Bay of Kotor - Montenegro - page 81

the following year. In 1570 the bubonic plague hit, killing upwards of 3500 people in Ko-
tor, but the hardy citizens were still able to resist another Ottoman attack in 1572, once
again with the help of Venice and Montenegro. The Ottomans tried again in 1657, this
time with 10,000 men, but were forced to abandon the siege after only 22 days.
It took a hajduk (outlaw) chieftain, Bajo Pivljanin, to put an end to 145 years of Otto-
man occupation of Risan. Shortly after, the Ottomans were completely pushed out of the
Boka, with the control of the entire bay passing into the hands of the Venetians, where it
remained until Napoleon's dismantling of the republic in 1797.
In 1813 the people of the Boka, unhappy with the prospect of falling under French
rule, joined for the first time with Montenegro and their allies Russia. This only lasted a
year until Russia agreed to hand the Boka back to the French. A few years later
Montenegro, with the aid of Britain this time, succeeded in wrestling the Boka off them
but again Russia intervened, this time passing the control back to Austria.
Throughout the period of Venetian and Austrian rule the Boka was considered part of
Dalmatia (a coastal province of today's Croatia), as it was in Roman times. However, be-
fore 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. Religion gradually be-
came the defining factor of ethnicity, with Orthodox Christians identifying as Serbs and
the Catholics as Croats. The Boka had always accommodated a mixed population - some
churches even had dual Catholic and Orthodox altars - so the emerging pan-Slavic move-
ment found fertile ground and the post-WWI formation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats
and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia) was generally welcomed by the locals.
It wasn't until after WWII that the Boka became part of Montenegro, one of the six re-
publics which constituted the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Since then the
Catholic/Croat population has reduced substantially, especially since the wars of the
1990s. In 1910 Herceg Novi, Perast, Dobrota, Kotor, Prčanj, Tivat and Budva all had a
Catholic majority. Today Catholics number only 10% of the Bay of Kotor's population.
Climate
The weather in the outer section of the bay isn't markedly different from the pleasant
Mediterranean climate of the coast. Southwest-facing Tivat has a reputation for being one
of the sunniest spots. Cloud often drapes the high cliffs of the inner bay. Crkvice in the
Orjen massif above Risan is said to have the highest rainfall in Europe, averaging
5300mL per annum. The record was in 1937 when it hit 8065mL. Luckily the karstic