The Dragonja (; ) is a long

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 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 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'' the border of the two countries.

Course

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

Mirna Micro ribonucleic acid (microRNA, miRNA, μRNA) are small, single-stranded, non-coding RNA molecules containing 21–23 nucleotides. Found in plants, animals, and even some viruses, miRNAs are involved in RNA silencing and post-transcri ...

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 ep ...

terrain. The Dragonja originates from several sources in the Šavrin Hills and flows west to the Gulf of Piran, part of the northern

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

. 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 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.

Name

The Dragonja River was first attested in written sources as ''Argao'' ( ablative ''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. No direct record of Proto-Indo-European exists; its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-Euro ...

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

Territorial dispute

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

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

: 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 de facto border of Croatia and Slovenia. The disputed territory contains four

hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. This is often simply an informal description of a smaller settlement or possibly a subdivision or satellite entity to a larger settlement. Sometimes a hamlet is defined f ...

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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, when the Yugoslav-administered Zone B of the Free Territory of Trieste (FTT) was split into the

Koper Koper (; ) is the List of cities and towns in Slovenia, fifth-largest city in Slovenia. Located in the Slovenian Istria, Istrian region in the southwestern part of the country, Koper is the main urban center of the Slovene coast. Port of Koper i ...

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.

Course

Name

Territorial dispute

References

Further reading