Truths and lies about Macedonia - Part 2
Australian Macedonian Advisory Council
April 29, 2009
Before i begin my article which is a continuation of the homonymous first one, i would like to make a small attempt in order to understand Risto Stefov. It was impossible for me to restrain myself of doing so, when i read Stefov´s last article the outrageous and unsubstantiated claim that "Greek propagandists are revising ancient history" or something along those lines.
Mr.Stefov, i´m sure you have heard of the old Greek proverb: "Don´t talk about ropes in the house of the hanged man" and fits perfectly in your case. If you pretend not to understand what i am talking about, i remind you that the one who was caught distorting blatantly historical books of well known authors was not a Greek:
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/87838
So much about the bad "Greek propagandists" and their "revision of history". But i would never expect from someone who lacks in what we Greeks say "filotimo", in order to avoid falsely accusing his opponents of what he is actually committing himself.
Regardless, I had finished my last article by quoting some excerpts from Krste Misirkov´s "Macedonian matters",where the father of "Macedonism" honestly accepted the real Bulgarian ethnic past of his people and tried to convince them that they should start from now on to call themselves "ethnic Macedonians".He also tried hardly to convince even himself that his ethnicity was no more Bulgarian but "Macedonian":
"If my father, my grandfather and great-grandfather named themselves Bulgarians because they didn´t understand what that means, that still does not mean that I should remain in the same darkness as they were".
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/On_Macedonian_Matters#Can_Macedonia_turn_itself_into_a_separate_ethnographical_and_political_unit.3F_Has_it_already_done_so.3F_Is_it_doing_so_now.3F
After all, as I already mentioned, Misirkov was a honest man. So honest, that he didn´t hesitate to renounce as conspicuously Bulgarian the famous Ilinden uprising, that is considered by the official FYROM historiography as the greatest "Macedonian" revolutionary movement for liberation from the Ottoman yoke.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilinden-Preobrazhenie_Uprising
He wrote about this uprising:
"I shall have absolutely no compunction in saying that I regard this present movement as a complete fiasco..[..]Judging by the results that will follow this Uprising one may say that it is one of the greatest, if not the greatest of all misfortunes to befall our people".
"Thus the reason why the Uprising failed is perfectly clear: from the very outset it was established on the wrong basis instead of being a general Macedonian Uprising it was a partial insurrection with Bulgarian overtones. The only Macedonian Slavs who played a leading part in the Uprising were those who called themselves Bulgarians. The intelligentsia, not only of the other Macedonian nationalities but also of the Macedonian Slavs themselves, did not figure among the leaders of the Revolutionary Committee".
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/On_Macedonian_Matters#Can_Macedonia_turn_itself_into_a_separate_ethnographical_and_political_unit.3F_Has_it_already_done_so.3F_Is_it_doing_so_now.3F
Thus it´s not surprising that the Ilinden uprising is claimed today by both FYROM and Bulgarians as belonging to their ethnic legacy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilinden-Preobrazhenie_Uprising#Legacy
And it´s again not surprising the fact that all the contemporary sources labelled it definitely as a Bulgarian uprising:
"Despite these promises the insurgents flew Bulgarian flags everywhere"
http://books.google.com/books?id=ppbuavUZKEwC&printsec=frontcover&dq=el#PPA57,M1
"Who are the Macedonians" by Hough Poulton,2000
"The moment for which the Bulgarian population had been preparing for ten years arrived on the festival of the Prophet Elias—the evening of Sunday, August the 2nd, 1903".
http://books.google.com/books?hl=el&id=n1QMAAAAYAAJ&dq=Macedonia%3B+its+races+and+their+future&q=August+the+2nd&pgis=1
"Macedonia, its races and their future" by H.N. Brailsford,1906 page 148
All this means that Misirkov actually failed to convince the vast majority of his compatriots, besides some individuals for the necessity of this transformation from Bulgarians to "Macedonians". It was perfectly described in 1997 by Loring Danforth in page 64 of "The Macedonian conflict, ethnic nationalism in a transnational world" :
"The political and military leaders of the Slavs of Macedonia at the turn of the century seem not to have heard Misirkov's call for a sepa¬rate Macedonian national identity; they continued to identify them¬selves in a national sense as Bulgarians rather than Macedonians".
