Negotino (, ) is a town in

North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

, the seat of the

Negotino Municipality Negotino (, ) is a municipality in eastern North Macedonia. ''Negotino'' is also the name of the town where the municipal seat is found. Negotino Municipality is part of Vardar Statistical Region. Geography The municipality borders * Štip Muni ...

. Its population is about 13,000.

Geography

Negotino is located on the right side of the river

Vardar The Vardar (; , , ) or Axios (, ) is the longest river in North Macedonia and a major river in Greece, where it reaches the Aegean Sea at Thessaloniki. It is long, out of which are in Greece, and drains an area of around . The maximum depth of ...

. It is about

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...

. Negotino is in a vineyard region and the gates of the Tikveš plain, known for its fertility, are located nearby. Along with

Kavadarci Kavadarci ( ) is a town in the Tikveš region of North Macedonia. In the heart of North Macedonia's wine country, it is home to the largest winery in Southeast Europe, named after the Tikveš plain. The town of Kavadarci is the seat of Kavadarc ...

, Negotino is known as the home of North Macedonia's best wine and

rakija Rakia, rakija, rakiya, rachiu or rakı (), is the collective term for fruit spirits (or fruit brandy) popular in the Balkans. The alcohol content of rakia is normally 40% ABV, but home-produced rakia can be stronger (typically 50–80%). O ...

(

brandy Brandy is a liquor produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35–60% alcohol by volume (70–120 US proof) and is typically consumed as an after-dinner digestif. Some brandies are aged in wooden casks. Others are coloured ...

). The A1 highway leads through the city, parallel to the railway line connecting

Skopje Skopje ( , ; ; , sq-definite, Shkupi) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It lies in the northern part of the country, in the Skopje Basin, Skopje Valley along the Vardar River, and is the political, economic, and cultura ...

Gevgelija Gevgelija (; ) is a town with a population of 15,685 located in the very southeast of North Macedonia along the banks of the Vardar River, situated at the country's main border with Greece (Bogorodica-Evzoni), the point which links the motorway f ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

Industry

Wine

Negotino has an annual production of 20-25 million kilograms of grapes. The most common grape types are Chardonnay, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Traminec, Smederevka, Muscat, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Plavac Mali, Vranec and Kadarka. Some of the more bigger wineries in terms of production are Bovin ( Macedonian: Бовин), Lazar ( Macedonian: Лазар) and Venec ( Macedonian: Венец) winery.

History

A settlement in the location of modern Negotino existed and developed in antiquity. Between 278 and 242 BC, a city was founded by King

Antigonus II Gonatas Antigonus II Gonatas (, ; – 239 BC) was a Macedonian Greek ruler who solidified the position of the Antigonid dynasty in Macedon after a long period defined by anarchy and chaos and acquired fame for his victory over the Gauls who had inv ...

, under the name of Antigoneia (Αντιγονεία in

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

). After conquering

Paionia In antiquity, Paeonia or Paionia () was the land and kingdom of the Paeonians (or Paionians; ). The exact original boundaries of Paeonia, like the early history of its inhabitants, are obscure, but it is known that it roughly corresponds to m ...

, he conquered the settlements around the central Vardar region. Antigoneia was situated some twelve Roman miles south of the ancient city of

Stobi Stobi or Stoboi (; ; ; ), was an ancient town of Paeonia (kingdom), Paeonia, later conquered by Macedon, and finally turned into the capital of the Ancient Rome, Roman province of Macedonia Salutaris. It is located near Gradsko, North Macedonia ...

, on the road to

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

, at the location of modern Gradiste, near the railway station of Negotino. At this place, Roman coins were found, as well as precious jewelry and other archeological findings from the period of the

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 Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

and

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

period. The ancient city existed until the 11th century when it was destroyed by a disastrous earthquake which hit almost all of the territory of Macedonia along with other cities such as Skupi,

, Heraclea, Astibo, and Idomena. According to the statistics of Bulgarian ethnographer

Vasil Kanchov Vasil Kanchov (26 July 1862 – 6 February 1902) was a geographer, ethnographer and teacher who served as Minister of Education of Bulgaria. Early life and education Vasil Kanchov was born in Vratsa. Upon graduating from High school i ...

from 1900, 2,395 inhabitants lived in Negotino, 1,925 Bulgarian Exarchists, 320

Bulgarian Muslims The Muslim Bulgarians (, ''Bǎlgari-mohamedani'', as of recently also Българи-мюсюлмани, ''Bǎlgari-mjusjulmani'', locally called '' Pomak'', ''ahryan'', ''poganets'', ''marvak'', or '' poturnak'') are Bulgarians who follow the f ...

, 90

Vlachs Vlach ( ), also Wallachian and many other variants, is a term and exonym used from the Middle Ages until the Modern Era to designate speakers of Eastern Romance languages living in Southeast Europe—south of the Danube (the Balkan peninsula ...

and 60 Romani. From 1929 to 1941, Negotino was part of the

Vardar Banovina The Vardar Banovina, or Vardar Banate ( Macedonian and ; ), was a province ( banate) of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia between 1929 and 1941. History It was located in the southernmost part of the country, encompassing the whole of today's North Mace ...

of the

Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a country in Southeast Europe, Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 to 1929, it was officially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, but the term "Yugoslavia" () h ...

Transport

The town is served by the Negotino railway station, with connections from

Niš Niš (; sr-Cyrl, Ниш, ; names of European cities in different languages (M–P)#N, names in other languages), less often spelled in English as Nish, is the list of cities in Serbia, third largest city in Serbia and the administrative cente ...

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

to the port of

in Greece on the

Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans and Anatolia, and covers an area of some . In the north, the Aegean is connected to the Marmara Sea, which in turn con ...

( Corridor X), with Intercity services to

and

in Greece.

Twin towns — sister cities

Negotino is twinned with: * Gradiška,

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

, since 2006 *

Nagykáta Nagykáta is a town in , Hungary, about from Budapest. Connections Express trains take 47 minutes to Budapest Keleti railway station from Nagykáta and stopping trains about 65 minutes. History The history of Nagykáta dates back to the 12th ...

, Hungary, since 2013

References

External links

Official website
{{Towns in North Macedonia Cities in North Macedonia Macedonian colonies Negotino Municipality