Mrkojevići (alternatively Mrkovići, in
Montenergin ''Мркојевићи/Мрковићи'', in
Albanian ''Mërkot'') is a
historical tribal region in southwestern
Montenegro
)
, image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Podgorica
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, official_languages = M ...
, located between the towns of
Bar
Bar or BAR may refer to:
Food and drink
* Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages
* Candy bar
* Chocolate bar
Science and technology
* Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment
* Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud
* Bar (u ...
and
Ulcinj
Ulcinj ( cyrl, Улцињ, ; ) is a town on the southern coast of Montenegro and the capital of Ulcinj Municipality. It has an urban population of 10,707 (2011), the majority being Albanians.
As one of the oldest settlements in the Adriatic co ...
.
The region borders
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 east. The Mrkojevići form a distinct ethno-geographical group with their own dialect of the Serbo-Croatian language, while also exhibiting a degree of bilingualism in Albanian. Their customs are distinct from their neighbouring Slavic and Albanian communities, but they also show influence and contacts with them. In the 400-year Ottoman period, the Mrkojevići converted to Islam, which forms an important aspect of their cultural identity.
Geography
The region is in the southern parts of
Bar Municipality
Bar Municipality is one of the municipalities of Montenegro. The center is the town Bar. The municipality is located at the Adriatic coast in the southeast Montenegro. According to the 2011 census, the city proper had 17,649 inhabitants, while ...
and forms one of its communal municipalities. There are nine settlements: Velje Selo, Dabezići, Dobra Voda,
Gorana
Gorana (Serbian Cyrillic
The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet ( sr, / , ) is a variation of the Cyrillic script used to write the Serbian language, updated in 1818 by Serbian linguist Vuk Karadžić. It is one of the two alphabets used to writ ...
(Mala and Velja), Grdovići, Kunje, Ljeskovac, Pelinkovići and Pečurice.
The historical settlements of the tribal region also include Međreč and Mali/Velji Mikulici but as of 2011 they have no inhabitants. Mrkojevići is divided into ''pravi Mrkojevići'' (true Mrkojevići or Mrkojevići proper) that is closer the city of Bar and the Gorana sub-region to the south. Dobra Voda, Pečurice, Grdovići, Velje Selo, Dabezići, Ljeskovac, Međreč and Mali/Velji Mikulici belong to ''pravi Mrkojevići'', while Mala/Velja Gorana, Kunje, Pelinkovići to the Gorana sub-region.
History
It is believed that the ''
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 transl ...
'' (county) of
Prapratna
Prapratna ( sr-cyr, Прапратна, gr, Πραπράτοις) was a ''župa'' (county) in Duklja, and one of the courts of Mihailo I of Duklja (r. 1050–1081), alongside Kotor, Dekatera (Kotor), according to Byzantine chronicler John Skylitz ...
was located in what became the Mrkojevići tribe. Mrkojevići is first mentioned in 1409.
Johann Georg von Hahn
Johann Georg von Hahn (11 July 1811 – 23 September 1869) was an Austrian and later Austro-Hungarian diplomat, philologist and specialist in Albanian history, language and culture.
Hahn was born in Frankfurt am Main. In 1847, he was named Aust ...
recorded one of the first oral traditions about Mrkojevići from a Catholic priest named Gabriel in
Shkodër in 1850. According to it the first direct male ancestor of the Mrkojevići was ''Merkota Keqi'', son of the Catholic Albanian ''Keq '', who, fleeing from Ottoman conquest, settled in a Slavic-speaking area that would become the historical Piperi region. His sons, the brothers ''Lazër Keqi'' (ancestor of
Hoti), ''Ban Keqi'' (ancestor of
Triepshi), ''Merkota Keqi, Kaster Keqi'' (ancestor of
Krasniq
Krasniqi is a historical Tribes of Albania, Albanian tribe and region in the Accursed Mountains in northeastern Albania, bordering Kosovo. The region lies within the Tropojë District and is part of a wider area between Albania and Kosovo that ...
i) and ''Vas Keqi'' (ancestor of
Vasojevići
The Vasojevići ( sh, Васојевићи, ) is a historical highland tribe (''pleme'') and region of Montenegro, in the area of the Brda. It is the largest of the historical tribes, occupying the area between Lijeva Rijeka in the South up to ...
