  It was a part of Yugoslavia until September 8th, 1991 when it gained it's independence thankfully avoiding the bloodshed of it's northern neighbors Bosnia and Croatia. The population is approximately 2.3 million. Skopje is the capital city with a population of 450,000. Macedonia is a developing nation with a GNP of 709 USD per individual in 1994. Major industry includes agriculture, mining, textiles and leather.

The national language is Macedonian which is a Slavic language using the Cyrillic alphabet (see above).  The ethnic composition includes Macedonians, Albanians, Romas, Vlachs and Serbs. Major religions include Eastern Orthodox and Islam.

Macedonia is 80% mountainous and there is good skiing in winter and many people come to summer here on the UN protected Lake Ohrid. There are also several very beautiful National Parks such as Mavrovo (Western Mac.) and Matka (Central). 

Macedonia has a long and varied cultural history with 1,720 churches and mosques. Significant archeological ruins are found in 4,000 different sites ranging from pre-historic through the Classical period. Notable sites include Hereclea and Stobi which both have beautiful Mosaics as well as the remains of Roman citadels and cities.