What is the name of the strait between Asia and America? The largest straits of the earth The meaning of the word strait.
What straits of the world (channels, passages) are the most significant for international maritime navigation?
Global sea routes and Strategic sea passages have bottlenecks - straits.
The space of the strait has limited possibilities, but these passages allow you to avoid detours. These sea routes, several kilometers wide, sometimes become a mandatory point of passage - almost all of them occupy strategic places, but have physical limitations (coasts, winds, sea currents, depths, reefs, ice and political boundaries).
The majority of maritime transport movements take place along the coasts of the continents. International maritime routes are forced to pass through certain places, channels and straits. These routes are typically located between the major markets of Western Europe, North America and East Asia. The most active commercial container traffic takes place here.
The importance of these large markets in the exchange of semi-finished products and finished products. In addition, the main routes include the flows of raw materials, namely minerals, grains, foodstuffs, and most importantly oil.
The most important strategic sea lanes (bottlenecks) are often close to politically unstable countries, increasing the risk associated with piracy. Or cases when the delivery is under war conditions.
The performance of overseas channels and passages has a significant impact on global trade trends.
The Panama Canal, the Suez Canal, the Malacca Strait and the Strait of Hormuz account for the four most important strategic sea passages in the world's cargo traffic.
Their constant availability for the global maritime circulation is due to the fact that the global trading system is highly dependent on their use, especially in the northern hemisphere.
1. Suez Canal
The Suez Canal is an artificial waterway about 190 km long, passing through the Isthmus of Suez in northeastern Egypt. It connects the Mediterranean Sea with the arm of the Red Sea.
2. Panama Canal
The Panama Canal connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans across the Isthmus of Panama, from Cristobal on Limon Bay, to the Caribbean Sea, to Balboa, on the Gulf of Panama. Its operating characteristics are 82 kilometers long, 12.5 meters (39.5 feet) deep and 32 meters (106 feet) wide.
3. Strait of Malacca
The Strait of Malacca is one of the most important strategic straits in the world. It supports most of the maritime trade between Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, which accounts for 50,000 ships per year. About 30% of world trade and 80% of Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. It measures 800 km long, 50 to 320 km wide (2.5 km at its narrowest point) and a minimum depth of 23 meters (about 70 feet). It is the longest strait in the world used for international navigation - the transit lasts approximately 20 hours.
4. Strait of Hormuz
The Strait of Hormuz forms a strategic link between oil fields in the Persian Gulf, which is a maritime cul-de-sac between the Gulf of Oman and the Indian Ocean. It is 48 to 80 km wide, but navigation is limited to two 3 km wide channels, each used exclusively for incoming or outgoing traffic. Circulation to/from the Persian Gulf is thus quite limited, with a significant number of tankers and container ships having difficulty passing through the narrow channels. In addition, the islands that exercise control over the strait are disputed between Iran and the United Arab Emirates.
5. Bab el-Mandeb Strait
The Strait of Bab el Mandeb controls access to the Suez Canal. It is a strategic link between the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea. It is 48 to 80 km wide, but navigation is limited to two 3 km wide channels for incoming and outgoing traffic. The significant amount of tanker traffic makes navigation difficult through narrow channels. The closure of this strait will have serious consequences - it will force a detour around the Cape of Good Hope. The strait needs additional space for tankers. The Bab el-Mandeb Strait is a key link in the trade route from Europe to Asia.
6. Strait of Gibraltar
The Strait of Gibraltar is a peninsula between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. Gibraltar is the obligatory point of passage between the Iberian Peninsula and the coast of Africa. The strait is about 64 km long and 13 to 39 km wide. Under British control since its conquest from Spain in 1704, the Straits of Gibraltar became a formal cession in the Treaty of Utrecht (1713). During World War II, Gibraltar blocked access to the Atlantic for the Italian and German fleets in the Mediterranean. It represents the main strategic fortress of this region.
