Strumica (Macedonian: Струмица, pronounced [ˈstrumit͡sa] ⓘ) is the largest city[1] in southeastern North Macedonia, near the Novo Selo-Petrich border crossing with Bulgaria.

It was known as Tiberiopolis (Greek: Τιβεριούπολις) in Roman times, and received its present name from the Slavic settlers of the Middle Ages.

According to archaeological findings, settlement of the area dates back to 6000–5000 BC: near the village of Angelci there is a Neolithic settlement called Stranata; traces of prehistoric culture dating from the beginning of the 4th to the middle of the 3rd millennium BC have been discovered at the site of Carevi Kuli (Tsar's Towers), on the hill above the city.

In the Roman period the city changed its name to Tiberiopolis (Greek: Τιβεριούπολις) which is evidenced by a marble statue base dedicated to the patron Tiberius Claudius Menon, who lived between the late 2nd and early 3rd century AD.

During the reign of the Roman emperor Julian the Apostate (361–363 AD), the fifteen holy hieromartyrs of Tiberiopolis were killed.

The urban mansion Machuk dating from the late ancient period today stands witness for the existence of a city settlement from that time.

Nomads and livestock breeders of Turkic origin were settled, which altered the general look of the city making it more oriental.

These were times when conversion to Islam was at its peak in the region, which accounts for the increased number of Muslims (2,200) compared to Christians (1,230) according to the census of 1570.

At about this time, Strumica was visited by the Ottoman travel writers Haji Kalfa (1665) and Evliya Çelebi (1670), who gave a description of the city and all its Islamic buildings.

This period coincided with the work of the great fresco masters from Strumica – Vasil Gjorgiev and Grigorij Petsanov.

Following the Berlin Congress of 1878, when the Ottoman Empire lost a sizable portion of its territory on the Balkans, a stream of refugees flowed into the area; some of them ending up in Strumica.

According to the Ottoman General Census of 1881/82-1893, the kaza of Strumica had a total population of 33.024, consisting of 15.760 Muslims, 13.726 Greeks, 2.965 Bulgarians and 573 Jews.

[7] Strumica was made the center of a homonymous district in Bulgaria (largely corresponding to the present day Blagoevgrad province)[8] and stayed under Bulgarian rule until 1919, when it was ceded to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes after the Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine.

With the referendum on 8 September 1991, amid the breakup of Yugoslavia, the country became independent under the constitutional name Republic of Macedonia.