Vardar Macedonia refers to the northern part of the broader
Macedonian region, which became part of the
Kingdom of Serbia following the
Balkan Wars (1912–1913) and was formally assigned to Serbia by the
Treaty of Bucharest. It was named after the
Vardar River, distinguishing it from
Aegean Macedonia in Greece and
Pirin Macedonia in Bulgaria. The region was initially known as
Serbian Macedonia () although the use of the name
Macedonia was prohibited later in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, due to the implemented policy of
Serbianisation of the local Slavic-speakers. From 1919 to 1922, the area (including parts of today Kosovo and Eastern Serbia) was part of
South Serbia (), In 1929, the
Kingdom of Yugoslavia was divided into provinces called
banovinas. Vardar Macedonia as part of South Serbia then became part of
Vardar Banovina. During
World War I it was occupied by
Bulgaria as part of the
Military Inspection Area of Macedonia. After the war the present-day
Strumica and
Novo Selo municipalities were broken away from
Bulgaria and ceded to Yugoslavia. During the
Second World War, Bulgaria established two administrative districts in the region – Bitola and Skopje. In August 1944 the
Democratic Federal Macedonia was proclaimed with Vardar Macedonia as part of it. In 1945, it became one of the six constituent countries of
SFR Yugoslavia and later was renamed in the
People's Republic of Macedonia (1946–1963), and finally to
Socialist Republic of Macedonia (1963–1991). Before the
independence of the Republic of Macedonia, the region was also called Yugoslav Macedonia. After the
breakup of Yugoslavia, besides
North Macedonia, the region encompasses also
Trgovište and
Preševo municipalities in
Central Serbia, as well the
Elez Han municipality in
Kosovo. ==See also==