Kumanovo is a city in North Macedonia and the seat of Kumanovo Municipality, the largest municipality in the country. Kumanovo lies 340 metres above sea level and is surrounded by the Karadag part of Skopska Crna Gora mountain on its western side, Gradištanska mountain on its southern side, and Mangovica and German mountain on the Eastern side. Skopje airport also serves Kumanovo.

The town was first mentioned in 17th century. It was initially settled by Turks and later by Muslim Albanians. Slavic people entered the town in the late 18th century and early 19th century. It has many historical sites. One of the most important sites is the 4,000-year-old megalithic astronomical observatory of Kokino, located 30 km northeast of Kumanovo and discovered in 2001. It is ranked fourth on the list of old observatories by NASA.

In 1912, during the First Balkan War, Serbian forces won a decisive victory over the Ottomans north of the town. The two-day Battle of Kumanovo ended Ottoman authority in Vardar Macedonia which contributed to the region's integration into Serbia, and consequently, into Yugoslavia.

The rapid economic, administrative and cultural expansion of Kumanovo began in 1945. The town's metal-processing, tobacco, agriculture, footwear and textile industries have made it an economic, trading and cultural center of approximately 135,529 people. It is internationally known for a jazz festival hosting bands from all over the world.

Leskovac is a city settlement and administrative center of the Jablanica Administrative District.

The settlement dates back to the Roman Empire. The medieval name of the settlement is Glubočica.

The legend says that under the hill near the present city there was a lake, and when its drying was occurred there was a plant of hazel (hazelnut), after which the city was named more than 700 years ago. The present name of the city as the name of the settlement was first mentioned in 1308 in the Charter of King Milutin.

During the NATO bombing of the FRY in 1999, Leskovac and its surroundings were bombarded almost daily. During a raid on April 12, 1999, a railroad bridge in Grdelicka Gorge hit the passenger train, which was crossing the bridge at that time. In this attack, several dozen civilians were killed.

In Leskovac there is the National Library Radoje Domanovic, which was created from the City Reading Room, founded in 1869. The library was designated in 1961 for the home library of the Jablanica District. The library now has over 80,000 books and other publications distributed in different sectors, among which are the loan and children's department, the foreign book, as well as the local department that was established in 2012 as a legacy and is named after Nikolai Timchenko and has over 15,000 titles.

On May 2, 1948, the National Museum was founded in Leskovac, comprised of three departments - ethnographic-archaeological, national liberation struggle with the workers' movement and the Textile Industry Museum. The museum then moved to a new building on May 10, 1974, which opened the possibility for the development of museum activities, and today it has more departments for archeology, history, art history, ethnology, conservation and souvenir making.