) had to abandon the village after committing murder against the locals, but ''Keq'' and his younger son ''Piper Keqi'' remained there and ''Piper Keqi'' became the direct ancestor of the
Piperi tribe.
Such stories exist in many tribes of northern Albania and southern Montenegro with different details every time in context with the general traditions of each tribe.
Comparative analysis of oral accounts and archival records shows that Mrkojevići is not a tribe of the same patrilineal ancestry, but a community of different ancestries that grouped and were linked to one another over time. Thus, as it is based on common territory and culture, but not kinship relations, it also intermarries within the tribe.
Mrkojevići's first group the ''pravi Mrkojevići'' formed the first nucleus, whose name eventually extended to the whole tribal region. In the defter of 1485 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 ...
we have the first exact population records about Mrkojevići. It formed the
nahiya
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 ...
of ''Merkodlar'' which is marked as one single settlement with 140 households.
In comparison to the demographic data of southern Montenegro and northern Albania whose settlements rarely had more than 100 households at the time, this settlement, which was probable spread around smaller clusters, was one of the biggest settlements in the borderlands of the Ottoman Empire and the Venetian coastal cities. The register of the household heads of ''pravi Mrkojevići'' shows that a majority of their names and patronyms were of Orthodox Slavic origin and a minority were Catholic Albanians. In the centuries that followed archival records indicate that they assimilated in the Orthodox majority.
Among the Albanians, names whose origin is traced to medieval tribes in the region like the
Bukumiri
Bukumiri (alternatively, ''Bukmiri'') was an Albanian tribe (''fis'') that lived in present-day central and south-eastern Montenegro. They were semi-nomadic pastoralists whose social organization was based on kinship around brotherhoods of common ...
can be found.
Slavic anthroponymy in Mrkojevići 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
Crmnica
Crmnica ( Serbian and Montenegrin: Црмница, ) is a historical region in southern Montenegro, one of the communes of the municipality of Bar. It is one of the four sub-regions of Old Montenegro.
Geography & Demographics
Crmnica is located ...
to the north of Mrkojevići. It has been interpreted as the result of gradual, centuries-long adoption of Slavic culture by an Albanian-speaking population.
According to Curtis (2012), the Mrkojevići may present a case of an Albanian-speaking population shifting to a Slavic-speaking one.
At the time of the defters compiling (1485), only one household had converted to Islam. Until 1571, the control of the region shifted frequently between Venice and the Ottomans.
In the early 17th century the Mrkojevići were still Orthodox. Mariano Bolizza in his 1614 report notes that ''Marchoeuich'' has 260 households, 1,000 men-in-arms and is led by Maro Nikov. Settlements that became later part of ''pravi Mrkojevići'' are still recorded as separate like Dobra Voda with 100 men-in-arms under Rado Djurov. Gorana is still listed separately with 20 households and 45 men-in-arms under Dumo Luki.
Today, only some families descend from ''pravi Mrkojevići'', while all other brotherhoods and families are descendants of other families or progenitors that settled in the region after fleeing from other areas.
The majority of them originate from historic
Albanian communities, which after arrival gradually shifted to being Slavic speaking, while a minority descend from Slavic speaking regions, mostly arriving from Old Montenegro.
Of these families: Ivanovići and Lakovići of Dobra Voda came from the Orthodox Slavic-speaking
Kuči, Dapčevići came from
Cetinje and Rackovići from
Lješanska nahija after 1878 when it was annexed by Montenegro. Mujići, Maručići and Morstanovići in Mali Mikulići; Dabovići in Dobra Voda and Markići in Komina came from the Albanian-speaking region of
Shestan and the Dibre brotherhood came from the region of
Dibra Dibra is an Albanian surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Abdurrahman Dibra (1885–1961), Albanian politician
* Arenc Dibra (born 1990), Albanian footballer
* Dino Dibra (1975–2000), Australian suspected murderer
* Fuad Dibra (18 ...
