History of bay of Kotor in Montenegro

Even though its history sometimes overlaps with that of the rest of Montenegro, this small area has its own story. Illyrian tribes lived in the Boka, as they did in most of the rest of the eastern Adriatic. After that, the bay became part of the Roman province of Dalmatia, and soon after, there were beautiful Roman villas all along Risan’s waterfront. By the end of the 5th century, barbarian attacks from the north had caused the empire to fall apart. The Bay of Kotor was briefly taken over by the Ostrogoths and then by the Slavic tribes.

The Slavic clans of the Boka were almost like city states. They were loyal to both the west (Rome) and the east (Byzantium). In the end, Kotor became part of the principality of Duklja, which is thought to be the ancestor of modern Montenegro. At the time of the important split between the Catholic and Orthodox churches in 1054, Duklja was politically connected to Rome. By 1190, however, it had been taken over by Raka, which would later become Serbia, and an Orthodox bishopric had been set up. Kotor and Perast, on the other hand, stayed mostly Catholic and kept some of their independence.

In 1379, the Bay of Kotor was sailed by King Tvrtko of Bosnia. Kotor fought back by siding with Venice, but the Bosnians took over a lot of the bay and built Herceg Novi, a port town, in 1382. By 1463, Bosnia and its land in the Boka had been taken over by the Ottoman Turks.

In 1538, the Ottomans put Kotor under siege. With help from Montenegro, Kotor was able to hold out (now established in the mountains behind it). Risan wasn’t as lucky. The next year, she fell. In 1570, Kotor was hit by the bubonic plague, which killed up to 3,500 people. However, the brave people of Kotor were still able to fight off another Ottoman attack in 1572, with the help of Venice and Montenegro again. In 1657, the Ottomans tried again with 10,000 men, but they had to give up after only 22 days.

Risan was ruled by the Ottomans for 145 years. It took a hajduk chieftain named Bajo Pivljanin to get rid of them. Shortly after that, the Ottomans were completely driven out of the Boka. The Venetians then took control of the whole bay, and they kept it until Napoleon broke up the republic in 1797.

In 1813, the people of the Boka, who didn’t want to live under French rule, joined Montenegro and Russia for the first time. This only went on for a year before Russia agreed to give the Boka back to France. A few years later, Montenegro was able to take control of the Boka with the help of Britain. However, Russia again stepped in and gave control back to Austria.

During the time that the Venetians and Austrians were in charge, the Boka was still part of Dalmatia, which is a coastal province in what is now Croatia. However, before the advent of nationalism in the 19th century, the people of the bay were more likely to be described as ‘Bokelj’ than by terms such as Serb or Croat. Over time, religion came to define ethnicity.

Orthodox Christians called themselves Serbs, and Catholics called themselves Croats. Some churches even had both Catholic and Orthodox altars. Because of this, the growing pan-Slavic movement found fertile ground, and the formation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia) after World War I was generally welcomed by the people who lived there.

The Boka did not become part of Montenegro until after World War II. At that time, Montenegro was one of the six republics that made up the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Since then, the number of Catholics and Croats has gone down a lot, especially after the wars of the 1990s. In 1910, most of the people in the towns of Herceg Novi, Perast, Dobrota, Kotor, Pranj, Tivat, and Budva were Catholic. Today, only 10% of the people living in the Bay of Kotor are Catholic.