Južna Morava
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The South Morava (; Macedonian and Serbian: Јужна Морава, ''Južna Morava'', ) is a
river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...
in eastern
Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...
and in southern
Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...
, which represents the shorter headwater of
Great Morava The Great Morava (, ) is the final section of the Morava ( sr-Cyrl, Морава), a major river system in Serbia. Etymology According to Predrag Komatina from the Institute for Byzantine Studies in Belgrade, the Great Morava is named after ...
. Today, it is long, including its source river Binačka Morava. It flows generally in the south to north direction, from the Macedonian border to
Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...
and onwards to
Central Serbia Central Serbia (), also referred to as Serbia proper (), is the region of Serbia lying outside the autonomous province of Vojvodina to the north and the disputed Kosovo region to the south. Central Serbia is a term of convenience, not an administ ...
, where it meets West Morava at Stalać, to create
Great Morava The Great Morava (, ) is the final section of the Morava ( sr-Cyrl, Морава), a major river system in Serbia. Etymology According to Predrag Komatina from the Institute for Byzantine Studies in Belgrade, the Great Morava is named after ...
.


Sources

The river rises in the Skopska Crna Gora mountain north of
Skopje Skopje ( , ; ; , sq-definite, Shkupi) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It lies in the northern part of the country, in the Skopje Basin, Skopje Valley along the Vardar River, and is the political, economic, and cultura ...
, in North Macedonia. The streams Ključevska reka and Slatinska reka join to form the river Golema, which is, after passing the Macedonian-Serbian border, known as the Binačka Morava. After 49 km it meets the Moravica (further upstream called Preševska Moravica) at
Bujanovac Bujanovac ( sr-cyr, Бујановац, ; ) is a List of cities in Serbia, town and Municipalities and cities of Serbia, municipality located in the Pčinja District of southern Serbia. As of the 2022 census, the municipality has a population of ...
, and for the remainder, 246 km, flows as the South Morava.


Geography

The South Morava belongs to the
Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...
drainage basin, and its own drainage area is 15,696 km2, of which 1,237 km2 is in
Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...
(through its right tributary
Nišava The Nišava or Nishava ( Bulgarian and sr-Cyrl, Нишава, ) is a river in Bulgaria and Serbia, a right tributary, and with a length of also the longest one, of the South Morava. Course Bulgaria The Nišava originates in western Bul ...
). Its average discharge at the mouth is 100 m³/s and it is not navigable. South Morava has a composite valley, which means it consists of series of gorges and valleys in this order:
Gjilan Gjilan ( sq-definite, Gjilani) or Gnjilane ( sr-Cyrl, Гњилане) is the third most populous city in Kosovo and it serves as both a municipality and the administrative center of the District of Gjilan, Gjilan District. According to the 2024 ...
valley –
Končulj Končulj ( sr-cyr, Кончуљ; ) is a village located in the municipality of Bujanovac, Serbia. According to the 2002 census, the village has a population of 1,306 people, entirely composed of ethnic Albanians.Popis stanovništva, domaćinstava i ...
gorge –
Vranje Vranje ( sr-Cyrl, Врање, ) is a city in Southern Serbia and the administrative center of the Pčinja District. According to the 2022 census, the city itself has a population of 55,214 while the city administrative area has 74,381 inhabitan ...
valley – Grdelica gorge –
Leskovac Leskovac ( sr-Cyrl, Лесковац, ) is a List of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative center of the Jablanica District in Southern Serbia (Geographical Region), southern Serbia. According to the 2022 census, the city itself has a p ...
valley –
Niš Niš (; sr-Cyrl, Ниш, ; names of European cities in different languages (M–P)#N, names in other languages), less often spelled in English as Nish, is the list of cities in Serbia, third largest city in Serbia and the administrative cente ...
valley –
Aleksinac Aleksinac ( sr-Cyrl, Алексинац) is a town and municipality located in the Nišava District of Southern and Eastern Serbia, southern Serbia. According to 2022 census, the municipality has a population of 43,258 inhabitants. History Preh ...
valley – Stalać gorge. After breaking through the last, Stalać gorge, it meets the West Morava. In macro-geological terms, the South Morava connects the Aegean basin with the
Pannonian basin The Pannonian Basin, with the term Carpathian Basin being sometimes preferred in Hungarian literature, is a large sedimentary basin situated in southeastern Central Europe. After the Treaty of Trianon following World War I, the geomorpholog ...
. This creates a phenomenon named "apparent flow inversion": it seems that the river from one lowland climbs up the mountains and then flows into another lowland. However these two large geological basins are connected by the Grdelica gorge (Serbian: Grdelička klisura/Грделичка клисура). The bottom of the gorge, where the river flows, is much lower than the mountains surrounding it, and of course the river flows downwards through the gorge. The South Morava used to be 318 km long, and represented a longer and natural (flowing in the same direction) headwater of Great Morava. Historically it sometimes caused severe floods. But the river's meanders have now been shortened by almost 30 km; and today it is shorter than the West Morava. However, the West Morava has always had bigger discharge. Areas in southern Serbia where the South Morava flows have been almost completely deforested, which has caused one of the most severe cases of erosion in the Balkans. As a result of this, the river brings large amounts of materials to the Great Morava, filling and elevating its river bed, which exacerbates the huge floods of its daughter river.