7. Bosphorus
The passage of the Bosphorus is 30 km long and only 1 km wide at its narrowest point. The Bosphorus Strait connects the Black Sea with the Mediterranean. Its access was the subject of two conflicts, the Crimean War (1854) and the Battle of the Dardanelles (Gallipoli, 1915). The passage was assigned to Turkey after the Montreux Convention in 1936, which recognized Turkish control of the Bosphorus, but allowed free passage in peacetime for any commercial vessel without inspection.
8. Strait of Magellan
This passage was discovered in 1520 by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. The Strait of Magellan separates South America from the Tierra del Fuego archipelago. It is 530 km long and 4 to 24 km wide. Secret for more than a century, the strait ensured Portuguese and Spanish dominance in the Asian trade in spices and silks. With the construction of the Panama Canal in 1916, and then with the creation of the North American transcontinental bridge in the 1980s, this passage lost much of its strategic importance.
Strait, Strait, husband. A narrow body of water connecting two seas, a sea with an ocean, etc. or located between the islands, the island and the mainland, etc. Kerch Strait. Strait of Gibraltar. Tatar Strait. Explanatory Dictionary of Ushakov. D.N.… … Explanatory Dictionary of Ushakov
Channel; bosphorus, gate, big belt, skagerrak, shimonoseki, kattegat, pas de calais, hainan, dardanelles, ball, salma, throat, lamanche, kara gates, matochkin ball, tsugaru, eresund Dictionary of Russian synonyms. strait n., number of synonyms: 24 women ... ... Synonym dictionary
A strait is a relatively narrow body of water that separates any land areas and connects adjacent water basins or parts thereof. The greatest length of the straits is 1760 km (Mozambique), the greatest width is 1120 km (Drake) ... Modern Encyclopedia
A relatively narrow body of water separating any land areas and connecting adjacent water basins or parts thereof. Strait limits: length approx. 1760 km (Mozambique), width 1120 km (Drake) ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary
PROLIV, a, husband. A narrow body of water that separates land and connects adjacent water basins or parts of them. | adj. torrential, oh, oh. Explanatory dictionary of Ozhegov. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova. 1949 1992 ... Explanatory dictionary of Ozhegov
A relatively narrow natural body of water that separates any land areas and connects two adjacent water basins or parts of them. As a rule, they are characterized by an individual hydrological regime. They are of great military importance, ... ... Marine Dictionary
STRAIT- a narrow water passage connecting two large water areas. Ecological encyclopedic dictionary. Chisinau: Main edition of the Moldavian Soviet Encyclopedia. I.I. Grandpa. 1989... Ecological dictionary
strait- A narrow channel connecting two large bodies of water. Topics oceanology EN strait … Technical Translator's Handbook
strait- A relatively narrow body of water (or wider) that separates land areas and connects adjacent bodies of water or parts of them. → Fig. 312 ... Geography Dictionary
strait- A STRAIT, a relatively narrow body of water that separates any land areas and connects adjacent water basins or parts thereof. The greatest length of the straits is 1760 km (Mozambique), the greatest width is 1120 km (Drake). … Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary
Books
- Journey to the Southern Ocean and the Bering Strait to find the Northeast Passage, undertaken in 1815, 1816, 1817 and 1818
- Journey to the Southern Ocean and the Bering Strait,. Journey to the Southern Ocean and the Bering Strait to find the Northeast Sea Passage, undertaken in 1815, 1816, 1817 and 1818 by the dependency of His Excellency, Mr. ...
Straits are narrow bodies of water that separate land areas and connect adjacent seas or oceans.
