Koći ( cyrl, Коћи; sq, Kojë) is a village in the
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
of
Tuzi,
Montenegro
)
, image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Podgorica
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, official_languages = M ...
, near the
border
Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders c ...
with
Albania
Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...
. The village is inhabited by ethnic
Albanians
The Albanians (; sq, Shqiptarët ) are an ethnic group and nation native to the Balkan Peninsula who share a common Albanian ancestry, culture, history and language. They primarily live in Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Se ...
of the Roman Catholic faith.
Geography
Koći lies east of the capital Podgorica, north of
Ubli. Koći is a village in
Koja e Kuçit, eastern Montenegro, bordering Albania.
Along with Albanian-inhabited
Hoti and
Gruda, Koći is, from Albanian point of view, part of the wider
Malësia
Malësia e Madhe ("Great Highlands"), known simply as Malësia ( sq, Malësia, cnr, / ), is a historical and ethnographic region in northern Albania and eastern central Montenegro corresponding to the highlands of the geographical subdivision ...
-region (''Malesija'').
History
At the beginning of the
Montenegrin–Ottoman War, the
Kuči rose up against the Ottomans, who started dispatching soldiers at the frontier, including at Koći.
According to
Spiridon Gopčević, the area of Koći included 10 km
2 and 550 inhabitants, out of which 480 were Catholics, 40 Orthodox, and 25 Muslims (1877).
20th century
Traveler Arso Milatović (who wrote a
travel book
The genre of travel literature encompasses outdoor literature, guide books, nature writing, and travel memoirs.
One early travel memoirist in Western literature was Pausanias (geographer), Pausanias, a Greek geographer of the 2nd century CE. In ...
on his experiences 1935–45) stayed at Koći and described it as "a village neighbouring Malesia, misplaced and rugged, which a horse can't reach, thus donkeys and mules walk the rocks as squirrels on branches".
The inhabitants were Catholics, and the village had a church and priest, ''fra'' Marko.
[ A church was built by the ethnic Albanian migrant workers who left the village for Europe in the period of 1964–74.][
]
Culture
Some Albanian Catholics have the custom of family and tribe celebration of saints (called ''festa'' in Peja), as is found in the Serbian Orthodox
The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous (ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodox Christian churches.
The majority of the population in ...
tradition of ''krsna slava
Slava ( sr-Cyrl, Слава, lit=Glory, Celebration, ) is a tradition of the ritual of glorification of one's family's patron saint, found mainly among Serbian Orthodox Christians. The family celebrates the Slava annually on the saint's feast ...
''.
Notable people
*Pretash Zekaj Ulaj
Pretash Zeka Ulaj (1882-1962) was an Albanian military figure in the Albanian Revolt of 1911. He was the ''bajraktar'' (flag-bearer) of Koja e Kuçit in Montenegro. He was distinguished Battle of Deçiq, fought near Tuzi in 1911 between Albanian hi ...
(1882-1962), commander in the Battle of Deçiq against the Ottoman Empire.
References
Sources
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Koci
Populated places in Tuzi Municipality
Albanian communities in Montenegro