A city in Macedonia

Kumanovo · Куманово

View of Kumanovo

Kumanovo is the largest urban centre in northeastern North Macedonia, set in a broad basin on the road and rail routes linking Skopje with Serbia and Bulgaria. Its municipality had 98,104 residents in 2021 and is one of the country's most populous local-government areas.

Ottoman registers mention Kumanovo in the early sixteenth century. It grew into a market town on routes between Skopje, Vranje, Kratovo and Kyustendil, and the wider district became an arena of the Karposh Uprising in 1689.

The Battle of Kumanovo in October 1912 ended Ottoman control of the area. Another defining date is 11 October 1941, when resistance actions in Kumanovo and Prilep came to be commemorated as the beginning of the organized anti-fascist uprising in Macedonia.

Post-war metal, textile, footwear and food industries drove rapid growth. Today Kumanovo is a multilingual, multiethnic city with a strong theatre, music, sports and comedy culture, while surrounding villages connect it to the rural Pchinja landscape.

At a glance

Municipality
Kumanovo Municipality
City population
75,051
Municipality population
98,104
Population year
2021
Municipal area
509.48 km²
Elevation
340 m
Approx. road distance from Skopje
42 km
Postal code
1300
Climate
Temperate continental basin climate, with cold winters, hot summers and relatively modest precipitation.
Sports teams
KK Kumanovo · ZRK Kumanovo · MRK Kumanovo · FK Bashkimi 1947
Culture
Kumanovo is known nationally for theatre, satire and a distinctive local dialect and humour. · The Trajko Prokopiev Culture Centre, Kumanovo Theatre, museum and art gallery anchor the city's formal cultural life. · Its population includes substantial Macedonian, Albanian, Serbian and Roma communities.
Statistical region
Northeastern
Settlements in the municipal plan
49
Villages in the municipal plan
48
Rural entries represented here
49
Settlement-register note
A 2026 municipal plan states 49 settlements (one town and 48 villages), while the municipality's 2023-2027 rural strategy reproduces a legal list containing 49 rural names, including Vojinovik and Kosturnik. The villages array preserves every named legal-list entry rather than silently dropping one.
Population snapshot
75,051 city residents and 98,104 municipality residents in the 2021 census; 23,053 lived outside the city settlement.

Geography

Kumanovo lies in a broad basin northeast of Skopje, near the meeting of routes from Serbia, Bulgaria and the central Vardar valley. The city stands at the foot of Skopska Crna Gora, with low agricultural country stretching east toward Kratovo and Kriva Palanka. Its road and rail position has made it North Macedonia's main northeastern urban centre.

Several small rivers and streams cross the basin before joining the Pčinja system. Beyond the built-up area, the landscape shifts from cultivated plains to the volcanic uplands around Kokino and the old villages of Staro Nagoričane. This wider district holds prehistoric sites, medieval churches and the Pelince memorial complex, all within day-trip distance of the city.

History

Ottoman registers mention Kumanovo as a village in 1519. It grew during the seventeenth century as a market on routes between Skopje, Vranje, Kratovo and Kyustendil. The Karpoš Uprising of 1689 began in this northeastern region and briefly challenged Ottoman authority before its violent suppression. During the nineteenth century, trade and the nearby railway accelerated urban growth.

The Battle of Kumanovo in October 1912 was one of the opening and decisive battles of the First Balkan War. Serbia's victory ended Ottoman control of the area, after which the city passed through war, occupation and incorporation into Yugoslavia. The Second World War again brought occupation and resistance; 11 October, commemorating the 1941 armed uprising that began in Kumanovo and Prilep, became a national holiday.

Post-war factories in metalworking, textiles, footwear and food processing drew residents from across the district. Kumanovo grew into one of the country's largest and most culturally mixed cities. Its distinctive urban personality is expressed as much through theatre, music and a famously dry local humour as through monuments and industry.