http://books.google.com/books?id=ZmesOn_HhfEC&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+macedonian+conflict&lr=&ei=oczxSb-LIIzOkASl0YCgCg&hl=el#PPA64,M1
But besides Misirkov´s honest acceptance, we also have a lot of accounts written by western European travellers, journalists, historians etc who visited the Balkans during the 19th century and all of them agree on this: Ethnic Macedonians were nowhere to be found at that time. The only ethnicities that were recorded in Macedonia of 19th century were Greeks, Bulgarians, Turks, Serbs, Vlachs, Albanians, Jews, Armenians and Gypsies. As for the ancestors of today´s FYROM, they were clearly labelled as Bulgarians by all the Westerners. In pg 28 of "Travels in European Turkey",1850,by Edmond Spencer we read: "The population of Uskioub (the name of Skopje when it was under Ottoman rule) consisting of Arnouts (Albanians),Armenians, Zinzars (Vlachs), Greeks, Bulgarians and Serbians, amounts to upwards of twelve thousands"
http://books.google.com/books?id=Db5z52QtmEUC&printsec=frontcover&dq=travels+in+european+turkey&hl=el#PPA28,M1
"Handbook for travellers in Greece",1854,by John Murray: "The Turks resident of Monastir (today´s Bitola in southwestern FYROM) are for the most part either military or officials. Greeks and Bulgarians form the majority of the inhabitants. There are a few Albanians and a considerable number of Jews. The peasantry of the northern districts of Macedonia are chiefly of Bulgarian race and language, though they belong to the Greek church."
http://books.google.com/books?id=lrhOAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=hanbook+for+travellers+in+greece&hl=el#PPA430,M1
"The foreign quarterly review",1834.It includes the account of Cousinery, a French who was for almost 20 years consul in Salonica and had consequently acquired a very good knowledge on Macedonian matters, the populations and the nations of Macedonia etc. According to him, "Macedonia is inhabited by many races. The Greeks and ,the Bulgarians are the most numerous. [...] The country east of Saloniki, the province of Chalcidice especially, is entirely inhabited by Greeks, while in the districts to the west of that city, in the plains watered by the Axius, the country population is wholly Bulgarian ; again, in the woods and mountains beyond those plains, the Greeks re-appear. In the towns, Greeks and Bulgarians are now mixed together, and more amalgamated by dress, language, and religion, yet they seldom intermarry or associate in common. In the country they live altogether separate, and each race retains its own language and dress." Pg 445-446
http://books.google.com/books?id=k4EAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA446&dq#PPA445,M1
Memoirs on the Ionian Islands,1816,by Frédéric Guillaume de Vaudoncourt, William Walton, Baldwin, Cradock. Page 138: "Sandjag (an Ottoman administrative subdivision) of Ochrida (a town in southwestern FYROM),situated to the east of the lake of that name and inhabited by Bulgarians". Page 139: "The inhabitants are in great measure Bulgarians, colonies of whom are thickly scattered in these mountains". Pages 140-141: "Monastir, otherwise Toli or Bitolia …..the greatest part of the inhabitants are Bulgarians".
http://books.google.com/books?id=CUcOAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=memoirs+on+the+ionian+islands&hl=el#PPA138,M1
There are also many non-Anglophone similar accounts. One of them was printed in 1854 under the title "Recueil d'itineraires dans la Turquie d'Europe.Details geographiques,topographiques et statistiques sur cet empire",by Ami Boué.We read in page 151 about the population of the Pashalik of Serres (which almost coincides with today´s prefecture of Serres in the Greek province of Macedonia) : "Vu sa partie tres montueuse dans le Rhodope il ne doit pas avoir une population au-dela de 100000 ames,qui comprend bon nombre de Grecs,surtout vers Serres>.
(Considering its very montainous part in the Rhodope it should not have a population beyond 100000 souls, which includes considerable Greeks, especially towards Serres).
Conclusion: In Eastern Macedonia weren't residing any ethnic "Macedonians".
http://books.google.com/books?id=w6MFAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA357&dq=Recueil+d%27itineraires+dans+la+Turquie+d%27Europe.&hl=el#PPA151,M1
In pages 154-155 the author writes about the population of the rest of Thessaloniki's Pashalik: "Une population Grecque assez compacte s'y trouve surtout dans le Chalcidice". (A rather compact Greek population is there especially in Chalcidike). "Le reste de la population du Paschalik est compose de bon nombre de Grecs et de Zinzares dans la portion S.O.,tandis que dans les autres districts ce sont surtout les Bulgares chretiens grecs,qui predominent ,quoiqu'ils soient melanges ca et la de quelques Serbes comme a Vodena.Les musulmans soit asiatiques,soit europeens...L'element albanais pur y est presque nul". (The remainder of the population of Paschalik is composed of considerable of Greeks and Zinzares (Vlachs) in the S.O. parts, while in the other districts they are especially the Bulgarian Greek Christians, who prevail, though they are mixtures and of some Serbs as has Vodena. The Moslems either Asian, or European… the pure Albanian element is almost null there).
