Drenica (river)

Drenica
Origin	Maja E Zeze mountain, northwest of Stimlje, Kosovo
Mouth	Sitnica, southwest of Fush Kosova, Kosovo
Basin countries	Kosovo[a]
Length	50 km
Basin area	447 km²

The Drenica '; Albanian: Drenica) is a river in Kosovo^[a], a 50 km-long right tributary to the Sitnica river. It flows entirely within Kosovo and gives its name to the surrounding Drenica region.

The Drenica originates from the central section of the Crnoljeva mountain, in Drenica region. The river originally flows to the north and receives many streams coming down from the Maja e Zeze (on the left) and Goles (from the right) mountains. The composite valley of the river is densely populated, with several large villages (Krajmirovce, Sedlare, Rusinovce, Banjica, Komorane) and a small town of Drenas, one of two regional centers of Drenica region.

At Drenas, the Drenica receives the Lumi from the left and forms a large elbow turn to the north to the southern slopes of the Cicavices mountain. Near the village of Bellaqevci i Madhe, the Drenica turns to the south but at the village of Sllatine e madhe makes another elbow turn to the north, splits in two arms and empties into the Sitnic near the town of Fushë Kosova.

The Drenica belongs to the Black Sea drainage basin, drains an area of 447 km² and it is not navigable.

Notes

a.	^ Kosovo is the subject of a territorial dispute between the Republic of Serbia and the self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo. The latter declared independence on 17 February 2008, while Serbia claims it as part of its own sovereign territory. Its independence is recognised by 85 UN member states.

References

• Mala Prosvetina Enciklopedija, Third edition (1985); Prosveta; ISBN 86-07-00001-2
• Jovan Đ. Marković (1990): Enciklopedijski geografski leksikon Jugoslavije; Svjetlost-Sarajevo; ISBN 86-01-02651-6