Southern Old Serbia and Macedonia in the viewpoint of Serbian political and scientific thinkers

From the beginning of the 19th century until the first half of the 20th century, Southern Old Serbia and Macedonia were areas of exceptional geopolitical and geostrategic importance for the Serbian political elite. And the wider Serbian public of that time perceived the mentioned regions as the cradle of medieval Serbian statehood and the old land of the Nemanjic rulers. Our paper presents the view of Serbian state and national politics, as well as prominent political figures on the importance and geographical framework of Southern Old Serbia and Macedonia during the 19th and the first decade of the 20th century. We dedicated special attention to the analysis of the attitudes of the Serbian intellectual elite, which during the 20th century was engaged in the study of the mentioned regions through the prism of social and humanistic sciences.