Montenegro, general information

Montenegro is located in the southern part of the Balkan peninsula. To the west, north and east it borders on Croatia, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Serbia and Kosovo, and to the south borders on Albania. Montenegro is a maritime country, with 200 km of the Adriatic coastline. One of the most beautiful bays in the Mediterranean is the Boka Kotorska (the Bay of Boka).
Montenegro's territory measures 13,812 square km. and most of the country is covered by high and extensive mountain massifs intersected by river gorges and deep valleys. Larger lowland areas are to be found in the south, near the coastline

Although the Montenegrin area is not very spacious, the ethnic structure of the Republic is very heterogeneous and burdened with ethnic and confessional problems. Once a country of farmers (61.5% of the population in 1953), Montenegro has experienced a rapid urbanization-in 1991 the agricultural population accounted for only 7.4% of the overall population, with 58.2% of the population living in urban centers.

The Republic of Montenegro has one official language, Montenegrin language from 2007. in 2003, 21.53% of the population of Montenegro declared Montenegrin their native language.
Other non-official languages spoken in Montenegro include Serbian, Albanian, Bosnian and Croatian. However, Albanian is an official language of the municipality of Ulcinj. Additionally, there are nearly 500 Italians in Montenegro today, concentrated in the Bay of Kotor (the venetian Cattaro) and the coast: they are the descendants of the venetian speaking population of the areas around Cattaro that belonged for many centuries to the Republic of Venice. The Montenegrin language is written in Latin and Cyrillic alphabets, but there it is a growing political movement that wants to use officially only the Latin alphabet when Montenegro will enter the European Union.

In 2003, after years of wrangling and outside assistance, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia renamed itself as "Serbia and Montenegro" and officially reconstituted itself as a loose union. The State Union had a parliament and an army in common, and during the three years (till 2006), neither Serbia nor Montenegro held a referendum on the break-up of the union. However, a referendum was announced in Montenegro to decide the future of the republic. The ballots cast in the controversial Montenegrin independence referendum, 2006 resulted in a 55.5% victory for independence supporters, just above the 55% borderline mark set by the EU. Montenegro declared independence on June 3, 2006.
We have decided not to write a detailed history anymore, since we would have to cite other sources that are often on the internet already. Instead a few links with more information about the history of Montenegro:

Montenegro, for its size, has of quite amazing diversity on climate. The influence of sea and the mountainous landscape together on a small area gave Montenegro various kinds of different "climates" with noticeable difference. There are three climate zones in Montenegro: the coastal zone, the continental zone and the mountain zone. More information on montenegro.ie

One-third of Montenegro, principally in the high mountains, remains covered with broad-leaved forest. However, bare rock characterizes most of the southern Karst zone, where soils generally are absent. This area remained forested through classical times, with oaks and cypresses predominating, but removal of forests for domestic fuel and construction led to widespread soil erosion and, ultimately, to replacement of the woodlands by the Mediterranean scrub assemblage known as maquis.
Sparsely populated Montenegro is noted as a habitat for numerous mammals, including bears, deer, martens, and wild pigs (Sus scrofa). It has many predatory wild animals, including wolves, foxes, and wildcats. The republic also has a rich variety of birds, reptiles, and fish.