The complete historical narrative

Prehistory

The wider area contains numerous prehistoric and ancient sites. These include Kostoperska Karpa, the Bronze Age site of Gradište near Pelince, the Neolithic settlement at Mlado Nagoričane, the Iron Age Groblje tumulus at Vojnik, the Roman necropolis of Drezga at Lopate, and the Roman settlement identified as Vicianus at Klečovce.

Early history

Kumanovo was first mentioned in 1519 in an Ottoman document held in Istanbul, although the legacy text gives no precise archival reference.

The fullest early description comes from Evliya Çelebi, who visited in 1660 or 1661. He portrayed Kumanovo as a district centre in the Skopje Sanjak, crossed by several rivers and containing about 600 tile-roofed houses. He also noted a handsome central mosque, a tekke, madrasa, hammam, shops and watermills, together with vineyards, gardens and a pleasant climate.

Kumanovo became an urban settlement and regional administrative centre near the end of the sixteenth or beginning of the seventeenth century. After turbulent events—most notably the Karposh Uprising of 1689—the town entered a period of stagnation, and by the late eighteenth century it had the character of an Ottoman provincial town.

The Karposh Uprising

According to the Ottoman historian Silahdar Fındıklılı Mehmed Ağa, Karposh initially led a band of hajduks near Dospat, in present-day Bulgaria. The Ottoman authorities later appointed him to command Christian auxiliary forces across a broad territory between Sofia, Veles, Dojran, Kyustendil and Nevrokop. Although he had served as an Ottoman vassal, in 1689—amid imperial weakness, dissatisfaction with higher taxation and an Austrian offensive—Karposh turned against the authorities. The revolt spread rapidly, and insurgents took Kratovo, Kriva Palanka, Kumanovo, Kačanik and other places. In conjunction with Habsburg forces acting under Emperor Leopold I, they sought to extend the campaign toward Skopje and Štip.

A change in the Balkan military and political situation proved decisive. The Austrian army withdrew, and stronger Ottoman forces, reinforced by Crimean Tatar detachments under Khan Selim I Giray, attacked the rebels. After fierce fighting they retook Kriva Palanka, the principal insurgent stronghold, then assaulted Kumanovo and its newly built fortification. Karposh was captured, taken to Skopje and executed at the Stone Bridge over the Vardar.

First Balkan War

In October 1912, during the First Balkan War, Serbian forces commanded by General Radomir Putnik won a decisive victory over the Ottoman army north of the town. The two-day Battle of Kumanovo ended Ottoman authority in Vardar Macedonia and opened the way for Serbian control of the region, which was later incorporated into Yugoslavia.

Second World War

Armed anti-fascist resistance associated with the Macedonian national and social liberation movement began in Kumanovo and Prilep on 11 October 1941. The struggle ended with the defeat of the occupying forces and the creation of a Macedonian federal republic within socialist Yugoslavia. One of Kumanovo's best-known partisans was Hristijan Todorovski-Karpoš. After 1945 the city underwent rapid economic, administrative and cultural development.

Modern history

Kumanovo's economy had already expanded in the late nineteenth century through agriculture, crafts and trade, but large-scale industrialisation came mainly after the Second World War. From 1945 the city grew quickly in economic, administrative and cultural terms, becoming a modern urban centre whose municipality today has close to 100,000 residents.

The 2001 conflict

The armed conflict of 2001 first intensified in the mountain outskirts of Tetovo and spread in May to the Kumanovo region, especially the villages north of the city. The fighting involved the National Liberation Army, state security forces and local communities; its causes, conduct and memory remain politically sensitive and should not be reduced to the legacy text's one-sided label of an 'Albanian insurgency.'

Known for

Interesting facts

Celebrities

Villages

Monasteries nearby

This collection preserves 35 old photographs and 30 city photographs.

