Nikšić (Montenegrin Cyrillic: Никшић, pronounced [nîkʃit͡ɕ]) is Montenegro's second-largest city, with an urban population of 66,700 as of the 2023 census. It lies in the western region of the country, at the heart of the expansive Nikšić field, nestled at the base of Trebjesa Hill.
Nikšić serves as the administrative center of the Nikšić Municipality, which encompasses a population of 65,705 and spans the largest area among all Montenegrin municipalities. By territory, it was also the largest municipality in the former Yugoslavia. The city plays a key role as a hub for industry, education, and culture in the country.
Name
In classical antiquity, the area of Nikšić was the site of the settlement of the Illyrian tribe of the Endirudini and was known in sources of the time as Anderba or Enderon. The Roman Empire built a military camp (castrum Anderba) in the 4th century AD, which was known as the Ostrogothic fortress Anagastum (after 459 AD). After Slavic settlement in the region, Anagastum became Slavic Onogošt, which was the name of the town and župa (county) in the Middle Ages. Onogošt was renamed as Nikšić in the middle of 15th century after the Nikšići, a Montenegrin tribe.
History
Historical affiliations
Antiquity
The region formed one of the core areas of the Illyrian kingdom with its capital in Rhizon. It was inhabited by the Endirudini, who figure in the list of tribes which surrendered to Octavian in 33 BC. The Endirudini were one of the tribes who were included in the administrative reorganization of the tribal units in the early Roman Empire and became part of the Docleatae with Doclea as their administrative center.
Middle Ages
During the Early Middle Ages, it was located within the South Slavic (Sklavenoi) tribal provinces of Travunia or Duklja (which were under the authority of the Serbian Principality of the Vlastimirović dynasty). With the fall of the Vlastimirovići and the hinterland regions in the second half of the 10th century, Doclea was resurrected with Stefan Vojislav and his Vojislavljević dynasty, succeeded by Stefan Nemanja and his Nemanjić dynasty, at which time the Onogošt župa existed. With the fall of the Serbian Empire, Onogošt came under the rule of Kingdom of Bosnia in 1373, and was under the rule of the Kosača noble family, which held territory in Herzegovina from 1448 until Herzegovina fell to the Ottomans.
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire took control of Onogošt in 1465, and it stayed under control of the Turks for more than four hundred years, as a part of Herzegovina Province. Onogošt was first referred to as "Nikšić" in a document titled Radonia Pribisalich de Nichsich printed in 1518. Evliya Çelebi mentioned Serbs who live in the villages around Nikšić. The name "Nikšić" was used alongside Onogošt until 1767, when the name Nikšić was officially implemented after an ayan council, a high-profile meeting of Ottoman feudal lords which was relatively common at the time. During the later years of Ottoman occupation, the town served as a significant fortified military stronghold. During the course of Ottoman rule, a total of four mosques were built in Nikšić. The first one, Donjogradska, was constructed between 1695 and 1703. A second mosque called Hadžidanuša was constructed sometime in the early 1700s by an Ottoman military captain, Hadži-Husejin Danević; it was colloquially known as the "short mosque" because it had no minarets. A third mosque, known simply as "Pasha's mosque", was the largest in Nikšić. It was said to be architecturally similar to Jashar Pasha Mosque in Pristina. A fourth mosque called Hadži-Ismail's mosque was erected in 1807, and was the only mosque to survive the departure of the Ottoman Empire from Nikšić later that century.
Under the influence of the First Serbian Uprising, in the summer of 1805, the movement of Herzegovinian Serbs wanting to start an uprising appeared in Nikšić. The people of Nikšić relied on and cooperated with the harambašas from Popovo Polje, Trebinje and Trebinje Šuma, (Serbo-Croatian: Требињска шума), and calculated that 19,000 Serbs could rise up in revolt, while weapons were to arrive from Russia, via Greece. The Turks reacted to that by sending 10,000 soldiers led by pasha Kauzlarić to quell the rebellion. After the suppression of the uprising by the Turks, in which local Slavic Muslims probably took part, there was no more mention of the wider rebellion in historical sources.
In 1807, armed forces led by Petar I Petrović-Njegoš along with 1,000 Russian troops attempted to take Nikšić, but Ottoman forces prevailed. On 18 July 1876 the Principality of Montenegro defeated Ottoman forces in the Battle of Vučji Do in the western edge of the municipality of Nikšić. On 27 August 1877, the rest of Nikšić was taken by the Montenegrin Army under the command of Vojvoda Mašo Vrbica after a 47-day siege against the Ottoman authorities. English archaeologist Arthur Evans witnessed the negotiations between Nicholas I of Montenegro (Nikola I) and the remaining Bosniaks (Muslims) after the siege, and subsequently wrote about them in his diary:
"Prince Nikola upon entering Nikšić directly invited representatives of Muslim citizens and informed them that whoever decides to stay is guaranteed complete personal freedom, freedom to retain homes, land, and all property, complete freedom of religion and that they will enjoy all the rights of Montenegrin citizenry, even including the right to carry arms. On the other hand, those who decide to leave will be allowed to bring any mobile goods and the Montenegrin government will issue a horse and an envoy up to the border."
