Capital and industrial city of Macedonia,
Yugoslavia; population (1981) 506,547.
Industries include iron, steel, chromium
mining, and food processing. It stands on the
site of an ancient town destroyed by an
earthquake in the 5th century and was taken
in the 13th century by the Serbian king
Milutin, who made it his capital. Again
destroyed by an earthquake 1963, Skopje was
rebuilt on a safer site nearby. It is an
Islamic centre.