Conclusion: In these regions, Veroia, Naousa, Katerini, Halkidiki Edessa, Jiannitsa, Kilkis, Doiran, Avret Hissar,(all of them are today included in the Greek province of Macedonia) were living many Greeks, Vlachs, Bulgarian orthodox (Bulgarian Greek Christians) ,Serbs and Moslems but not ethnic "Macedonians".
http://books.google.com/books?id=w6MFAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA357&dq=Recueil+d%27itineraires+dans+la+Turquie+d%27Europe.&hl=el#PPA154,M1
In page 211 he is in Skopje (Ouskjoub) and writes about the population: "sa population est eminemment Bulgare,mais il y a aussi assez de Serbes et de Zinzares".
(its population is eminently Bulgarian, but there are also enough Serbs and Zinzares(Vlachs).Conclusion:The population of Skopje was consisted of Bulgarians, Serbs and Vlachs. The Bulgarians were orthodox (Christians). Ethnic "Macedonians" aren't mentioned nowhere.
In page 212 he writes about the totally population of the Pashalik of Skopje which was 600.000 that "the great mass are Bulgarians and Christians". Below he writes that the Moslems are descendands of Turks or Bulgarians,Serbs and Albanians who converted to Islam. Conclusion: In the whole of the Skopje's Pashalik weren't any ethnic "Macedonians" living.
http://books.google.com/books?id=w6MFAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA357&dq=Recueil+d%27itineraires+dans+la+Turquie+d%27Europe.&hl=el#PPA211,M1
"Albanesische studien" by Dr.Johan Georg von Hahn,1854.Page 16: "Eine ausnahme bildet das gebiet des Sees von Ochrida,welches von Bulgaren mit Wlachen untermischt bewohnt wird und wo sich keine Albanese finden sollen"
(An exception is the territory of the lake of Ohrid,which is populated by Bulgarians mixed with Vlachs and where aren't any Albanians).
http://books.google.com/books?id=IPIGAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA106&dq=scopia&lr=&hl=el#PPA16,M1
Page 34: "Auch in den östlich von Ochrida liegenden Monastir und dessen umgegend finden sich viele Wlachen.Der verfasser hörte sogar behaupten das es um Ochrida und Monastir mehr Wlachen als Bulgaren gebe". (There are also many Vlachs in the eastern of Ohrid located Monastir and its vicinity.The author heard also claims that in Monastir and in Ohrid are more Vlachs than Bulgarians.)
http://books.google.com/books?id=IPIGAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA106&dq=scopia&lr=&hl=el#PPA34,M1
I could continue this list quoting some 35-40 such other books but I shall stop for the moment presenting a last one:"The Missionary Herald, containing the proceeding of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions",1852.Those American missionaries visited the towns of Doiran, Istip, Palanca and Skopje, all of them in today´s FYROM soil, despite the title of the specific chapter,"Mr. Parson´s visit to Bulgaria". Let´s see some excerpts. Page 79: "They arrived at Doiran….It has a population of about seven thousand Turks and Bulgarians, with 300 Jews. A large Lancasterian school is taught, the pupils being Bulgarians". "We waited till eleven o´clock, hoping that some of the Greeks and Bulgarians would buy our books…" Several Bulgarians and Jews greeted with joy works in their own languages…" Page 80: "We sold, however, among the Bulgarians, ten New Testaments"."A number of Bulgarians assembled at the khan"."We were happy to learn that here the Bulgarian is taught in the schools". Page 81:"We improved the first leisure to visit the Bulgarian school (in Skopje)….He seemed to be pleased with our inquiries in respect to the Bulgarian people and literature….in his school-room we noticed a caricature he had made of the Bulgarian people and its oppresors. The Bulgarian people were represented as a blindfolded woman." "Next day our friends proceeded to Palanca, a long narrow town in a beautiful valley, in which the Bulgarians have a church, a school etc….we sold thirteen New Testaments in Bulgarian and one in Greek".
http://books.google.com/books?id=-cAPAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA80&dq=scopia&lr=&hl=el#PPA79,M1
Finally, Risto Stefov, if you would like to avoid in the future any "humiliation" like that which the grandson of your friend suffered, who was considered as Greek by his professor, the solution is plain and simple. Stop usurping the Greek name "Macedonian",if you feel upset when people confuse you with Greeks whenever you state you are Macedonians. It´s a name that never belonged to your people, neither culturally, nor historically and ethnologically.
