Crmnica ( Serbian and Montenegrin: Црмница, ) is a historical region in southern

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = M ...

, one of the communes of the municipality of Bar. It is one of the four sub-regions of

Old Montenegro Old Montenegro ( sr, Стара Црна Гора, Stara Crna Gora), also known as Montenegro proper ( sr, Права Црна Гора, Prava Crna Gora), or True Montenegro ( sr, Истинска Црна Гора, Istinska Crna Gora), is a ...

Geography & Demographics

Crmnica is located in south-western Montenegro, between the historical area of the Paštrovići tribe and Shestani/

Krajina Krajina () is a Slavic toponym, meaning ' frontier' or 'march'. The term is related to ''kraj'' or ''krai'', originally meaning 'edge'Rick Derksen (2008), ''Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon'', Brill: Leiden-Boston, page 244 a ...

to the south. Crmnica is the most fertile region of Montenegro and it is well known for a local variety of viticulture, the

Vranac Vranac (), sr-Cyrl, Вранац; mk, Вранец, Vranec) is a red grape variety that originates from Montenegro. It is the most planted grape variety in Montenegro. It is believed to be closely related to Kratosija. Vranac is considered the ...

. In the 19th century, the region consisted of the following villages: Boljevići, Braćeni, Brijege, Bukovik, Donji Brčeli, Dupilo, Gluhi Do,

Godinje Godinje (Montenegrin Cyrillic: Годиње) is a village in the Municipalities of Montenegro, municipality of Bar Municipality, Bar, Montenegro. It is located on a hill overlooking Lake Skadar. The village is the ancestral home of the Lekovi� ...

, Gornji Brčeli, Komarno, Krnjice, Limljani, Mačuge, Mikovići, Orahovo, Ovtočići, Podgor, Popratnica, Seoca, Sotonići, Tomići, Trnovo, Utrg, Virpazar and Zabes. Many of them today are depopulated or completely uninhabited because of the mass emigration wave that began in the 1990s. Virpazar, the central settlement of the region, has 277 inhabitants as of 2011. The population adheres to Orthodoxy; roughly, the majority of the population declares as

Montenegrins Montenegrins ( cnr, Црногорци, Crnogorci, or ; lit. "Black Mountain People") are a South Slavic ethnic group that share a common Montenegrin culture, history, and language, identified with the country of Montenegro. Genetics Accordi ...

, the rest as

Serbs The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language. The majority of Serbs live in their na ...

History and Origin

Crmnica first appears in the 13th century under two different names, Crmnica and Kučevo, which is the slavicized variant of an Albanian toponym that meant "red place" (''kuq''). Both names refer to the fact that the region was known for its quarry of red stone. In the Middle Ages, the area shows a strong symbiosis of Slavic and Albanian populations. The southern part of the area became part of the same administrative unit with Shestani when the Ottomans took over after 1479. In that period, the Slavic anthroponymy of Crmnica was frequently followed by the Albanian suffix ''-za''. This phenomenon doesn't appear in such widespread form in any other area of Montenegro except for Mrkojevići to the south of Crmnica. It has been interpreted as the result of gradual, centuries-long adoption of Slavic culture by an Albanian-speaking population. The Ottoman census of 1582–83 registered the Vilayet of the Black Mountain (vilayet-i Kara Dağ), part of the

Sanjak of Scutari The Sanjak of Scutari or Sanjak of Shkodra ( sq, Sanxhaku i Shkodrës; sr, Скадарски санџак; tr, İskenderiye Sancağı or ''İşkodra Sancağı'') was one of the sanjaks of the Ottoman Empire. It was established after the Otto ...

, as having the following

nahiyah A nāḥiyah ( ar, , plural ''nawāḥī'' ), also nahiya or nahia, is a regional or local type of administrative division that usually consists of a number of villages or sometimes smaller towns. In Tajikistan, it is a second-level division w ...

, with number of villages: Grbavci with 13 villages,

Župa A župa (or zhupa, županija) is a historical type of administrative division in Southeast Europe and Central Europe, that originated in medieval South Slavic culture, commonly translated as "parish", later synonymous "kotar", commonly transla ...

with 11, Malonšići with 7, Pješivci with 14, Cetinje with 16, Rijeka with 31, Crmnica with 11, Paštrovići with 36 and

Grbalj Grbalj ( sr-Cyrl, Грбаљ), denotes a historic, rural region, as well as a tribe of the Montenegrin littoral, and a parish located between town of Budva and the Luštica peninsula, Bay of Kotor in coastal Montenegro. Most of the region now li ...

with 9 villages; a total of 148 villages. One of the first detailed accounts of the villages of Crmnica was that of Venetian diplomat

Mariano Bolizza Mariano Bolizza or Marin Bolica (1603 – 27 November 1643) was a nobleman and writer from Cattaro. Biography Bolizza was born in Kotor, at the time part of the Republic of Venice (now Montenegro). He studied at the University of Padua and, ha ...

who traveled in the area in 1614.

References

{{Authority control Bar, Montenegro Historical regions in Montenegro Regions of Montenegro