Macedonia

Republika Makedonija, the Republic of Macedonia, occupies the northwestern third of the former region of Macedonia to the north of Greece. It seceded from the disintegrating Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1991, after having been a part of that nation since 1944.
Officially, the name of the nation is in dispute, as both Greece and ethnic Macedonians (descended from the region) oppose its use without a qualifier, such as “Northern Macedonia,” to distinguish the current nation from the overall ethnic and historical region. The United Nations uses the official designation “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” to refer to the nation until the dispute can be settled.
The ancient kingdom of Macedonia is famous as the birthplace of Alexander the Great, the son of King Phillip II of Macedon. This status sometimes draws the attention of super-criminals obsessed with the legendary and historical exploits of Alexander, who could claim to have conquered the whole of the known world in his time. Thus far, schemes to find some historic or mystical connection to Alexander’s birthright or power in Macedonia have proven unsuccessful.
Modern Macedonia has struggled since independence and the transition from the socialist Yugoslavian economy to a market-based structure. It faces substantial poverty and unemployment, although relatively little unrest. The region was destabilized briefly by the Kosovo War in 1999, when hundreds of thousands of Albania refugees flooded across the border. Albanian nationalists in Macedonia briefly took up arms seeking autonomy or independence for heavily Albanian areas of Macedonia.