Serbian propaganda Demographic history of Macedonia

ethnographic map of macedonia: point of view of serbs. author: professor j.cvijic, 1918



ethnographic map of balkans serbian author jovan cvijic



from serbian point of view, slavs of macedonia serbian-speakers

19th century serbian nationalism viewed serbs people chosen lead , unite southern slavs 1 country, yugoslavia (the country of southern slavs). conscience of peripheral parts of serbian nation grew, therefore officials , wide circles of population considered slavs of macedonia southern serbs , moslems islamized serbs , , shtokavian speaking part of today s croatian population catholic serbs . but, basic interests of serbian state policy directed liberation of ottoman regions of bosnia , herzegovina, , kosovo; whilst macedonia , vojvodina should liberated later .

the congress of berlin of 1878, granted bosnia , herzegovina austro-hungarian occupation , administration whilst nominally ottoman, redirected serbia s ambitions macedonia , propaganda campaign launched @ home , abroad prove serbian character of region. great contribution serbian cause made astronomer , historian trieste, spiridon gopčević (also known leo brenner). gopčević published in 1889 ethnographic research macedonia , old serbia, defined more three-quarters of macedonian population serbian. population of kosovo , northern albania identified serbian or albanian of serbian origin (albanized serbs, called arnauts ) , greeks along aliákmon greeks of serbian origin (hellenized serbs).

the work of gopčević further developed 2 serbian scholars, geographer jovan cvijić , linguist aleksandar belić. less extreme gopčević, cvijić , belić claimed slavs of northern macedonia serbian whereas of southern macedonia identified macedonian slavs , amorphous slavic mass neither bulgarian, nor serbian turn out either bulgarian or serbian if respective people rule region. slavs in macedonia referred bulgarian living along strymon (struma) , nestos (mesta) rivers, i.e., present-day pirin macedonia , parts of northeastern greece. cvijić further argued name bugari (bulgarians) used slavic population of macedonia refer meant ‘rayah’ – peasant christians – , in no case affiliations bulgarian ethnicity.