It´s neither our fault nor "Greek propaganda", that some 200 years ago, the name "Macedonian" was always correlated with the Greeks. These two books below, dating from 1822 and 1825 respectively, mention the ethnicities that dwelled in the Austro-Hungarian empire as follows:
"Of the minor tribes, the chief are the Macedonians or modern Greeks, the Armenians, the Jews and the Gypsies"
http://books.google.com/books?id=B7YBAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA352&dq=of+the+minor+tribes+the+chief+are+the+macedonians+or+modern+greeks&lr=&hl=el
"The Edinburgh gazetteer, or geographical dictionary"
"Besides these there are Germans, Wallachians, Macedonians or modern Greeks, Armenians and Jews."
http://books.google.com/books?id=D7UBAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA448&dq=besides+these+are+germans,walachians,macedonians,or+modern+Greeks,Armenians,and+Jews%3B&lr=&hl=el
"The London General Gazetteer, Or Geographical Dictionary"
Those Macedonians were Greek merchants from Macedonia who were settled in many regions of the Austro-Hungarian empire at that time.
It also was not our fault that your ancestors who migrated in the USA needed Bulgarian-English dictionaries in order to learn English, attended Bulgarian schools and used Bulgarian in every instance:
"Macedonians had long tried to explain their identity and their problem to their neighbours. Nedelkoff's English-Bulgarian and Bulgar¬ian-English Letters (1911) offered a description and translation of a Macedonian's account"
http://books.google.com/books?id=7BDcb0uvR7EC&printsec=frontcover&dq=ilinden+bulgarians+brailsford&lr=&ei=H1f3SfT5N5TMyQSI39isBQ&hl=el#PPA157,M1
"Sojourners and settlers: the Macedonian community in Toronto to 1940" by Lillian Petroff,1995 page 157
"The linguistic preference of younger Macedonians and the practicality of a common language for dealing with the larger Canadian community, led the committee to increase the use and presence of English. Member¬ship booklets, baptism certificates, and picnic circulars, by the late 1920s, were issued in both Bulgarian and English. The committee approved in 1930 the motion to 'put a sign in the hall in Bulgarian and English"
"Hence it denied the 1935 request of 'stubborn' and zealous Jehovah's Witnesses to use the premises of the Niagara Street Bulgarian-language school" Page 134 of the same book
http://books.google.com/books?id=7BDcb0uvR7EC&printsec=frontcover&dq=ilinden+bulgarians+brailsford&lr=&ei=H1f3SfT5N5TMyQSI39isBQ&hl=el#PPA134,M1
Or was it our fault that your ancestors were eager to renounce Orthodoxy so that they would not be deprived of hearing in the Church their native Bulgarian language?
"In a place in Macedonia, now under Serbia, where we have a church, who learn that the Serbians compelled the worshipers in the Bulgarian Orthodox church to accept Serbian priests to minister to them. But as regards our Protestants, they found themselves in a fix. They have no Protestants in Serbia, and so had no Protestant pas¬tors whom they could compel our peo¬ple to accept. Thus far, therefore, they have left them alone. The consequence is that our preacher goes on using the Bulgarian language, and the place is packed, as the Orthodox people prefer to attend a Protestant Bulgarian serv¬ice rather than an Orthodox Serbian one!"
http://books.google.com/books?id=ewEpAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA518&dq=The+consequence+is+that+our+preacher+goes+on+using+the+Bulgarian+language,+and+the+place+is+packed,+as+the+Orthodox+people+prefer++to+attend+a+Protestant+Bulgarian+service+rather+than+an+Orthodox+Servian&hl=el
"The Missionary Herald" by American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions,1913
http://books.google.com/books?lr=&hl=el&q=The+consequence+is+that+our+preacher+goes+on+using+the+Bulgarian+language%2C+and+the+place+is+packed%2C+as+the+Orthodox+people+prefer++to+attend+a+Protestant+Bulgarian+service+rather+than+an+Orthodox+Servian&btnG=%CE%91%CE%BD%CE%B1%CE%B6%CE%AE%CF%84%CE%B7%CF%83%CE%B7+%CE%92%CE%B9%CE%B2%CE%BB%CE%AF%CF%89%CE%BD
To be continued
Written by Kapetan Doukas from the AMAC forums: Macedonian Forums
info@macedonian.com.au
Macedonian Forums
Mr.Stefov, i´m sure you have heard of the old Greek proverb: "Don´t talk about ropes in the house of the hanged man" and fits perfectly in your case. If you pretend not to understand what i am talking about, i remind you that the one who was caught distorting blatantly historical books of well known authors was not a Greek:
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/87838
So much about the bad "Greek propagandists" and their "revision of history". But i would never expect from someone who lacks in what we Greeks say "filotimo", in order to avoid falsely accusing his opponents of what he is actually committing himself.
