major river in Macedonia and in Greece. It rises in the Šar Mountains and flows north-northeast past Gostivar and Tetovo (in the Gostivar–Tetovo depression); it then turns sharply to flow southeast past Skopje and Titov Veles into Greece, where it enters the Gulf of Salonika of the Aegean Sea. Of its total length of 260 miles (420 km), 187 miles (300 km) are in Macedonia; its drainage basin is 8,643 square miles (22,387 square km). The river's valley is important as a source of agricultural production and as a part of the Morava–Vardar corridor, a major transportation route between central Europe and the Aegean.