Skopje (formerly known as
Shkup or by the
Turkish name Üsküb or
Uskup during the half-millennium of
Ottoman rule until
1912) is the capital city of the
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. It has 600,000 inhabitants (
2000 est.) and is located on the upper
Vardar river. The capital of the Macedonian republic of
Yugoslavia from
1946 until national independence in
1991, Skopje was struck by a major earthquake in
1963.