The Vardar (; , , , ) or Axios (, It is long, out of which are in Greece, The name Vardários (Βαρδάριος) was sometimes used by the Ancient Greeks in the 3rd century BC. The same name was widely used in the Byzantine era. The oldest known name of the river, Axios, is mentioned by Homer (Il. 21.141, Il. 2.849) as the home of the Paeonians allies of Troy. 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, also meaning "black water".

Geography

thumb|left|240px|Vardar in [[Skopje: the Stone Bridge]]

The river rises at Vrutok, a few kilometers southwest of Gostivar in North Macedonia. It passes through Gostivar, Skopje and into Veles, crosses the Greek border near Gevgelija, Polykastro and Axioupoli ("town on the Axiós"), before emptying into the Thermaic Gulf, west of Thessaloniki, in Central Macedonia in northern Greece. The river forms a large delta along with Loudias and Haliacmon at the Axios-Loudias-Aliakmonas National Park.

The Vardar basin comprises two-thirds of the territory of North Macedonia. The valley features fertile lands in the Polog region, around Gevgelija 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 and remains so in modern-day Turkey 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 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.

Vardaris wind

The Vardaris or Vardarec is a powerful prevailing northerly ravine wind which blows across the river valley in Greece as well as in North Macedonia. 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 Thessaloniki and the Axios delta. Somewhat similar to the mistral wind of France, it occurs when atmospheric pressure over eastern Europe is higher than over the Aegean Sea, as is often the case in winter.

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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 Greece

File:Надолжен профил на Вардар.jpg|Longitudinal hydrographic profile of the flow of river Vardar

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See also

  • Great Morava
  • Pčinja River
  • Vardar Macedonia
  • Vardar Banovina
  • Vardar Statistical Region
  • Vardariotai
  • Paionia

References

  • Proceedings of the 1st Axios Catchment Consortium Meeting by the European Commission—DG Research
  • PIM "Ivan Milutinović", Belgrade, Serbia; Morava - Vardar (Axios) Navigation Route—About 1,200&nbsp;km shorter route (three days shorter time of navigation) from Belgrade to Port of Thessaloniki than across Danube, Black Sea and Aegean Sea. 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