On the eve of the 1st century AD, the settlement was seized by the Romans and became a military camp. When the was divided into eastern and western halves in 395 AD, Scupi came under rule from. During much of the period, the town was contested between the Byzantines and the , whose capital it was between 972 and 992. From 1282, the town was part of the and acted as its capital city from 1346 to 1371. In 1392, the city was conquered by the who called the town Üsküp. The town stayed under Turkish control for over 500 years, serving as the capital of pashasanjak of Üsküb and later the. In 1912, it was annexed by the during the. During the First World War the city was seized by the Bulgarian Kingdom, and after this war, it became part of the newly formed becoming the capital of the. In the Second World War the city was conquered by the , which was part of the. In 1944, it became the capital city of later , which was a federal state, part of later. The city developed rapidly after World War II, but this trend was interrupted in 1963 when it was hit by a. In 1991, it became the capital city of an independent Macedonia. Skopje is located on the upper course of the , and is located on a major north-south route between and. It is a center for metal-processing, chemical, timber, textile, leather, and printing industries. Industrial development of the city has been accompanied by development of the trade, logistics, and banking sectors, as well as an emphasis on the fields of transportation, culture and sport. According to the last official count from 2002, Skopje has a population of 506,926 inhabitants; according to official estimates, the city has a population of 544,086 inhabitants, as of June 30, 2015. Topography Skopje is located in the north of the , in the center of the , and halfway between and. The city was built in the Skopje valley, oriented on a west-east axis, along the course of the river, which flows into the in. The valley is approximately 20 kilometres 12 miles wide and it is limited by several mountain ranges to the North and South. These ranges limit the urban expansion of Skopje, which spreads along the Vardar and the Serava, a small river which comes from the North. In its administrative boundaries, the City of Skopje stretches for more than 33 kilometres 21 miles , but it is only 10 kilometres 6. Landscape of the Skopje valley, near Bardovci. Skopje is approximately 245 m above sea level and covers 571. The urbanised area only covers 337 km 2, with a density of 65 inhabitants per hectare. Skopje, in its administrative limits, encompasses many villages and other settlements, including , and Bardovci. According to the 2002 census, the City of Skopje comprised 506,926 inhabitants. The City of Skopje reaches the border to the North-East. Clockwise, it is also bordered by the Macedonian municipalities of , , , , , , and. The and the , symbol of the city. The river, which flows through Skopje, is at approximately 60 kilometres 37 miles from its source near. The water temperature is comprised between 4. The main river running through the center of Skopje c. The largest is the , which is 130 kilometres 81 miles long. It crosses the before reaching the Vardar on the western extremity of the City of Skopje. The , coming from , flows into the Vardar on the northwestern end of the urban area. The Serava, also coming from the North, had flowed through the until the 1960s, when it was diverted towards the West because its waters were very polluted. Originally, it met the Vardar close to the seat of the. Nowadays, it flows into the Vardar near the ruins of. Finally, the Markova Reka, the source of which is on Mount , meets the Vardar at the eastern extremity of the city. These three rivers are less than 70 kilometres 43 miles long. The and the , on the western edge of the City of Skopje. The city of Skopje comprises two artificial lakes, located on the Treska. The lake Matka is the result of the construction of a dam in the Matka Canyon in the 1930s, and the Treska lake was dug for leisure purpose in 1978. Three small natural lakes can be found near Smiljkovci, on the northeastern edge of the urban area. Several works have been carried since Byzantine times to limit the risks, and since the construction of the Kozjak dam on the Treska in 1994, the flood risk is close to zero. The subsoil contains a large which is alimented by the Vardar river and functions as an underground river. Under the table lies an contained in. The water table is 4 to 12 m under the ground and 4 to 144 m deep. Several wells collect its waters but most of the drinking water used in Skopje comes from a spring in Rašče, located west of the city. The Skopje valley is bordered on the West by the , on the South by the range, on the East by hills belonging to the range, and on the North by the. Mount , the highest point inside the city limits, is 1066 m high and is part of the range. Although Skopje is built on the foot of Mount Vodno, the urban area is mostly flat. It comprises several minor hills, generally covered with woods and parks, such as Gazi Baba hill 325 m , Zajčev Rid 327 m , the foothills of Mount Vodno the smallest are between 350 and 400 m high and the promontory on which is built. A cave at the. The Skopje valley is located near a seismic fault between the African and Eurasian and experiences regular seismic activity. This activity in enhanced by the porous structure of the subsoil. Large earthquakes occurred in Skopje in 518, 1505 and 1963. The Skopje valley belongs to the Vardar geotectonic region, the subsoil of which is formed of and deposits. The substratum is ma
