Podgorica (Cyrillic: Подгорица, [pǒdɡoritsa]; lit.

'"[area] below Gorica"') is the capital and largest city

of Montenegro.
The city was known as Titograd (Cyrillic: Титоград [tîtoɡraːd]) between 1946 and 1992—in the
period that Montenegro formed, as the Socialist Republic of Montenegro, part of the Socialist Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY)—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.

Name and etymology

Podgorica is written in Cyrillic as Подгорица, pronounced [pǒdɡoritsa]; UK: /ˈpɒdɡɒrɪtsə, pɒdˈɡɔːr-/,[3]
US: /ˈpɒdɡəriːtsə, ˈpɔːdɡɒr-/;[4][5][6]

Podgorica (Подгорица) literally means "[area] below Gorica". Gorica, meaning "little hill", is the
name of one of the cypress-covered hillocks that overlooks the city center.
Some three kilometres (1.9 miles) north-west of Podgorica lie the ruins of the Roman-era town of
Doclea, from which the Roman Emperor Diocletian hailed. In later centuries, Romans "corrected" the
name to Dioclea, guessing wrongly that an i had been lost in vulgar speech. Duklja is the later South
Slavic version of that word.
At its foundation (some time before the 11th century), the town was called Birziminium. In the Middle
Ages, it was known as Ribnica (Cyrillic: Рибница [rîbnitsa]). The name Podgorica was used from
1326. From 1946 to 1992, the city was named Titograd in honour of Josip Broz Tito, the President of
Yugoslavia from 1953 to 1980.