Crna (river)

Crna (Црна)
File:Izvori Crna Reka.JPG Crna River in western Macedonia
Origin	Zeleznec
Mouth	Vardar
Basin countries	Republic of Macedonia
Length	207 km

File:Macedonia topography-en.svg

The Crna (also Crna Reka, Macedonian: or Reka Crna) is a river in the Republic of Macedonia, right tributary of the Vardar. It runs though much of the south and west of the country. Its source is in the mountains of western Macedonia, west of Kruševo. It flows through the village Sopotnica, and southwards through the plains east of Bitola. At Brod (Novaci Municipality) it turns northeast, and it flows into the Vardar between Rosoman and Gradsko.

Thus, the river makes a bend of almost 180 degrees east of Bitola. This bend was part of the Macedonian Front in World War I. It was known to the allied forces as the Cerna Bend or Cerna Loop, and two major battles were fought here : the Battle of the Cerna Bend (1916) and the Battle of the Cerna Bend (1917).

The name Crna means "Black river" in Macedonian, a translation of its earlier Thracian name, Erigon, meaning "black", akin to Greek érebos, "darkness"; Armenian erek, "evening"; Old Norse røkkr, "darkness"; Gothic riqis, "darkness"; Sanskrit rájas, "night"; Tocharian B orkamo, "dark".