Bosut River

The Bosut (Serbian Cyrillic: Босут) is a river in eastern Croatia and northwestern Serbia, a 186 km long left tributary of the Sava river.

Croatia

The Bosut originates as the Biđ (or Bič) river in central Slavonia region, on the southern slopes of the Dilj mountain, northwest of the city of Slavonski Brod. Generally flowing to the northeast, it has no major settlements though some larger villages are in the vicinity of the river (Donji Andrijevci, Vrpolje and Strizivojna). Flowing through the village of Cerna, the Biđ receives the river Berava from the south and from this point it is known as the Bosut. Some maps though, indicate that name Bosut is used before the river reaches Cerna, and some other apply the name also for the lowest part of the Berava's course, between Gradište and Cerna.

Turning north from there, the river flows into the region of Syrmia, and the villages of Andrijaševci and Rokovci, reaching the biggest settlement on its course, the city of Vinkovci. From there, the rivers turns to the southeast, which is the direction it will follow for the rest of its course, except for a large U-bend south of Vinkovci. It passes through Kunjevci, Nijemci, Podgrađe, Apševci and Lipovac, where it receives the river Spačva from the right, and after the flow of 158 km through Croatia, crosses the Serbian border.

Serbia

The Bosut enters Serbia at the village of Batrovci and flows through the southwesternmost part of the province of Vojvodina. It continues through the villages of Morović (where it receives the river Studva from the right, its major tributary in Serbia) and Višnjićevo, makes a turn north of Sremska Rača and, after 28 km in Serbia, empties into the Sava at the village of Bosut. A Slezen pond, near Morović, is located in the river's valley.

Characteristics

The Bosut belongs to the Black Sea drainage basin, with its own drainage area of 3,097 km². For some 40 km its navigable for smaller vessels.

The river is known as the plain, meandering and extremely slow. Adding also the very small inclination in its basin (less than 10 m from Vinkovci until its mouth), the Bosut is known for a phenomenon of being 'the river that flows backwards', because sometimes, with strong winds and being so slow, it appears as the water is flowing backwards.

The whole valley of the Biđ-Bosut is actually an old, fossil river bed of the Sava. It is also known as a region with the highest evaporation in both Croatia and Serbia.

In its lower course, the Bosut flows through forested area, and the river is generally known for its abundance of fish.

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