Tri dokumenta o prodaji imanja porodice Bajrović iz Nikšića
Three Documents on the Sale of the Bajrović Family Estate From Nikšić

Summary/Abstract: This paper analyses three archival documents - sentences concerning the sale of property belonging to the Bajrović family of Nikšić, dating from 1884, preserved in the Nikšić Archival Department of the State Archives of Montenegro. Taking the Congress of Berlin (1878) as a key turning point, the author examines the demographic and socio-economic changes that followed the incorporation of Nikšić into the Montenegrin Principality, with particular attention to the mass muhajir migrations of the Muslim population. Through a microhistorical approach, the documents are viewed as a valuable source for studying property relations and mechanisms of ownership transfer in post-Berlin Nikšić. By analysing three sale-and-purchase contracts - through which Nasuf Ta(h)irov, Fer(h)at Memov, and Alija Muratov Bajrović sold their property for a combined total of 54 thalers - the paper highlights the symbolically low prices as an indicator of the sellers' unequal position, and the concentration of the purchased property in the hands of a narrow circle of buyers. The paper also traces the later fate of the Bajrović family, whose members, after leaving Nikšić, settled in Pljevlja, Sjenica, and Mostar, where they achieved a notable social and economic standing in their new communities. With this paper, the author seeks to encourage further searches for similar documents and systematic research into the muhajir question in Nikšić.

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