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Република Црна Гора
Republika Crna Gora
Republic of Montenegro
Anthem: Oj, svijetla majska zoro
"Oh, the bright dawn of May"
Location of Montenegro
Capital
and largest city
File:PodgoricaCoA.png Podgorica
Official languagesSerbian (Ijekavian dialect)1 (local also Albanian)
GovernmentRepublic
• President
Filip Vujanović
Željko Šturanović
Independence 
from Serbia and Montenegro
• Declared
June 3, 2006
June 8, 2006
• Water (%)
1.5
Population
• 2004 estimate
630,548 (164th)
• 2003 census
620,145
GDP (PPP)2005 estimate
• Total
$2.412 billion (179th)
• Per capita
$3,800 (119th)
HDI (2006)n/a
Error: Invalid HDI value (n/a)
CurrencyEuro2 (EUR)
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)
UTC+2 (CEST)
Calling code381(+382)4
ISO 3166 codeME
Internet TLD.yu (.me)3
1 Defined as such in constitution, but subject to some controversy. See Montenegrin language for more details.
2 Adopted unilaterally; Montenegro is not a formal member of the Eurozone.
3 .me will come into use early 2007, while .yu is a holdover from Serbia and Montenegro which is still in use for Montenegrin subdomains [1].
4 +382 was assigned by the ITU[1] but is not yet activated. Following activation, Serbia's +381 code will remain in use alongside +382 for six months until +382 has been established in Montenegro.

Montenegro (Serbian/Montenegrin/Croatian: Црна Гора or Crna Gora, pronounced /'t͡sr̩naː 'ɡɔra/, listenⓘ), officially the Republic of Montenegro (Република Црна Гора or Republika Crna Gora), is a country located in southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south, and borders Croatia on the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina on the northwest, Serbia on the northeast and Albania on the southeast. Its de facto capital and largest city is Podgorica, while Cetinje is designated as Prijestonica the old royal capital, or seat of the throne.

Independent from the late Middle Ages until 1918, the country was later a part of various incarnations of Yugoslavia and the state union of Serbia and Montenegro. Based on the results of a referendum held on May 21 2006, Montenegro declared independence on June 3 2006. On June 28, Montenegro became the 192nd member state[2] of the United Nations.

Name

Montenegro's native name, Crna Gora, first mentioned in 11th century in Vatican documents and translates literally to "black mountain," a reference to the dark forests that once covered the slopes of the Dinaric Alps as seen from the coast.[3] The country's name in most Western European languages, including English, reflects an adoption of the Venetian-language term monte negro, also meaning "black mountain," which probably dates back to the era of Venetian hegemony over the area in the Middle Ages. Other languages, particularly nearby ones, use their own direct translation of the term, e.g. Albanian: Mali i Zi, Bulgarian: Черна гора, Cherna gora; Polish: Czarnogóra; Romanian: Muntenegru, Greek: Μαυροβούνιο, Mavrovoúnio and Turkish: Karadağ; "black mountain" from further afield include Russian: Черногория, Chernogorya and Chinese: 黑山 (pinyin: "hēishān"[4]).

The ISO Alpha-2 code for Montenegro is ME and the Alpha-3 Code is MNE.

History

Main article: History of Montenegro
File:Principalities02.png
Duklja in the tenth century.

Slav tribes, mixed with Illyrians, Avars and Romans[disambiguation needed], formed the semi-independent dukedom of Croat Duklja by the tenth century. In 1077, Pope Gregory VII recognized Duklja as an independent state, acknowledging its King Mihailo (Michael) (of the Vojislavljević dynasty founded by nobleman Stefan Vojislav) as rex Docleae (King of Duklja). The kingdom, however, paid tribute to the Byzantine Empire and later to the Bulgarian Empire; it gave birth to the medieval kingdom of the Serbian Grand Prince ([župan] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help)) Stefan Nemanja, who originated from Duklja.

The Principality of Zeta (which more closely corresponds to the early modern state of Montenegro) asserted itself about 1360. The House of Balšić (1360s–1421) and the House of Crnojević (1421–1499) ruled Zeta. Although the Ottoman Empire controlled the lands to the south and east from the 15th century, it never fully conquered Zeta.

In 1516, the secular prince Đurađ Crnojević abdicated in favour of the Archbishop Vavil, who then made Montenegro into a theocratic state under the rule of the prince-bishop (known as владика, vladika) of Cetinje, a position held from 1697 by the Petrović-Njegoš family of the Riđani clan. Petar Petrović Njegoš, perhaps the most influential vladika, reigned in the first half of the 19th century. In 1851, Danilo II Petrović Njegoš became vladika, but in 1852 he married, left the priesthood, assumed the title of knjaz (Prince), and transformed his land into a secular principality.

