NY Times described Macedonia's borders in 1895

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 In the New York Times article of November 3, 1895 entitled "Unkown Macedonia", we can discover a description of the borders of Macedonia.

Macedonia Map

As an introduction the autor wrote "that practically nothing is known about Macedonia", this statement can also be transferred to the present day, some things are known about Macedonia, but a lot is not and some is presented in a distorted way by certain parties according to their own opinion.

Macedonia's borders are explained in the article on the basis of geographical conditions, the three rivers Vardar, Struma and Bistrica are listed as well as the important mountains such as mount Olymp, Rhodope and Shar-Planina. Unfortunately, the author left out a list of important locations to shape the borders around, but this is obvious from the geographic information.

Macedonia is called one of the "most attractive and picturesque landscapes in Europe" by the author, "with magnificent forests, wild rivers, wonderful waterfalls, ...".



Unknown Macedonia.

From the contemporary Review.

Macedonia is practically as unknown to the general public as the great Unshapen Land in which dwelt the three Grey sisters who helped Perseus on his errand of death. Even the well informed politician who could comfortably pick his way through central Africa is very often unable to tell the difference between a Pomak and a Zinzar, a Yooryk and an Arnaut or to say whether they are fruits, implements or peoples. Not only is the geography of the country a highly complicated and unsatisfactory study, seeing that nearly every district, river, lake and town is known by at least two wholly different names, the one Turkish and the other Slavonian, Greek or Albanian, both of which are occasianally omitted from the few maps we possess, but the ethnography is more bewildering than a Chinese puzzle, and no man born or woman can ever hope to solve the problems it offers in a way that will satisfy the peoples of eastern Europe. In spite of a railway net of about 600 miles, communications with the interior are not merely primitive and painful, but highly dangerous. It is practicaily impossible to visit any of the outlying and many of the main districts without an escort of Turkish Zaptiehs, and sometimes even a few Arnaut cutthroats, as a homeopathic precaution over and above. There are places in Macedonia, especially in the country between tbe river Vardar, on the one side, and the Drin and Morava on the other, which have been untrodden by European feet since the days when warlike Samuel was king, about 900 years ago.

Macedonia, the land of the three streams, Vardar, Struma and Vistritsa, is hemmed in by lofty mountains, of which the best known or the highest are Olympus, Shardagh, and Rhodope, the last named raising to between 8000 and 9000 feet above the level of the sea. It is among the most picturesque countries of Europe, abounding in magnificent forests, which climb hills, fringe rivers, and cover islands; in wild mountain scenes, wonderful waterfalls, silent sailless lakes - an appropiate setting for gems of emerald islets, deep gorges, dizzy mountain paths, smiling plains, and desolate passes, which ought to prove an irresistible attraction to the traveler who regards genuine danger and real discomfort as the appropiate condiment of pleasure.

Source: NY TIMES, November 3, 1895. The article was re-published in Semi-weekly Express, Terre Haute, Vigo County, on July 20, 1897

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