(divided between Albania and Macedonia) around 1840. In Velja Gorana, the Osmanovići where formed in the 1930s when an Albanian from
Katërkollë/Vladimir came to Velja Gorana when he married a woman from Vučići brotherhood, who themselves descend from Catholic Albanians who settled there in the late 19th/ early 20th century. The biggest brotherhood in the village, the Kovačevići trace their origin from two distinct families who settled in Velja Gorana in the second half of the 19th century. The first is that of Danila Kovačević, who escaped from a
blood feud
A feud , referred to in more extreme cases as a blood feud, vendetta, faida, clan war, gang war, or private war, is a long-running argument or fight, often between social groups of people, especially families or clans. Feuds begin because one pa ...
in the Montenegrin tribal region of
Grahovo and settled in Mrkojevići where he became Muslim. The second family is that of Tahirovići who trace their origin to the village of Millë/Mide, in the Albanian geographical region of Ana e Malit in
Ulcinj Municipality
Ulcinj Municipality ( Montenegrin: Opština Ulcinj / Општина Улцињ; Albanian: Komuna e Ulqinit) is the southernmost municipality of Montenegro, bordered by Albania to the east, Bar Municipality to the north and Adriatic Sea to the s ...
. In modern times, in Mrkojevići intermarriage takes place with the Slavic Muslim areas of Poda and Tudemili to the north and the Albanian Muslim areas to the south. As a result of different ethnic origins and also intermarriage, part of Mrkojevići is bilingual in Albanian and a local Serbo-Croatian dialect, which shows some influence by the neighbouring
Gheg Albanian
Gheg (also spelled Geg; Gheg Albanian: ''gegnishtja'', Standard sq, gegërishtja) is one of the two major variety (linguistics), varieties of Albanian language, Albanian, the other being Tosk Albanian, Tosk. The geographic dividing line betwee ...
. This dialect, which retains characteristics of the dialect 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 ...
is also influenced by Ottoman Turkish and possibly Venetian. It is mainly spoken by the older generations, while the younger ones mostly speak standard Montenegrin (''crnogorsko'').
After 1878, when Mrkojevići was annexed by Montenegro the ''Mrkovska kapetanija'' (the captaincy of Mrkovići) was created as an administrative unit. After 1880, Montenegro incorporated the area of Gorana, which then became administratively part of Mrkojevići.
Dialect
In the local Slavic dialect of Mrkojevići, the influence of Albanian is noticeably prevalent. While it is
certain that some of the Mrkojevići were historically Albanian, with some still choosing to identify as such, it is likely that both
population shifts, in conjunction with bilingualism with surrounding Albanian speakers are responsible for the penetration of Albanian features into the Slavic dialect spoken by the Mrkojevići.
Population
As of 2011, the region has 3,140 inhabitants. Most but not all residents of the communal municipality are part of the Mrkojevići historical tribe. In terms of census records, about half of the communal municipality identifies as
ethnic Muslims
Muslims ( Serbo-Croatian Latin and sl, Muslimani, Serbo-Croatian Cyrillic and mk, Муслимани) is a designation for a Serbo-Croatian speaking Muslims, inhabiting mostly the territory of the former Yugoslav republics. The term, adopted ...
, about 1/3 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 ...
and the rest as
Bosniaks,
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 ...
,
Albanians and Muslims-Montenegrins or Montenegrins-Muslims.
Traditions
The festival "Dani Mrkojevića" (Days of the Mrkojevići) is held annually in the last week of July, in Pečurice as a celebration of culture and traditions of the area.
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mrkojevici
Historical regions in Montenegro
Bar, Montenegro
Albanian ethnographic regions