- published: 15 Jun 2011
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Podgorica (/ˈpɒdɡəriːtsə/ POD-gorr-ee-tsə;Montenegrin/Serbian: Podgorica / Подгорица [pǒdgoritsa], lit. "under the small hill") is the capital and largest city of Montenegro.
Podgorica's favourable position at the confluence of the Ribnica and Morača rivers and the meeting point of the fertile Zeta Plain and Bjelopavlići Valley has encouraged settlement. The city is close to winter ski centres in the north and seaside resorts on the Adriatic Sea.
A census in 2011 put the city's population at 150,977. The Podgorica municipality contains 10.4% of Montenegro's territory and 29.9% of its population. It is the administrative centre of Montenegro and its economic, cultural and educational focus.
The name Podgorica means "under the Gorica" in Montenegrin language. Gorica (meaning "little hill" or hillock) is the name of the cypress-covered hill that overlooks the city centre.
Some three kilometres (1.9 miles) north-west of Podgorica lie the ruins of Doclea, a town known in Greek, pre-Roman and Roman times. The Roman Emperor Diocletian came from this region. In later centuries, Romans "corrected" the name to Dioclea, guessing wrongly that an "i" had been lost in vulgar speech. "Duklja" is the later (Slavic) version of that word.