Maritsa or Maritza ( ), also known as Evros ( ) and Meriç ( ), is a

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 ...

that runs through the

Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

in Southeast Europe. With a length of ,Statistical Yearbook 2017

National Statistical Institute (Bulgaria) The National Statistical Institute or NSI ( or НСИ) is the Bulgarian state agency responsible for the collection and dissemination of statistical data on the population, economy and environment of the country. It reports directly to the Pri ...

, p. 17 it is the longest river that runs solely in the interior of the

Balkan peninsula The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

, and one of the largest in Europe by discharge. It flows through

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 ...

in its upper and middle reaches, while its lower course forms much of the border between

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 ...

and

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 ...

. Its

drainage area A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, th ...

is about , of which 66.2% is in Bulgaria, 27.5% in Turkey, and 6.3% in Greece. It is the main river of the historical region of

Thrace Thrace (, ; ; ; ) is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe roughly corresponding to the province of Thrace in the Roman Empire. Bounded by the Balkan Mountains to the north, the Aegean Sea to the south, and the Black Se ...

, most of which lies in its

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

. It has its origin in the Rila Mountains in Western Bulgaria, its source being the

Marichini Lakes Marichini Lakes () are a group of four glacial lakes situated in the eastern part of Rila mountain range of southwestern Bulgaria at an altitude between 2,301 m and 2,508 m. They are situated in the Marichin cirque between the summits o ...

. The Maritsa flows east-southeast between the

Balkan The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

and

Rhodope Mountains The Rhodopes (; , ; , ''Rodopi''; ) are a mountain range in Southeastern Europe, and the largest by area in Bulgaria, with over 83% of its area in the southern part of the country and the remainder in Greece. Golyam Perelik is its highest peak ...

, past

Plovdiv Plovdiv (, ) is the List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, second-largest city in Bulgaria, 144 km (93 miles) southeast of the capital Sofia. It had a population of 490,983 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is a cultural hub ...

and Dimitrovgrad in Bulgaria to

Edirne Edirne (; ), historically known as Orestias, Adrianople, is a city in Turkey, in the northwestern part of the Edirne Province, province of Edirne in Eastern Thrace. Situated from the Greek and from the Bulgarian borders, Edirne was the second c ...

in Turkey. East of

Svilengrad Svilengrad (; ; ) is a town in Haskovo Province, south-central Bulgaria, situated at the tripoint of Bulgaria, Turkey, and Greece. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Svilengrad Municipality. Geography Svilengrad is close to the ro ...

, Bulgaria, the river flows eastwards, forming the border between Bulgaria (on the north bank) and Greece (on the south bank), and then between Turkey and Greece. At Edirne, the river meets it two chief tributaries

Tundzha The Tundzha ( ; ; ''Tonsus'' in antiquity) is a river in southeastern Bulgaria and northwesternmost Turkey, a left tributary of the Maritsa. With a length of 390 km, of which 350 km are in Bulgaria, it is Maritsa's longest tributary, ...

and

Arda Arda or ARDA may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Arda (Middle-earth), fictional world in the works of J. R. R. Tolkien * Arda (band), a Russian heavy metal band People * Arda (name) Places *Arda (Maritsa), a river in Bulgaria and Greece *A ...

, and flows through Turkish territory on both banks. It then turns towards the south and forms the border between Greece on the west bank and Turkey on the east bank all the way to 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 ...

, which it enters near

Enez Enez is a town in Edirne Province, in East Thrace, Turkey. The ancient name of the town was Ainos (), Latinised as Aenus. It is the seat of Enez District.

, forming a

river delta A river delta is a landform, archetypically triangular, created by the deposition of the sediments that are carried by the waters of a river, where the river merges with a body of slow-moving water or with a body of stagnant water. The creat ...

. The upper Maritsa valley is a principal east–west route in Bulgaria. The unnavigable river is used for hydroelectric power generation and irrigation.

Names

The earliest known name of the river is (,

Alcman Alcman (; ''Alkmán''; fl. 7th century BC) was an Ancient Greek choral lyric poet from Sparta. He is the earliest representative of the Alexandrian canon of the Nine Lyric Poets. He wrote six books of choral poetry, most of which is now lost; h ...

, 7th–6th century BC).

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 ...

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 ...

meant "wide". The Proto-Indo-European

consonant cluster In linguistics, a consonant cluster, consonant sequence or consonant compound is a group of consonants which have no intervening vowel. In English, for example, the groups and are consonant clusters in the word ''splits''. In the education fie ...