Regardless, I had finished my last article by quoting some excerpts from Krste Misirkov´s "Macedonian matters",where the father of "Macedonism" honestly accepted the real Bulgarian ethnic past of his people and tried to convince them that they should start from now on to call themselves "ethnic Macedonians".He also tried hardly to convince even himself that his ethnicity was no more Bulgarian but "Macedonian":
"If my father, my grandfather and great-grandfather named themselves Bulgarians because they didn´t understand what that means, that still does not mean that I should remain in the same darkness as they were".
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/On_Macedonian_Matters#Can_Macedonia_turn_itself_into_a_separate_ethnographical_and_political_unit.3F_Has_it_already_done_so.3F_Is_it_doing_so_now.3F
After all, as I already mentioned, Misirkov was a honest man. So honest, that he didn´t hesitate to renounce as conspicuously Bulgarian the famous Ilinden uprising, that is considered by the official FYROM historiography as the greatest "Macedonian" revolutionary movement for liberation from the Ottoman yoke.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilinden-Preobrazhenie_Uprising
He wrote about this uprising:
"I shall have absolutely no compunction in saying that I regard this present movement as a complete fiasco..[..]Judging by the results that will follow this Uprising one may say that it is one of the greatest, if not the greatest of all misfortunes to befall our people".
"Thus the reason why the Uprising failed is perfectly clear: from the very outset it was established on the wrong basis instead of being a general Macedonian Uprising it was a partial insurrection with Bulgarian overtones. The only Macedonian Slavs who played a leading part in the Uprising were those who called themselves Bulgarians. The intelligentsia, not only of the other Macedonian nationalities but also of the Macedonian Slavs themselves, did not figure among the leaders of the Revolutionary Committee".
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/On_Macedonian_Matters#Can_Macedonia_turn_itself_into_a_separate_ethnographical_and_political_unit.3F_Has_it_already_done_so.3F_Is_it_doing_so_now.3F
Thus it´s not surprising that the Ilinden uprising is claimed today by both FYROM and Bulgarians as belonging to their ethnic legacy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilinden-Preobrazhenie_Uprising#Legacy
And it´s again not surprising the fact that all the contemporary sources labelled it definitely as a Bulgarian uprising:
"Despite these promises the insurgents flew Bulgarian flags everywhere"
http://books.google.com/books?id=ppbuavUZKEwC&printsec=frontcover&dq=el#PPA57,M1
"Who are the Macedonians" by Hough Poulton,2000
"The moment for which the Bulgarian population had been preparing for ten years arrived on the festival of the Prophet Elias—the evening of Sunday, August the 2nd, 1903".
http://books.google.com/books?hl=el&id=n1QMAAAAYAAJ&dq=Macedonia%3B+its+races+and+their+future&q=August+the+2nd&pgis=1
"Macedonia, its races and their future" by H.N. Brailsford,1906 page 148
All this means that Misirkov actually failed to convince the vast majority of his compatriots, besides some individuals for the necessity of this transformation from Bulgarians to "Macedonians". It was perfectly described in 1997 by Loring Danforth in page 64 of "The Macedonian conflict, ethnic nationalism in a transnational world" :
"The political and military leaders of the Slavs of Macedonia at the turn of the century seem not to have heard Misirkov's call for a sepa¬rate Macedonian national identity; they continued to identify them¬selves in a national sense as Bulgarians rather than Macedonians".
