Montenegro old history

1080 AD. The zenith of Dukljan power

Ancient times

The first recorded settlers of present-day Montenegro were Illyrians, the Docleata. In 9 AD the Romans conquered the region of present-day Montenegro. Slavs massively colonized the area in the 5th and 6th centuries, forming a semi-independent principality, Duklja, that was involved in Balkan medieval politics with ties to Rascia and Byzantium and to a lesser extent Bulgaria.

Middle Ages

Duklja gained its independence from the Byzantine Empire in 1042. In the next few decades Duklja expanded its territory to the neighbouring Rascia and Bosnia and also became recognised as a kingdom. Its power started declining at the ending of the 11th century and by 1186, it was conquered by Stefan Nemanja and incorporated into Serbian realm. The newly acquired land, then called Zeta, was governed by the Serbian Nemanjić dynasty. After the Serbian Empire collapsed in the second half of the 14th century, another family came to prominence by expanding their power in the region, the Balšićs. In 1421 it was annexed to the Serbian Despotate, but after 1455 another noble family from Zeta, the Crnojevićs, ruled Montenegro. They were to rule Montenegro until 1499, making it the last free monarchy of the Balkans before it fell to the Ottomans, who annexed it to the sanjak of Shkodër. For a short time Montenegro existed as a separate autonomous sanjak in 1514–1528, another version of which existed again some time between 1597 and 1614.

Ottoman rule and Metropolitanate

Principality of Montenegro

In the 16th century Montenegro developed a form of special and unique autonomy within the Ottoman Empire: the local Montenegrin clans were also free of many bonds due to Montenegro's autonomy. Nevertheless the Montenegrins refused to accept Ottoman reign and in the 17th century raised numerous rebellions, culminating with the Ottoman defeat in the Great Turkish War at the end of that century. Montenegro became a theocracy led by the Montenegrin Orthodox Metropolitans, flourishing since the Petrović-Njegoš became the traditional Prince-Bishops (whose title was "Vladika of Montenegro"). The Venetian Republic introduced governors that meddled in Montenegrin politics; when the republic was succeeded by the Austrian Empire in 1797, the governors were abolished by Prince-Bishop Petar II in 1832. His predecessor Petar I contributed to the unification of Montenegro with the Highlands.

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The National Awakening of Macedonia

Map of Macedonia on the basis of earlier publication in the newspaper "Македонскi Голосъ" of the Saint Petersburg Macedonian Colony, 1913

Ottoman rule over the region was considered harsh. Several movements whose goals were the establishment of autonomous Macedonia, encompassing the entire region of Macedonia, began to arise in the late 1800s; the earliest of these was the Bulgarian Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Committees, later transformed to SMORO. In 1905 it was renamed as Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization (IMARO) and after World War I the organization separated into the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) and the Internal Thracian Revolutionary Organisation (ITRO). The early organization did not proclaim any ethnic identities; it was officially open to "...uniting all the disgruntled elements in Macedonia and the Adrianople region, regardless of their nationality..."^[1] The majority of its members were however Slavic/Bulgarian-speakers.^[1] In 1903, IMRO organised the Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising against the Ottomans, which after some initial successes, including the forming of the "Krushevo Republic", was crushed with much loss of life. The uprising and the forming of the Krushevo Republic are considered the cornerstone and precursors to the eventual establishment of the Macedonian state.

Notes and references

1. ^ M. Glenny, "The Balkans"

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Kosovo history

Kosovo as defined by UNSCR 1244

Kosovo's current status is the result of the turmoil of the disintegration of Yugoslavia, particularly the Kosovo War of 1998 to 1999, but it is suffused with issues dating back to the rise of nationalism in the Balkans during the last part of Ottoman rule in the 19th century, Albanian nationalism (centred around the claim that Kosovo was historically theirs due to alleged connections with the Illyrians) vs. Serbian nationalism (notably surrounding the Battle of Kosovo eponymous with the Kosovo region) in particular.

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Greece history

The Parthenon on the Acropolis of Athens.

Greece was the first area in Europe where advanced early civilizations emerged, beginning with the Minoan civilization in Crete and then the Mycenean civilization on the mainland. Later, city-states emerged across the Greek peninsula and spread to the shores of the Black Sea, South Italy and Asia Minor reaching great levels of prosperity that resulted in an unprecedented cultural boom, expressed in architecture, drama, science and philosophy, and nurtured in Athens under a democratic environment.

Alexander the Great on his horse Bucephalus.

Athens and Sparta led the way in repelling the Persian Empire in a series of battles. Both were later overshadowed by Thebes and eventually Macedon, with the latter under the guidance of Alexander the Great uniting and leading the Greek world to victory over the Persians.

