The Republic of Macedonia is an independent state on the Balkan peninsula in southeastern Europe. It is commonly referred to as Macedonia, but this can cause confusion with the wider geographical region of Macedonia. Due to the naming dispute between the Government of the Republic and the Government of Greece, the country was referred to as the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in its admission to the United Nations. International organisations and some countries still use that designation, abbreviated to FYROM, but most countries now recognise it under its official name.
The lands governed by the Republic of Macedonia were previously the southernmost part of Yugoslavia. Its current borders were fixed shortly after World War II when socialist Yugoslavia established the Socialist Republic of Macedonia, recognising the Macedonians as a separate nation within Yugoslavia. Renamed as the Republic of Macedonia in 1991 it seceded peacefully from Yugoslavia without any further territorial changes. However, since then the country has been embroiled in a prolonged political dispute with Greece concerning its use of the name "Macedonia".
The Republic of Macedonia encompasses only a part of the wider geographical region of Macedonia. The remainder is divided between neighbouring Greece (with about half of the total) and Bulgaria (with under a tenth).
The terrain is mostly rugged, located between the Sar and Rhodope mountains around the valley of the Vardar river. Three large lakes - Lake Ohrid, Lake Prespa and Lake Doiran - lie on the southern borders of the Republic, bisected by the frontiers with Albania and Greece.
The region is seismically active and has been the site of destructive earthquakes in the past, most recently in 1963 when Skopje was heavily damaged by a major earthquake.
The Republic's biggest city by far is Skopje, the capital, with an estimated 600,000 inhabitants. After Skopje, the largest cities are Bitola, Kumanovo, Prilep, and Tetovo, with populations ranging from about 50,000 to 120,000 people.