http://books.google.com/books?id=ZmesOn_HhfEC&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+macedonian+conflict&lr=&ei=oczxSb-LIIzOkASl0YCgCg&hl=el#PPA64,M1
But besides Misirkov´s honest acceptance, we also have a lot of accounts written by western European travellers, journalists, historians etc who visited the Balkans during the 19th century and all of them agree on this: Ethnic Macedonians were nowhere to be found at that time. The only ethnicities that were recorded in Macedonia of 19th century were Greeks, Bulgarians, Turks, Serbs, Vlachs, Albanians, Jews, Armenians and Gypsies. As for the ancestors of today´s FYROM, they were clearly labelled as Bulgarians by all the Westerners. In pg 28 of "Travels in European Turkey",1850,by Edmond Spencer we read: "The population of Uskioub (the name of Skopje when it was under Ottoman rule) consisting of Arnouts (Albanians),Armenians, Zinzars (Vlachs), Greeks, Bulgarians and Serbians, amounts to upwards of twelve thousands"
http://books.google.com/books?id=Db5z52QtmEUC&printsec=frontcover&dq=travels+in+european+turkey&hl=el#PPA28,M1
"Handbook for travellers in Greece",1854,by John Murray: "The Turks resident of Monastir (today´s Bitola in southwestern FYROM) are for the most part either military or officials. Greeks and Bulgarians form the majority of the inhabitants. There are a few Albanians and a considerable number of Jews. The peasantry of the northern districts of Macedonia are chiefly of Bulgarian race and language, though they belong to the Greek church."
http://books.google.com/books?id=lrhOAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=hanbook+for+travellers+in+greece&hl=el#PPA430,M1
"The foreign quarterly review",1834.It includes the account of Cousinery, a French who was for almost 20 years consul in Salonica and had consequently acquired a very good knowledge on Macedonian matters, the populations and the nations of Macedonia etc. According to him, "Macedonia is inhabited by many races. The Greeks and ,the Bulgarians are the most numerous. [...] The country east of Saloniki, the province of Chalcidice especially, is entirely inhabited by Greeks, while in the districts to the west of that city, in the plains watered by the Axius, the country population is wholly Bulgarian ; again, in the woods and mountains beyond those plains, the Greeks re-appear. In the towns, Greeks and Bulgarians are now mixed together, and more amalgamated by dress, language, and religion, yet they seldom intermarry or associate in common. In the country they live altogether separate, and each race retains its own language and dress." Pg 445-446
http://books.google.com/books?id=k4EAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA446&dq#PPA445,M1
Memoirs on the Ionian Islands,1816,by Frédéric Guillaume de Vaudoncourt, William Walton, Baldwin, Cradock. Page 138: "Sandjag (an Ottoman administrative subdivision) of Ochrida (a town in southwestern FYROM),situated to the east of the lake of that name and inhabited by Bulgarians". Page 139: "The inhabitants are in great measure Bulgarians, colonies of whom are thickly scattered in these mountains". Pages 140-141: "Monastir, otherwise Toli or Bitolia …..the greatest part of the inhabitants are Bulgarians".
http://books.google.com/books?id=CUcOAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=memoirs+on+the+ionian+islands&hl=el#PPA138,M1
There are also many non-Anglophone similar accounts. One of them was printed in 1854 under the title "Recueil d'itineraires dans la Turquie d'Europe.Details geographiques,topographiques et statistiques sur cet empire",by Ami Boué.We read in page 151 about the population of the Pashalik of Serres (which almost coincides with today´s prefecture of Serres in the Greek province of Macedonia) : "Vu sa partie tres montueuse dans le Rhodope il ne doit pas avoir une population au-dela de 100000 ames,qui comprend bon nombre de Grecs,surtout vers Serres>.
(Considering its very montainous part in the Rhodope it should not have a population beyond 100000 souls, which includes considerable Greeks, especially towards Serres).
Conclusion: In Eastern Macedonia weren't residing any ethnic "Macedonians".
http://books.google.com/books?id=w6MFAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA357&dq=Recueil+d%27itineraires+dans+la+Turquie+d%27Europe.&hl=el#PPA151,M1
In pages 154-155 the author writes about the population of the rest of Thessaloniki's Pashalik: "Une population Grecque assez compacte s'y trouve surtout dans le Chalcidice". (A rather compact Greek population is there especially in Chalcidike). "Le reste de la population du Paschalik est compose de bon nombre de Grecs et de Zinzares dans la portion S.O.,tandis que dans les autres districts ce sont surtout les Bulgares chretiens grecs,qui predominent ,quoiqu'ils soient melanges ca et la de quelques Serbes comme a Vodena.Les musulmans soit asiatiques,soit europeens...L'element albanais pur y est presque nul". (The remainder of the population of Paschalik is composed of considerable of Greeks and Zinzares (Vlachs) in the S.O. parts, while in the other districts they are especially the Bulgarian Greek Christians, who prevail, though they are mixtures and of some Serbs as has Vodena. The Moslems either Asian, or European… the pure Albanian element is almost null there).
