Skadar Lake National Park history · History of Skadar Lake National Park
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History of Skadar Lake National Park
History of Skadar Lake National Park
Lake Skadar has a long, proud history. Once part of the ancient Slav province of Zeta, it was invaded by the Turks in the 13th century and occupied for five centuries with many battles witnessed by now crumbling fortresses such as Besac in Virpazar and Lessendro in Vranjina.
When the Turks were expelled from Montenegro in the late 19th century, Skadar town itself (once the capital of Zeta) was incorporated into Albania and is also called Shkoder. Meanwhile several Albanian villages on the southern shores such as Ostros and Donji-Murići became part of Montenegro.
During the fighting days against the Ottomans, Montenegro's rulers established their ruling seat and bastion in the north-west wetlands, at Žabljak Crnojevići, until they were forced to move their capital to Cetinje in 1482.
By the 19th and early 20th century, with an Independent Montenegro, the lake returned to royal glory with King Nikola setting up his summer court at the attractive lake town of Rijeka Crnojevića.
In WW2, Lake Skadar made history again as Virpazar provided the scene of the first Partisan uprising in Montenegro.
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Skadar Lake National Park Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.