Jasenica

The Jasenica (Serbian Cyrillic: Јасеница) is a river is central Serbia. It's 79 km long left tributary of the Velika Morava and gives the name to the Jasenica region.

River

The Jasenica originates from the several streams, most notably the Đurinci (Cyrillic: Ђуринци) from the Večnac mountain, and the Srebrenica (Cyrillic: Сребреница) from the northern slopes of the Rudnik mountain in central Serbia. In the beginning of its flow, the river makes the eastern border of the Kačer region of Serbia. It flows to the southeast initially, curves around the Rudnik, passes the villages of Donja Šatornja, Blaznava and reaches Stragari, the northernmost municipality of the City of Kragujevac. The area is known as the geographical center of Serbia (near the Čumić village).

The Jasenica turns north, then northeast south of Topola and, after the villages of Božurnja and Žabare, straight to the east. Near the village of Natalinci it receives the river Trnava (Cyrillic: Трнава) from the right and changes direction of the course once more, this time to the northeast. After the Miramorac village, the Jasenica spills over in several parallel flows, which will continue to happen until its confluence.

After the Pridvorica and Vodice villages (on different arms of the river), the Jasenica reaches the town of Smederevska Palanka, most populous settlement in its valley. This is also where it receives its main tributary, the Kubršnica, from the left. The Jasenica then gently bends to the east, flowing into the Velika Morava near the village of Veliko Orašje (southern arm of the river flows through the town of Velika Plana).

The Jasenica's drainage area covers 1,343 km² (part of the Black Sea drainage basin). The river is not navigable. The name of the river, Jasenica, in Serbian means the "Ash tree river".

Region

The Jasenica region covers not just the Jasenica river valley, but much larger area. It encompasses the region bounded by the Rudnik, Venčac and Kosmaj mountains, and the valley of the Velika Morava. It's divided in two sub-regions, lower Jasenica of Kragujevac, and upper Jasenica of Smederevo. It covers the valleys of the Jablanica, Kubršnica, Veliki Lug, Brestovica, Milatovica and other rivers. The Jablanica river itself makes for the most part the eastern border of the region, diving it from the Lepenica region. The region is densely populated, with several towns located there (Smederevska Palanka, Velika Plana, Aranđelovac, Mladenovac, Topola)

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