Conclusion: In these regions, Veroia, Naousa, Katerini, Halkidiki Edessa, Jiannitsa, Kilkis, Doiran, Avret Hissar,(all of them are today included in the Greek province of Macedonia) were living many Greeks, Vlachs, Bulgarian orthodox (Bulgarian Greek Christians) ,Serbs and Moslems but not ethnic "Macedonians".
http://books.google.com/books?id=w6MFAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA357&dq=Recueil+d%27itineraires+dans+la+Turquie+d%27Europe.&hl=el#PPA154,M1
In page 211 he is in Skopje (Ouskjoub) and writes about the population: "sa population est eminemment Bulgare,mais il y a aussi assez de Serbes et de Zinzares".
(its population is eminently Bulgarian, but there are also enough Serbs and Zinzares(Vlachs).Conclusion:The population of Skopje was consisted of Bulgarians, Serbs and Vlachs. The Bulgarians were orthodox (Christians). Ethnic "Macedonians" aren't mentioned nowhere.
In page 212 he writes about the totally population of the Pashalik of Skopje which was 600.000 that "the great mass are Bulgarians and Christians". Below he writes that the Moslems are descendands of Turks or Bulgarians,Serbs and Albanians who converted to Islam. Conclusion: In the whole of the Skopje's Pashalik weren't any ethnic "Macedonians" living.
http://books.google.com/books?id=w6MFAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA357&dq=Recueil+d%27itineraires+dans+la+Turquie+d%27Europe.&hl=el#PPA211,M1
"Albanesische studien" by Dr.Johan Georg von Hahn,1854.Page 16: "Eine ausnahme bildet das gebiet des Sees von Ochrida,welches von Bulgaren mit Wlachen untermischt bewohnt wird und wo sich keine Albanese finden sollen"
(An exception is the territory of the lake of Ohrid,which is populated by Bulgarians mixed with Vlachs and where aren't any Albanians).
http://books.google.com/books?id=IPIGAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA106&dq=scopia&lr=&hl=el#PPA16,M1
Page 34: "Auch in den östlich von Ochrida liegenden Monastir und dessen umgegend finden sich viele Wlachen.Der verfasser hörte sogar behaupten das es um Ochrida und Monastir mehr Wlachen als Bulgaren gebe". (There are also many Vlachs in the eastern of Ohrid located Monastir and its vicinity.The author heard also claims that in Monastir and in Ohrid are more Vlachs than Bulgarians.)
http://books.google.com/books?id=IPIGAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA106&dq=scopia&lr=&hl=el#PPA34,M1
I could continue this list quoting some 35-40 such other books but I shall stop for the moment presenting a last one:"The Missionary Herald, containing the proceeding of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions",1852.Those American missionaries visited the towns of Doiran, Istip, Palanca and Skopje, all of them in today´s FYROM soil, despite the title of the specific chapter,"Mr. Parson´s visit to Bulgaria". Let´s see some excerpts. Page 79: "They arrived at Doiran….It has a population of about seven thousand Turks and Bulgarians, with 300 Jews. A large Lancasterian school is taught, the pupils being Bulgarians". "We waited till eleven o´clock, hoping that some of the Greeks and Bulgarians would buy our books…" Several Bulgarians and Jews greeted with joy works in their own languages…" Page 80: "We sold, however, among the Bulgarians, ten New Testaments"."A number of Bulgarians assembled at the khan"."We were happy to learn that here the Bulgarian is taught in the schools". Page 81:"We improved the first leisure to visit the Bulgarian school (in Skopje)….He seemed to be pleased with our inquiries in respect to the Bulgarian people and literature….in his school-room we noticed a caricature he had made of the Bulgarian people and its oppresors. The Bulgarian people were represented as a blindfolded woman." "Next day our friends proceeded to Palanca, a long narrow town in a beautiful valley, in which the Bulgarians have a church, a school etc….we sold thirteen New Testaments in Bulgarian and one in Greek".
http://books.google.com/books?id=-cAPAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA80&dq=scopia&lr=&hl=el#PPA79,M1
Finally, Risto Stefov, if you would like to avoid in the future any "humiliation" like that which the grandson of your friend suffered, who was considered as Greek by his professor, the solution is plain and simple. Stop usurping the Greek name "Macedonian",if you feel upset when people confuse you with Greeks whenever you state you are Macedonians. It´s a name that never belonged to your people, neither culturally, nor historically and ethnologically.
