diff --git a/docs/changelog.rst b/docs/changelog.rst
index 75230a28..e4d693bd 100644
--- a/docs/changelog.rst
+++ b/docs/changelog.rst
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ Changelog
 Changes in dev
 ==============
 
+- Added uri support for connections
 - Added scalar for efficiently returning partial data values (aliased to values_list)
 - Fixed limit skip bug
 - Improved Inheritance / Mixin
diff --git a/docs/guide/connecting.rst b/docs/guide/connecting.rst
index 470dcb88..50eb2703 100644
--- a/docs/guide/connecting.rst
+++ b/docs/guide/connecting.rst
@@ -20,6 +20,13 @@ provide :attr:`host` and :attr:`port` arguments to
 
     connect('project1', host='192.168.1.35', port=12345)
 
+Uri style connections are also supported as long as you include the database
+name - just supply the uri as the :attr:`host` to
+:func:`~mongoengine.connect`::
+
+    connect('project1', host='mongodb://localhost/database_name')
+
+
 
 Multiple Databases
 ==================
diff --git a/mongoengine/connection.py b/mongoengine/connection.py
index 462c8951..822c604b 100644
--- a/mongoengine/connection.py
+++ b/mongoengine/connection.py
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import pymongo
-from pymongo import Connection
+from pymongo import Connection, uri_parser
 
 
 __all__ = ['ConnectionError', 'connect', 'register_connection',
@@ -38,6 +38,17 @@ def register_connection(alias, name, host='localhost', port=27017,
 
     """
     global _connection_settings
+
+    # Handle uri style connections
+    if "://" in host:
+        uri_dict = uri_parser.parse_uri(host)
+        if 'database' not in uri_dict:
+            raise ConnectionError("If using URI style connection include "\
+                                  "database name in string")
+        uri_dict['name'] = uri_dict.get('database')
+        _connection_settings[alias] = uri_dict
+        return
+
     _connection_settings[alias] = {
         'name': name,
         'host': host,
@@ -48,8 +59,10 @@ def register_connection(alias, name, host='localhost', port=27017,
         'password': password,
         'read_preference': read_preference
     }
+
     _connection_settings[alias].update(kwargs)
 
+
 def disconnect(alias=DEFAULT_CONNECTION_NAME):
     global _connections
     global _dbs
@@ -83,11 +96,12 @@ def get_connection(alias=DEFAULT_CONNECTION_NAME, reconnect=False):
             conn_settings.pop('password')
         else:
             # Get all the slave connections
-            slaves = []
-            for slave_alias in conn_settings['slaves']:
-                slaves.append(get_connection(slave_alias))
-            conn_settings['slaves'] = slaves
-            conn_settings.pop('read_preference')
+            if 'slaves' in conn_settings:
+                slaves = []
+                for slave_alias in conn_settings['slaves']:
+                    slaves.append(get_connection(slave_alias))
+                conn_settings['slaves'] = slaves
+                conn_settings.pop('read_preference')
 
         try:
             _connections[alias] = Connection(**conn_settings)
diff --git a/tests/connection.py b/tests/connection.py
index e017b388..7ff0998e 100644
--- a/tests/connection.py
+++ b/tests/connection.py
@@ -30,6 +30,19 @@ class ConnectionTest(unittest.TestCase):
         conn = get_connection('testdb')
         self.assertTrue(isinstance(conn, pymongo.connection.Connection))
 
+    def test_connect_uri(self):
+        """Ensure that the connect() method works properly with uri's
+        """
+
+        connect("testdb_uri", host='mongodb://username:password@localhost/mongoenginetest')
+
+        conn = get_connection()
+        self.assertTrue(isinstance(conn, pymongo.connection.Connection))
+
+        db = get_db()
+        self.assertTrue(isinstance(db, pymongo.database.Database))
+        self.assertEqual(db.name, 'mongoenginetest')
+
     def test_register_connection(self):
         """Ensure that connections with different aliases may be registered.
         """