Vinica ( mk, Виница ) is a town in

North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Yugoslavia. It ...

, in the

Eastern Statistical Region The Eastern Statistical Region ( mk, Источен Регион) is one of eight statistical regions of North Macedonia. Eastern, located in the eastern part of the country, borders Bulgaria. Internally, it borders the Vardar, Skopje, Northeaste ...

of the country. The town of Vinica is the seat of Vinica Municipality. The town is located under the mountain of Plačkovica, in the southeastern part of the

Kočani Valley Kočani ( mk, Кочани ) is a town in the eastern part of North Macedonia, situated around east from Skopje. It has a population of 28,330 and is the seat of the Kočani Municipality. Geography and population The town spreads across the Nort ...

. It covers the northern part of the river

Bregalnica Bregalnica (, ) is the second largest river in North Macedonia. It starts as a spring near the mountain city of Berovo and it passes near the cities of Makedonska Kamenica, Kočani, Vinica and Štip, before joining the river Vardar on its way ...

sinks. There are also several other

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of w ...

s that flow through Vinica, like the Vinička, Gradečka and Osojnica. The town is known for its historic

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

fortress,

Viničko Kale Viničko Kale ( mk, Виничко Кале) is an ancient ruin located on the hill above the town of Vinica, Macedonia. It is located on the left side of the Grdečka River, on a hill about 400 meters above sea level. Viničko Kale was discove ...

, situated on a

hill A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct summit. Terminology The distinction between a hill and a mountain is unclear and largely subjective, but a hill is universally considered to be not a ...

overlooking the modern town.

Etymology

The name Vinica is derived from word vine, since the city was formerly noted for its vineyards. On terracotta icons found in

, the name of town is noted as Vinea or Vince.

History

Neolithic times

The territory of Vinica was inhabited in neolithic times. More recent evidence of habitation comes from findings on

from the 6th to the 12th century AD.

Byzantine Empire

The original settlement was a

fort A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

from the time of Byzantium, when it was a centre of wine production.

Ottoman Empire

The city was a nahiye and was governed by a

Kaymakam Kaymakam, also known by many other romanizations, was a title used by various officials of the Ottoman Empire, including acting grand viziers, governors of provincial sanjaks, and administrators of district kazas. The title has been retained a ...

of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

between the 14th and 20th centuries.

Yugoslavia time

Before 1980, on the hill where the fortress was found, there were many

vineyards A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineyards ...

, which were abandoned after excavations.

Demographics

As of 2002, the town had 10,863 inhabitants and the ethnic composition was the following: * Macedonians 9.706 (89.84%) * Roma 809 (7.49%) *

Turks Turk or Turks may refer to: Communities and ethnic groups * Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic languages * Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation * Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic ...

216 (1.99%) *

Aromanians The Aromanians ( rup, Armãnji, Rrãmãnji) are an ethnic group native to the southern Balkans who speak Aromanian, an Eastern Romance language. They traditionally live in central and southern Albania, south-western Bulgaria, northern and ...

101 (0.93%) *Others 31

Culture

In Vinica, there are two

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

s ''Goce Delčev'' and ''Slavčo Stojmenski'', one

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

and

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

''Vančo Prke'' which was founded in 1946, there is also a

cinema Cinema may refer to: Film * Cinematography, the art of motion-picture photography * Film or movie, a series of still images that create the illusion of a moving image ** Film industry, the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking ...

and a house of culture, ''Tošo Arsov'', which is a centre of all cultural activities. The town has two folk

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...

groups, ''Raspeani Viničani'' and ''Jana'', and one

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

group ''Kitka''. Vinica info
/ref> There are several

archeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology an ...

s in and around Vinica: *Vinica, medieval settlement. *Pazarište, settlement from

times. * Vinica Fortress, fortified settlement from late ancient times. *Gorica, settlement and early Christian

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's Forum (Roman), forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building ...

from late ancient times. *Ila, necropolis from the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...

Economy

One of the major activities in Vinica is

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...

Farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer m ...

s engage in the production of

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and '' Porteresia'', both wild and domesticat ...

, which is very characteristic of the basin in which Vinica is located. The

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

also has industrial activities, among which is the best represented the

textile Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...

s and

wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin ...

furniture production industry. The major companies are: ''Makprogres'', ''Viničanka'', ''Vinka'', ''Triko'', ''Treska'', ''Mebel-Vi''. The city has many shops, bars, restaurants, two

night clubs A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gener ...

, and three major

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

s, which are offering a broader range of services.

Sport and leisure

The leading sport in Vinica is soccer. The town formed its first football club in 1934 called '' Plačkovica'', later renamed ''Sloga Vinica'', now FK Sloga 1934 Vinica. There is also a

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

club ''Slavčo Stojmenski'', a karate club ''Blatec'' and a

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players p ...

club ''Viničani''.

References

External links

Official municipal siteVinica on net
{{Authority control Cities in North Macedonia Vinica Municipality, Macedonia