King Nikola of Montenegro

In 1910, Prince Nikola I became King of Montenegro. Two years later, in October, 1912, King Nikola declared war on the Ottoman Empire, precipitating the two Balkan Wars. The Montenegrin army attacked the Ottoman fortress city of Skutari, and forced the empire to gather a large army in neighbouring Macedonia. This Ottoman army was then attacked by the forces of Greece, Serbia, and Bulgaria which entered the war by pre-arrangement. The result was a military disaster for the Ottomans, who were thrown back to an area north of Constantinople.

Montenegro emerged from the Balkan Wars doubled in size, receiving half of the former Ottoman territory known as the Sanjak of Novi Pazar, but without Skutari, the country's major prize in the war. The London Conference awarded Skutari to an independent Albania.

During World War I, Montenegro was part of the allies. In the course of the war, Montenegro was occupied by Austro-Hungarian troops. Feldmarschalleutnant Viktor Weber von Webenau became Military Governor of Montenegro on February 26 1916. In 1918, the Podgorica Assembly voted for uniting Montenegro with the Kingdom of Serbia. However, pro-independence Montenegrins revolted on Christmas Day 1919 against Serbia. The revolt was brutally suppressed in 1924.

After World War II, from 1945 to 1992, Montenegro separated from Serbia and became a constituent republic in its own right, the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. It was during this time that the present capital Podgorica was renamed Titograd, after Josip Broz Tito, dictator of Yugoslavia. Over the next half century, Montenegro remained one of six constituent republics of Yugoslavia.

Union with Serbia (1992–2006)

After the dissolution of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1992, Montenegro agreed on a federation with Serbia, first as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, then as a looser State Union of Serbia and Montenegro that broke up as soon as a deadline for holding an independence referendum expired.

Map of Serbia and Montenegro

In the referendum on remaining in Yugoslavia in 1992, 95.96% of the votes were cast for remaining in the federation with Serbia, although the turnout was at 66% because of a boycott by the Muslim, Albanian and Catholic minorities as well as of pro-independence Montenegrins. The opposition claimed that poll was organized under undemocratic conditions, during war time in the former Yugoslavia, with widespread propaganda from the state-controlled media in favour of a pro-federation vote. There is no impartial report on the fairness of the referendum, as the 1992 referendum was totally unmonitored, unlike the 2006 vote, which was monitored by the European Union.[5]

In 1996, Milo Đukanović's government de facto severed ties between Montenegro and Serbia, which was then still under Milošević. Montenegro formed its own economic policy and adopted the Deutsche Mark as its currency. It has since adopted the euro, though it is not formally part of the Eurozone. Subsequent governments of Montenegro carried out pro-independence policies, and political tensions with Serbia simmered despite political changes in Belgrade. Despite its pro-independence leanings, targets in Montenegro were repeatedly bombed by NATO forces during Operation Allied Force in 1999.[6]

In 2002, Serbia and Montenegro came to a new agreement regarding continued cooperation. In 2003, the Yugoslav federation was replaced in favour of a looser state union named Serbia and Montenegro and a possible referendum on Montenegrin independence was postponed for a minimum of three years.

Independence

The status of the union between Montenegro and Serbia was decided by a referendum on Montenegrin independence on May 21, 2006. A total of 419,240 votes were cast, representing 86.5% of the total electorate. 230,661 votes or 55.5% were for independence and 185,002 votes or 44.5% were against. The 45,659 difference narrowly surpassed the 55% threshold needed to validate the referendum under rules set by the European Union. According to the electoral commission, the 55% threshold was passed by only 2,300 votes. Serbia, the member-states of the European Union, and the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council have all recognized Montenegro's independence; doing so removed all remaining obstacles from Montenegro's path towards becoming the world's newest sovereign state.

Front page of Pobjeda following the successful indepedence referendum.