*''-wr-'' shifted in

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, ...

to ''-br-'', creating the Thracian name . Thereafter, the river began to be known as () in Greek and in Latin. Rather than an origin as 'wide river', an alternative hypothesis is that is borrowed from Thracian meaning 'splasher'. While the name () was used in

, the name () had become standard before the ancient form was restituted in

Modern Greek Modern Greek (, or , ), generally referred to by speakers simply as Greek (, ), refers collectively to the dialects of the Greek language spoken in the modern era, including the official standardized form of the language sometimes referred to ...

as (now: ). The name may derive from a mountain near the mouth of the river known in antiquity as or , Latinized as .

History

In 1371, the river was the site of the

Battle of Maritsa The Battle of Maritsa or Battle of Chernomen (; in tr. ''Second Battle of Maritsa'') took place at the Maritsa River near the village of Chernomen (present-day Ormenio, Greece) on 26 September 1371 between Ottoman forces commanded by Lala S ...

, also known as the battle of Chernomen, an Ottoman victory over the

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

n rulers

Vukašin Mrnjavčević Vukašin () is an old Slavic name of Serbian origin. It is composed from two words: Vuk (wolf) and sin ( son), so it means sin vuka (son of wolf). In some places in Croatia and Bosnia it can be found as a surname. The name Vukašin can be foun ...

and Jovan Uglješa, who died in the battle. After 1923, the river gained political significance as the modern border between

and

. This was further bolstered by Greece joining the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

in 1981 (and then the

Schengen area The Schengen Area ( , ) encompasses European countries that have officially abolished border controls at their common borders. As an element within the wider area of freedom, security and justice (AFSJ) policy of the European Union (EU), it ...

), marking the river as an external boundary of the EU. Since the 1990s, the river, as a natural barrier on the border between Turkey and Greece, has become a major route for migrants from a variety of countries attempting to enter the EU irregularly. Between 2000 and 2019, 398 bodies were found on the Greek side of the Maritsa/Evros river. Up until that time, drowning in the river was the leading cause of death among migrants trying to enter Greece. In February 2020, Turkey unilaterally opened its borders to Greece to allow refugees and migrants seeking refuge to reach the European Union, leading to the 2020 Greek–Turkish border crisis. In May 2020, news emerged that Turkish forces occupied of Greek territory, Melissokomeio, as shown on maps of 1923, following a change in the flow of the river. These crises passed following the improvement in Greek-Turkish relations in 2023, however, illegal migration is still a major issue.

Tributaries

Starting from the river's source, significant tributaries of Maritsa include: *Left tributaries: ** Topolnitsa (flows into Maritsa near

Pazardzhik Pazardzhik ( ) is a city situated along the banks of the Maritsa river, southern Bulgaria. It is the centre of Pazardzhik Province and Pazardzhik Municipality. It is located in the Upper Thracian Plain and in the Pazardzhik-Plovdiv Field, a ...

) **

Luda Yana The Luda Yana (, meaning "Crazy Yana") is a 74 km-long river in southern Bulgaria, a left tributary of the river Maritsa. There are several version about the river's etymology. According to geographer Pavel Deliradev, the name comes from a co ...

(near Ognyanovo) **

Stryama The Stryama ( , known in Antiquity as ''Syrmus'') is a river in southern Bulgaria, an important left tributary of the Maritsa. It originates in the Balkan Mountains. The river is 110 kilometres in length and is the sixth longest in the Marits ...

(near

Sadovo Sadovo ( ) is a small town in Plovdiv Province, central Bulgaria, and the administrative center of Sadovo Municipality. The population was 2,600. Geography The city is close to the Maritsa River, 18 kilometers east of Plovdiv. Sadovo municipa ...

) ** Sazliyka (near Simeonovgrad) **

/Tunca (in

) **

Ergene Ergene (; ; ''Eryinis'', , ''Agriánēs'') is a major left tributary of the Maritsa (Meriç) river, flowing entirely in the East Thrace region of Turkey. The river rises from the southern part of Strandzha mountain, not far from the Black Sea and ...

(near

İpsala İpsala (; ) is a town in Edirne Province in northwestern Turkey. It is the seat of İpsala District.Chepinska reka (near

Septemvri Septemvri (, , ) is a town in Pazardzhik Province, southern Bulgaria. It is the administrative center of homonymous Septemvri Municipality. As of 2024 the town had a population of 8,071. Geography The town is situated at an altitude of about ...

) ** Vacha (near

Stamboliyski Stamboliyski ( ) is a town in Plovdiv Province, southern Bulgaria. It is located on the Maritsa river. Stamboliyski was founded in 1873–75, when the Istanbul-Belovo, Bulgaria, Belovo railway was built. It was initially called Gara Krichim ('K ...

