Montenegro Vilayet in the context of "Sanjak of Scutari"

The Prince-Bishopric of Montenegro (Serbian: Митрополство Црногорско, romanized: Mitropolstvo Crnogorsko, lit. 'Metropolitanate of the Black Mountain') was a Serbian Orthodox ecclesiastical principality that existed from 1516 until 1852. The principality was located around modern-day Montenegro. It emerged from the Eparchy of Cetinje, later known as the Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral, whose bishops defied the Ottoman Empire overlordship and transformed the parish of Cetinje into a de facto theocracy, ruling it as Metropolitans (Vladike, also known as prince-bishops).

The first prince-bishop was Vavila. The system was transformed into a hereditary one by Danilo Šćepčević, a bishop of Cetinje who united the several tribes of Montenegro into fighting the Ottoman Empire that had occupied all of Montenegro (as the Sanjak of Montenegro and Montenegro Vilayet) and most of southeastern Europe at the time. Danilo was the first in the House of Petrović-Njegoš to occupy the position as the Metropolitan of Cetinje in 1851, when Montenegro became a secular state (principality) under Danilo I Petrović-Njegoš. The Prince-Bishopric of Montenegro also briefly became a monarchy when it was temporarily abolished in 1767–1773: this happened when the impostor Little Stephen posed as the Russian Emperor and crowned himself the Tsar of Montenegro.

Old Montenegro (Montenegrin and Serbian: Stara Crna Gora / Стара Црна Гора), also known as Montenegro proper (Prava Crna Gora / Права Црна Гора), or True Montenegro (Istinska Crna Gora / Истинска Црна Гора), is a term used for the embryonic part of modern Montenegro. In historical context, the term designates the original territory of the Principality of Montenegro, before the territorial expansion, ratified by the Congress of Berlin in 1878, or even more precisely - the territory of the Prince-Bishopric of Montenegro prior to its unification with the region of Brda in the first half of the 19th century.

During the Ottoman period, from the 16th up to the 18th century, the original (proper) Montenegro was made up of the Montenegrin tribes (Montenegrin and Serbian: crnogorska plemena / црногорска племена), traditionally divided into four territorial units, or nahije: Katun, Rijeka, Lješ and Crmnica. Their inhabitants were known under the regional demonym Montenegrins (Crnogorci / Црногорци), as opposed to the inhabitants of neighboring regions (Brđani, Hercegovci and Primorci). Since the end of the 18th century, Montenegro started to expand, incorporating the region of Brda in the first half of the 19th century, the region of Old Herzegovina and part of Primorje in 1878, and finally upper and central Polimlje and northern Metohija in 1912.