USKUP, Uskub, or Skoplie, a town of European Turkey, capital of the sanjak of the same name and of the vilayet of Kossova, on the upper Vardar river, about 160 miles north-west of Saloniki. It occupies a picturesque and important strategic position near the southern foot of the Skhar-dagh (Scodrus), which connects the Balkan range in the east with the Bosnian and Albanian highlands in the west, and forms the water-parting between the streams flowing north to the Danube and those going south to the Aegean. Here also converge the ethnological domains of the Albanians and Slavs (Servians, Bosnians, and Bulgarians), so that the population, estimated at 28,000, is of a somewhat mixed character. Uskup has some flourishing industries, such as leather and metal-work, weaving and dyeing, and is the centre of a rich agricultural district growing large quantities of fruits and cereals. It is the residence of the provincial governor, the seat of a Greek archbishop, and one of the chief stations on the main line of railway which runs from Saloniki up the Vardar valley to Bosnia. It communicates with the Simnitza valley and with Prisren by practicable roads running north and north-west over the encircling ranges.

Uskup retains in a slightly modified form the ancient name of Skupi (Skopi), a city of Paeonia (north Macedonia), forming a northern outpost of Greek and Roman culture towards Dardania and Dacia Aureliani.