Cited from the Montenegro und die Montenegriner by Spiridion Gopčević from 1877:
“On September 8, the Turks attacked the Montenegrin outposts near Rječina. The Vasojevići rushed to the scene, defeated and pursued the Turks as far as Kolašin, and burned down all Turkish villages—specifically Drpi and Smailagi.”
Drpi village – Albanian origin?
One particularly intriguing piece of genealogical evidence concerns the Drpljani, a Muslim lineage associated with Drpe (Drpa) in the Kolashin region. According to the genealogical material compiled by Poreklo, the lineage is recorded as Toskići (A) – Drpljani, with the reported migration route Southern Albania, Drpe (Kolašin), Donji Kolašin, Bihor. The designation “Toskići” is especially noteworthy, since Tosk refers to the southern Albanian cultural-linguistic region. The tradition therefore preserves a specific memory of an origin in southern Albania, followed by settlement in Drpe and subsequently in the Kolašin and Bihor areas.
This tradition is significant when considering the otherwise unusual toponym Drpe (Drpa) and the surname or ethnonym Drpljani. Rather than assuming that the name Drpe must be Slavic simply because it occurs in a predominantly South Slavic-speaking environment today, the genealogical tradition raises the possibility that the name may be connected to an older population movement.
The combination of Drpe and Drpljani and a recorded tradition of southern Albanian origin provides a concrete historical lead. It suggests that the demographic history of the Kolashin area was more complex than a simple Slavic continuity. The explicit Southern Albanian, Drpe migration tradition makes the connection between the Drpljani and the Albanian world worthy of serious examination.
Smajlaga
The reference to Smajl-aga in the nineteenth-century account is also worthy of attention. The expression most probably refers not simply to an abstract place-name, but to a local Muslim notable or leader known as Smajl-aga. Smajl is the South Slavic or Balkan form of the Islamic name Ismāʿīl, while aga was an Ottoman title used for a local notable, landholder, military commander, or community leader. In the Kolashin region, the name is particularly relevant because the settlement known today as Smailagića Polje preserves this personal-name formation.
Given the wider evidence for Muslim populations with connections to the Albanian-speaking regions of the Balkans, it is plausible that the Smajl-aga mentioned in the account belonged to an Albanian Muslim milieu. This possibility becomes more interesting when considered alongside traditions concerning other Muslim families in the Kolashin–Bihor area, including the reported Southern Albanian origin of the Drpljani.
The wider toponymic question is even more intriguing. Kolasin has been discussed in connection with the Albanian Shën Kolë, meaning Saint Nicholas. The possibility that Kolashin represents a Slavicized form derived from an older Albanian Christian expression such as Shën Kolë would, if supported by older historical attestations, point to an Albanian Christian toponymic layer in the region.
Taken together, these indications suggest that the historical population of the Kolashin region was considerably more complex than modern ethnic categories might imply. Ottoman Muslim communities, Albanian-speaking populations, Slavic-speaking groups, and families preserving traditions of migration from the Albanian lands interacted within the same frontier zone.
Albanians in Kolashin
The Albanian Haxhibuliq family from Kolashin who were expelled to Sanxhak in 1924
Sources
https://fermillet67.rssing.com/chan-63807206/all_p60.html?
Montenegro und die Montenegriner. Spiridion Gopčević. 1877.
