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In the past there was no such nation as ""Germany"". It consisted of literally hundreds of states, some kingdoms, some duchies, some simply a city. Over the centuries these states fought against each other, allied with each other, and even absorbed each other. Each state was a proper country, and so such names as ""Brandenburg"", ""Saxony"", ""Hanover"" etc defined national groupsm and cultures. It wasn't until 1871 that Gertmany became one country, and even then some regions(eg Austria) weren't invluded. Since 1871 terms like ""Hanoverian"" and ""Bavarian"" no longer refer to national identities because they're all just ""German"" or ""Deutsch"". However, if a foreign non-German people were to suddenly use the name of say 'Bavaria' as their national identity, and call their non-German language and culture ""Bavarian"" ALL Germans would take offense to it. This is something of a no-brainer. In exactly the same way, there used to be literally hundreds of separate Greek nations, varying greatly in size, power, culture, and other things. They fought both with and against eaxh other. Today however there is a single Greek state which does not include all the historical Greek lands. However if a foreign non-Greek people were to try and appropriate a regional name that is indisputably Greek(like with Nacedonia) it will understandably anger ALL Greeks. Because Macedonia was one of those hundreds of Greek regional states. What's more today more than 80 per cent of Macedon proper is within the Greek boundaries, and not FYROM's boundaries. So thus FYROM has no legitimate claim to use the name ""Macedonia"", except to describe its southern regions like Bitola and Ochrid(sp?) in a historical context....... Kurt Stein"