The 16th-century Pope Sixtus V was descended from a family originating in the area of Bijela.
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As noted by the chronicler Andrija Zmajević, the future Pope's father was Piergentile di Giacomo, who was born in the village Bjelske Kruševice near Bijela and moved to Italy to escape the Ottoman conquest.
In October 2009, the government, in partnership with an NGO forum, conducted training on recognizing trafficked children in an orphanage in Bijela and among Roma children in the Konik refugee camp in Podgorica.
The population was Serbian Orthodox; the village didn't have a church, so some people went to the Serbian Orthodox church in Bijela.
Projects related to Porto Montenegro include an 18-hole golf course in the vicinity of Tivat Airport, and a possible acquisition of Bijela shipyard by Peter Munk, which should serve as a yacht maintenance facility.
Bijela | Bijela Tabija |
In 2005, Serbian media reported he might be hiding in a Serbian Orthodox monastery in Irig or in Bijela, Montenegro.
In 2003, Zdravko Čolić recorded a video for his song "Ao, nono bijela" at the site of the Lake of Ledinci.
These toponyms include Bila Rika, Siča Rika, Biluša, and others, which are today known as Bela Reka or Bijela Rijeka, Seča Reka, and Bjeluša (either Ijekavian accent or Ekavized during the 19th and 20th centuries).
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These include Bela Reka, Kriva Reka, Seništa and others, which can often be heard as Bijela Rijeka, Kriva Rijeka, Sjeništa etc. in conversation among the locals.