Cetina gorge - Croatia

by Dries van Assen

Cetina is a river in Central Dalmatia, which is located in Croatia. The river has a total length of 105 km, an area of 3,700 km², and drops 385 meters from its source to the Adriatic Sea.

Geography and geology.
The Cetina rises on the northwest side of the Dinara, in a village called Cetina (about 7 kilometers from Vrlika). A large created lake begins close to Vrlika, Lake Peruča, this was created by a dam 25 kilometers downstream. The Cetina flows through the lower part of the Sinj karst field. The river flows eastward and around Mount Mosor westward before flowing into the Adriatic Sea in the town of Omiš.

At the end of the basin, the Cetina makes a considerable drop, this benefits the hydroelectric power plant near Zakučac.

History
The river served as a border between Dalmatia and Neretiva since the first half of the 7th century, later it was a border between the Duchy of Croats (since 856, and since 925 Kingdom of Croatia and Raška. After the Byzantines regained control of the duchies, the river became a border between the Croatian Kingdom and the Byzantine Empire. After Stefan Nemanja merged several duchies in the second half of the 12th century, the river became a border between the Croatian-Hungarian Kingdom (since 1102) and the Grand Duchy of Rascia (since 1166, and since 1217 the Serbian Kingdom).

Serbian fighters wanted to blow up the dam of the lake filled to the brim during Operation Storm, but it did not come to that.