The Dragonja (; it, Dragogna) is a long

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of ...

in the northern part of the Istrian peninsula. It is a meandering river with a very branched basin and a small quantity of water. It has a

pluvial regime The river regime generally describes the character of the typical fluctuations of flow of a river, but can also refer to the mathematical relationship between the river discharge and its width, depth and slope. Thus, "river regime" can describe one ...

and often dries up in summer. It features very diverse living environments and is home to a number of animal and plant species. The Dragonja has been a matter of a territorial dispute between Croatia and Slovenia, with its lowest portion ''

de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with '' de jure'' ("by l ...

'' the border of the two countries.

Course

The river is the third-longest river in Istria, after the Raša and

Mirna MicroRNA (miRNA) are small, single-stranded, non-coding RNA molecules containing 21 to 23 nucleotides. Found in plants, animals and some viruses, miRNAs are involved in RNA silencing and post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression. miR ...

rivers. It is the largest river of the Slovenian coast that flows into the Adriatic Sea. It is also the only Slovenian river that does not flow through settlements and that flows in its entirety over the

flysch Flysch () is a sequence of sedimentary rock layers that progress from deep-water and turbidity flow deposits to shallow-water shales and sandstones. It is deposited when a deep basin forms rapidly on the continental side of a mountain building epi ...

terrain. The Dragonja originates from several sources in the Šavrin Hills and flows west to the

Gulf of Piran The Gulf of Piran or Piran Bay ( sl, Piranski zaliv, hr, Piranski zaljev, it, Baia di Pirano) is located in the northern part of the Adriatic Sea, and is a part of the southernmost tip of the Gulf of Trieste. Overview It was named after the tow ...

, part of the northern

Adriatic Sea The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) to th ...

. It is joined by two larger tributaries from the right side (Rokava and the Drnica Creeks) and one larger tributary from the left side (Poganja Creek). The Sečovlje Salina Landscape Park with the

Sečovlje Saltworks The Sečovlje Saltworks ( sl, Sečoveljske soline; it, Saline di Sicciole) is the largest Slovenian salt evaporation pond. Along with the Strunjan Saltworks, they are the northernmost Mediterranean saltworks and one of the few where salt is sti ...

is located at its mouth. The lowest part of the Dragonja in the Municipality of Piran has been protected since 1990 as a

natural monument A natural monument is a natural or natural/cultural feature of outstanding or unique value because of its inherent rarity, representative of aesthetic qualities or cultural significance. Under World Commission on Protected Areas guidelines, na ...

Name

The Dragonja River was first attested in written sources as ''Argao'' (

ablative In grammar, the ablative case (pronounced ; sometimes abbreviated ) is a grammatical case for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives in the grammars of various languages; it is sometimes used to express motion away from something, among other uses. ...

''Argaone''), and in later sources as ''Argaone'' (in 670), ''per Argaonem'' (in 1035), ''Dragugne'' (in 1100), and ''super flumine Dragone'' (in 1389). The modern Slovene and Italian names (with initial ''D-'') are derived from Slavic *''Dorgon’a'', from Romance ''d-'' (< ''ad'' 'at') + ''Argaon-'' (with metathesis). Ultimately, the name is of pre-Romance origin, presumably based on the

Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo ...

root *''h₂arg’-'' 'shining'. Non-linguistic accounts explain the name as based on the meandering course of the river, resembling a dragon ( it, drago).

Territorial dispute

In the lower reaches of the Dragonja, there is a territorial dispute between Slovenia and

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = " Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capi ...

: while Croatian authorities claim that the Dragonja is a border river, Slovenia claims a strip of territory south to the river as well. , the last of Dragonja's course is

border of Croatia and Slovenia. The disputed territory contains four hamlets and Croatia's Plovanija border crossing. The Dragonja River became a district border river after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, when the Yugoslav-administered Zone B of the

Free Territory of Trieste The Free Territory of Trieste was an independent territory in Southern Europe between northern Italy and Yugoslavia, facing the north part of the Adriatic Sea, under direct responsibility of the United Nations Security Council in the aftermath ...

(FTT) was split into the

Koper Koper (; it, Capodistria, hr, Kopar) is the fifth largest city in Slovenia. Located in the Istrian region in the southwestern part of the country, approximately five kilometres () south of the border with Italy and 20 kilometres () from Triest ...

and Buje districts. After dissolution of the FTT in 1954 and transfer of its former Zone B to Yugoslavia, the Koper district became a part of Slovenia while the Buje district was attached to Croatia.

References

{{Authority control Rivers of the Slovene Littoral Rivers of Croatia Drainage basins of the Adriatic Sea Croatia–Slovenia border Istria Slovenian Riviera Natura 2000 in Slovenia