The 2006 referendum was monitored by five international observer missions, headed by an OSCE/ODIHR monitoring team, and around 3,000 observers in total (including domestic observers from CEMI and other organizations). The OSCE/ODIHR ROM joined efforts with the observers of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA), the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe (CLRAE) and the European Parliament (EP) to form an International Referendum Observation Mission (IROM). The IROM—in its preliminary report—"assessed compliance of the referendum process with OSCE commitments, Council of Europe commitments, other international standards for democratic electoral processes, and domestic legislation." Furthermore, the report assessed that the competitive pre-referendum environment was marked by an active and generally peaceful campaign and that "there were no reports of restrictions on fundamental civil and political rights." [2]

On June 3 2006, the Parliament of Montenegro declared the independence of Montenegro, formally confirming the result of the referendum on independence. Serbia did not obstruct the ruling, confirming its own independence and declaring the Union of Serbia and Montenegro ended shortly thereafter.

International recognition of Montenegro

Main article: Foreign relations of Montenegro

The first state to recognise Montenegro was Iceland, on June 8, 2006, followed by Switzerland and Estonia[7] on June 9, and Russia on June 11. Recognition by Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovenia soon followed. The European Union and the United States recognized Montenegro on June 12, as have various member states of the EU and other European countries. The United Kingdom formally extended recognition on June 13, as did the People's Republic of China and France on June 14, meaning that all five permanent United Nations Security Council members recognise the government of Montenegro. Serbia, the other former components of the State Union, recognised Montenegro on June 15. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe decided to accept Montenegro as the 56th member of the organization on June 21 and the country took its seat at the Permanent Council on June 22. The United Nations, in a vote of the Security Council, decided to offer full membership of the organisation to Montenegro on June 22, 2006. Montenegro was confirmed as a member on June 28. In January 2007, Montenegro received full membership in the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group[8], and also set out to establish diplomatic ties with Vatican City.

Union with Croatia

Finally after Montenegro liberated itself from the Serbs control, negotiations have started regarding its union with Croatia. President of the Croatian parliament Vladimir Seks has already expressed that Montenegro was a great victim of the Greater Serbian project and that the dreams of Red Croatia Zagreb-Cerinje should soon be fullfilled.

Geography

Map of Montenegro
Morača River Canyon.
Main article: Geography of Montenegro

Montenegro borders Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albania.

Some of the cities and towns in Montenegro are:

See also: List of cities in Montenegro

Montenegro ranges from high peaks along its borders with Kosovo and Albania, a segment of the Karst of the western Balkan Peninsula, to a narrow coastal plain that is only one to four miles wide. The plain stops abruptly in the north, where Mount Lovćen and Mount Orjen plunge abruptly into the inlet of the Bay of Kotor.

Montenegro's large Karst region lies generally at elevations of 1,000 metres (3,281 ft) above sea level; some parts, however, rise to 2,000 metres (6,560 ft), such as Mount Orjen (1,894 m / 6,214 ft), the highest massif among the coastal limestone ranges. The Zeta River valley, at an elevation of 500 metres (1,640 ft), is the lowest segment.

The mountains of Montenegro include some of the most rugged terrain in Europe. They average more than 2,000 metres (6,560 ft) in elevation. One of the country's notable peaks is Bobotov Kuk in the Durmitor mountains, which reaches a height of 2,522 metres (8,274 ft). The Montenegrin mountain ranges were among the most ice-eroded parts of the Balkan Peninsula during the last glacial period.

Military

Main article: Military of Montenegro

Government and politics

Template:Morepolitics By its current constitution, Montenegro is defined as a "democratic, welfare, and ecological state".

Government

The current Government of the Republic of Montenegro (Vlada Republike Crne Gore) comprises the prime minister, the deputy prime ministers as well as ministers. Željko Šturanović is the Prime Minister of Montenegro and head of the Government. The ruling party in Montenegro is the center-left Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro (DPS) (Demokratska Partija Socijalista Crna Gore), in coalition with much smaller Social Democratic Party of Montenegro (SDP) (Socijaldemokratska Partija Crne Gore).

President

President Filip Vujanović.

The President of Montenegro is elected for a period of five years through direct and secret ballots. According to the constitution, the President will represent the republic in the country and abroad, promulgate laws by ordinance, call elections for the Assembly, propose to the Assembly candidates for the Prime Minister, president and justices of the Constitutional Court, propose to the Assembly calling of a referendum, grant amnesty for criminal offences prescribed by the republican law, confer decoration and awards, and perform all other duties in accordance with the Constitution. The President shall also be a member of the Supreme Defence Council.

Parliament

The Montenegrin Parliament (Skupština Republike Crne Gore) passes all laws in Montenegro, ratifies international treaties, appoints the Prime Minister, ministers, and justices of all courts, adopts the budget and performs other duties as established by the Constitution. The Parliament can pass a vote of no-confidence on the Government by a majority of the members. One deputy is elected per 6,000 voters, which in turn results in a reduction of total number of deputies in the Assembly of Montenegro (the present assembly convening comprises 78 deputies instead of previous number of 71). The current president of the Parliament is Ranko Krivokapić.

