Sanjak of Scutari in the context of "Rumelia Eyalet"

The tribes of Montenegro (Montenegrin and Serbian: племена Црне Горе, plemena Crne Gore) or Montenegrin tribes (Montenegrin and Serbian: црногорска племена, crnogorska plemena) are historical tribes in the areas of Old Montenegro, Brda, Old Herzegovina and Primorje.

Most tribes were formed in the 15th and 16th centuries, during and after the Ottoman conquest of the medieval state of Zeta, where they replaced former administrative units known as župas. As a result, the tribal territories also became basic geopolitical units of larger divisions of the Ottoman Empire, such as the Vilayet of Montenegro, the eastern parts of the Sanjak of Herzegovina and parts of the Sanjak of Scutari. From the late 14th century to the 18th century, some tribes were also under the rule of Venetian Albania. In the 18th century, many tribes became part of the Prince-Bishopric of Montenegro and after 1858 most of them were united into the Principality of Montenegro.

The Sanjak of Montenegro (Montenegrin and Serbian Cyrillic: Санџак Црне Горе, romanized: Sandžak Crne Gore; Turkish: Karadağ Sancağı, literally Sanjak of the Black Mountain) was a province (sanjak) of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkan Peninsula roughly corresponding to modern Montenegro. It was created in 1514 from the borders of the former Zeta, ruled by the Crnojevići, which had earlier been organized into the Sanjak of Scutari in 1499.

The Vilayet of the Black Mountain (or Montenegro Vilayet) was an Ottoman administrative unit within the Sanjak of Scutari, consisting of parts of modern-day Montenegro. It was established in the 16th century and existed until 1696. Although claimed by the Ottomans, the area was de facto independent with the Montenegrin tribes, with the support of the Metropolitanate of Cetinje, constantly waging wars against Turks.

The siege of Shkodra (Albanian: Rrethimi i Shkodrës) took place from May 1478 to April 1479 as a confrontation between the Ottoman Empire and the Venetians together with the League of Lezhë and other Albanians at Shkodra (Scutari in Italian) and its Rozafa Castle during the First Ottoman-Venetian War (1463–1479). Ottoman historian Franz Babinger called the siege "one of the most remarkable episodes in the struggle between the West and the Crescent".

A small force of approximately 1,600 Albanian and Italian men and a much smaller number of women faced a massive Ottoman force containing artillery cast on site and an army reported (though widely disputed) to have been as many as 350,000 in number. The campaign was so important to Mehmed the Conqueror that he came personally to ensure triumph. After nineteen days of bombarding the castle walls, the Ottomans launched five successive general attacks which all ended in victory for the besieged. With dwindling resources, Mehmed attacked and defeated the smaller surrounding fortresses of Žabljak Crnojevića, Drisht, and Lezha, left a siege force to starve Shkodra into surrender, and returned to Constantinople. On January 25, 1479, Venice and Constantinople signed a peace agreement that among other concessions ceded Shkodra to the Ottoman Empire. The defenders of the citadel emigrated to Venice, whereas many Albanians from the region retreated into the mountains. Shkodra then became a seat of the newly established Ottoman sanjak, the Sanjak of Scutari. The Ottomans held the city until Montenegro captured it in April 1913, after a six-month siege.

Kuči (Montenegrin and Serbian: Кучи, Kuči; Albanian: Kuçi, pronounced [ˈkutʃi]) is a tribe of Albanian origin, historically located in modern central and eastern Montenegro (Brda region), north-east of Podgorica, extending along the border with Albania. Processes of Slavicisation during the Ottoman era and onwards facilitated ethno-linguistic shifts within much of the community. As such, people from the Kuči today largely identify themselves as Montenegrins and Serbs, with a minority still identifying as Albanians. In other areas such as the Sandžak, many Muslim descendants of the Kuči today identify as Bosniaks.

The Kuči first appear in historical records in 1330 as a brotherhood from an Albanian katun near Lake Shkodra under the jurisdiction of the Dečani Monastery. The region itself is first mentioned in 1485 as a nahiyah of the Sandjak of Shkodra. Over time, several waves of settlers came to populate the region and form the historical community of Kuči. The region is known for its resistance against Ottoman rule and its key role in the creation of modern Montenegro. Until the 17th century, the Kuči region was equally Orthodox and Catholic. Today, it is mostly Orthodox except for the Catholic community of Koja. Muslim converts appear since 1485. In the 17th and 18th centuries, both voluntarily and non-voluntarily many people from the pleme began to settle in the Plav-Gusinje, Rožaje and the wider Sandžak region. Many of their descendants identify as Muslim Bosniaks.