In 1382, Bosnian king Tvrtko I Kotromanić, as “the king of Serbs, Bosnia, Pomorje and Western Areas“, founded the city of Herceg Novi. The city got its name from the names Novi, Castrum Novum and Castel Novum, but the name we know today first came to be in the 15th century, under the rule of Stjepan Bukčić Kosača, more widely known as Herceg Stjepan, whose name is still applied to the areas that he’d ruled, Hercegovina. Some of the many historical monuments around Herceg Novi suggest that the city was ruled by the Turks, Venetians and the Spanish for the largest part the city’s existence.
In the year 1482, the Turks conquered Herceg Novi and it would stay under their rule until 1687, when it was taken over by the Republic of Venice, who ruled the town until 1797. The long period of Turkish reign was only briefly interrupted by the Spanish between 1538 and 1589, who built the Španjola fortress in only a year. Apart from the aforementioned great conquerors, other lesser known conquerors also held the town for some time, still leaving a deep mark in the town’s history, culture and language. Between 1797 and 1806, the city was controlled by the Austrians, followed by a year under the Russians. The period between 1806 and 1815 is remembered as the rule of Napoleon Bonaparte, with a mere year in 1813/14 period as a part of Montenegro and the Bay of Kotor. During the Great War, in 1918, the Serbian army took over Herceg Novi, making it a part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes i.e. The Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
During the Second World War, Herceg Novi fell under the rule of the fascist, first of Italy 1941 and 1943, and then of the Germans in 1944, with the Partisans finally liberating the city in 1944.
