Prilep ( ) is the fourth-largest city in North Macedonia, after Skopje, Kumanovo, and Bitola. According to the 2021 census, it had a population of 63,308, while its broader municipal area has 79,834 inhabitants in total.
Name
The name of Prilep appeared first as Πρίλαπος in Greek (Prilapos) in 1014 as the place where Samuel of Bulgaria had died after the Battle of Kleidion. The town was attached literally to the rocky hilltop above, and its name derives from Old Slavic, and means "stuck on the rock" (pri- + lep = on + stuck).Mihajlovski, Robert. (2011). The Medieval Town of Prilep, p. 217. In: Basileia, Essays on Imperium and Culture in Honour of E.M. and M.J. Jeffreys, Editors: Geoffrey Nathan and Lynda Garland, Brill, , pp. 217-230.
In other languages it is: Greek: Prilapos, Πρίλαπος or Përlepi, or Prilep or Prilepi Bulgarian and Serbo-Croatian: Прилеп / Prilep Latin: Prilapum The War of Numbers and its First Victim: The Aromanians in Macedonia (End of 19th – Beginning of 20th century) , or Perlepe
Economy Prilep is a regional centre for high-quality tobacco and cigarettes, as well as metal processing, electronics, timber, textiles, and food industries. The city also produces a large quantity of Macedonian Bianco Sivec (pure white marble).
Tobacco is one of Prilep's traditional cash crops and prospers in the Macedonian climate. Many of the world's largest cigarette makers, such as Marlboro, West and Camel use Prilep's tobacco in their cigarettes after it is processed in local factories such as Tutunski kombinat Prilep. A Tobacco Institute is established in the city in order to produce new types of tobacco and it was the first example of applying genetics to agriculture in the Balkans.
Vitaminka JSC, which is based in Prilep, specialises in food processing and is one of the largest and most successful companies of its kind in North Macedonia.
A Gentherm production plant is located in Prilep's southern outskirts.
History
In antiquity, the region of Prilep was part of ancient Pelagonia that was inhabited by the Pelagones, an ancient Greek tribe of Upper Macedonia, who according to Strabo,Strabo 9.5: For in consequence of the renown and ascendency of the Thessalians and Macedonians, those Epeirote, who bordered nearest upon them, became, some voluntarily, others by force, incorporated among the Macedonians and Thessalians. In this manner the Athamanes, Aethices, and Talares were joined to the Thessalians, and the Orestae, Pelagones, and Elimiotae to the Macedonians. were Epirote Molossians.John Boardman and N. G. L. Hammond. The Cambridge Ancient History Volume 3, Part 3: The Expansion of the Greek World, Eighth to Sixth Centuries BC. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982, p. 284. A J Toynbee. Some Problems of Greek History, Pp 80; 99-103 The region was annexed to the Macedonian kingdom during the 4th century BC. In September 2007 archeological excavations in Bonče, revealed a tomb of what is believed to be the burial site of a Macedonian ruler dating from the 4th century BC.Visoka and Staro Bonche: Center of the Kingdom of Pelagonia and the Royal Tomb of Pavla Chuka, Viktor Lilchikj Adams and Antonio Jakimovski Near Prilep, close to the village of Čepigovo, are the ruins of the ancient Macedonian city of Styberra (), first a town in Macedonia and later incorporated into the Roman Empire. Styberra, though razed by the Goths in 268, remained partly inhabited.
The town was first mentioned in Greek as Πρίλαπον (Prilapon) in 1014, as the place where Tsar Samuel allegedly had a heart attack upon seeing thousands of his soldiers who had been blinded by the Byzantines after the Battle of Kleidion. In 1041, Byzantine emperor Michael IV defeated Petar Delyan's rebellion in the region of Prilep. Byzantium lost the town to the Second Bulgarian Empire, but later retook it. Prilep was taken over in 1334 by Serbian King Dušan and after 1365 the town belonged to King Vukašin, co-ruler of Dušan's son, Tzar Stefan Uroš V. After the death of Vukašin in 1371, Prilep was ruled by his son Marko.John Van Antwerp Fine (1994). The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest. The University of Michigan Press. . pp. 288, 380–2. In 1395 it was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire, of which it remained a part of until 1913, when it was annexed by the Kingdom of Serbia.
During the Ottoman period, besides the ethnic Turks and the majority Slavic population, Prilep was also home to both a Sunni Muslim and Orthodox Christian Albanian community, which lived alongside the majority Orthodox Macedonians. Serbian historiographer Jovan Hadži-Vasiljević wrote:Mustafa Ibrahimi. "SHQIPTARËT ORTODOKSË NË MAQEDONINË E VERIUT DHE DISA SHKRIME TË TYRE ME ALFABET CIRILIK". Gjurmime Albanologjike - Seria e shkencave filologjike 50:139-152." "Between Turks and Muslim Albanians who have lived in the city (Prilep), it is very difficult to distinguish, especially between the old families of the city. The Mohammedan Albanian families, as soon as they arrived in the city, merged with the Turks, just as the Christian Albanian families merged with the Slavs or the Greeks" Bulgarian researcher, Georgi Traychev, wrote: "In the city of Prilep, there were no pure Greeks, but there are several (dozens) of Grecomans supported by schismatic Vlachs and Albanian Christians." The newspaper Прилеп преди 100 години ("Prilep 100 years ago". Sofia, 1938) puts forward data about the presence of Orthodox Albanians in Prilep. There it is emphasized that after their arrival in the city around the 18th-19th century, the Christian Vlach and Albanian elements have assimilated under the influence of Bulgarian population, and that there are no longer any traces of them. Information is also given for Albanians of both denominations. It is emphasised that in total there are 2412 Muslim Albanian residents in the city. Of the Orthodox Albanians, a part has been Bulgarianised, while others have been Hellenised. In the newspaper, there also exists a report about the Orthodox Albanian named Ico Kishari, whose family, along with the Tilevci, Georgimajkovci and Ladcovci, were Orthodox Albanian refugees from Moscopole who had settled at the beginning of the 19th century. The newspaper also describes a great Albanian religious man, who has spent his whole life as a churchgoer. Out of respect for his work, the church granted him a pension.
