Andrijevica Municipality

Andrijevica exists because mountains create borders—and warriors willing to defend them. When Miljan Vukov proclaimed the Vasojevići territory part of Montenegro in 1858, he was formalizing what geography had already determined: this 340 km² terrace perched 40 meters above the Lim River, surrounded by Komovi, Bjelasica, and the Accursed Mountains, functions as a natural fortress. The Vasojevići, Montenegro's largest tribal confederation, rebelled against Ottoman rule for generations precisely because these peaks made external control nearly impossible.

The tribe's integration into Montenegro followed the Battle of Grahovac in May 1858, where highland forces defeated a larger Ottoman army. The Congress of Berlin formalized what the mountains had enabled: Montenegro's northeastern frontier expanded not through administrative decree but through the capacity of mountain peoples to resist external pressure. Andrijevica's founding around a new church reflected this shift—from dispersed pastoral settlements to a consolidated center once Ottoman threat receded. By 1918, it became a county seat, reaching peak influence during the interwar period when centralized administration required highland outposts.

The Yugoslav Wars decimated the municipality's industrial base, accelerating a population decline that continues today. The 2023 census recorded 3,910 residents in the municipality and just 988 in the town itself—less than a fifth of the numbers when industry provided employment. What remains is a livestock economy struggling to transition into mountain tourism. The Komovi Nature Park, established in 2015 and shared with Kolašin and Podgorica municipalities, charges €2 per person daily and promotes hiking across peaks reaching 2,487 meters. But infrastructure lags behind ambition: most katuns (mountain huts) operate only in summer, and accommodation remains sparse.

The planned Belgrade-Bar highway will pass through Andrijevica by 2027, potentially transforming it from isolated highland settlement into a stopover market. Whether depopulation or tourism investment wins depends on timing—the highway arrives even as young people leave for coastal employment. The pattern mirrors mountain ecosystems everywhere: edge populations either adapt to new niches or fade into memory.