Old Photos

Preserved historical photograph of Kumanovo from the Macedonian Cities archive, 1 of 35
Kumanovo · Old Photo 1 of 35 · Source
Preserved historical photograph of Kumanovo from the Macedonian Cities archive, 2 of 35
Kumanovo · Old Photo 2 of 35 · Source
Preserved historical photograph of Kumanovo from the Macedonian Cities archive, 3 of 35
Kumanovo · Old Photo 3 of 35 · Source
Preserved historical photograph of Kumanovo from the Macedonian Cities archive, 4 of 35
Kumanovo · Old Photo 4 of 35 · Source
Preserved historical photograph of Kumanovo from the Macedonian Cities archive, 5 of 35
Kumanovo · Old Photo 5 of 35 · Source
Preserved historical photograph of Kumanovo from the Macedonian Cities archive, 6 of 35
Kumanovo · Old Photo 6 of 35 · Source
Preserved historical photograph of Kumanovo from the Macedonian Cities archive, 7 of 35
Kumanovo · Old Photo 7 of 35 · Source
Preserved historical photograph of Kumanovo from the Macedonian Cities archive, 8 of 35
Kumanovo · Old Photo 8 of 35 · Source
Preserved historical photograph of Kumanovo from the Macedonian Cities archive, 9 of 35
Kumanovo · Old Photo 9 of 35 · Source
Preserved historical photograph of Kumanovo from the Macedonian Cities archive, 10 of 35
Kumanovo · Old Photo 10 of 35 · Source
Preserved historical photograph of Kumanovo from the Macedonian Cities archive, 11 of 35
Kumanovo · Old Photo 11 of 35 · Source
Preserved historical photograph of Kumanovo from the Macedonian Cities archive, 12 of 35
Kumanovo · Old Photo 12 of 35 · Source
Preserved historical photograph of Kumanovo from the Macedonian Cities archive, 13 of 35
Kumanovo · Old Photo 13 of 35 · Source
Preserved historical photograph of Kumanovo from the Macedonian Cities archive, 14 of 35
Kumanovo · Old Photo 14 of 35 · Source
Preserved historical photograph of Kumanovo from the Macedonian Cities archive, 15 of 35
Kumanovo · Old Photo 15 of 35 · Source
Preserved historical photograph of Kumanovo from the Macedonian Cities archive, 16 of 35
Kumanovo · Old Photo 16 of 35 · Source
Preserved historical photograph of Kumanovo from the Macedonian Cities archive, 17 of 35
Kumanovo · Old Photo 17 of 35 · Source
Preserved historical photograph of Kumanovo from the Macedonian Cities archive, 18 of 35
Kumanovo · Old Photo 18 of 35 · Source
Preserved historical photograph of Kumanovo from the Macedonian Cities archive, 19 of 35
Kumanovo · Old Photo 19 of 35 · Source
Preserved historical photograph of Kumanovo from the Macedonian Cities archive, 20 of 35
Kumanovo · Old Photo 20 of 35 · Source
Preserved historical photograph of Kumanovo from the Macedonian Cities archive, 21 of 35
Kumanovo · Old Photo 21 of 35 · Source
Preserved historical photograph of Kumanovo from the Macedonian Cities archive, 22 of 35
Kumanovo · Old Photo 22 of 35 · Source
Preserved historical photograph of Kumanovo from the Macedonian Cities archive, 23 of 35
Kumanovo · Old Photo 23 of 35 · Source
Preserved historical photograph of Kumanovo from the Macedonian Cities archive, 24 of 35
Kumanovo · Old Photo 24 of 35 · Source
Preserved historical photograph of Kumanovo from the Macedonian Cities archive, 25 of 35
Kumanovo · Old Photo 25 of 35 · Source
Preserved historical photograph of Kumanovo from the Macedonian Cities archive, 26 of 35
Kumanovo · Old Photo 26 of 35 · Source
Preserved historical photograph of Kumanovo from the Macedonian Cities archive, 27 of 35
Kumanovo · Old Photo 27 of 35 · Source
Preserved historical photograph of Kumanovo from the Macedonian Cities archive, 28 of 35
Kumanovo · Old Photo 28 of 35 · Source
Preserved historical photograph of Kumanovo from the Macedonian Cities archive, 29 of 35
Kumanovo · Old Photo 29 of 35 · Source
Preserved historical photograph of Kumanovo from the Macedonian Cities archive, 30 of 35
Kumanovo · Old Photo 30 of 35 · Source
Preserved historical photograph of Kumanovo from the Macedonian Cities archive, 31 of 35
Kumanovo · Old Photo 31 of 35 · Source
Preserved historical photograph of Kumanovo from the Macedonian Cities archive, 32 of 35
Kumanovo · Old Photo 32 of 35 · Source
Preserved historical photograph of Kumanovo from the Macedonian Cities archive, 33 of 35
Kumanovo · Old Photo 33 of 35 · Source
Preserved historical photograph of Kumanovo from the Macedonian Cities archive, 34 of 35
Kumanovo · Old Photo 34 of 35 · Source
Preserved historical photograph of Kumanovo from the Macedonian Cities archive, 35 of 35
Kumanovo · Old Photo 35 of 35 · Source

