Cem (river)

The Cem (Albanian: Cem, or in its definite form Cemi), also known as the Cijevna (Cyrillic), is a river that rises in Kelmend, Albania and after nearly half of its length crosses into Montenegro, where it flows into the River Morača near the capital Podgorica. The Cem is fully formed at the confluence of its two tributaries the Vukël Cem and the Selcë Cem. It passes mostly through limestone terrain with many karstic formations. These features of the Cem's basin have their origin in the tectonic activity of the Alpine orogeny, which formed the Dinaric Alps. The terrain through which it flows in its 58.8-kilometre (36.5 mi) course, is at an elevation of more than 1,200 m (3, 900 ft) and can reach as low as 50 m (160 ft). It passes through narrow valleys and steep canyons, where waterfalls are formed before it reaches the Zeta plain. As it approaches the Morača, the Cem area shifts from a continental climate to a Mediterranean one. The drainage basin of the Cem encompasses 368 square kilometres (142 sq mi) and is part of the Adriatic river basin. The first cultural indicators of human settlement in the Cem river basin are from the late Copper Age and early Bronze Age (3500-2300 BC). Illyrian tribes such as the Labeatae lived in the area in classical antiquity. In the following millennia, the area passed under the control of the Roman Empire and its eastern counterpart, Sla

Flows through: Albania.

River data from Wikidata (CC0); lengths normalised to a common unit.