The Vardar (; mk, , , ) or Axios () is the longest river in North Macedonia and the second longest river in Greece, in which it reaches the

Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea ; tr, Ege Denizi (Greek: Αιγαίο Πέλαγος: "Egéo Pélagos", Turkish: "Ege Denizi" or "Adalar Denizi") is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans ...

at Thessaloniki. It is long, out of which are in Greece, and drains an area of around . The maximum depth of the river is .

Etymology

The origin of the name ''Vardar'' derives from

Thracian The Thracians (; grc, Θρᾷκες ''Thrāikes''; la, Thraci) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Eastern and Southeastern Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied t ...

''Vardários''. It comes from Proto-Indo-European (PIE) *''(s)wordo-wori-'' ("black water"). It can be considered a translation or similar meaning of ''Axios'', which itself is Thracian for 'not-shining' from PIE *''n.-sk(e)i'' (cf. Avestan ''axšaēna'' ("dark-coloured")). It is found in another name of the city at the mouth of the Danube, called ''Axíopa'' ("dark water") in Thracian, which was later translated into Slavic as ''

Cernavodă Cernavodă () is a town in Constanța County, Northern Dobruja, Romania with a population of 20,514. The town's name is derived from the Bulgarian ''černa voda'' (черна вода in Cyrillic), meaning 'black water'. This name is regarded b ...

'' (“black water”).Katičic', Radoslav. ''Ancient Languages of the Balkans''. Paris: Mouton, 1976: 149 The name ''Vardários'' (Βαρδάριος) was sometimes used by the

Ancient Greeks Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cult ...

in the 3rd century BC. The same name was widely used in the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

era. The word may ultimately be derived from the PIE root '' werǵ-'', which is also the source of the English ''

work Work may refer to: * Work (human activity), intentional activity people perform to support themselves, others, or the community ** Manual labour, physical work done by humans ** House work, housework, or homemaking ** Working animal, an animal tr ...

''. Its name ''Axios'' is mentioned by Homer (Il. 21.141, Il. 2.849) as the home of the

Paeonians Paeonians were an ancient Indo-European people that dwelt in Paeonia. Paeonia was an old country whose location was to the north of Ancient Macedonia, to the south of Dardania, to the west of Thrace and to the east of Illyria, most of their l ...

allies of Troy.

Pjetër Bogdani Pjetër Bogdani (1627 – 6 December 1689), known in Italian as ''Pietro Bogdano'', was the most original writer of early literature in Albania. He was author of the Cuneus Prophetarum (''The Band of the Prophets''), 1685, the first prose work ...

would call it ''Asi'', an earlier Albanian-language name for the river.

Geography

The river rises at

Vrutok Vrutok ( mk, Вруток, ) is a village in the municipality of Gostivar, North Macedonia. The village is situated on the slopes of Mount Bistra by the Korab mountains, near the town of Gostivar. Geography Its importance belongs to the water ...

, a few kilometers southwest of

Gostivar Gostivar ( mk, Гостивар , Albanian and Turkish: ''Gostivar''), is a city in North Macedonia, located in the upper Polog valley region. It is one of the largest municipalities in the country with a population of 81,042, and the town als ...

in North Macedonia. It passes through

, Skopje and into Veles, crosses the Greek border near

Gevgelija Gevgelija ( mk, Гевгелија; ) is a town with a population of 15,685 located in the very southeast of the North Macedonia along the banks of the Vardar River, situated at the country's main border with Greece (Bogorodica- Evzoni), the poi ...

Polykastro Polykastro ( el, Πολύκαστρο, before 1928 , ''Karasoúli''; ''Pandektis: Name Changes of Settlements in Greece'', compiled by the/ref>) is a town and a former municipality in Kilkis regional unit of Central Macedonia, Greece. Since the 2 ...

and

Axioupoli Axioupoli ( el, Αξιούπολη), known until 1927 as Boymitsa (Боймица, Μποέμιτσα), is a small town and a former municipality in the former Paionia Province of Kilkis regional unit, Greek Macedonia. Since the 2011 local gove ...

