Although the Riđani appear to have been predominantly a romanized people (Vlachs), Albanian names also appear among them, as was the case with one of their leaders, katunar Šimrak.
In it Riđani agrees to stop attacking the villages, determine grazing borders as well as allowing free passage of caravans and other transit through their area.
[10] An Ottoman governor administered the nahija, while the tribe was governed by its vojvoda (of Drobnjaci and Banjani) or by their knez (of Riđani).
[12] In 1469 Riđani were one of the "Vlach" tribes that participated in the kidnapping of a young male and female population of Konavle and Herzegovina.
[15] In 1597, envoys of Serbian Patriarch Jovan Kantul and vojvoda Grdan, chieftain of Nikšići and Riđani tribes, reported to Pope Clement VIII about the possibilities to raise an anti-Ottoman rebellion.
[18] In 1749 the Montenegrin tribal assembly (zbor), which was the supreme governing body of Montenegro, decided to accept Riđani as their own.
[21] According to traditional belief, Riđani had been trying to migrate from their mountainous homeland to fertile lands of Grahovo (near Nikšić), facing resistance of its native people.