The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1946-02-24
,.cf;on's Difficult PROB
lens Defy The Wisdom
NJ A Modern Solomon
Y. MACEDONIA

This IS sAN
., i .an articles under the gen
" wi title. orphan Areas of Eu-
eiai The stories have been
r I,ppDared by the National Geo
r prsnbic Society for the Will
ss,,agtou Star-News to inform
r n,srI about disputed areas
~ ruroue whose forms Of gov
ID urn ms and economic rela-
I;ar, with neighboring coun-
tries may have to be deter
lined vim. by negotiations among
,he Allied Powers.
'le National Geographic Society
T Sg vortex Of the political whirl-
~. +l'i known as the Balkan peninsu-
!. where history has long reflect
y ,trfe, violence and oppression
'' :, loosely bounded area called
,rscsdonia. There difficult prob
1sa,. defy the wisdom Of a Solo,
I ..l'-. over two million people
II ,l.' varying racial strains, creeds,
" Nd tongues live in some $4,000
s snuare miles divided among three
rsighboring nations.
Macedonia, roughly fan shaped,
:, bordered on the southeast by
+ n Aegean sea and stretches east,
r r,1 and west from Sslonika, its
l asief city and principal port.
T T on the east by the Nestos
-ivsr and the majestic Rhodope
r,o,ntajns, Macedonia includes
, r,uch Of the southern lobe of -Yu-
roslsvia. and reaches on the west
II the Albanian border. Mace
d,nia's generally accepted south
Western border meets the sea just
nortb Of famed Mount Olympus.
The region is drained by two. i'm
nortant rivers, the Vardar and the
Struula, which have cut valuable
ntets for the inner Balkans. An
imnortant east-west route which
skirfs the sea from southern
Greece to Istanbul CONSTANT.
r,ple) passes through southern
Macedonia.
saIonika ancient and cosmopoli.
fan "city Of a thousand Sails" is
rich in history. An Important
Greek colony, it w a S busy
Roman port, and became the Sec
end city Of the Byzantine empire
Sacked by the saracens in 904 and
by the Normans in 1885, it later
fell into the hands of the We
1etians. The Turks took the city
IN 1880 and ruled it for nearly 500
ears. A beautiful white tower
ort, built by Suleiman the Mag
ificent at the height of Turkish |
ever, still stands guard over Sa-
onika.
The city's Importance today
lens from the fact that 1t is the
My first-class port of the north
legean and lies at the mouth of |
be Vardar depression, route of
he principal railroad line from
degrade, Budapest, n d beyond.
deprived of good Adri-
tic ports by the lofty Dinaric
lips, looks south for an outlet, as
oes Bulgaria. Three nations
ireece, Bulgaria, and Yugoslavia
share Macedonia, making it a
one Of contention.
The northern reaches of Mace
onia are ridged with rugged and
Verse mountain chains which
lrdle billy plains. There the eli
late is continental, and a no.
1adic shepherds life is the lot of
lost inhabitants. Farther south, a
srieS Of broad alluvial plains
tretches across the seacoast re-
ionS-fertile basins with a Medi-
erranean climate which produces
rains, tobacco, grapes, figs, april
OTIS, and similar crops. Much to-
'acco smoked in America and
abeled Turkish is really from
Macedonia.
This southern section is better
r : and mora populated.
beAea(n its surface lies oil, as yet |
untapped. Along the
DgasI Itself, TIL vastly irregular
ha (Chalcidice) peninsula
nSuS's its three rocky promon-
OH, ores trident like into the sea. The
' : Of the three is the site
u, Il, famous Mt. Athos monastery,
sneFe 1t mas long been the rule
ao' no Eoman-not even female
',,I III be admitted.
-. ueScedonla's population consists
- or, asF D. S, Bulgarians, Greeks,
, y.-au VlachS, Albanians, Turks,
,'ps-eS and Jews. The inhabitants
psak dozen different tongues
III slir; are divided into seven rival
he i., groups. There, indeed, is
1 19,n land 4. of Babel-a "tangle of
eoples.o ro,Ira lpnls ef0ullo OF
trains N'00lii u faclal