Plav (Montenegrin Cyrillic: Плав, Albanian: Plavë, Plava) is a town located in the Northern Region of Montenegro, situated along the Lim River, which originates from nearby Lake Plav, a glacial lake at the foot of the Prokletije mountains. It has a population of 3,717 (2011 census). Plav is the centre of Plav Municipality with a population of 9,050.
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Name
The name Plav (Плав) is derived from Slavic plav, "a flooded place" (poplava, "flood").
Geography
Plav is located at the foot of the Accursed Mountains range, adjacent to the springs of the river Lim.
The area contains many lakes and the most known is Lake Plav, one of the largest in this region. The lakes Hrid and Visitor are mountain lakes, and Visitor is noted for its floating island.
Plav is also renowned for its karst wells, among which are Ali Pasha of Gucia Springs and Oko Skakavica. Villages in the municipality include Gusinje.
History
The toponym Hotina Gora (mountains of Hoti) in the Plav and Gusinje regions on the Lim river basin in 1330 is the first mention of the Hoti name in historical records in the chrysobulls of Dečani. Šufflay considers this region as the original area of settlement of the Hoti tribe from which they moved southwards.
The Ottoman census organised in 1582-83 registered the Plav nahiyah within the Sanjak of Scutari with 18 villages; according to historian Milan Vasić all inhabitants had personal names with a Slavic character, and no Muslim name was present.
According to a 16th-century travel record by Antonio Bruni, the inhabitants of the Plav region are partly Albanian and partly Serbian, with a large proportion belonging to historical Albanian and Montenegrin tribes such as the Piperi, Kuči, Kelmendi, and Bjelopavlići.
According to the 19th-century French consul Hyacinthe Hecquard, the Ottomans constructed a small fortress near Gusinje along the Grnčar River in 1612. The fort was built specifically to defend the Plav region against incursions by the Kelmendi tribe. Hecquard also recorded oral traditions from Kelmendi chiefs regarding their historical conflicts and tax disputes with the Ottomans following early regional conflicts.
After the Venetian nobleman Mariano Bolizza in Cattaro (Kotor), who wrote the Relazione e descrizione del sangiacato di Scutari ("Relations and Description of the Sanjak of Scutari") in 1614 Plav was mostly inhabited by Albanians under the command of Sem Zaus (Cem Çaushi) of Podgorica.
The two strongest feudal families in the Plav-Gusinje region (~90 km to the northeast of Gruemirë) trace their origin to Gruemiri. The Rexhepagaj of Plav, Montenegro (now, Redžepagić-Rexhepagiqi) moved to Plav in the beginning of the 1650s where their ancestor took the Muslim name Veli when he converted. Rexhep Aga who gave the name to the family was a great-great-grandson of Veli. The Shabanagaj (now also known as Šabanagić) were related via marriage with the Bushati family of Shkodra. Shaban Aga, their eponymous ancestor was the son-in-law of Sulejman Pasha Bushati, sanjakbey of Shkodra. He was sent in Gusinje as the commander of the fortress around 1690. The Shabanagaj family owned large estates in Berane. Ali Pasha of Gusinje, commander of the League of Prizren was a Shabanagaj and Jashar Rexhepagiq, pedagogue in Kosovo, was a Rexhepagaj. Many other families in Plav also trace their origin to different historical tribes who migrated to the area. The Ferri (Ferović), Kërcaj (Krcić), Kuçi (Kuč), Medunaj (Medunanjin), Shabaj (Šabović), Toskaj (Toskić) descend from Kuči/Kuçi; the Canaj (Canović), Musajt (Musić), Rekaj (Reković), Mekuli (Mekulović) and Rugova (Rugovac) descend from Kelmendi; the Shahmanaj (Šahmanović) from Triesh; the Begani (Beganović), Kasumi (Kasumović), Shalunaj (Šaljunović) from Shala; Basha (Bašić) and Hoxhaj (Hodžić) from Berisha; the Kastrat and Hot families from Kastrati and Hoti respectively.
Dialect
Plav is almost entirely Muslim and either Slavic-speaking or Albanian-speaking. The Slavic dialect of Gusinje and Plav shows very high structural influence from Albanian. Its uniqueness in terms of language contact between Albanian and Slavic is explained by the fact that most Slavic-speakers in today's Plav are of Albanian origin, representing a case of an Albanian-speaking population shifting to a Slavic-speaking one. The dialect of Albanian that Plav speaks is northwestern Gheg at the west of Plav, and northeastern Gheg at the east of Plav.
Sport
In the area of the Plav municipality there are 13 sports clubs and societies that are actively engaged in sports and competitions. Some are in the First Montenegrin league and some in the Second Montenegrin league.
Sport clubs:
Demographics
Plav is administrative centre of Plav Municipality, which in 2023 had a population of 9,050. The town of Plav itself has 3,717 citizens.
Town
Ethnicity
The ethnic composition of the municipality in the 2023 census was as follows: 65.64% Bosniaks, 17.08% Serbs, 9.43% Albanians, 4.11% Montenegrins, and 2.61% ethnic Muslims. A total of 1.13% of the population are part of other ethnic groups.
Religion
Islam is the predominant religion, particularly among the Bosniak and Albanian communities, while Orthodox Christianity is also practiced, mainly by ethnic Montenegrins and Serbs.
Notable people
Jakup Ferri, Albanian rebel
Esad Mekuli, Albanian poet and scholar.
Miodrag Džudović, footballer
Mirsad Huseinovic, footballer
Mersim Beskovic, footballer
Ekrem Jevrić, singer
Jashar Rexhepagiq, pedagogue and member of the Academy of Sciences of Kosovo
Radovan Zogović, writer
Smail Tulja, convicted murderer of New Yorker Mary Beal and suspected of being the Butcher of Mons
International relations
Plav is twinned with: