page_title: Podgorica
section_title: Early history
hierarchical_section_title: Podgorica / History / Early history
caption_attribution_description: English: Aeral view of city
context_page_description: Podgorica is the capital and largest city of Montenegro.
  The city was known as Titograd between 1946 and 1992—in the period that Montenegro formed, as the Socialist Republic of Montenegro, part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia —in honour of Josip Broz Tito.
  Podgorica's favorable position at the confluence of the Ribnica and Morača rivers and at the meeting-point of the fertile Zeta Plain and Bjelopavlići Valley has encouraged settlement. The city is close to winter skiing centers in the north and to seaside resorts on the Adriatic Sea.
  Podgorica Municipality covers 10.4% of Montenegro's territory and is home to 29.9% of the country's population. It is the nation's administrative center and its economic, cultural, and educational focus.
context_section_description: Podgorica is at the crossroads of several historically important routes, near the rivers Zeta, Morača, Cijevna, Ribnica, Sitnica and Mareza in the valley of Lake Skadar and near the Adriatic Sea, in fertile lowlands with favourable climate. The earliest human settlements were in prehistory: the oldest physical remains are from the late Stone Age.
  In the Iron Age, the area between the Zeta and Bjelopavlići valleys was occupied by two Illyrian tribes, the Labeates and the Docleatae. The population of the town of Doclea was 8,000–10,000, in which all core urban issues were resolved. The high population density (in an area of about 10 km (6 mi) radius) was made possible by the geographical position, favorable climate, and economic conditions and by the defensive positions that were of great importance at that time.
caption: Doclea, Roman town, the seat of the Late Roman province of Praevalitana.
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