Krste Misirkov

Krste Petkov Misirkov
Portrait of Krste P. Misirkov
Born	Krste Petkov Misirkov (1874-11-18)18 November 1874 Postol, Salonica Vilayet, Ottoman Empire (today Pella, Greece)
Died	26 July 1926(1926-07-26) (aged 51) Sofia, Kingdom of Bulgaria (today Bulgaria)
Pen name	"K. Pelski"
Occupation	philologist, slavist, historian, ethnographer, translator and professor.
Education	Doctor's degree of philology and history
Alma mater	Faculty of philology and history at the University of Petrograd
Genre	history, linguistics, philology, politics, ethnography and analytic.
Subject	Macedonian history, language and ethnicity, Balkan history
Literary movement	Macedonian scientific-literary association "St. Clement"
Notable works	"On Macedonian Matters", the magazine "Vardar", over 30 articles published in different newspapers.
Spouse	Ekaterina Mihajlovna - Misirkova
Children	Sergej Misirkov
Signature

Krste Petkov Misirkov (Bulgarian: Кръстьо Петков Мисирков; Macedonian: Крсте Петков Мисирков) (18 November 1874, Postol, Ottoman Empire – 26 July 1926, Sofia, Kingdom of Bulgaria) was a philologist, slavist, historian and ethnographer. In the period between 1903 and 1907 he published a book and a scientific magazine in which he affirmed the existence of a Macedonian national identity separate from other Balkan nations, and attempted to codify a standard Macedonian language based on the Central Macedonian dialects. A survey conducted in the Republic of Macedonia found Misirkov to be "the most significant Macedonian of the 20th century". For his efforts to codify a standard Macedonian language, he is often considered "the founder of the modern Macedonian literary language".

However, in 1907 he began publishing predominantly articles, written from a Bulgarian nationalist perspective. Misirkov reverted to Macedonian nationalism for a short in 1919. During the 1920s his views changed again, and he encouraged the Macedonian Slavs to adopt a Bulgarian national identity. Because Misirkov expressed conflicting views about the national identity of the Macedonians Slavs at different points in his life, his national affiliation and legacy remains a matter of dispute between Bulgaria and the Republic of Macedonia.

Krste Petkov Misirkov was born on 18 November 1874 in the village of Postol in the Salonica Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire (present-day Greece). He started his elementary education in the local Greek school, where he was studying until the sixth grade elementary school, but the bad financial situation of his family could not support his further education at that point and he left the school. At that period Serbian propaganda began to promote its variant of "Macedonism" and to recruit young people in order to "Serbianize" them. After some period, Misirkov applied and was granted a scholarship by the Serbian association "St. Sava".