The main struggle in the late 19th century was between the Bulgarian Exarchate and the Greek Patriarchate. Following the establishment of the Bulgarian Exarchate in 1870, as a result of plebiscites held between 1872 and 1875, the Slavic population in the bishoprics of Skopje and Ohrid voted overwhelmingly in favor of joining the new Bulgarian National Church (Sanjak of Üsküp - 91%, Sanjak of Ohrid - 97%).The Politics of Terror: The Macеdonian Liberation Movements, 1893–1903, Duncan M. Perry, Duke University Press, 1988, , p. 15. In the plebiscite of 1873 the inhabitants of the town voted en masse to join the Bulgarian Exarchate.Zahova, Sofiya, and Risto Blomster. “Roma Writings. Romani Literature and Press in Central, South-Eastern and Eastern Europe from the 19th Century until World War II.,” 2021, p. 27. doi:10.30965/9783657705207_002. In this way the Slavic population in the town became "Bulgarian Exarchists."Nadine Lange-Akhund (1998) The Macedonian Question, 1893-1908, from Western Sources, East European Monographs, , p. 9. Over 97% of the citizens in the Prilep region per 1881-82 Ottoman Census, were listed as adherents of the Bulgarian Church. According to the IMRO revolutionary Hristo Shaldev, who was also the director of Bulgarian schools in Prilep, the town was a major centre of the Bulgarian national revival in Western Macedonia in the 19th century.Шалдев, Христо. Град Прилеп в Българското възраждане (1838 – 1878 год.), София, 1916, с. 4-70.
Per Yugoslav and Macedonian sources in the late 19th century, the Macedonian Orthodox community in Prilep began resisting the Greek and Bulgarian pressures, rejecting the authority of the Patriarchate of Constantinople and sought an independent church. They replaced Greek with Macedonian in religious services and education and prepared textbooks in their native language. During this push for national identity, Bulgarian intellectuals tried to impose the use of the Bulgarian language, especially after the establishment of the Bulgarian Exarchate in 1870 and the Principality of Bulgaria in 1878. The celebration of Vidovdan in Prilep was prohibited by the Bulgarian church. Despite this pressure, Prilep resisted Bulgarian control, maintaining its own school and religious practices. According to an official letter from Dimitrije Bodi, the Serbian consul in Bitola to the Serbian minister of exterior at that time, the people that were dissatisfied with the Exarchate formed a strong anti-Exarchate movement reaching 1,200 households. The locals, led by priest Spase Igumenov, petitioned Sultan Abdul Hamid II, declaring their desire for a Macedonian national school and rejecting Bulgarian ecclesiastical authority, while affirming their Orthodox faith under papal protection. The petition was signed in 1887 by 25 prominent people from Prilep. In their letter to the Sultan, they wrote: "We, the undersigned from the city of Prilep, subjects of His Imperial Majesty, the august Sultan Abdul Hamid II, wish to have a national Macedonian school. And since we are not Bulgarians, we do not recognize the Bulgarian Ecclesiastical Community nor its schools. For religious protection, we recognize the Pope, but without changing the dogmas of the Orthodox Church."
In 1891, the initiator of the action, Spas Igumenov, who was the former head of the Bulgarian Exarchist community in Prilep, published in the Constantinople newspaper of the Bulgarian Exarchate "Novini" a refutation in response to accusations that he was an accomplice and perpetrator of Uniate and Serbian propaganda, stating "With pride, I confess my Bulgarian nationality and recognize the spiritual authority of the Holy Bulgarian Exarchate in Constantinople."Мария Полимирова, Цетинските инкунабули в България, В Дългият осемнадесети век, Книгите като събития в Европа и Османската империя (ХVІІ–ХІХ в.), редактор/и: Н. Александрова, Р. Заимова, А. Алексиева, 2020, стр. 130-155, ISSN (online): 2603-4492, . By the end of 1893, the Bulgarian Exarchate took over nearly all of the villages in the Prilep area. According to the statistics of the secretary of the Bulgarian Exarchate, Dimitar Mishev ("La Macédoine et sa Population Chrétienne") in 1905, the Christian population of Prilep consisted of 17,085 Bulgarian Exarchists, 240 Slavic Patriarchists (Serbomans and Grecomans), 50 Greeks and 420 Vlachs.Brancoff, D. M. La Macédoine et sa Population Chrétienne : Avec deux cartes etnographiques. Paris, Librarie Plon, Plon-Nourrit et Cie, Imprimeurs-Éditeurs, 1905. p. 148 – 149
Prilep's bazaar began to develop in the 18th century. One of the largest annual fairs in Macedonia was held in Prilep in the middle of the 19th century. European consulate exhibitions of 1887 estimate the population of Prilep to approximately 6.500 individuals, of which 4.000 were Bulgarians, 2.000 were Turks and the rest were Serbs along with Greeks and Aromanians.HHS, PA, XXXVIII, t. 264, Saloniki, 7 September 1887, no. 88. During the Great Eastern Crisis, the local Bulgarian movement of the day was defeated when armed Bulgarian groups were repelled by the League of Prizren, an Albanian organisation opposing Bulgarian geopolitical aims in areas like Prilep that contained an Albanian population.