) ** Chepelarska reka (near Sadovo) ** Harmanliyska reka (near

Harmanli Harmanli ( , ) is a town in Haskovo Province, south-central Bulgaria. It is the administrative centre of the eponymous Harmanli Municipality. Near the site of Hamanli in Late Antiquity, during the early 4th-century Cibalensean War, the Battl ...

) **

/Ardas (near Edirne) **

Erythropotamos The Erythropotamos (, meaning "red river") or Luda reka (, meaning "mad river") is a river in southern Bulgaria (Haskovo Province) and northeastern Greece ( Evros regional unit). Its Turkish name was ''Kızıldelisu''. Its source is near Mega Der ...

/Luda reka (near

Didymoteicho Didymoteicho ( ) is a town located on the eastern edge of the Evros (regional unit), Evros regional unit of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, in northeastern Greece. It is the seat of the municipality of the same name. The town (pop. 8,681 in 2021 ...

)

Floods

The lower course of the river Maritsa, where it forms the border between Greece and Turkey, is very vulnerable to flooding. For about 4 months every year, the low lands around the river are flooded. This causes significant economic damage (loss of agricultural production and damage to infrastructure), which is estimated at several hundreds million Euro.Environmental management of big riverine floods: the case of Evros River in Greece
Z. Nivolianitou, B. Synodinou Recent large floods have taken place in 2006, 2007, 2014, with the largest flood taking place in 2021. Several causes have been proposed, including more rainfall due to climate change, deforestation in the Bulgarian part of the catchment area, increased land use in the flood plains and difficult communication between the three countries.

Trivia

Maritsa Peak on

Livingston Island Livingston Island (Russian name ''Smolensk'', ) is an Antarctic island in the Southern Ocean, part of the South Shetland Islands, South Shetlands Archipelago, a group of List of Antarctic and subantarctic islands, Antarctic islands north of the ...

in the

South Shetland Islands The South Shetland Islands are a group of List of Antarctic and subantarctic islands, Antarctic islands located in the Drake Passage with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the n ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

is named after Maritsa River. ''La Maritza'' is also a 1968 song written by

Jean Renard Jean Renard (born 12 July 1932) is a Belgian boxer. He competed in the men's bantamweight event at the 1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics (, ), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad (, ) and commonly known as Helsinki ...

and

Pierre Delanoë Pierre Charles Marcel Napoléon Leroyer (16 December 1918 – 27 December 2006), known professionally as Pierre Delanoë (), was a French lyricist who wrote thousands of songs for dozens of singers, including Dalida, Edith Piaf, Charles Aznavou ...

and interpreted by

Sylvie Vartan Sylvie Vartan (; born Sylvie Georges Vartanian on 15 August 1944) is a Bulgarians in France, Bulgarian-French singer and actress. She is known as one of the most productive and tough-sounding yé-yé artists. Her performances often featured ela ...

Hebrus Valles The Hebrus Valles are an ancient system of troughs and valleys in the Amenthes quadrangle of Mars, located at 20.2° north latitude and 233.4° west longitude. They are 317 km long and were named after a river in the Balkans which runs throu ...

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

is named after this river. The Bulgarian Maritsa motorway, which roughly follows the course of the river from

Chirpan Chirpan (, ) is a town on the Tekirska River in Stara Zagora Province of south-central Bulgaria. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Chirpan Municipality. As of 2021, the town had a population of 13,391, down from 15,109 in 2013. ...

(where it branches out of the

Trakia motorway The Trakia motorway (, ) or Thrace motorway, designated A1, is a motorway in Bulgaria. It connects the capital city of Sofia, the city of Plovdiv and the city of Burgas on the Black Sea coast. The motorway is named after the historical region of ...

) to the Turkish border at

Kapitan Andreevo Kapitan Andreevo ( ) is a village near the Bulgaria—Turkey—Greece tripoint in Svilengrad municipality, Haskovo Province, southern Bulgaria. As of 2005 it has 948 inhabitants and the mayor is Dimitar Shiderov. Due to the proximity with Turkey, ...

, is also named in honour of the river.

Gallery

File:MaricaRiveratHarmanli.jpg, Spring

freshet The term ''freshet'' is most commonly used to describe a snowmelt, an annual high water event on rivers resulting from snow and river ice melting. Description A spring freshet can sometimes last several weeks on large river systems, resulting ...

of Maritsa River at

File:Maritsa.jpg, View from the river, Edirne. File:Meriç River.jpg, The river viewed from Turkey. Greek land visible on the right. File:ΔΕΛΤΑ ΤΟΥ ΕΒΡΟΥ 20.jpg, Boat on the delta.

Names

History

Tributaries

Floods

Trivia

Gallery

Notes

References

Further reading