Principality and Kingdom of Montenegro (1877–1918)
Nikšić was officially recognized as a part of the Principality of Montenegro in the Treaty of Berlin. The small Ottoman hamlet began to transform into a modern urban settlement. The first urban plan was adopted in 1883, commissioned by King Nikola, who appointed Croatian architect Josip Slade to develop the city planning. In addition to designing contemporary Nikšić, he also designed the monumental Carev Most nearby.
Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918–1941)
The ousting of King Nikola and the context of the transition to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes resulted in considerable tension and even violence in Nikšić. On 23 December 1918 Nikšić was the site of a skirmish between Montenegrin Greens and Serbian troops under the command of Dragan Milutinović. The Greens had launched an attack on Nikšić during the Christmas Uprising, although Serbian forces prevailed. Even after the Christmas Uprising ended, some Montenegrin Greens continued resisting the Yugoslav government for many years. On 28 December 1923, 11 Montenegrin "Komiti" who continued guerilla activities after the Christmas Uprising were executed in Nikšić by the Serbian Gendarmery.
Nikšić saw the establishment of rail transport during the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. On 12 July 1938, after thirteen years of intermittent construction, the first train arrived from Bileća at the newly-constructed railway station in Nikšić. A gate was decorated in front of the new station, on which a portrait of King Petar II was installed with "Long Live Yugoslavia!" written under the portrait. Approximately 5,000 people waited for the first train to arrive, even when its arrival was delayed by two hours on a hot day. During the delay, much of the public was reportedly impatient, with two war veterans leading a kolo dance on the railroad tracks before the train arrived.
World War II
During World War II, Nikšić was first occupied by the Italian governorate in Montenegro. The occupation resulted in several insurrections, with one of the earliest started by the Yugoslav Partisans. The first Partisan advances were violently repressed, as Nikšić became the site of a large number of public executions, including those of notable communists Ljubo Čupić and 16-year old Joka Baletić.
Over the course of 7–8 April 1944, Nikšić was bombed by the Royal Air Force, using Vickers Wellington long-range bombers. One of the Yugoslav Partisans' commanders in Montenegro, Peko Dapčević, requested to Josip Broz Tito that allied forces bomb Nikšić in order to force out the Nazi occupation. The recorded number of casualties from the bombing raid vary depending on different sources, ranging from approximately 200 to 500 killed.
SFR Yugoslavia (1945–1991)
After the end of World War II, Nikšić became the site of unprecedented industrial and political developments. On 24 September 1948, six unmarked Supermarine Spitfire aircraft landed at Kapino Polje Airport, where they were retrofitted and delivered to the Israeli Air Force in a secret operation. During the operation, the airport was quarantined from the public by Yugoslavia's State Security Administration. The unmarked aircraft were flown by pilots from the Israeli Air Force, and three of them were used in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War less than a month later.
One of the biggest changes in Nikšić were the construction of new factories, particularly the metal processing plant "Boris Kidrič", which Josip Broz Tito first visited in May 1959. Tito visited the Boris Kidrič plant again on 12 May 1969, after it was reported that the plant recorded a positive net revenue for the previous quarter-year for the first time since its establishment. During his second visit to Nikšić, Tito insisted that negative business results be addressed by modernizing machinery in the factory, as opposed to placing responsibility solely on workers. By 1985, the Boris Kidrič metal works employed over 6,500 workers, although that year two strikes took place. Chronic inflation of the Yugoslav dinar had already begun, and the metal works were dependent on imports in order to produce. This added pressure to raise prices of steel products, which in turn made them less competitive with steel from western Europe.
The city population was increased tenfold, and Nikšić became the heart of Montenegrin industrial complex. During the socialist republic era, the city flourished, as steel and iron works, bauxite mines, electricity production, brewery and wood processing industries were set up in and around the city.
During the Yugoslav Wars
With the breakup of Yugoslavia, Nikšić was hit hard with the hyperinflation of the Yugoslav dinar, international sanctions, and overall decline throughout Yugoslavia during the 1990s. Nikšić had a large amount of reservists in the Yugoslav People's Army. Between 62 and 77 JNA soldiers killed in the Yugoslav Wars were from Nikšić alone. Political tension in Nikšić was polarized between Serbian nationalist and Montenegrin secessionist groups. Although Nikšić did not experience violence from the war in neighboring Bosnia, there were some extraordinary incidents. In the fall of 1992, Vojislav Šešelj planned to hold a Serbian Radical Party rally in Nikšić. However, a local criminal named Brano Mićunović plotted to assassinate Šešelj outside of a tunnel upon entering Nikšić, and Šešelj ultimately cancelled the meeting after hearing about the plot. In June 1993, Hadži-Ismail's mosque was destroyed during unrest.
Years of wartime tension and widespread poverty took a toll on the city. In 1996, Nikšić recorded the second-most suicides out of any city in Yugoslavia. After a period of twenty days during which six suicides and two murders took place, clergymen in Nikšić decided to start an annual public liturgy, or Litija, which was attended by tens of thousands of worshipers who walked all the way from Ostrog Monastery in May 1996.
Local administration
Mayor
Mayor of Nikšić is the head of the town and municipality of Nikšić. He acts on behalf of the town, and performs an executive function in the municipality of Nikšić. Current mayor is Marko Kovačević, member of the right-wing Democratic Front.