TheMaritsa,[a] known inGreek as theEvros[b] and inTurkish as theMeriç, is ariver that runs through theBalkans in Southeast Europe. With a length of 480 km (300 mi),[3] it is thelongest river that runs solely in the interior of theBalkan peninsula, and one of thelargest in Europe by discharge. It flows throughBulgaria in its upper and middle reaches, while its lower course forms part of the border betweenGreece andTurkey. Itsdrainage area is about 53,000 km2 (20,000 sq mi), of which 66.2% is in Bulgaria, 27.5% in Turkey, and 6.3% in Greece.[2] It is the main river of the historical region ofThrace, most of which lies in itsdrainage basin.
It has its origin in theRila Mountains in Western Bulgaria, its source being theMarichini Lakes. The Maritsa flows east-southeast between theBalkan andRhodope Mountains, pastPlovdiv andDimitrovgrad in Bulgaria toEdirne in Turkey. East ofSvilengrad, 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 its two chief tributariesTundzha andArda, 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 theAegean Sea, which it enters nearEnez, forming ariver delta. The upper Maritsa valley is a principal east–west route in Bulgaria. The unnavigable river is used for hydroelectric power generation and for irrigation.
The earliest known name of the river isΕύρος (Euros,Alcman, 7th–6th century BC).[4]Proto-Indo-European*h₁wérus andAncient Greekεὐρύς meant 'wide'.[4] The Proto-Indo-Europeanconsonant cluster *-wr- shifted inThracian to-br-, creating the Thracian nameEbros.[4] Thereafter, the river began to be known asἝβρος (Hébros) in Greek andHebrus in Latin.[5] Rather than an origin as 'wide river', an alternative hypothesis is that is borrowed from Thracianebros meaning 'splasher'.[6]
While the nameἝβρος (Hébros) was used inAncient Greek, the nameΜαρίτσα (Marítsa) had become standard before the ancient formἝβρος was restituted inModern Greek asΈβρος (now:[ˈevɾos̠]).[7] The nameMaritsa may derive from a mountain near the mouth of the river known in antiquity asΜηρισός orΜήριζος, Latinized asMerit(h)us.[4][unreliable source?]
After 1923, the river gained political significance as the modern border betweenGreece andTurkey. This was further bolstered by Greece joining theEuropean Union in 1981 (and then theSchengen area), 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 formigrants from a variety of countries attempting to enter theEU irregularly.[8] 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.[9]
In February 2020, Turkey unilaterally opened its borders to Greece to allow refugees and migrants seeking refuge to reach the European Union, leading to the2020 Greek–Turkish border crisis.[10][11] In May 2020, news emerged that Turkish forces occupied 16 acres (6.5 ha) of Greek territory, Melissokomeio, as shown on maps of 1923, following a change in the flow of the river.[12] These crises passed following the improvement in Greek-Turkish relations in 2023, however, illegal migration is still a major issue.
March-2005 Maritsa river floods, Greek side, close to Lavara village.Satellite image of floods along the river in 2006.
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.[13]
Recent large floods have taken place in 2006, 2007, 2014, with thelargest 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.[13]
Shumi Maritsa, thenational anthem ofBulgaria from 1886 to 1947, has its title refer to the river. The lyrics describe the river being bloody after fighting.
^Schramm, Gottfried (1981): Eroberer und Eingesessene. Geographische Lehnnamen als Zeugen der Geschichte Südosteuropas im ersten Jahrtausend n. Chr. Stuttgart: Hiersemann, pp.290f. Referenced in Carsten Peust,How Old Are the River Names of Europe?, Linguistik Online, 2015
SKOULIKIDIS, NIKOLAOS TH., STAMATIS ZOGARIS, AND IOANNIS KARAOUZAS. Rivers of the Balkans. In Klement Tockner, Christiane Zarfl, and Christopher T. Robinson (eds.), Rivers of Europe, 2nd Ed. Cambridge, MA: Elsevier, 2022, pp. 593–654. ISBN 978-0-08-102612-0
