Dzherman (river)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Dzherman () is a river in south-western
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 ...
, a left tributary of the Struma, flowing through the municipalities of
Sapareva Banya Sapareva Banya (, transliterated ''Sapareva banya'') is a town in southwestern Bulgaria, part of Kyustendil Province. As Ancient Germania (in Dacia), a former bishopric, it is a Latin Catholic titular see. It is located at the north foot of the Ri ...
, Dupnitsa and Boboshevo in Kyustendil Province. The river is 47.8 km long and drains the northwestern sections of the
Rila Rila (, ) is the highest mountain range of Bulgaria, the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, and Southeast Europe. It is situated in southwestern Bulgaria and forms part of the Rila–Rhodope Mountains, Rhodope Massif. The highest summit is Musala at an e ...
mountain range.


Name

The name of the river is a modification of the name of the ancient
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, ...
settlement of ''Germa'', founded near the hot mineral springs on the left bank of the river at modern Sapareva Banya. During the
Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...
rule the settlement was transformed into the fortified city of ''Germanea''. The river is mentioned with name ''Germanshitsa'' in the 1378 Rila Charter of the Bulgarian emperor Ivan Shishman (r. 1371–1395), which was later modified to Dzherman during the Ottoman rule.


Geography

The Dzherman takes its source from the Tear Lake, the highest one of the
Seven Rila Lakes The Seven Rila Lakes (, ) are a group of glacial lakes, situated in the northwestern Rila Mountain in Bulgaria. Situated between 2,100 and 2,500 metres elevation above sea level, they are the most visited group of lakes in Bulgaria. Each lake ca ...
group in the western part of Rila at an altitude of 2,535 m. It then flows though the Twin Lake and the Trefoil Lake before continuing in northeastern direction, where it is joined by a stream flowing from the two lowermost lakes of the group, the Fish and the Lower Lakes. Within Rila, the river flows in a heavily forested deep glacial valley with a number of rapids and waterfalls. Initially the Dzherman flows in northeastern direction and at 1.3 km northwest of the Vada refuge, it makes a sharp turn to the northwest. It enters the Dupnitsa Valley near the town of Sapareva Banya, where it turns to the west and its valley becomes wide and relatively shallow. After the town of Dupnitsa, the Dzherman, fed by its numerous tributaries mainly from the northwestern slopes of Rila, becomes larger, turns to the south-southwest and its valley widens significantly. It then flows into the Struma, at an altitude of 369 m, about 1 km east of the town of Boboshevo. Its catchment area covers a territory of 392 km², or represents 4.43% of Struma's total. It borders the basins of the rivers Leva and Arkata, left tributaries of the Struma, to the west and north; the basin of the
Rilska River The Rilska River (, ''Rilska reka'', "Rila River") is a river in south-western Bulgaria, a left tributary of the Struma (river), Struma. The river is 51 km long and drains the western sections of the Rila mountain range. Geography Under t ...
, a left tributary of the Struma, to the south; and basin of the
Iskar Iskar may refer to: ;Bulgaria * Iskar (river), a river in western Bulgaria * Iskar Reservoir, situated on the Iskar River * Iskar (town), a town in the Iskar Municipality of the Pleven Province * Iskar Municipality * Iskar, Sofia, one of 24 munici ...
from the Danube drainage to the northeast and east. Its tributaries include Skakavitsa, Goritsa, Dupnishka Bistritsa, etc. The highest waterfalls in Rila are situated in the Dzherman catchment area — Skakavitsa (70 m) and Goritsa (39 m). The Dzherman has predominantly snow-rain feed with high water in late spring and early summer (May–June) and low water in summer (July–September). The average annual flow is 3.35 m3/s at Dupnitsa.


Settlements and transport

There are four settlements along the river — the towns of Sapareva Banya and Dupnitsa and the villages Dzherman and Usoyka. Its waters are used for irrigation in the Dupnitsa Valley. Two roads of the national network follow the river valley — a 15 km section of the first class I-1 road between Dupnitsa and Slatino and second class road II-62 from Dupnitsa to the junction for the village of
Kraynitsi Kraynitsi () is a village in Dupnitsa Municipality, Kyustendil Province, south-western Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directl ...
. A section of the railway between Sofia and Kulata follows the left banks of the river between Dupnitsa and Boboshevo.


Citations


References

* {{cite book , ref={{harvid, Geographic Dictionary of Bulgaria, 1980 , title = Географски речник на България , trans-title = Geographic Dictionary of Bulgaria , last1 = Мичев (Michev) , first1 = Николай (Nikolay) , last2 = Михайлов (Mihaylov) , first2 = Цветко (Tsvetko) , last3 = Вапцаров (Vaptsarov) , first3 = Иван (Ivan) , last4 = Кираджиев (Kiradzhiev) , first4 = Светлин (Svetlin) , chapter = , year = 1980 , language = Bulgarian , publisher = Наука и култура (Nauka i kultura) , location = София (Sofia) , isbn = Rivers of Bulgaria Landforms of Kyustendil Province Rila