Tributaries

The South Morava has 157 tributaries. The most important left tributaries are: Jablanica, Veternica, Pusta reka and Toplica. Right tributaries are:
Vrla A valve regulated lead‐acid (VRLA) battery, commonly known as a sealed lead-acid (SLA) battery, is a type of lead-acid battery characterized by a limited amount of electrolyte ("starved" electrolyte) absorbed in a plate separator or formed into ...
, Vlasina,
Nišava The Nišava or Nishava ( Bulgarian and sr-Cyrl, Нишава, ) is a river in Bulgaria and Serbia, a right tributary, and with a length of also the longest one, of the South Morava. Course Bulgaria The Nišava originates in western Bul ...
(the longest) and Sokobanjska Moravica.


Economy

The South Morava has a significant potential for electricity production, and a huge hydroelectrical system (Vlasina- Vrla I-IV power stations) has been constructed in its drainage basin. To a certain extent, its waters are used for irrigation. The river valley's most important role is as a channel for transportation. It is the natural route for both railway and highway between Belgrade–Skopje–
Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...
. It is part of the
Pan-European corridor X The Corridor X is one of the pan-European corridors. It runs between Salzburg in Austria and Thessaloniki in Greece. The corridor passes through Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, North Macedonia, and Greece. It has four branches: Xa, Xb, ...
, and the route of the E75 Highway.


Historical name

Till early 20th century and beyond it has been also known as ''Bulgarian Morava'' (, ''Balgarska Morava''; , ''Bugarska Morava''). This historical name derives from the Ottoman times when it was considered that as a whole the river was a natural border between Bulgarians from the east side, and Serbs and Albanians from the west one. A detailed ethnographic map of the then mixed (''Albanian, Serbian and Bulgarian'') population of the western bank of ''Bulgarian Morava'' Valley was made by Hahn and Zach in 1861.№20. The Ethnological Map by von Hahn and Zach (1861).
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See also

* Pčinja River


References


Bibliography

* ''Mala Prosvetina Enciklopedija'', Third edition (1985); Prosveta; * Jovan Đ. Marković (1990): "Enciklopedijski geografski leksikon Jugoslavije"; Svjetlost-Sarajevo;


External links


PIM "Ivan Milutinović", Belgrade, Serbia

Morava - Vardar (Axios) Navigation Route
(About 1,200 km shorter route (three days shorter time of navigation) from
Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...
to
Port of Thessaloniki The Port of Thessaloniki () is the main maritime gateway to Southeast, Central and Eastern Europe, strategically located in Northern Greece close to the major Trans-European motorway (inter alia Via Carpathia) and railway networks with direct acce ...
than across
Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...
,
Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...
and
Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans and Anatolia, and covers an area of some . In the north, the Aegean is connected to the Marmara Sea, which in turn con ...
. Electric power production, improvement of water quality and regulation of flooding wave.)
Morava - Vardar (Axios) Navigation Route map
* (Concepts of regulation of rivers Great Morava and South Morava for navigation and hydropower production.)



{{Authority control Rivers of Serbia Rivers of Kosovo Rivers of North Macedonia Geography of Gjilan District Southern Serbia