Middle Ages Demographic history of Macedonia

byzantine empire under basil ii

the slavs took advantage of desolation left nomadic tribes , in 6th century settled balkan peninsula (see also: south slavs). aided avars , bulgars slavic tribes started in 6th century gradual invasion lands of byzantium. invaded macedonia , reached far south thessaly , peloponnese, settling in isolated regions called byzantines sclavinias, until gradually pacified. many slavs came serve soldiers in byzantine armies , settled in other parts of empire. many among romanised , hellenised paeonian, illyrian , thracian population of macedonia assimilated slavs, pockets of tribes fled mountains remained independent. number of scholars today consider present-day aromanians (vlachs), sarakatsani , albanians originate these mountainous populations. interaction between romanised , non-romanised indigenous peoples , slavs resulted in linguistic similarities reflected in modern bulgarian, albanian, romanian , macedonian, of them members of balkan language area. slavs occupied hinterland of thessaloniki launching consecutive attacks on city in 584, 586, 609, 620, , 622 ad, never taking it. slavs joined in onslaughts detachments of avars, avars did not form lasting settlements in region. branch of bulgars led khan kuber, however, settled western macedonia , eastern albania around 680 ad , engaged in attacks on byzantium slavs. time, whole macedonia region inhabited several different ethnicities, south slavs being overall majority in northern fringes of macedonia while greeks dominated highlands of western macedonia, central plains, , coastline.

at beginning of 9th century, bulgaria conquered northern byzantine lands, including macedonia b , part of macedonia a. regions remained under bulgarian rule 2 centuries, until destruction of bulgaria byzantine emperor basil ii (nicknamed bulgar-slayer) in 1018. in 11th , 12th century, first mention made of 2 ethnic groups off borders of macedonia: arvanites in modern albania , vlachs (aromanians) in thessaly , pindus. modern historians divided whether albanians came area (from dacia or moesia) or originated native non-romanized thracian or illyrian populations.

also in 11th century byzantium settled several tens of thousand turkic christians asia minor, referred vardariotes, along lower course of vardar. colonies of other turkic tribes such uzes, petchenegs, , cumans introduced @ various periods 11th 13th century. these hellenized or bulgarized. romani, migrating north india reached balkans, including macedonia, around 14th century of them settling there. there successive waves of romani immigration in 15th , 16th century, too. (see also: roma in republic of macedonia)

in 13th , 14th century, macedonia contested byzantine empire, despotate of epirus, rulers of thessaly, , bulgarian empire, frequent shift of borders did not result in major population changes. in 1338, conquered serbian empire, after battle of maritsa in 1371 of serbian lords of macedonia acknowledged ottoman suzerainty. after conquest of skopje ottoman turks in 1392, of macedonia formally incorporated ottoman empire.