In 1821, George Michaelopoulos was fighting in the Greek War of Independence against the Turks. The city of Mesolongi was under siege, and George escaped to the north. He stayed in Dulcigno (dull tsi gnyo) and then returned to Lagadia many years later after being presumed dead. When he told the villagers where he'd been, he became known as Dulchinos (Greek spelling transliterates as Doultsinos).
Mesolongi (Missolonghi) is 80 miles north of Lagadia. It was one of the first places captured by the Greek revolutionaries in 1822. However, Egyptian armies of the Turkish empire invaded the Peloponnese, and they captured Missolonghi in April 1826, "after a heroic defense, marked by the death of the English poet Lord Byron."
Greek independence was recognized by the Treaty of Adrianople in 1829, and the Egyptian forces had remained in the Peloponnese until 1828. Probably George was in Dulcigno for two or three years.
Following is a short history of Dulcigno.
There is an island named Dulchinium in the Iliad. This may come from the same origins as Dulcigno, but Dulcigno (now called Ulcinj) is located at the southern tip of Yugoslavia (the Montenegro district) and just north of Albania on the Adriatic Sea.
In the Ulcinj museum, there is a relic of an altar to Artemis dating from the 5th Century B.C.
Roman authors Pliny and Ptolemy mention Olcinium or Colcinium; Ptolemy thought the name may have come from the town's founders the "Colcidiens", or "Colhidjans", settlers from somewhere in the Near East.
Papal bulls from the 11th Century address the town in various spellings including Dulcinum, Ulcignum, Dulcignum, and Ulcinj.
The original town was destroyed by "Saracens" in 9th century. In the 11th century the town was under the rule of an area known as the Zeta. In 1118, King Nemanja occupied Dulcigno, thus annexing it to State of Serbia.
Zeta was under Serbian rule in 12th century, and was a center from which Serbs fought Turks. The Turks, still expanding the Ottoman Empire, controlled the Lake Scutari region just east of Dulcigno around this time.
In 1388, George II, ruler of the Zeta region, conferred special privileges on Venetian merchansts in Dulcigno. The town was located at the crossroads of merchants and caravans on their way towards East and West, and was an important port for the sea trade as well.
In 1402, Venice acquired Dulcigno, and used it as a part of their control of European trade with the Ottoman Empire. Ulcinj was never a part of Montenegro up to this time. Montenegro did not at this time, and virtually never did, belong to the Turks. Montenegro (Black Mountain) was an isolated mountainous area, and the people were known as one of the most war-like races; "May he not die in his bed" was the usual toast at the birth of a boy.
In 1421, however, Venice took over parts of Montenegro, although Ragusa (now Dubrovnik) remained an independent district.The walls of the city were first built in the 13th Century, although the Venetians continued to rebuild them until the end of the 16th century.
The Turks eventually decided to take control of the European sea trade without the help of Venice. In 1571, Dulcigno was captured in the Battle of Lepanto. In 1573, Venice surrendered Montenegro and Serbia to the Turks. This was at the height of the Ottoman Empire. The walls of Dulcigno were totally rebuilt by the Turks.
Even though defeated, Venice held onto parts of Zeta. Also, parts of the coastal region known as Dalmatia, including Ragusa, became a theocratic state under the Eastern Orthodox Church, and was a base from which raids on Turkish territory were carried out.
In order to consolidate the sea trade and drive out the Venetians, in 1600 Sultan Selim of the Ottoman Empire surrendered Ulcinj to a horde of pirates from Algiers, in exchange for their agreement to harass Venetian trade. The pirates also set up a slave trade operating from the town.
In 1718, Prince Danilo of the free territory of Zeta, allied himself with the Russians during the Russo-Turkish War, and set out to free Montenegro from Turkish rule. He was attempting to capture Dulcigno when the Treaty of Passorowitz was signed, which left Dulcigno to the Turks.
In 1782, Peter I, known as the great Vladika (leader) of Montenegro, became ruler and was backed by the Russians. He ruled until 1830. In 1796, Montenegro defeated the Turks again and probably freed Dulcigno.
The continual border wars took Turkish attention away from Dulcigno and the surrounding area. There was another Russo Turkish war in 1809. In 1813-14, Austria began reconquering Dalmatia. Cattaro, a town near Dulcigno, was captured in 1814 by Montenegro, but ceded back to Austria.
From 1819-21 there were Turkish invasions in the region, and a revolt broke out in Bosnia as well as Greece in 1821.The Greek revolt was said to have prevented the Turks from invading Montenegro, and Montenegro remained free. At this time, Dulcigno must have been under the control of Montenegro, although at the very borders of Turkish influence. Thus, it was a likely place for a guerilla fighter such as George Michaelopoulos to have retreated to, and perhaps used as a base of operations, during the Greek war of independence.
In the 1850s, Montenegro was ruled by Prince Danilo but under Turkish patronage. By 1858, Montenegro was essentially autonomous, and the 1878 Congress of Berlin (ending the last Russo Turkish war) recognized Montenegro as independent. Yugoslavia was created after World War I from Montenegro and several other previously autonomous areas such as Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, etc.
Ulcinj is the Turkish spelling of Dulcigno.