Negotino is a town in the Republic of Macedonia

Republic of Macedonia

Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...

. Its population is about 15,000. It is the seat of Negotino Municipality

Negotino municipality

Negotino is a municipality in eastern Republic of Macedonia. Negotino is also the name of the town where the municipal seat is found. Negotino Municipality is part of Vardar Statistical Region.-Geography:...

.

Geography

Negotino is situated on the right bank of the river Vardar

Vardar

The Vardar or Axios is the longest and major river in the Republic of Macedonia and also a major river of Greece. It is long, and drains an area of around . The maximum depth of river is ....

. It is about 150 metres (492.1 ft) above sea level

Above mean sea level

The term above mean sea level refers to the elevation or altitude of any object, relative to the average sea level datum. AMSL is used extensively in radio by engineers to determine the coverage area a station will be able to reach...

. Negotino is in a vineyard region and the gates of the Tikves basin, known for its fertility, are located nearby. Along with Kavadarci

Kavadarci

Kavadarci is a town located in the Tikveš region of the Republic of Macedonia. Situated in the heart of Macedonia’s wine country, it is home to the largest winery in south-eastern Europe, named after the Tikveš plain. The town of Kavadarci is the seat of Kavadarci Municipality...

, Negotino is known as the home of Macedonia’s best wine and rakija (brandy

Brandy

Brandy is a spirit produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35%–60% alcohol by volume and is typically taken as an after-dinner drink...

). The M-1 highway leads through the city, parallel to the railway line connecting Skopje

Skopje

Skopje is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Macedonia with about a third of the total population. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre...

-Gevgelija

Gevgelija

Gevgelija is a town with a population of 15,685 located in the very southeast of the Republic of Macedonia along the banks of the Vardar River, situated at the country's main border with Greece , the point which links the motorway from Skopje and three other former Yugoslav capitals with...

-Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

.

History

A settlement in the location of modern Negotino existed and developed in antiquity. Between 278 and 242 BC, a city was founded by King Antigonus II Gonatas, under the name of Antigoneia

Antigonia (Paeonia)

Antigonia also transliterated as Antigonea and Antigoneia was a Hellenistic city in Paeonia, North Macedonia, placed in the Peutinger Table between Stena and Stobi, now called Negotino....

. After conquering Paionia

Paionia

In ancient geography, Paeonia or Paionia was the land of the Paeonians . The exact original boundaries of Paeonia, like the early history of its inhabitants, are very obscure, but it is believed that they lay in the region of Thrace...

, he conquered the settlements around the central Vardar region.

Antigoneia was situated some twelve Roman miles south of the ancient city of Stobi

Stobi

Stobi was an ancient town of Paeonia, later conquered by Macedon, and later turned into the capital of the Roman province of Macedonia Salutaris . It is located on the main road that leads from the Danube to the Aegean Sea and is considered by many to be the most famous archaeological site in the...

, on the road to Thessaloniki

Thessaloniki

Thessaloniki , historically also known as Thessalonica, Salonika or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace...

, at the location of modern Gradiste, near the railway station of Negotino. At this place, Roman coins were found, as well as precious jewelry and other archeological findings from the period of the Roman

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

 and Byzantine

Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...

 period. The ancient city existed until the 11th century when it was destroyed by a disastrous earthquake which hit almost all of the territory of Macedonia along with other cities such as Skupi, Stobi

Stobi

Stobi was an ancient town of Paeonia, later conquered by Macedon, and later turned into the capital of the Roman province of Macedonia Salutaris . It is located on the main road that leads from the Danube to the Aegean Sea and is considered by many to be the most famous archaeological site in the...

, Heraclea

Heraclea Lyncestis

Heraclea Lyncestis also spelled Herakleia Lynkestis was an ancient Greek city in the north-western region of the ancient kingdom of Macedon. It was founded by Philip II of Macedon in the middle of the 4th century BC in Lynkestis, after its conquest. The town was named in honor of the mythological...

, Astibo

Astibo

Astibo or Astibus was a Paeonian and later Roman settlement which is located in the modern city of Štip in the Republic of Macedonia. It is probable that the capital of the Paeonian royal house was in the area ofAstibus....

, and Idomena.