Chapter 5: Montenegro - Newest Country on Earth

From Dubrovnik Toto took a bus on Friday, May 26th, to Montenegro. The interesting thing about Montenegro is that it's the newest country on earth. Five days earlier the citizens of Montenegro had a referendum on independence. A referendum is a vote in a city, province, or country on a particular issue that has been "referred" to the people, which is where a referendum gets its name. Instead of elected legislators (like senators or representatives) deciding, the government allows the people to vote directly about the important issue themselves. That way the government can know what the people think about an important topic.

In this case, the question to the citizens of Montenegro was whether or not they wanted to be an independent country or remain part of the country of Serbia and Montenegro. The referendum needed 55% of the people who voted to agree to be independent before Montenegro could break away from Serbia and become its own country. Well, on Sunday, May 21st 2006, the citizens had the opportunity to go to the polling stations and cast their secret votes. On Monday the officials announced that 55.4% of the voters were in favor of independence. (It took the officials a day to count all the ballots.)

The people in favor of independence took to the streets in celebration waving their Montenegrin flags. To Montenegrins, Sunday was a bit like July 4th, 1776 to Americans. So Toto was excited to arrive so soon afterward as it was almost like going to Boston on July 9th, 1776!

Montenegro has a pretty coast that's visited by fewer tourists than the Croatian coast just an hour's drive away. However it's becoming more and more popular as tourists see how nice Montenegro is as well. Here's a photo of one beach where I stayed, which is a rock beach like in Croatia.

Like the cities further north along the coast, the Montenegrin cities also had to protect themselves from attacking forces by building walls. This area was at an intersection of many trade routes and cultures, making it a strategic coastline that other rulers were constantly trying to control. Here's a picture of Toto standing guard at one of the watch towers along the city walls that still surround the old part of the city of Budva.

There's an interesting place on the Montenegrin coast called St. Stefan. It's a picturesque island connected to the mainland only by a narrow, beautiful beach. St. Stefan used to be an old town, but several years ago a hotel bought all the buildings and converted the houses into hotel rooms. So the guests get the opportunity to live in this old walled island on the water. Even from high up on the walls, I could look down into the water and count the fish, as the water is crystal clear and calm.

Because Montenegro is not yet wealthy and land and labor is less expensive than other European countries along the coast, many foreigners and foreign companies are building houses and hotels on this beautiful coast. In this picture of the entrance of St. Stefan, you can see not only how beautiful the beaches are, but also how much construction is happening behind the beach. Like most new countries, Montenegro will certainly go through a lot of change and development in the coming years!

Montenegro Travel Questions

1. What's the newest country in the world?
2. On what day did Montenegro vote for independence?
3. What percentage of the voters voted in favor of independence?
4. What percentage needed to vote for independence for Montenegro to be granted independence from Serbia?
5. Define the word "referendum."
6. Define the word "ballots."
7. Why did the Montenegrin people build walls around their cities in the old days?
8. What's the name of the town (now converted to a hotel) built entirely on an island?

Global Citizen Questions on Montenegro

1. Draw a picture of the Montenegrin citizens celebrating their independence victory. Be sure and include a picture of their new flag.
2. Serbia and Montenegro joined together in 1918 after World War I. How many years were they together as one country before Montenegro decided to become independent again?
3. Assume all 700,000 people in Montenegro voted in the referendum. How many people in addition to the required 55% voted for independence?
4. Montenegro once had a king. Do a search to find the name of the last king to rule Montenegro and the years of his reign.
5. Do a cyber-search to find a map of Montenegro. List all the countries that border Montenegro.