Photo Gallery

City photograph of Kumanovo, 1 of 30
Kumanovo · Photograph 1 of 30 · Source
City photograph of Kumanovo, 2 of 30
Kumanovo · Photograph 2 of 30 · Source
City photograph of Kumanovo, 3 of 30
Kumanovo · Photograph 3 of 30 · Source
City photograph of Kumanovo, 4 of 30
Kumanovo · Photograph 4 of 30 · Source
City photograph of Kumanovo, 5 of 30
Kumanovo · Photograph 5 of 30 · Source
City photograph of Kumanovo, 6 of 30
Kumanovo · Photograph 6 of 30 · Source
City photograph of Kumanovo, 7 of 30
Kumanovo · Photograph 7 of 30 · Source
City photograph of Kumanovo, 8 of 30
Kumanovo · Photograph 8 of 30 · Source
City photograph of Kumanovo, 9 of 30
Kumanovo · Photograph 9 of 30 · Source
City photograph of Kumanovo, 10 of 30
Kumanovo · Photograph 10 of 30 · Source
City photograph of Kumanovo, 11 of 30
Kumanovo · Photograph 11 of 30 · Source
City photograph of Kumanovo, 12 of 30
Kumanovo · Photograph 12 of 30 · Source
City photograph of Kumanovo, 13 of 30
Kumanovo · Photograph 13 of 30 · Source
City photograph of Kumanovo, 14 of 30
Kumanovo · Photograph 14 of 30 · Source
City photograph of Kumanovo, 15 of 30
Kumanovo · Photograph 15 of 30 · Source
City photograph of Kumanovo, 16 of 30
Kumanovo · Photograph 16 of 30 · Source
City photograph of Kumanovo, 17 of 30
Kumanovo · Photograph 17 of 30 · Source
City photograph of Kumanovo, 18 of 30
Kumanovo · Photograph 18 of 30 · Source
City photograph of Kumanovo, 19 of 30
Kumanovo · Photograph 19 of 30 · Source
City photograph of Kumanovo, 20 of 30
Kumanovo · Photograph 20 of 30 · Source
City photograph of Kumanovo, 21 of 30
Kumanovo · Photograph 21 of 30 · Source
City photograph of Kumanovo, 22 of 30
Kumanovo · Photograph 22 of 30 · Source
City photograph of Kumanovo, 23 of 30
Kumanovo · Photograph 23 of 30 · Source
City photograph of Kumanovo, 24 of 30
Kumanovo · Photograph 24 of 30 · Source
City photograph of Kumanovo, 25 of 30
Kumanovo · Photograph 25 of 30 · Source
City photograph of Kumanovo, 26 of 30
Kumanovo · Photograph 26 of 30 · Source
City photograph of Kumanovo, 27 of 30
Kumanovo · Photograph 27 of 30 · Source
City photograph of Kumanovo, 28 of 30
Kumanovo · Photograph 28 of 30 · Source
City photograph of Kumanovo, 29 of 30
Kumanovo · Photograph 29 of 30 · Source
City photograph of Kumanovo, 30 of 30
Kumanovo · Photograph 30 of 30 · Source

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