Dardanelles

Geographical location

The Dardanelles (Greek Δαρδανέλλια Dardanellia (n. pl. ), Turkish Çanakkale bogazi ) is a strait in the Mediterranean between the Aegean and the Marmara Sea. In ancient times, this was called the Hellespont Strait (pronounced Heles -pont ), named after Helle, a figure from Greek mythology.

Geography

The Dardanelles between the European peninsula of Gallipoli and the belonging to Asia Minor Northwest Anatolia, they are the most southwestern part of the intra- Eurasian border. The name comes from Dardanus, a settlement that was near Troy.

This strait connects the Aegean Sea with the Sea of ​​Marmara and the subsequent Bosphorus to the Black Sea. The Dardanelles are about 65 kilometers long and 1.3 to 6 kilometers wide, while an average of 50 feet deep. On the surface, flows a stream from the Marmara Sea to the Mediterranean, while an undercurrent in the opposite direction flows, due to the almost twice as high salinity of the Mediterranean in front of the Black Sea.

Is the port city of Çanakkale on the Asian shore of the Dardanelles. A suspension bridge between Lapseki and Gallipoli is being planned. With 3,623 meters, it will be Turkey 's longest bridge. Angstrebter completion date is the year 2023.

History

In the second Persian War, the Persian king Xerxes crossed the Hellespont during his campaign against Greece about 480 BC with two pontoon bridges, each consisting of over 300 ships and to have had a temporary opening for smaller vessels. Alexander the Great crossed the Hellespont in 334 BC with an army of 35,000 Macedonians and Greeks at the beginning of his Persie campaign.

In the Peloponnesian War, there were several major battles on the Hellespont, including the battle of Cyzicus in 410 BC and the Battle of Aigospotamoi, the decisive defeat of the Athenians in 405 BC

In 1656 there was the Dardanellenschlacht, one of the many naval battles and battles, which fought out the fleets of the Republic of Venice and the Ottoman Empire for supremacy in the eastern Mediterranean.

After the Dardanelles Treaty of 1841 it was only Turkish warships allowed to pass through this strait. During the First World War, the Dardanelles were the scene of the Battle of Gallipoli with high casualties on both sides due to its strategic location. Since 1936, the Montreux Convention regulates the rights of passage.

The well-known from the Greek mythology hero Achilles ( Achilles German or Latinized Achilles ) was buried in the waters of the Hellespont.