Sveti Nikole in the context of "Sheep"

In antiquity, Paeonia or Paionia (Ancient Greek: Παιονία, romanized: Paionía) was the land and kingdom of the Paeonians (or Paionians; Ancient Greek: Παίονες, romanized: Paíones).

The exact original boundaries of Paeonia, like the early history of its inhabitants, are obscure, but it is known that it roughly corresponds to most of present-day North Macedonia and north-central parts of Greek Macedonia before the expansion of Macedon (i.e. probably the Greek municipalities of Paionia (excluding the village of Evropos), Almopia, Sintiki, Irakleia, and Serres), and a small part of south-western Bulgaria. Ancient authors placed it south of Dardania (an area corresponding to modern-day Kosovo and northern North Macedonia), west of the Thracian mountains, and east of the southernmost Illyrians. It was separated from Dardania by the mountains through which the Vardar river passes from the field of Scupi (modern Skopje) to the valley of Bylazora (near modern Sveti Nikole).

The Socialist Republic of Macedonia (Macedonian: Социјалистичка Република Македонија, romanized: Socijalistička Republika Makedonija), or SR Macedonia, commonly referred to as Socialist Macedonia, Yugoslav Macedonia or simply Macedonia, was one of the six constituent republics of the post-World War II Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and a nation state of the Macedonians. After the transition of the political system to parliamentary democracy in 1990, the Republic changed its official name to Republic of Macedonia in 1991, and with the beginning of the breakup of Yugoslavia, it declared itself an independent country and held a referendum on 8 September 1991 on which a sovereign and independent state of Macedonia, with a right to enter into any alliance with sovereign states of Yugoslavia was approved.

Geographically, SR Macedonia bordered Albania to the west, Greece to the south and Bulgaria to the east. Within Yugoslavia, it bordered SR Serbia (including SAP Kosovo) to the north. It was one of the two landlocked federal republics, along with SR Serbia.

Veles (Macedonian: Велес [ˈvɛlɛs] ) is a city in the central part of North Macedonia on the Vardar river. The city of Veles is the seat of Veles Municipality. Veles is the seventh largest Macedonian city with a total population of 40,664 (census 2021). The largest cities in the proximity of Veles are: Skopje – the capital and the largest city of North Macedonia – 54 km in the northwest direction, Štip 43 km to the east, Sveti Nikole 34 km to the northeast, Prilep 79 km in the southwest direction, and Kavadarci and Negotino 43 km and 40 km respectively to the southeast. Veles is on the crossroad of important international road and rail lines. For all these reasons, Veles is considered to have a good geolocation within North Macedonia.

Sveti Nikole (Macedonian: Свети Николе [ˌsfɛːti ˈnikɔlɛ] ) is a municipality in eastern Macedonia. Sveti Nikole is also the name of the town where the municipal seat is found. Sveti Nikole Municipality is part of the Vardar Statistical Region.

41°51′54″N 21°56′34″E / 41.86500°N 21.94278°E / 41.86500; 21.94278

Ovče Pole (Macedonian: Овче Поле, lit. 'sheep plain') is a plain near Sveti Nikole's river, which is a tributary of the Bregalnica river in east-central North Macedonia.