There had been a documented continuous Greek presence in Macedonia since antiquity, which marked the region, alongside the presence of many other groups that passed from its soil through the centuries, such as the Thracians, Illyrians, Romans, Slavs, Latins, Jews and Ottoman Turks. Today, due to the long and rich history of the region, some small linguistic communities of Aromanian and Slavic speaking Macedonians still remain. These communities are using their various dialects in some social situations, while they are being identified as ethnic Greeks. After the 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey, half of the refugees from Asia Minor, Pontus, and Eastern Thrace settled in the region.