The Vardar (; , , ) or Axios (, ) is the longest

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 ...

North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

and a major river in

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, where it reaches the

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 ...

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

Etymology

The name ''Vardar'' for the river may have been derived from

Thracian The Thracians (; ; ) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Southeast Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied the area that today is shared between north-eastern Greece, ...

, although Dardanian,

Paeonian In antiquity, Paeonia or Paionia () was the land and kingdom of the Paeonians (or Paionians; ). The exact original boundaries of Paeonia, like the early history of its inhabitants, are obscure, but it is known that it roughly corresponds to m ...

, Ancient Macedonian and

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

were also spoken in the lands drained by the river. The modern Vardar is thought to derive from an earlier *''Vardários'', which may ultimately derive from

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

(PIE) *''(s)wordo-wori-'' "black water". The name ''Vardários'' (Βαρδάριος) was sometimes used by the

Ancient Greeks Ancient Greece () was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity (), that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically re ...

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

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

era. Vardar/Vardarios may be a translation of (or otherwise have a similar meaning as) ''Axios'', which may be Thracian and may have meant "not-shining" from PIE *''n.-sk(e)i'' (cf. Avestan ''axšaēna'' "dark-coloured"). The oldest known name of the river, ''Axios'', is mentioned by

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

(Il. 21.141, Il. 2.849) as the home of the

Paeonians Paeonians () were an ancient Proto-Indo-Europeans, Indo-European people that dwelt in Paeonia (kingdom), Paeonia. Paeonia was an old country whose location was to the north of Ancient Macedonia, to the south of Dardania (Roman province), Dardania ...

allies of

Troy Troy (/; ; ) or Ilion (; ) was an ancient city located in present-day Hisarlik, Turkey. It is best known as the setting for the Greek mythology, Greek myth of the Trojan War. The archaeological site is open to the public as a tourist destina ...

. Pjetër Bogdani would use the form ''Asi'', an earlier Albanian-language name for the river. This same hypothetical Thracian ''Axio-'' meaning "dark, not-shining" is theorized to be found in the name of a city at the mouth of the Danube, called Axiopolis in Greek and ''Axíopa'' (perhaps again meaning just "dark water") in Thracian, which may later have been translated into Slavic as ''

Cernavodă Cernavodă () is a town in Constanța County, Northern Dobruja, Romania with a population of 15,088 as of 2021. The town's name is derived from the Bulgarian ''černa voda'' ( in Cyrillic), meaning 'black water'. This name is regarded by some s ...

'', also meaning "black water".Katičic', Radoslav. ''Ancient Languages of the Balkans''. Paris: Mouton, 1976: 149.

Geography

The river rises at Vrutok, a few kilometers southwest of

Gostivar Gostivar ( ; sq-definite, Gostivari) is a city in North Macedonia, located in the upper Polog valley region. It is the seat of one of the larger municipalities in the country with a population of 59,770, and the town also covers . Gostivar has ...

in North Macedonia. It passes through

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 ...

and into Veles, crosses the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

border near

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

Polykastro Polykastro (, 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), Kilkis regional unit of Central Macedonia, Greece. Since the 20 ...

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

Central Macedonia Central Macedonia ( ; , ) is one of the thirteen Regions of Greece, administrative regions of Greece, consisting the central part of the Geographic regions of Greece, geographical and historical region of Macedonia (Greece), Macedonia. With a ...

, west of

in northern Greece. The river forms a large

delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet * D (NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta"), the fourth letter in the Latin alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * Delta Air Lines, a major US carrier ...

along with Loudias and

Haliacmon The Haliacmon (, ''Aliákmonas''; formerly: , ''Aliákmon'' or ''Haliákmōn'') is the longest river flowing entirely in Greece, with a total length of . In Greece there are three rivers longer than Haliacmon: Maritsa (), Struma (Strymónas), bot ...

at the Axios-Loudias-Aliakmonas National Park. The Vardar basin comprises two-thirds of the

territory A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, belonging or connected to a particular country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually a geographic area which has not been granted the powers of self-government, ...

. The valley features fertile lands in the Polog region, around

and in the Thessaloniki regional unit. The river is surrounded by mountains elsewhere. The superhighways Greek National Road 1 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 The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

and remains so in modern-day

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

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

A proposal to construct a canal connecting the Morava river valley with the Vardar, and hence linking the Danube to the Aegean Canal, has been a dream for a long time.

Le Figaro () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It was named after Figaro, a character in several plays by polymath Pierre Beaumarchais, Beaumarchais (1732–1799): ''Le Barbier de Séville'', ''The Guilty Mother, La Mère coupable'', ...

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 A ravine is a landform that is narrower than a canyon and is often the product of streambank erosion. Ravines are typically classified as larger in scale than gullies, although smaller than valleys. Ravines may also be called a cleuch, dell, ...

wind which blows across the river valley in

as well as in

. 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

and the Axios delta. Somewhat similar to the mistral wind of

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, 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

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 The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

—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 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 ...

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

. 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 Lowest points of countries