The Drina (Serbian Cyrillic: Дрина, pronounced [drǐːna]) is a 346 km (215 mi) long river in the Balkans,[1] which forms a large portion of the border between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia.

The drainage basin covers 19,570 square km (4.8 million acres), branching into Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, and Albania.

The Drina is formed by the confluence of the Tara and the Piva rivers, both of which flow from Montenegro and converge on the border of Bosnia and Herzegovina, at Hum and Šćepan Polje villages.

Traversing through this area in the second half of the 17th century, Ottoman traveller Evliya Çelebi noted that people in the Drina valley cut 40 m (130 ft) tall oak trees and used their trunks to make boats, by hollowing them with primitive tools and controlled fire.

On its path northward to the Semberija region on the Bosnian side, and Mačva on the Serbian, both part of a wider area of Posavina, where it meets with the Sava, the Drina river passes through Podrinje and number of settlements situated within the region: Foča, Ustikolina, Goražde, Ustiprača, Međeđa, Višegrad, Perućac, Bratunac, Ljubovija, Zvornik and Mali Zvornik, Loznica.

The river continues to the villages of Peći, Dobrak, Skelani (in Bosnia and Herzegovina) and Zaugline (in Serbia), reaching the town of Bajina Bašta.

At the villages of Donja Crvica and Rogačica, the Drina makes a large turn, completely changing its direction from the northeast to the northwest.

From its point of origin, at Šćepan Polje (in Montenegro) and Hum (Bosnia and Herzegovina), the Drina, after initial a couple of hundred meters of running westward around the Maluša mountain, starts its northward general direction flow for the rest of its journey toward the Sava.

Here it flows through the villages of Kosman, Prijedjel, Dučeli, Čelikovo Polje, Kopilovi, Trbušće, Brod na Drini, until it reach a town of Foča.

The villages of Zlatari, Jošanica, Ustikolina, Cvilin, Zebina Šuma, Osanica, Kolovarice, Vranići, Mravinjac, Biljin, Vitkovići and Zupčići are located in the valley, as well as the town of Goražde.

At the town of Višegrad, the Drina receives the Rzav River from the right and turns northwest at the Suva Gora mountain into the Klotjevac gorge.

Flowing on the western slopes of the mountainous Azbukovica, the Drina passes next to the villages of Gvozdac, Okletac, Strmovo, Bačevci, Donje Košlje, Drlače, Vrhpolje, Donja Bukovica (in Serbia), Boljevići, Fakovići, Tegare, Sikirići and Voljevica (in Bosnia and Herzegovina), before it reaches the towns of Ljubovija in Serbia, the centre of the Azbukovica region (or Upper Podrinje from the Serbian side), and Bratunac, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the centre of the Ludmer region.

Here the Drina receives the right tributary of Ljuboviđa and continues between the mountains of Jagodnja and Boranja (in Serbia), and Glogova (in Bosnia and Herzegovina).

The Drina spills over and meanders, forming shallows, islands and sandbars, before emptying into the Sava river between the Serbian village of Crna Bara and the Bosnian Bosanska Rača.

The Drina river, together with its source tributaries, the Tara and the Piva river before damming, and most major headwater tributaries such as Bistrica, Čehotina, Lim, Prača, Drinjača, are still Europe's primer habitat and spawning grounds for endangered salmonid fish species, huchen (Latin: Hucho hucho).

However, intensive hydropower harnessing, with damming without the construction of fish ladder facilities, interrupting the river course, so far in three places (three hydro-electric power plants), separating populations DNA groups from each another and from its prey species, while obstructing movements longitudinally along the river, preventing it from reaching the spawning grounds in upper reaches of the basin.

There are various rafting routes, depending on the length, including 18 kilometres (11 mi) miles long one-day runs from Brstnovica to Sćepan Polje.

Apart from many small villages, the major settlements on or near the river are: The Drina is crossed by several bridges: at Višegrad, Skelani, Bratunac and Zvornik (in Bosnia and Herzegovina), and Loznica and Badovinci in Serbia.

The 2012–2015 archaeological survey at the Orlovine locality, right above the river near Mali Zvornik, showed that the visible remains (stone ramparts) are part of the much larger Byzantine city.

Discovered artefacts include amphorae, mosaics, glass objects, water cisterns, parts of arched gates, guard towers, and one of the largest Byzantine churches in Serbia, 30 by 60 m (98 by 197 ft), with luxurious cathedra.

[7][8] In the northern section of Mali Zvornik, the underground shelter for the King Alexander I Karađorđević was dug into the rocky hill above the river in the 1930s.

Under the code name "Kamena devojka" ("Stone girl"), it was designed by the unnamed Russian engineer, and dug by the inmates who were transported blindfolded to the location.

In September 2011, after local floods, an ancient boat was discovered, buried under the gravel in the Drina river, near Jelav, some 10 km (6.2 mi) north of Loznica.

The Austro-Hungarians engaged in a significant offensive over the Drina river at the western Serbian border, resulting in numerous skirmishes and battles.

The most significant cultural reference to the river and its most emblematic feature, the bridge of Mehmed Paša Sokolović, is made in the 1945 novel Na Drini ćuprija (transl.