Gusinje (Montenegrin: Гусиње, pronounced [ɡǔsiɲe]; Albanian: Gucia) is a small town in Montenegro in the northern region.

One links it to Slavic guska (goose), the other to the Illyrian term Geusiae from which the Albanian name of the town, Guci(a), would have evolved.

Vruja creek enters the Vermosh east of town, between this confluence and Plav is locally called Luca.

[1][8] In historical record, Gusinje appears in 1485 in the defter of the sanjak of Scutari as a village in the vilayet of Plav, a hass-ı hümayun (imperial domain) that stood directly under the Ottoman Sultan.

[11] Gusinje stood at the intersection of the Ottoman trade routes between northern Albania, Montenegro and Kosovo.

Thus, the trade that passed through Gusinje generated much wealth for the Sultan and the Ottoman officials who were granted taxing rights.

Venetian diplomat Mariano Bolizza who travelled in the region reported that at the end of 1612 the building of the fortress of Gusinje - near which the modern town developed - was completed.

The fortress was built at the reguest of Sem Zaus, the Ottoman bey of Podgorica who wanted to stop the attacks of Kelmendi and to be able to travel freely in his domain.

In time despite Ottoman expeditions and relocations of these communities in Sandzak, Kelmendi and other tribes like Kuči, Triepshi and Shala came to form many of the historical neighbourhoods (mahalla) of Gusinje of today.

The Vezir's mosque, built by Kara Mahmud Bushati in 1765 in the town center is a symbol of the Pashalik's influence in the upper Lim valley.

[1] The two strongest feudal families in the Plav-Gusinje region (~90 km to the northeast of Gruemirë) trace their origin to Gruemiri.

[13] Ali Pasha of Gusinje, commander of the League of Prizren was a Shabanagaj[13] and Jashar Rexhepagiq, pedagogue in Kosovo, was a Rexhepagaj.

[citation needed] As the Ottoman Empire disintegrated in the long 19th century already in the Treaty of San Stefano, Gusinje and Plav were awarded to the independent Principality of Montenegro.

Gusinje was developing as a commercial town at the time, but still remained outside properly established rule of Ottoman law.

A noted figure of the League of Prizren was Ali Pasha Shabanagaj, a landowner and military commander from Gusinje.

The battle became a point of reference in the Albanian National Awakening and set a precedent about the need of armed struggle to defend other areas.

Its entry was followed by a period of harsh military administration which until March 1913 had caused up to more than 1,800 killings of locals and 12,000 forced conversions to Christian Orthodoxy.

[20] About 2000 Albanian refugees from Gusinje and Plav were reported in Shkodra in 1913 by the director of the Red Cross which was stationed in the city.

In Albania, the closing of the border between Malësia and Gusinje has been seen as a main cause for the interwar impoverishment of areas like Kelmendi and Shala, which were deprived from access to their traditional market town.

[21] The entry of the Montenegrin army in 1912-13 and the Yugoslav army after 1919 in Gusinje was accompanied by repressive policies against the local population.In 1919, an Albanian revolt, which later came to be known as the Plav rebellion rose up in the Plav, Gusinje and Rozaje districts, fighting against the inclusion of Sandžak in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.

[28] Gusinje became part of Albania in WWII by Fascist Italy and then Nazi Germany to win the support of the local population.

The oldest preserved mosque in the town is Čekića džamija or xhamia e Cekajve built by the Cekaj brotherhood of Triepshi.

According to the Statistical Office of Montenegro, based on the 2023 census, 57.1% of the inhabitants of Gusinje Municipality are Bosniaks, while the second largest ethnic group are Albanians (34.4%).