MONASTIR, one of the largest cities in S. Serbia, Yugo slavia (Serbian Bitolj). Pop. (1931), 32,982, comprising Serbs, Mohammedan Slays, Albanians, Turks, Bulgarians, Vlachs, Greeks and the largest Jewish colony in Serbia. Each of these has its own district and conducts its own national and religious propaganda. The town is situated on an upland plain 2,019 ft. above sea level, at the mouth of a ravine, and with richly wooded mountains to the east. Monastir is unfortified, but is of military value both because the fertile plain affords a good base for supplies and because many roads converge upon it. A river traverses the. town, with quays and promenades, but the streets are badly made, and the houses, though solidly built, are mostly only of one story. There are several large public buildings and a school. The chief industries are rubber, tanning, the manufacture of rib bons, stockings and carpets, and before the World War (1914-18) silver filigree work, the output of which is now much lessened.
The plain affords excellent pasturage for cattle, and wheat, maize, tobacco, madder and the poppy are cultivated. The town is famous for its fairs, and serves as a distributing centre for S.W. Serbia, carrying on an active trade in grain, flour, cloth, hides and bones. The military advantages of its position led the Turks, about 182o, to make it the headquarters of an Army corps, which greatly increased its general and commercial importance. In 1898 it was made the see of a Bulgarian bishop. The ancient diocese of its Greek archbishop is known as Pelagonia from the old name of the Kara-Su or Tzerna plain. Monastir itself has been identified with the ancient Heraclea Lyncestis on the Via Egnatia. In the Balkan Wars (1912-13) Monastir was taken from the Turks by the Serbs and assigned to Serbia by the Treaty of Bucharest (1913).