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The largest straits of the world |
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Name |
Length (km) |
What connects |
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Mozambican |
The waters of the Indian Ocean |
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Baffin Sea and Atlantic Ocean |
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Malacca |
Andaman and South China Seas |
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Hudson |
Hudson Bay and the Atlantic Ocean |
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Makassarsky |
Sulawesi and Java Seas |
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Tatar |
Sea of Okhotsk and Sea of Japan |
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Florida |
Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean |
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North Sea and Atlantic Ocean |
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Magellan |
Atlantic and Pacific Oceans |
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Atlantic and Pacific Oceans |
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Beringov |
Chukchi and Bering Seas |
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Gibraltar |
Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean |
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mozambique channel located between the island of Madagascar and continental Africa. The Mozambique Channel is located in the west of the Indian Ocean and is considered one of the longest on the planet. The approximate length of the strait is 1670 kilometers, and the width is up to 925 kilometers.
The Mozambique Channel in the north and south has a depth of more than 3 kilometers, and in the middle part about 2.4 kilometers. The minimum depth of the strait along the fairway is 117 meters.
The Mozambique Channel is characterized by a steady current of about 1.5 knots, which is directed from north to south. The height of the tides is up to 5 meters. In the northern part of the strait are the Comoros, along the coastline of which there are many small islands and reefs.
The coastline is very beautiful, under the feet of gentle sea sand. The coast is in some places indented by the tides and bordered by gently sloping hills, from which chic panoramas of the Mozambique Channel open up.
The nature of the Mozambique Channel is unique, only here you can find unique specimens of coelacanth fish, which, as a species, is twice as old as dinosaurs. Here you can meet the largest stingray, which is called the manta. It is these unique fish species that attract a large number of divers here.
Davis Strait- located between Greenland and the Baffin Islands. The strait connects the Baffin Sea of the Arctic Ocean with the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. The length of the Davis Strait is 632 miles (1170 km), the width is 194.5-577 miles (360-1070 km), the depth of the navigable part is 104 - 3730 m. Drifting ice and icebergs are found in the waters of the Davis Strait.
Strait of Malacca- separates the Malay Peninsula and the island of Sumatra, which belongs to Indonesia.
The northern and northeastern shores of the Strait of Malacca and the islands located near them belong to the Kingdom of Thailand. All other coasts belong to the state of Malaysia, the already mentioned island of Sumatra and the islands adjacent to it belong to Indonesia.
The length of the strait is very large, it is 1000 km, the width exceeds 40 km, and the depth in the ship's course is not less than 25 m.
Navigation in the Strait of Malacca is hampered by the fact that there are shallows near the coast. Everything is complicated by the fact that shallows sometimes occur far from the coast, and reefs can hide in the shallows.
The area of the Malacca Strait is volcanically active. Most of the islands in the strait are of volcanic origin. The largest of them include Phuket, Lankawi, Penang and others.
Hudson Strait- located between Baffin Island and the Labrador Peninsula off the northeast coast of Canada. Connects Hudson Bay to the Atlantic Ocean.
The Hudson Strait is 432 miles (806 km) long and 62 - 219 miles (115 - 407 km) wide. The depth of the navigable part is 141 - 988 m. The surface current is in the South-East at a speed of 0.4 knots (0.7 km / h). The highest tide height reaches 7.7 m.
Makassar Strait- located between the islands of Kalimantan and Sulawesi. This strait connects the Sulawesi Sea with the Java Sea. The length of the Makassar Strait is 383 miles (710 km), the smallest width is 65 miles (120 km), the smallest depth of the navigable part is 930 m. The currents in the Makassar Strait are of a monsoon nature.
Tatar Strait, separates Asia and Sakhalin Island, and also connects the Sea of Japan with the Sea of \u200b\u200bOkhotsk. The narrowest and shallowest part of the strait, located at the confluence of the waters of the Amur River, is called the Mamio-Rinzo Strait or the Nevelskoy Strait.
The Tatar Strait is 633 kilometers long, the maximum width of the strait is 342 kilometers, and the minimum is 7.3 km. The depth of the fairway of the Tatar Strait in most cases is very significant already near the shore, the minimum depth in the fairway of the strait is 7.2 meters, which is why the Tatar Strait is considered one of the shallowest straits.
