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| RELIEF |
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Given that the Balkan Peninsula is named after a mountain located in its centre, Mt. Stara Planina ("Old Mountain"), and that Macedonia covers its central regions, it seems obvious enough that Macedonia must be a mountainous country. Indeed, its geographical location is favorable: stretched along the Vardar River, Macedonia controls the shortest traffic linking central Europe to the southeastern periphery of the continent, or for trade to the Middle East |
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| FLORA |
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Macedonia belongs to the eastern Mediterranean and Euro-Siberian vegetation region. Hence the considerable number of plant species that encompass both their northern and southern geographic limits of growth in this relatively small area. The high mountain forests are dominated mainly by conifers, the most common of which is the pine tree, subject of many folk songs. The lower mountains are covered by beech and oaks: the Italian Oak and the Turkish Oak are often found in |
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Macedonia, but the beech remains the most typical tree in low mountain forests. The spruce is also characteristic of plant life in Macedonia, as well as shrub groups of locust trees and lilacs. |
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| FAUNA |
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Macedonia is not a homogeneous zoogeographic territory; there are no natural borders to the north or south, and it represents a boundary area between two different zoological zones. After the last Ice Age, central European animals retreated to the high mountains in the new, warm climate, while Mediterranean species of animals penetrated from the south along the valleys. It is unique to Macedonia that central European animals usually found in the plains and valleys of Europe can be found in the high mountains of Macedonia. |
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| CLIMATE AND WATERS |
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The relief structures and the specific geographical location of Macedonia allow the collision and intermingling of the mild Mediterranean climate of the south and the harsh continental climate of the north. Consequently, Macedonia is characterised by cold, damp winters and dry, subtropical summers when temperature reaches 40 degrees Centigrade or higher. |
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