Montenegro (the Italian translation of the native name Czrnagora, 'Black Mountain'), an independent state in the Balkan Peninsula, between Herzegovina and Albania, about 80 miles long by 70 broad. Its area was extended in 1878 by the addition of a large district on the north, a long narrow strip right down its east side to Lake Scutari, and the port and district of Antivari on the south, on the Adriatic, and again in 1880 by the addition of the port and district of Dulcigno, also on the Adriatic. The area, thus extended, is officially quoted as 3255 sq. m.—a private estimate is 3486 sq. m.—considerably less than half the size of Wales. Beyond the low coastal fringe, which has a climate like that of the south of France, comes a rugged mountain-region ranging up to 6500-8000 feet, not in a series of chains, but in a confusing maze of peaks and gigantic crags and blocks, wild ravines and gorges, fissures and natural caves, the bare gray crystalline rock being everywhere visible. In this region the streams in some cases have underground channels, and even pass for miles beneath the mountains. The centre of the country is occupied by the branching valleys of the rivers Zeta and Moratcha, which flow south into Lake Scutari. East and north of them the mountains are well wooded, principally with beech and pine, and afford good pasturage to the sheep, goats, and cattle of the people. The climate in these mountainous regions is characterised by temperate heat in summer and a rigid winter. Comparatively little of the surface is cultivated, except in the coast region; it is too sterile. Yet agriculture is the principal occupation of the people; of industry there is virtually none. All the farms are small, the fields often patches of soil a few square yards in extent clinging to the mountain-side. The land in most cases belongs to the family, not to the individual, and woods and pastures are common to the clan. Maize, rye, oats, barley, potatoes, capsicums, tobacco, with fruits in the south, are the more important products. Wine for home consumption is grown on the shores of Lake Scutari; and the mulberry is cultivated for silkworms. The same lake, and some of the rivers flowing into it, yield an abundance of fish, especially of scorantza or bleak. The exports, consisting chiefly of cattle, goats, hides, smoked fish and mutton, cheese, sumach, fruits, and wine, reach the annual value of £200,000. The imports, for the most part wheat, gunpowder, hardware, groceries, cloth, and glass, average in value about one-tenth of the exports. Nearly all the trade is in the hands of the Austrians, and passes through their port of Cattaro. Good roads connect the chief towns or villages in the south; bridle-paths and footpaths only exist in the rest of the country.
The Montenegrins, a race of primitive mountaineers, whose principal business in life has for generations been to fight the Turks, are a brave, warlike, and simple people, noted for their honesty and their chastity. The men are stalwart and handsome, but the women, who until recent years did all the hard work whilst the men fought, or idled, or hunted, soon grow old and lose their good looks. The people live in small stone houses, in small villages—there is not a town, strictly so called, in all Montenegro. They belong to the Servian branch of the Slavs, number (1890) 236,000, and belong, except about 10,000 Mohammedans and 4000 Roman Catholics, to the Greek Orthodox Church, the head of which is the emperor of Russia. The native head of the church is the Archbishop of Cetinje. The monastery of Ostrog is visited by large numbers of pilgrims every year. There is a Roman Catholic archbishop at Antivari. In the 14th century the country, known as the principality of Zeta, was tributary to the Servian empire; but, when the latter was subjugated by the Turks (1389), Zeta, assisted by fugitive Servians, successfully maintained its independence. From that time down to 1880 the Montenegrins have waged almost incessant war against their hereditary foes, the Turks. In 1516, when the last prince of the second native dynasty abdicated his throne, the people elected their bishop to be ruler over them; and the little state was governed by ecclesiastical princes (vladikas) down to 1851, when Danilo I. of the Nyegush clan, and nephew of the last vladika, persuaded the people to separate the civil from the ecclesiastical functions, and to elect him their secular prince, and declare the throne hereditary in his family. The prince is an absolute sovereign; but he is assisted by a state council and a ministry of six members. The government both of the country and of the family is really, however, patriarchal, the will of the prince deciding all things only in so far as it does not conflict with the will of the people. During the last quarter of the 19th century the little land has progressed greatly in civilisation; education has made rapid strides, the men have taken to cultivating their fields, and roads have been constructed; while the old militia has been converted into a standing army of 30,000 men, though not more than 100 serve permanently, as a bodyguard to the prince. An arms-factory has been established at Rieka and ammunition-factories at Rieka and Cetinje. The last-named village is the capital. The empress of Russia supports a higher school for girls at Cetinje. Crime is almost unknown. Podgoritza and Rieka are the chief trading-places. The state income amounts to about £60,000 per annum, a portion of which is a subsidy from Russia (since 1856); the expenditure is not known. There is a state debt of £100,000 owing to Austria and £70,000 owing to Russia. Montenegro has no money of her own; she uses chiefly Austrian paper and Turkish silver. The vladika Peter II. (1830-51) is accounted one of the greatest poets who have written in Servian. In their patriotic songs and ballads the Montenegrins possess a treasure of great value, and of great influence upon the national temperament. The first Slavonic books to be printed were issued from presses at Cetinje and Rieka in the end of the 15th century. In 1895 a daughter of the prince was married to the crown-prince of Italy.
See Denton, Montenegro (1877); Freeman in Macmillan's Magazine (1876); Gopcevic, Montenegro (1877); Schwarz, Montenegro (1882); W. Carr, Montenegro (1884); Coquelle, Montenegro et Serbie (1896); and W. Miller, The Balkans ('Story of the Nations,' 1896).