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Rivers flowing through sedimentary basins are subjected to a variety of controls. The main goal of our study was to identify the effect of external (e.g. climate changes, tectonics) and internal controls (e.g. sediment transport, deposition, vegetation cover) on the evolution of meandering rivers flowing through sedimentary basins using the example of the lower Drava River (Europe, Hungary/Croatia). Field research was conducted along a 50‐km‐long section of the valley. Sedimentary data from boreholes and corings, 35 km of ground‐penetrating radar surveys and analyses of digital maps were conducted to reconstruct channel planform changes. Traces of four meander belts were identified, and 39 AMS radiocarbon dates were used to distinguish the chronology of the fluvial events. The evolution of the lower Drava River comprised alternating periods of deposition (formation of aggrading meander belt) and avulsions. The channel belts were formed owing to upstream sediment delivery and floodplain storage. Changes in climate humidity and the occurrence of high flows influenced the planform of the meanders within particular channel belts. The oldest channel was active at least ~40 000 cal. BP before being reworked by subsequent meanders active between the Late Pleniglacial (30 000–14 700 cal. BP) and Late Glacial (~11 000 cal. BP) periods. The channel belts shifted to the south in the Holocene, between ~11 000 and 250 cal. BP due to the presence of a thrust fault situated diagonally to the Drava Valley. Results show channel width, channel belt width and the surface area of point bar deposits increased in the succeeding generations of meanders and that the style and sedimentary architecture of the channel belts were dominantly dependent on autogenic controls, that is, sediment delivery, aggradation and erosional events (e.g. formation of chute cut‐offs). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]