The mine and market at Lipnik located in present-day Crnča were first time recorded in Ragusan archives in 1319. as the place belonging to Serbian king Stefan Milutin.

Lipnik was also mentioned as the place in Serbia with catholic parish in letter of pope Clement VI to king Stefan Dušan dated on 7 January 1346.

Crnča was seat of a major Ragusan colony which had its own Franciscan monastery of St. Mary and was headed by an elected knez (comes/conte, i.e. count), one of them being Ljubiša Vladojević called "the Beard" (Brada).

Most notable Ragusans who traded and lived in Crnča belonged to noble families such as Gozze (Gučetić), Sorgo (Sorkočević), Cerva (Crijević), Gondola (Gundulić), Luccari (Lukarić) and Ragnina (Ranjina).

It reached its peak in the second half of the 15th century during the time of despots Stefan Lazarević and Đurađ Branković when it was one of the richest mines of Serbia along with Novo Brdo, Srebrenica and Rudnik.