Columbia and Macedonia FYROM

Readers from Columbia and Macedonia (FYROM) have visited my site. Welcome.

Perhaps I should have already known this, and my apologies to the Macedonians and the Greeks (we'll get to that) who really feel I should have known about FYROM. This stands for Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia. When Macedonia broke away from Yugoslavia in 1991, Greece was none too happy when the new republic was named after its northern-most--and adjacent--province. Greece was concerned about a possible plan to annex its territory.

So the temporary solution--if 20 years can be considered temporary--is to add FYROM after Macedonia for those countries that do not acknowledge the name the Republic of Macedonia.

Always happy to learn something new, especially about maps and details of geography. Thanks for visiting, Macedonian. You've opened my eyes.