("town on the Axiós"), before emptying into the

Central Macedonia Central Macedonia ( el, Κεντρική Μακεδονία, Kentrikí Makedonía, ) is one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece, consisting of the central part of the geographical and historical region of Macedonia. With a populat ...

, west of Thessaloniki in northern Greece. The Vardar basin comprises two-thirds of the

territory A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or an ...

of North Macedonia. The valley features fertile lands in the

Polog Polog ( mk, Полог, Polog; sq, Pollog), also known as the Polog Valley ( mk, links=no, Полошка Котлина, Pološka Kotlina; sq, links=no, Lugina e Pollogut), is located in the north-western part of the Republic of North Macedo ...

region, around

and in the Thessaloniki regional unit. The river is surrounded by mountains elsewhere. The superhighways

Greek National Road 1 Greek National Road 1 ( el, Εθνική Οδός 1, abbreviated as EO1) is the old single carriageway road connecting Athens with Thessaloniki and Evzonoi, the border crossing between Greece and North Macedonia. For most of its length, it ...

in Greece and M1 and E75 run within the valley along the river's entire length to near Skopje. The river was very famous during the Ottoman Empire and remains so in modern-day Turkey as the inspiration for many folk songs, of which the most famous is Vardar Ovasi. It has also been depicted on the coat of arms of Skopje, which in turn is incorporated in the city's flag.

Project to construct the Danube-Vardar-Aegean Canal

The project to construct the Danube-Morava-Vardar-Aegean Canal has been a dream for a long time. Le Figaro published a project of Athens and Belgrade on 28.08.2017. The Greek-Serbian proposal made in Beijing is Pharaonic: 651 km. A project worth 17 billion.The Greek-Serbian proposal made in Beiji

/ref>

Vardaris wind

The ''Vardaris'' or ''Vardarec'' is a powerful geostrophic wind, prevailing northerly ravine wind which blows across the river valley in Greece as well as in North Macedonia. At first it descends along the "canal" of the Vardar valley, usually as a breeze. When it encounters the high mountains that separate Greece from North Macedonia, it descends the other side, gathering a tremendous momentum and bringing cold conditions to the city of Thessaloniki and the Axios delta. Somewhat similar to the mistral wind of France, it occurs when atmospheric pressure over eastern Europe is higher than over the

, as is often the case in winter.

Gallery

File:Northwestern Macedonia.png, Map of the northwestern part of North Macedonia including the source of the Vardar File:Axios-Vardar river map.jpg, Axios/Vardar river map File:Veles Gorge Vardar Macedonia.jpg, Veles Gorge File:River Vardar (2).JPG, River Vardar near Gradsko File:River Vardar (1).JPG, River Vardar near Gradsko (2) File:Axios river.jpg, Vardar (Axios) river in Greece File:Надолжен профил на Вардар.jpg, Longitudinal hidrographic profile of the flow of river Vardar

References

External links

Proceedings of the 1st Axios Catchment Consortium Meeting
by the European Commission—DG Research
PIM "Ivan Milutinović", Belgrade, SerbiaMorava - Vardar (Axios) Navigation Route
��About 1,200 km shorter route (three days shorter time of navigation) from

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; names in other languages) is the capital and largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. Nearly 1,166,763 m ...

Port of Thessaloniki The Customs House, now passenger terminal, in the early 1900s. The Port of Thessaloniki ( el, Λιμάνι της Θεσσαλονίκης) is one of the largest seaports in the Eastern Mediterranean. It is considered the gateway Port to the Bal ...

than across Danube, Black Sea and

. Electric power production, improvement of water quality and regulation of flooding wave.
Morava—Vardar (Axios) Navigation Route map

Hydropower and navigation system "Morava"
��Concepts of regulation of rivers Great Morava and South Morava for navigation and hydropower production {{Authority control Geography of ancient Paeonia Geography of Macedonia (region) International rivers of Europe Landforms of Central Macedonia Landforms of Kilkis (regional unit) Landforms of Thessaloniki (regional unit) Rivers of Greece Rivers of North Macedonia Geography of Skopje