The shores of the Tatar Strait are mostly mountainous in the south, while in the north they are gentle. The average water temperature in the strait in summer fluctuates around 11 degrees Celsius. In the winter months, the Tatar Strait is ice-bound in the north, while drifting ice covers the southern part of the strait. There are no major islands in the strait, except for Moneron Island.
The shores of the Tatar Strait are decorated with emerald coniferous forests, in which spruce, fir and larch grow, with a small admixture of birch and alder.
The waters of the Tatar Strait are rich in fish, herring, flounder and halibut live in large numbers.
Strait of Florida- located between the Florida peninsula and the islands of Cuba and the Bahamas, connects the waters of the Gulf of Mexico with the Atlantic Ocean. The length of the Strait of Florida is 350 miles (648 km), the width is 43-97 miles (80-180 km), the depth of the navigable part is 150-2085 m, the surface current (the beginning of the Gulf Stream) is in the Northeast at a speed of 2.4-3 .8 knots (4.4-7 km/h). From April to October, hurricanes are possible in the Strait of Florida.
Strait of the English Channel- English channel (eng. English Channel), the strait between the northern coast of Western Europe and about. Great Britain. Together with the Pas de Calais (Strait of Dover) it connects the North Sea with the Atlantic Ocean. It is about 520 km long, about 180 km wide in the west, and 32 km in the east. The depth in the fairway is 35 m, the maximum depth is 172 m. There are many shoals, especially in the eastern part of the strait. Western winds cause a steady easterly current in the strait at a speed of up to 3 km/h (in narrowness). The tides are semi-diurnal, their magnitude in some places reaches 12.2 m (Saint-Malo Bay). Frequent fogs. It is of great transport importance. One of the largest routes in terms of cargo turnover from the countries of the North and Baltic Seas to the countries of North and South America, as well as to Africa, Asia and Australia passes through the strait. Main ports: Portsmouth, Southampton, Plymouth (UK). Le Havre, Cherbourg (France). Fishing is developed (flounder, mackerel, cod, halibut). There is a project (1973) for an underwater tunnel through the Pas de Calais.
Strait of Magellan- the strait between the archipelago of Tierra del Fuego and the continent of South America. Both banks of the Strait of Magellan are located on the territory of the State of Chile. The length of the strait is 575 km, and the depth everywhere exceeds 20 m.
The shores in the northeastern part of the Strait of Magellan are very steep, winding, rocks hang over the waters, glaciers are possible. The northeastern shores, on the contrary, are more gentle. The waters in the northwest are deeper than in the northeast.
Navigation in the Strait of Magellan is not very common, this is due to the dangers hidden in its depths. In the middle of the strait, shallows and underwater rocks occur. Powerful westerly winds also blow in the strait. The speed of the currents created by the tides reaches 25 km / h.
The strait was first passed in 1520. Magellan is considered the discoverer, it was he who became the historical pioneer. Although there are versions according to which the strait was opened much earlier. Then Tierra del Fuego belonged to the Unknown Southern Land, and the Strait of Magellan was called "the Strait of All Saints."
Drake Passage the northern coast of which is the archipelago of Tierra del Fuego, and the southern coast - the South Shetland Islands, belonging to Antarctica, unites the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean.
The width of the strait everywhere exceeds 820 km. This allowed the Drake Passage to receive the title of the widest strait in the world.
The Drake Passage is incredibly dangerous for sailors for several reasons. First, icebergs are common in the strait, especially in the south. Secondly, there are storms of unprecedented strength, often the height of the waves exceeds 15 m, and the heavy wind blows at a speed of 35 m/s. Thirdly, there is a very strong current in the Drake Passage - the "Western Wind Current", which is circumpolar.
The southernmost point of South America with an incredibly cold climate is located precisely in the Drake Passage. These are the Diego Ramirez Islands. But, since they are not so easy to get to, tourists usually visit Cape Horn.