The present Assembly convening 81 seats instead of previous number of 75 (parliamentary elections were on 10 September 2006 and were the first after the proclamation of independence. The constituent Assembly was on 2 October 2006).

Symbols

A new official flag of Montenegro was adopted on July 12 2004 by the Montenegrin legislature. The new flag is based on the personal standard of King Nikola I of Montenegro. This flag was all red with a gold border, a gold coat of arms, and the initials НІ in Cyrillic script (corresponding to NI in Latin script) representing King Nikola I. These initials are omitted from the modern flag.

The national day of 13 July marks the date in 1878 when the Congress of Berlin recognised Montenegro as the 27th independent state in the world and the start of one of the first popular uprisings in Europe against the Axis Powers on 13 July 1941 in Montenegro.

In 2004, the Montenegrin legislature selected a popular Montenegrin folk song, Oh, the Bright Dawn of May, as the national anthem. Montenegro's official anthem during the reign of King Nikola was Ubavoj nam Crnoj Gori (To our beautiful Montenegro). The music was composed by the King's son Knjaz Mirko. The Montenegrin popular anthem has been Onamo, 'namo! since King Nikola I wrote it in the 1860s.

Administrative divisions

Municipalities of Montenegro.
Main article: Subdivisions of Montenegro

Montenegro is divided into twenty-one municipalities (opština), and two urban municipalities, subdivisions of Podgorica municipality:

Economy

Main article: Economy of Montenegro

During the era of communism Montenegro experienced a rapid period of urbanization and industrialization. An industrial sector based on electricity generation, steel, aluminum, coal mining, forestry and wood processing, textiles and tobacco manufacture was built up, with trade, overseas shipping, and particularly tourism, increasingly important by the late 1980s.

The loss of previously guaranteed markets and suppliers after the break up of Yugoslavia left the Montenegrin industrial sector reeling as production was suspended and the privatization program, begun in 1989, was interrupted. The disintegration of the Yugoslav market, and the imposition of the UN sanctions in May 1992 were the causes of the greatest economic and financial crisis since World War II. During 1993, two thirds of the Montenegrin population lived below the poverty line, while frequent interruptions in relief supplies caused the health and environmental protection to drop below the minimum of international standards. The financial losses under the adverse effects of the UN sanctions on the overall economy of Montenegro are estimated to be approximately $6.39 billion. This period also experienced the second highest hyperinflation in history (3 million percent in January 1994) (The highest hyperinflation happened in Hungary after the end of World War II, when inflation there hit 4.19 x 10^16 percent).

In 1997, Milo Đukanović took control over the ruling Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro (DPS) and began severing ties with Milosevic' Serbia. He blamed the policies of Slobodan Milošević for the overall decline of the Montenegrin economy, as well as Milošević's systematic persecution of non-Serbs. Montenegro introduced the German mark as response to again-growing inflation, and insisted on taking more control over its economic fate. This eventually resulted in creation of Serbia and Montenegro, a loose union in which Montenegro mostly took responsibility for its economic policies.

This was followed by implementation of faster and more efficient privatization, passing of reform laws, introduction of VAT and usage of euro as Montenegro's legal tender. The government brought up "The Agenda"

Demographics

Ethnic map of Montenegro according to the 2003 census.
Ethnic map of Montenegro according to the 1991 census.
Main articles: Demographics of Montenegro and Demographic history of Montenegro

[4]

According to 2003 census, Montenegro has 620,145 citizens. If the methodology used up to 1991 was used in the 2003 census, Montenegro would officially have 673,094 citizens. Current estimates are somewhere around 630,000 citizens.

Ethnic composition according to the 2003 census [5]:

Over 270,000 citizens of Serbia have Montenegrin citizenship. Around 69,000 of them are Montenegrins, while others are mostly Serbs. It should be noted that those terms have a slightly different meaning in Serbia. People who may declare themselves Serbs if living in Montenegro, to emphasise their connection with the Serbian cultural space, may declare themselves Montenegrins in Serbia, as the identity needing to be emphasised would be the Montenegrin one. Many north-east Montenegrins consider all Montenegrins Serbs and south-west Montenegrins view themselves a separate nation. This division was evident during Montenegrin independence referendum, 2006.