It´s neither our fault nor "Greek propaganda", that some 200 years ago, the name "Macedonian" was always correlated with the Greeks. These two books below, dating from 1822 and 1825 respectively, mention the ethnicities that dwelled in the Austro-Hungarian empire as follows:
"Of the minor tribes, the chief are the Macedonians or modern Greeks, the Armenians, the Jews and the Gypsies"
http://books.google.com/books?id=B7YBAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA352&dq=of+the+minor+tribes+the+chief+are+the+macedonians+or+modern+greeks&lr=&hl=el
"The Edinburgh gazetteer, or geographical dictionary"
"Besides these there are Germans, Wallachians, Macedonians or modern Greeks, Armenians and Jews."
http://books.google.com/books?id=D7UBAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA448&dq=besides+these+are+germans,walachians,macedonians,or+modern+Greeks,Armenians,and+Jews%3B&lr=&hl=el
"The London General Gazetteer, Or Geographical Dictionary"
Those Macedonians were Greek merchants from Macedonia who were settled in many regions of the Austro-Hungarian empire at that time.
It also was not our fault that your ancestors who migrated in the USA needed Bulgarian-English dictionaries in order to learn English, attended Bulgarian schools and used Bulgarian in every instance:
"Macedonians had long tried to explain their identity and their problem to their neighbours. Nedelkoff's English-Bulgarian and Bulgar¬ian-English Letters (1911) offered a description and translation of a Macedonian's account"
http://books.google.com/books?id=7BDcb0uvR7EC&printsec=frontcover&dq=ilinden+bulgarians+brailsford&lr=&ei=H1f3SfT5N5TMyQSI39isBQ&hl=el#PPA157,M1
"Sojourners and settlers: the Macedonian community in Toronto to 1940" by Lillian Petroff,1995 page 157
"The linguistic preference of younger Macedonians and the practicality of a common language for dealing with the larger Canadian community, led the committee to increase the use and presence of English. Member¬ship booklets, baptism certificates, and picnic circulars, by the late 1920s, were issued in both Bulgarian and English. The committee approved in 1930 the motion to 'put a sign in the hall in Bulgarian and English"
"Hence it denied the 1935 request of 'stubborn' and zealous Jehovah's Witnesses to use the premises of the Niagara Street Bulgarian-language school" Page 134 of the same book
http://books.google.com/books?id=7BDcb0uvR7EC&printsec=frontcover&dq=ilinden+bulgarians+brailsford&lr=&ei=H1f3SfT5N5TMyQSI39isBQ&hl=el#PPA134,M1
Or was it our fault that your ancestors were eager to renounce Orthodoxy so that they would not be deprived of hearing in the Church their native Bulgarian language?
"In a place in Macedonia, now under Serbia, where we have a church, who learn that the Serbians compelled the worshipers in the Bulgarian Orthodox church to accept Serbian priests to minister to them. But as regards our Protestants, they found themselves in a fix. They have no Protestants in Serbia, and so had no Protestant pas¬tors whom they could compel our peo¬ple to accept. Thus far, therefore, they have left them alone. The consequence is that our preacher goes on using the Bulgarian language, and the place is packed, as the Orthodox people prefer to attend a Protestant Bulgarian serv¬ice rather than an Orthodox Serbian one!"
http://books.google.com/books?id=ewEpAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA518&dq=The+consequence+is+that+our+preacher+goes+on+using+the+Bulgarian+language,+and+the+place+is+packed,+as+the+Orthodox+people+prefer++to+attend+a+Protestant+Bulgarian+service+rather+than+an+Orthodox+Servian&hl=el
"The Missionary Herald" by American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions,1913
http://books.google.com/books?lr=&hl=el&q=The+consequence+is+that+our+preacher+goes+on+using+the+Bulgarian+language%2C+and+the+place+is+packed%2C+as+the+Orthodox+people+prefer++to+attend+a+Protestant+Bulgarian+service+rather+than+an+Orthodox+Servian&btnG=%CE%91%CE%BD%CE%B1%CE%B6%CE%AE%CF%84%CE%B7%CF%83%CE%B7+%CE%92%CE%B9%CE%B2%CE%BB%CE%AF%CF%89%CE%BD
To be continued
Written by Kapetan Doukas from the AMAC forums: Macedonian Forums
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