Antiquity It is probable that the capital of the Paeonian royal house was in the area of
Astibus (Astivos, Άστιβος in
Ancient Greek). The
Paeonians were situated in the region west of the fertile
Axius river basin, around the 5th and 4th centuries BC. The two tribes that lived along the river
Astibo, an estuary to the Axius, were the
Derrones, named after their god of healing, Darron, and the
Laeaeans, who minted their own heavy coins as a sign of their sovereignty following the example of the Greek city-states on
Chalkidiki. Although these tribes were heavily weakened by the Persian invasion of 480 BC, led by King
Xerxes I, they remained a formidable power and a well-organized people, renowned for the production of their exceptionally heavy coins with emblems including domesticated specimens of the wild
aurochs for which Paeonia was also famous. They were absorbed into the
Macedonian Empire by
Alexander I before 360 BC. The area itself is first mentioned in the writings of the historian
Polien from the 3rd century BC, who talks of a river named "Astibo" which is presumed to be the river
Bregalnica today. Polien also states that the
Paeonian emperors were crowned in Astibo. The first mention of a settlement dates to the reign of Roman emperor
Tiberius (14-37 AD), when
Estipeon is mentioned as an important settlement in the Roman province of
Paeonia and the second stop on the Roman road from
Stobi to
Pautalia. In the 6th century, the Slavs raided the Balkans and destroyed the Byzantine settlement, and the Slavic tribe of
Sagudates permanently settled the area.
Middle Ages Many rulers controlled the area of Štip during the early Middle Ages. Štip was part of the
Bulgarian Empire, but after the
Byzantine victory in the
Battle of Kleidion in 1014 it fell again under
Byzantine rule until the reestablishment of the
Bulgarian Empire in 1185. From the mid-13th century the town changed hands several times. By 1284, Serbian King
Stefan Milutin conquered the region; he mentioned Štip explicitly in 1308 and did not wish to give it up to the Byzantines. In a document of Serbian Tsar
Stefan Uroš that dates between 1293 and 1302, in which the citizens of Štip are named, there are several figures listed with
Albanian names and anthroponomy. Furthermore, in a 1330 letter by Serbian Tsar
Stefan Dušan, several figures with Albanian names and anthroponomy (including the last name
Arbanasin, which literally means
Albanian) were recorded. In 1334, the Church of the Holy Archangel in Štip, built by
protosebastos Hrelja who held the region under the Serbian crown, was according to his wish granted (
metochion) to
Hilandar, in a charter of King
Stefan Dušan. The region was annexed by the
Ottoman Empire after a raid in 1385. It was known as
İştip and was made the seat of a sanjak. There is little information about the development of Štip during Ottoman rule which would continue for the next five centuries, interrupted only during 1689–1690 when the city was taken by the Austrians for two years. In the late 19th and early 20th century, Štip was part of the
Kosovo Vilayet of the
Ottoman Empire.
20th century In 1912, at the start of the
Balkan Wars, Štip and the surrounding area was occupied by Bulgaria. But Bulgaria's defeat, after it, dissatisfied with the result of the First Balkan War, attacked its former allies in 1913, which resulted in the annexation of all of
Vardar Macedonia into the
Kingdom of Serbia. Štip was occupied by Bulgaria and Germany during the First World War. Events concerning the Kingdom of Serbia meant that Štip then became a part of the
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes together with the rest of
Vardar Macedonia. From 1929 to 1941, Štip was part of the
Vardar Banovina of the
Kingdom of Yugoslavia. On 6 April 1941, when Yugoslavia was attacked by
Nazi Germany, the city was bombed by German planes which took off from
Bulgaria. During the
Second World War the Axis-allied Bulgarian forces occupied the city until early September, 1944, after which it was taken by German troops. Štip was retaken by the
Macedonian National Liberation Army and the newly allied Bulgarian Army, now part of the anti-Axis coalition on 8 November 1944. Thus, 8 November is celebrated as "Liberation Day" in the city of Štip and its broader municipality, and is a non-working holiday. ==Demographics==