The city was formed for the first time at the place where river Topolka
pours into river Vardar. The fortress of the Peonies city Vilazora
(Byllazora) was located here, together with the ancient town build on two
rivers, living in the time of the Roman Empire, i.e. in the 3rd century.
In the Charter issued by the Byzantine king Vasilie (Basil) II, for the
first time Veles is mentioned as town, belonging to the Bitola bishopric.
In 1330, Veles joined the Serb Feudal state, which at that time, was ruled
by the king Stefan Decanski. At the time when king Duhsan was possessor,
the town was governed by the Duke Oliver. At that time under approval of
king Dushan, the Veles monastery St. Nikola, with its entire property and
people, was joined to the Prizren monastery with the same name.
For the time of the Ottoman Empire the town was known as Kiprili-most,
town of bridges. The traveling writers, who were passing through Macedonia
in the 13th century are mentioning Veles as town situated on both banks of
river Vardar, with a big bridge with four columns built in its center.
Houses were covered with Turkish tiles and flagstones, and the facades were
facing river Vardar. The town was divided in four neighborhoods, with a lot
of mosques, inns, Turkish bath and over fifty stores.
Since the 17th century Veles was hosting the Bishop, who, until 1750, lived
in Dolni Grad or old Veles.
From the middle of the 19th century Veles became famous trade center in
Macedonia and according to the data left by many traveling writers, at this
time Veles had over 4000 houses with more than 20.000 inhabitants. Traders
from Veles were trading with Serbia, Austria, Italy, Thessaloniki and
Carigrad (Istanbul). The most famous Veles Saftijan - made of goat leather
was produced in Veles, and the traders were selling it in Vienna and Pest
(today part of Budapest). The town was also trading with corn, wine and
brandy, which were exported by boats to Thessaloniki, and by caravans to
Kustendil, Sofia, Kriva Palanka, Bitola, Prilep and Skopje. After the
railroad Thessaloniki - Belgrade was build in 1878, trading by boats
(gemidzii) stopped. After the Russian-Turkish war, that happened the same
year, most of the abovementioned towns found themselves behind the newly
established borders. The towns were lost as trade areas of Veles. That
contributed to the decrease of trade and handcrafting, from which today
only the most famous Veles pottery remained.
