According to oral tradition, the tribe dates to the 14th century. The first mention of the tribe is from a Ragusan letter to Jelena Balšić dated 1399. In the same year they are mentioned as "Nikšić of Zeta" in Kotoran documents. In 1447 it was recorded that they had captured a Ragusan messenger and sold him to the Turks. In 1455 they are listed among tribes and villages in Zeta who signed an agreement with Venetians in Vranjina. The names of numerous Montenegrin tribes occur in 14th and 15th century as the names of katuns however for some of them they are not explicitly said to be katuns, but are referred as Vlachs and one of these Vlachs are Nikšići. They simultaneously used the name Onogošti until 17th century and further. The tribe was led by the vojvoda, which had been established after conflicts within the tribe as a compromise. Nikšić was conquered by the Ottomans and was organized into the Ottoman Sanjak of Herzegovina in the late 15th century. The burning of Saint Sava's remains after the Banat Uprising provoked the Serbs in other regions to revolt against the Ottomans. Grdan, the vojvoda of Nikšić, organized revolt with Serbian PatriarchJovan Kantul. In 1596, an uprising broke out in Bjelopavlići, then spread to Drobnjaci, Nikšići, Piva and Gacko. It was suppressed due to lack of foreign support. After the Congress of Berlin, Piva, Banjani, Nikšići, Šaranci, Drobnjaci and a large number of the Rudinjani formed the Old Herzegovina region of the Principality of Montenegro.
Anthropology
According to oral tradition collected by Serbian historian Petar Šobajić, the tribe had originated from Nikša, who was the son of ban Ilijon of Grbalj and maternally a Nemanjić. According to Kovijanić, Nikša had moved from lands around Morača monastery to what is now Župa Nikšićka after the death of Serbian princeStefan Vukanović Nemanjić, his relative. Other views is that Nikša in fact arrived at Župa Nikšićka directly after the death of emperor Stefan Dušan. It is considered that the tribe wasn't founded by only one individual, yet several related families led by Nikša. In Župa Nikšićka, his descendants grew into a powerful tribe that gave its name to the old župa of Onogošt. They found native tribes there: in the west were the Riđani, in Župa itself were the Lužani, in the north, by the mountains Vojnik and Durmitor were the Drobnjaci. Until the 14th century they were a very strong tribe, repressing Lužani and Drobnjaci, and tradition talks about many conflicts between them and Riđani. In the 16th century only Nikšići and Riđani lived in the area.
