Nikola Petanović
Nicholas Petanovich, born Nikola Petanović (
Early life
Nikola Petanovic was born in 1892 in the village of
Political work
Upon hearing about the
Petanovic attempted to use influential people to affect the American public opinion and authorities to liken the idea of a sovereign Montenegro, which would be under a US protectorate. Nikola had already perceived the United States' bright future as one of the leading nations in world. The US State Department never paid heed to his calls however, because they considered the unification legal, legitimate and unquestionable. Petanovic's desires to conduct a free democratically held
During this period his most important work is the "Troslavia and five small Slavic nations", an ironic depiction of the Yugoslavian kingdom supporting the proposals of the Kingdom of Italy for breakup of the South Slavic country and establishment of several Slavic mini-nations at the coast of the Adriatic Sea under Italian influence. Nicholas was one of the few who already also depicted the Macedonians as a distinct people as well. His other significant works were "Without Homeland", referring to the Montenegrin people, the "Naiad" and "Dayan". Petanovic saw the origins of Montenegro in ancient Doclea and claimed that the specific ethno-genetic makeup in the ethnogenesis of Illyrian blood, which allegedly made the Slavs living in what was once Montenegro far closer to the Albanians, was sufficient enough for them to be proclaimed as a distinct ethnic group, akin but not identified directly with the Serbs themselves – in this claim laid as the basis for Petanovic's desire to ask for national self-determination of the Montenegrins. Although not essentially a historian, Nikola touched the historical subjects claiming that the Slavic people appeared in the territories of Montenegro only in the 9th century in its ethnic form and through mixing with the local populations, claimed that a distinct mix identity was born in Montenegro.
Death and legacy
In 1931 Nicholas Petanovich withdrew from public life and abandoned his activities on promoting Montenegro's independence, claiming he was fighting a completely lost cause. He died on 29 January 1932 in his 40th year due to poor health caused by his unhealthy lifestyle, never marrying nor having children because of his virtually non-existent social life. With his death the Montenegrin Mirror stopped being published and the Montenegrin Committee was disbanded. He was buried at the Colma cemetery just outside San Francisco, California.
Nikola Petanovic was completely an unknown person to the public eye and his works never widespread until the
Works
- Ponos Života (The Pride of Life), San Francisco (1923)
- Troslavia and Five Small Slavic Nations
- Naiad
- Dayan
Further reading
- Stojović, Gordan (2006). Nikola Petanović – Crnogorsko Ogledalo. Matica Crnogorska. Podgorica.
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