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CultureGrams can help you broaden your students' understanding of the world and its peoples. The World Edition includes 190+ country profiles, written for junior high students and older. CultureGrams also has a Kids Edition, Provinces Edition, and a States Edition, geared for upper elementary students. These editions include kid-friendly profiles of 70+ countries, all 50 states (including Washington, D.C.), and the Canadian provinces.
CultureGrams goes beyond mere facts and figures to deliver an insider's perspective on daily life and culture, including the history, customs, and lifestyles of the world's people.
Country: Montenegro
- Capital: Podgorica
- Population: 630,548 (rank=167)
- Area, sq. mi.: 5,417 (rank=160)
- Area, sq. km.: 14,026
- Human Dev. Index rank: N/A
- Adjusted for women: N/A
- Real GDP per capita: $3,800
- Adult literacy rate: 96%
- Infant mortality rate: N/A
- Life expectancy: N/A
Did You Know?
- In the 2006 referendum, 55.5 percent of Montenegrin voters chose independence from Serbia.
- At least once a year most Montenegrins travel to Italy to shop for clothes and stay abreast of the latest fashions.
- Montenegro once had a tribal society composed of clans made up of families; today, people can recognize the tribe and clan they belong to through their family name.
Language
When Montenegro was part of Tito's Yugoslavia, Serbo-Croatian was the official language. With the 1992 creation of the FRY, the official language changed to Serbian (of the Ijekavian dialect), written in the Cyrillic or Latin alphabet. Divisions between the languages spoken in Montenegro have more to do with ethnic nationalism and political alignment than with linguistic differences. Over half of the population calls their native language Serbian; less than one-fourth calls it Montenegrin. Albanian, which has legal status in areas where Albanians constitute the majority, has the next highest number of speakers, followed by Bosnian and Croatian.
Family
Montenegro once had a tribal society composed of clans made up of families. Today, people can recognize the tribe and clan they belong to through their family name. Most can trace their ancestry back several generations and know their paternal family history well. Though the importance of tribal identities is fading in urban Montenegro, tribal affiliation may affect one's chances for gaining public office, for example, since candidates coming from larger, stronger clans (which people refer to as a "well-known family") are generally favored over those with less prestigious ancestry.
Life Cycle
Traditionally, the birth of a male child was celebrated by firing several shots from a gun. Today, such shooting is illegal; however, people might still fire one shot or set off fireworks. Soon after a birth, family and friends gather for a cestitka (congratulations visit), when they place money under the new baby's pillow.
The Arts
Virtually every Montenegrin knows by heart at least a portion of 19th century bishop-poet Petar II Petrovic Njegos's masterpiece, the epic poem Gorski Vijenac (The Mountain Wreath), and may use verses from the poem in everyday conversation. Milovan Djilas, writer and dissident in the former Yugoslavia, is well known for his series of memoirs. Montenegro is also home to many notable 20th century painters, including Milo Milunovic, Petar Lubarda, Vojo Stanic, Dimitrije Popovic, and Dado Djuric. Balkan turbofolk, a mixture of folk influences and globalized pop music, is widespread. Musician Rambo Amadeus is famous for his turbofolk music and his satiric lyrics. The national instrument is the gusle, which is wooden, one-stringed, and played with a bow. Traditionally, it accompanies a popular folk dance called the Oro, meant to imitate the flight of an eagle.
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