The Hellenistic era was brought only partially to a close two centuries later with the establishment of Roman rule over Greek lands in 146 BC.^[1] Many Greeks migrated to Alexandria, Antioch, Seleucia and the many other new Hellenistic cities in Asia and Africa founded in Alexander's wake.^[2]

The Greek peninsula as a part of the Byzantine Empire in purple, c.1180, at the end of the Komnenian period.

The subsequent mixture of Roman and Hellenic cultures took form in the establishment of the Byzantine Empire in 330 AD around Constantinople. Byzantium remained a major cultural and military power for the next 1,123 years, until the Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. On the eve of the Ottoman conquest, much of the Greek intelligentsia migrated to Italy and other parts of Europe not under Ottoman rule, playing a significant role in the Renaissance through the transmission of ancient Greek works to Western Europe.^[3] Nevertheless, the Ottoman millet system contributed to the cohesion of the Orthodox Greeks by segregating the various peoples within the empire based on religion, as the latter played an integral role in the formation of modern Greek identity.

After the Greek War of Independence, successfully waged against the Ottoman Empire from 1821 to 1829, the nascent Greek state was finally recognized under the London Protocol. In 1827, Ioannis Kapodistrias, from Ionian Islands, was chosen as the first governor of the new Republic. However, following his assassination, the Great Powers installed a monarchy under Otto, of the Bavarian House of Wittelsbach. In 1843, an uprising forced the King to grant a constitution and a representative assembly.

The destruction of the turkish flagship at Chios by Constantine Kanaris,during the Greek Revolution(1821-1830). Painted by Nikiphoros Lytras.

Due to his unimpaired authoritarian rule, he was eventually dethroned in 1863 and replaced by Prince Vilhelm (William) of Denmark, who took the name George I and brought with him the Ionian Islands as a coronation gift from Britain. In 1877, Charilaos Trikoupis, who is attributed with the significant improvement of the country's infrastructure, curbed the power of the monarchy to interfere in the assembly by issuing the rule of vote of confidence to any potential prime minister.

Notes

1. ^ Alexander's Gulf outpost uncovered. BBC News. August 7, 2007.
2. ^ "Growth of the Greek Colonies in the First Millenium BC (application/pdf Object)".
3. ^ "Millennium issue: Trouble with Turkey The fall of Constantinople Economist.com". Economist.com. 1997-03-20.

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Halay

Azerbaijani dancers performing Halay during Mugham Festival in Shaki, Azerbaijan.

Halay (Turkish: Halay, Assyrian: Khigga ܚܓܐ, Greek: Χαλάϊ, Kurdish: Gowend / Dîlan, Azerbaijan:Yalli) is a popular dance in the Middle East.

Halay is traditionally played on the zurna, supported by a davul, but in the recent years, electronic instruments have started to replace them. Typically, Halay dancers form a circle or a line, while holding each other with the little finger or shoulder to shoulder or even hand to hand with the last and first player holding a piece of cloth — usually called "mendil" (from Turkish). It is a national dance in Turkey and Armenia.

The initial form of which dates back to so many centuries long when it was held around a ceremony bonfire, having the meaning of hot, light and meal. The word “yal” means row, line of chain. The yalli dancers stand in one line or two rows and sometimes in some rows.

The yalli becoming traditional form existed in two forms; dancing and play yalli, but from time to time it was promoted and was enriched with new shades and as a result of which accepted new motions and reached our time.

The homeland of some kinds of yalli out of 100 is the ancient land Nakhchivan which is the inseperable part of Azerbaijan. The yalli forms considered our national heritage are follows: “Tanzara”, “Folk yalli”, “Gopu”, “Gazi-gazi”, “Hoynara”, “Sharur yalli”, “Four feet”, “Urfani”, “Arazi”, “Siyagutu”, “Khalafi”, “Ganimo”, “Nareyi”, “Galadan galaya”, “Three feet”, “Three steps”, “Kochdu balaban”, “Gulumeyi”, “Haghishda”, “Zari-zari” and others.

Halay in weddings

In many Turkish, Azerbaijani, Armenian, Assyrian, Kurdish, Syriac, Turkmen, Arabic, Persian, Albanian and Greek weddings, people dance Halay for hours. Every region has its own style and forms.

Links

• Derik Saçın Örmezler
• Hele yâr zalim yâr
• Huseyin Turan - Agri Dagindan Uctum and Karanfil Deste Gider
• Akdağmadeni halay
• Feza Neverd Original Turkish instrumental music recordings..

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.