Mura
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- For other uses, see Mura (disambiguation).
Mura (German Mur) is a river in Central Europe, a subsidiary of the bigger Drava and subsequently the Danube.
The source of the river is in the Austrian national park High Tauern. The source is 1,898 m above sea level. Its total length is 465 km, of which 295 km is in Austria, 98 km is in Slovenia and the rest constitutes the border between Hungary and Croatia. The biggest city on the river is Graz, Austria.
The river gives its name to the Slovenian region of Prekmurje ("Trans-Mura-land") and the Croatian region of Međimurje ("between-Mura-land").
In the area of upper Međimurje, in the western part of the region, the Mura floods and change its course rather often, moving slowly toward the north on its left. Here, the biggest forest along the river, the Murščak, is located between Domašinec and Donji Hrašćan, (hrast is oak in the Croatian language).
Since the 4th century BC, there have been reports of floating mills powered by the streams of the river. The ancient technology was adopted later by arriving Slavs and then by Magyars. Several decades ago, in the 1920s and '30s, many of these mills were still operating along the river. The last one, in Mursko Središće, was in use in the 1970s.
The river ends near Legrad in the Varazdin county of Croatia, where it flows into the Drava river. The town used to be part of Međimurje but a change of the river's course set it to another bank of the river.
Mura is known to carry small quantities of gold, not enough to be suitable for exploitation today but was the focus of activity for many people since ancient times. Organized research and exploitation of gold and other local resources was encouraged for the first time in 1772.