MONTENEGRO FACT FILE
Montenegro means "black mountains," likely referring to the dark, thick forests that once covered much of the country, located in southeastern Europe between the Adriatic Sea and Serbia. Border countries also include Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Kosovo.
Slightly smaller than Connecticut, Montenegro is home to about 672,180 residents, with Montenegrin as their official language.
According to a World Tourism and Trade Council report, Montenegro is among the world's fastest-growing tourist destinations: More than a million people visited in 2007 — a 23 percent increase from the previous year.
The country is distinguished by its Mediterranean climate with hot, dry summers and relatively cold winters with heavy snowfalls inland. The terrain features a highly indented coastline backed with rugged high limestone mountains and plateaus.
The country is governed by a parliamentary republic, but has evolved through various political changes. Historic events include:
•16th to 19th centuries — Montenegro is a theocracy ruled by a series of bishop princes.
• 1852 — The country becomes a secular principality.
• After World War I — Montenegro is absorbed by the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, which became the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929.
• 1945 — Montenegro becomes constituent republic of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
• 1992 — Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia dissolves; Montenegro federates with Serbia, first as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and, after 2003, in a looser union of Serbia and Montenegro.
• May 2006 — Montenegro holds referendum on independence from the state union. Ties are severed with Serbia, and Montenegro formally declares independence on June 3, 2006.
SOURCE: The CIA World Fact Book and National Geographic Traveler
