Montenegro

Abstract

After the migration of Slavic tribes to the Balkan peninsula, the mountains of Montenegro were settled by Slavic tribes. While the inner mountains were never conquered by the Venetians, Turks and Austrians, the coastal region was. Thus, a small territory in the high Dinaric Alps remained independent. During the Middle Ages the country was governed by several families. Later, since the eighteenth century, the bishops and princes from the house of the Petrović-Njegoš governed the small country. The Congress of Berlin in 1878 internationally acknowledged the independence of the country. In 1878, after the Russian-Turkish war of 1878, the principality acquired parts of the Turkish Sancak of Novi Pazar. In 1912, after the first Balkan War against Turkey, Montenegro almost doubled its territory by acquiring the rest of the Turkish Sancak of Novi Pazar. This way, Montenegro got a common ethnic and linguistic border close to Serbia. In addition, Montenegro received the Southern Adriatic coast but without the bay of Kotor, which remained in Austrian hands (as an Austrian war port). On 28 August 1910 the prince of Montenegro, Knjaz Nikola, adopted the title ‘King of Montenegro’.