In the constitution of Montenegro adopted in 1992, the official language of the republic was changed from Serbo-Croat to the Ijekavian standard dialect of Serbian. As of 2003, 63.5% of the population declare Serbian their mother tongue, while almost 22% declare Montenegrin. The dialects used are the same, very similar to those used by Serbs, Croats, and Muslims in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia, with slight nuances.

Over 74% of Montenegrin citizens are Eastern Orthodox Christians, most of them adherents of the Serbian Orthodox Church, although there is also the Montenegrin Orthodox Church, which is not officially recognized. 110,000 Muslims make up 17.74% of Montenegro's population. They are divided into three main groups: ethnic Albanians, and Slavic Muslims split among Bosniaks, who speak Bosnian and Montenegrin Muslims, who prefer Serbian. Albanians are a separate group, speaking their own language, Albanian (5.26%) and living mostly in the south-east, especially in Ulcinj, where they form the majority of the population. Bosniaks are Slavic Muslims speaking the Bosnian language and living mostly in the north. Finally, there are a small groups of autochthonous Croats and other Roman Catholic inhabitants, who live mostly in the coastal areas, particularly the Bay of Kotor. New estimates of Croats in 2006 put the figure at 7,100.

Culture

Main article: Culture of Montenegro
File:Man savina.jpg
Savina Monastery

The culture of Montenegro has been shaped by a variety of influences throughout history. The influence of Orthodox South Slavic, Central European, and seafaring Adriatic cultures (notably parts of Italy) have been the most important in recent centuries.

Montenegro has many significant cultural and historical sites, including heritage sites from the pre-Romanesque, Gothic and Baroque periods. The Montenegrin coastal region is especially well known for its religious monuments, including the Cathedral of Saint Tryphon, the basilica of St. Luke (over 800 years), Our Lady of the Rock (Škrpjela), the Savina Monastery and others. Montenegro's medieval monasteries contain thousands of square metres of frescos on their walls.

The traditional folk dance of the Montenegrins is the Oro, a circle dance that involves dancers standing on each other's shoulders in a circle while one or two dancers are dancing in the middle.

The first literary works written in the region are ten centuries old, and the first Montenegrin book was printed five hundred years ago. The first state-owned printing press was located in Cetinje in 1494, where the first South Slavic book was printed the same year (Oktoih). Ancient manuscripts, dating from the thirteenth century, are kept in the Montenegrin monasteries.

Montenegro's capital Podgorica and the former royal capital of Cetinje are the two most important centers of culture and the arts in the country.

Education

Main article: Education in Montenegro

Education in Montenegro is regulated by the Montenegrin Ministry of Education and Science.

Education starts in either pre-schools or elementary schools. Children enroll in elementary schools (Serbian: Osnovna škola) at the age of 7; it lasts 9 years. The students may continue their secondary education, which lasts 3 or (in the great majority of cases) 4 years and ends with graduation(Matura). Higher education lasts with a certain first degree after 3 to 6 years.

Miscellaneous

Serbia and Montenegro were represented by a single football team in the 2006 FIFA World Cup tournament, despite having formally split just days prior to its start. Following this event, this team is to be inherited by Serbia, while a new one is to be organized to represent Montenegro in future international competitions.

The first official international representation of Montenegro as an independent state was in the Miss World 2006 celebrated on September 30, 2006 in Warsaw, Poland. Ivana Knežević from the city of Bar was the very first Miss Montenegro at any international beauty pageant. Both Montenegro and Serbia competed separately in this pageant for the first time after the state union came to an end on June 3, 2006.

The 2006 James Bond film Casino Royale is set in Montenegro, although the filming was done in Italy and the Czech Republic.

See also

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References

  1. ^ "Montenegro gets its own telephone country code, 382", AP/Herald Tribune, Sep. 6 2006.
  2. ^ http://www.un.org/Overview/growth.htm List of members to the United Nations by joining date
  3. ^ Geography
  4. ^ this literal translation is used in Mainland China and Hong Kong; Taiwanese Mandarin uses 蒙特內哥羅 "méngtènèigēluó", a phonetic transcription of "Montenegro"
  5. ^ www.osce.org
  6. ^ "Russia pushes peace plan". BBC. April 29 1999. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ Estonia recognized the independence of Montenegro http://www.vm.ee/eng/kat_138/7588.html
  8. ^ http://www.imf.org/external/country/mne/index.htm

Further reading

  • Montenegro: The Divided Land by Thomas Fleming (2002) ISBN 0-9619364-9-5
Government
General information
Tourist guides

Template:Countries bordering the Adriatic Sea

Template:Slavic-speaking

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