Some facts about the tiny Balkan republic of Montenegro, whose people voted in a weekend referendum to secede from Serbia and become independent:

CAPITAL: Podgorica, with 152,000 residents

POPULATION: About 650,000, including Montenegrins (40.6 per cent), Serbs (30 per cent), Bosniaks or Bosnian Muslims (9.4 per cent), Albanians (7.1 per cent) and other Muslims (4.3 per cent)

GEOGRAPHY: Covering 13,812 square km (5,333 square miles), Montenegro is the smallest of the two republics but the only one with sea access, albeit with a Adriatic coastline less than 300 kilometres (186 miles) long. It shares borders with Serbia, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Croatia and Albania

LANGUAGE: Serbian, although separatists wish their country's distinct dialect to be known as Montenegrin

RELIGION: Mainly Orthodox Christian

HISTORY AND POLITICAL SITUATION: Montenegro - or Black Mountain - gained de facto independence in the late 18th century, when it was ruled by bishop princes who managed to carve out a free enclave in the heart of Ottoman-occupied Balkans. This was formally recognised in 1878, when it became a monarchy.

Although recognised by all the major European powers and the United States, which maintained embassies in its tiny, mountaintop capital of Cetinje, Montenegro gained the dubious distinction of being the only Allied nation to disappear off the map after the First World War. It entered the conflict in 1914 by declaring war on imperial Germany and Austria-Hungary, but by 1915 its tiny army was wiped out and the country occupied

At the end of the war, advancing French and Serbian troops reached Montenegro and hastily organised an assembly of hand-picked supporters of union with Serbia. This then unanimously approved integration into the emerging Yugoslav state, and banned the exiled King Nikola from returning to his homeland.

The move was followed by a bloody rebellion by pro-independence supporters, in which thousands died. Serbian troops finally put down the insurgency in 1925.

During the Second World War, Montenegro became the only region in occupied Europe to liberate itself, after a major guerrilla uprising in 1941. Although German and Italian troops quickly reoccupied it, thousands of Montenegrins flocked to the two main Yugoslav resistance movements, forming the backbone of the largest and most effective anti-Nazi insurgency.

After 1945, Montenegro became one of the six republics in the communist-ruled Yugoslav federation. In 1989, as the break-up of Yugoslavia threatened, Serbia's strongman leader Slobodan Milosevic organised his supporters to overthrow the Montenegrin government, installing a satellite regime that supported his wars against Croatia and Bosnia in the 1990s.

This began to change in 1997, when Montenegro’s Prime Minister Milo Dujkanovic broke with Milosevic, surviving several attempts to unseat him. In 1999, he backed the Nato-led air onslaught on Serbia during the war over Kosovo, and later lent logistic and organisational support to Serbian democratic parties which eventually unseated Milosevic in 2000.

In 2002, the European Union, fearing further fragmentation of the Balkans, brokered a deal between much larger Serbia and Montenegro to form a loose, federal union of Serbia-Montenegro. The union was formed on February 4, 2003.

Saying the union is dysfunctional, Montenegro’s pro-independence government organised an independence referendum for May 21, 2006. The separatists narrowly achieved the 55 per cent of the vote they needed

ECONOMY: One of the poorest parts of former Yugoslavia, it endured UN-imposed sanctions from May 1992 to October 1996. Its economy grew 4.1 per cent in the most recent financial year, with inflation of 1.9 per cent and a budget deficit of 2.1 per cent. Tourism on its Adriatic coast is one of its main sources of income.

CURRENCY: The euro since January 2003, unlike Serbia which has kept the dinar. Montenegro is not however counted officially as part of the eurozone.

DEFENCE: The federal army of Serbia-Montenegro has 20,000 soldiers in the republic, but as part of independence a separate army and defence ministry will have to be set up in Montenegro.

POLICE FORCE: In January 2001, Montenegro reduced its police force to 15,000 officers.

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