Great Morava
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Great Morava | |
---|---|
Native name | |
Location | |
Country | Serbia |
Physical characteristics | |
Source | Stalać |
• location | from South Morava and West Morava |
Mouth | near Smederevo |
• location | Danube |
• coordinates | 44°42′42″N 21°02′05″E / 44.71167°N 21.03472°E |
Length | 185 km (115 mi)[1] (with the West Morava: 493 km or 306 mi) |
Basin size | 38,207 km2 (14,752 sq mi)[2] |
Discharge | |
• average | 255 m3/s (9,000 cu ft/s) at the mouth |
Basin features | |
Progression | Danube→ Black Sea |
The Great Morava (Serbian: Велика Морава, romanized: Velika Morava, pronounced [vêlikaː mɔ̌rava]) is the final section of the Morava (Serbian Cyrillic: 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 the Merehani, an early Slavic tribe who were still unconquered by the Bulgars during the time of the Bavarian Geographer.[3] However, after 845, the Bulgars added these Slavs to their societas (they are last mentioned in 853).[4]
Length
The Great Morava begins at the confluence of the
At one time (regulations were made on all three branches making them shorter) the Morava was over 600 km long. Today, the most distant water source in the Morava watershed is the source of the
Geography
The drainage basin of the Velika Morava is 6,126 km2, and of the whole Morava system is 38,207 km2
Tributaries
Tributaries of the Velika Morava are short, the longest one being the
Improvements
The Velika Morava represents a textbook example of a
The riverbed is 80–200 m wide, and the depth as much as 10 m. Notorious for its flooding, the Morava has changed its course many times, and old river bends have become small lakes, known as moravište. Južna Morava, with extremely high erosion in its drainage basin, brings huge amounts of silt which is elevating Velika Morava's river bed, making floods even more frequent.
Beginning in 1966, huge works began on all three rivers to prevent future floodings. Series of reservoirs were made on tributaries (lakes
The Morava and its tributaries still flood often, so its bed remains elevated, despite dozens of gravel-digging companies in cities and villages near the river's upper course (
This section needs additional citations for verification. (September 2018) |
Today, Velika Morava is navigable for only 3 km from its mouth. In the past it was navigable all the way to the city of Ćuprija, for about 3/4 of its length. But, as mentioned before, Velika Morava gets buried under the materials brought by the Južna Morava.
When the
Technical problems of making this waterway would be enormous (neither the Morava nor the Vardar are navigable), the usefulness of its creation is debatable (whether the route would be used much), and the estimated costs are deemed prohibitive.
Settlements
Although Morava valley has always been the most populous part of Serbia, disastrous floodings prevented people from settling on the river banks itself. The only urban settlement on the river banks is Ćuprija, but it often suffers from floods (including several times in the 1990s).
Other urban settlements, built a little further away from the river itself, include: Paraćin, Jagodina, Batočina, Lapovo, Svilajnac, Velika Plana, Požarevac and Smederevo. Smaller places and villages include: Varvarin, Glogovac, Markovac, Veliko Orašje, Miloševac and Lozovik.
Tradition
The Romans called it Margus (in addition to that, the Zapadna Morava was named Brongus, and Južna Morava was Angrus). The modern-day city of Ćuprija existed in Roman times as Horreum Margi (meaning "The Granary of Margus").
In Serbian history, its valley became the cradle of the modern Serbian state in the beginning of the 19th century (so called "Moravian Serbia"; Moravska Srbija). Many songs were written in celebration of Morava and its fertility, but most of them also talked about casualties and damages done by the river during floods.
Songs are even made today about it; the most famous are: Oj Moravo ("Oh, Morava"), Moravo, tija reko ("Morava, you quiet river"), Uz Moravu vetar duva ("Wind blows up the Morava"), Na Moravi vodenica stara ("Old mill on Morava"), Moravac kolo ("Morava kolo"), etc.
Oj Moravo may be the most characteristic:
- 'Oj Moravo, moje selo ravno,
- Kad si ravno što si vodoplavno
- Kiša pade, te Morava dođe,
- Te poplavi moje selo ravno
- A u selu Jovanove dvore,
- I u dvoru Jovanovu ljubu'
- Oh, Morava, my plain village,
- If it's so plain, why do you flood it
- Rains came, so Morava rose,
- And flooded my plain village
- And in the village it flooded Jovan's home,
- And in it, his loving wife'
Works cited
- ^ ISSN 0354-4206. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
- ^ a b Velika Morava River Basin, ICPDR, November 2009, p. 2
- ^ Komatina 2010, p. 21.
- ^ Komatina 2010, p. 22.
- ^ "Morava – Vardar (Axios) Navigation Route". 28 November 2011.
- ^ See Thessaloniki#Economy
References
- Komatina, Predrag (2010). "The Slavs of the mid-Danube basin and the Bulgarian expansion in the first half of the 9th century" (PDF). Зборник радова Византолошког института. 47: 55–82.
- Mala Prosvetina Enciklopedija, Third edition (1985); Prosveta; ISBN 86-07-00001-2
- Jovan Đ. Marković (1990): Enciklopedijski geografski leksikon Jugoslavije; Svjetlost-Sarajevo; ISBN 86-01-02651-6
- PIM "Ivan Milutinović", Belgrade, Serbia; Morava - Vardar (Axios) Navigation Route (About 1,200 km shorter route (three days shorter time of navigation) from Belgrade to Port of Thessaloniki than across Danube, Black Sea and Aegean Sea. 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.)
See also
Media related to Great Morava at Wikimedia Commons