Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Ethnicity vs Nationality
Throughout the Balkans people tend to identify themselves more by ethnicity than citizen-
ship. This is hardly surprising as a family which has never left its ancestral village may
have had children born in Montenegro, parents born in Yugoslavia, grandparents born in
the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and great-grandparents born in the Ottoman
or Austro-Hungarian Empires. Countries may come and go, but self-identity tends to stick
around. It's understandable then that an Albanian, Bosniak (South Slav Muslim), Croat or
Serb might not call themselves Montenegrin, even if their family has lived in the area that
is now Montenegro for generations.
In the 2011 census the country's main ethnic groups were Montenegrins (45%), Serbs
(29%), Bosniaks (9%) and Albanians (5%). Tellingly, the next major group was 'Does not
want to declare' at 5%. To give you an idea of the kind of ethnic knots people tie them-
selves in, smaller categories represented in the census include Montenegrin Serbs, Serb
Montenegrins, Montenegrin Muslims, Muslim Montenegrins, Muslims, Muslim Bosniaks,
Bosniak Muslims, Bosnians and just plain Muslims.
In fact, these myriad ethnic identities have little to do with actual genetic heritage and
despite the 29 ethnicities listed in the census, around 88% of the population could reason-
ably be labelled as some flavour of South Slav, with Albanians (5%) and Roma (1%) be-
ing the largest non-Slavic minorities. Scratch a little further and its even more complic-
ated, as numerous armies have raped and pillaged their way through these lands over the
millennia. One Montenegrin we spoke to was bemused to discover while volunteering for
a scientific study that his genetic markers indicated a spectacular mishmash of ethnicities,
including a significant proportion of Hun.
Montenegrins are in the majority in most of the country, while Albanians dominate in
the southeast (Ulcinj), Bosniaks in the far east (Rožaje and Plav), and Serbs in Herceg
Novi (due to a large influx caused by the Yugoslav wars) and parts of the north and east
(Plužine, Pljevlja, Bijelo Polje, Berane and Andrijevica).
Religion and ethnicity broadly go together in these parts. Over 72% of the population is
Orthodox (mainly Montenegrins and Serbs), 19% Muslim (mainly Bosniaks and Albani-
ans), 3% Roman Catholic (mainly Albanians and Croats) and only 1% atheist.
It's said that the first prison in Cetinje didn't need to lock the doors: confiscating the prisoners' pistols
was enough to keep them inside as it was considered shameful to walk around unarmed.