The pioneer of the strait was the Englishman Francis Drake, in honor of this navigator, who conquered the rough waters in 1578, the strait was named.
Bering Strait- located between the most eastern point of Asia, called Cape Dezhnev, and the most western point of the mainland of North America - Cape Prince of Wales, separating the Russian Federation and the United States of America.
It is probably difficult to find a landscape in the Far North with harsher weather conditions than the Bering Strait. In summer, the temperature here almost never rises above zero degrees. Strong winds blow here, which bring drizzling rain and snow from the ocean, and ice floes move along the strait.
At its narrowest point, the width of the Bering Strait is 86 kilometers, and the minimum depth of the fairway is 36 meters. The Bering Strait is the place of water exchange between the Arctic Ocean (Chukchi Sea) and the Pacific Ocean (Bering Sea). In the center of the Bering Strait are the Diomede Islands. It is here that the border of time zones and the date line passes.
On the lifeless shores of the Bering Strait lies inhospitable tundra and permafrost. The shores of the Bering Strait are mostly high rocky, very indented, there are a large number of bays.
In the cold clear waters of the Bering Strait, 60 species of fish live, the most common are flounder, halibut, pink salmon, cod, chum salmon and chinook salmon. Mussels, balanus, octopuses, crabs and shrimps live in large numbers here. The Bering Strait is home to fur seals, seals, gray whales and sperm whales. On the rocky shores of the strait, birds live, uniting in bird colonies.
strait of Gibraltar- located between the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula (Europe) and the northwestern part of Africa; connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Mediterranean Sea. The length of the Strait of Gibraltar is 32 miles (59 km), the width is 7.5 - 23.7 miles (14 - 44 km), the depth of the navigable part is 338 m. In the Strait of Gibraltar, at different depths, the current is directed in opposite directions. In the surface current directed to the Mediterranean Sea, an average of 55,198 km of Atlantic water flows per year (average temperature 17 ° C, salinity above 36 ‰). In the deep current directed to the Atlantic Ocean, 51,886 km of Mediterranean water leaves (average temperature 13.5 ° C, salinity 38 ‰). The difference of 3312 km is mainly due to evaporation from the surface of the Mediterranean Sea.
Along the shores of the Strait of Gibraltar are steep rock masses, which in ancient times were called the Pillars of Hercules - the Rock of Gibraltar in the north and Musa in the south.
Due to its convenient geographical position, the Strait of Gibraltar is of great economic and strategic importance, it is under the control of the English fortress and the naval base of Gibraltar. The Spanish ports of Ceuta, La Linea, Algeciras, as well as the Moroccan Tangier are located in the strait area.
The Bering Strait is located between Eurasia and North America, making up 86 km in breadth between the extreme points of these continents (Cape Dezhnev and Cape Prince of Wales, respectively).
The strait borders on the north with the Chukchi Sea, which is part of the Arctic Ocean; in the south - with the Bering Sea, which is part of the Pacific Ocean. The average depth ranges from 30 to 50 meters.
Bering Strait on the world map The geographical position of the Bering Strait and its length, which connects the Western and Eastern hemispheres, is impressive. However, it is no less interesting how the strait was formed and, most importantly, why is it called that? To find out, you need to look at history.
Interesting fact: Since the end of the 19th century, scientists have put forward proposals for the construction of a bridge across the Bering Strait or an underground tunnel to connect the Chukchi Peninsula and Alaska.
land bridge
On the site of the Bering Strait during the last stage of the ice age, a land bridge (Bering Isthmus) was formed, which stretched for about 1600 km from north to south. This was due to the fact that during the Pleistocene ice age a large amount of water accumulated in the glaciers of the Arctic, which led to a drop in sea level and the appearance of land on the shelf. Over the course of thousands of years, the seafloor of many interglacial shallow seas has risen, including the Bering Strait, the Chukchi Sea in the north, and the Bering Sea in the south. After the end of the last cycle of the ice age, when the glaciers began to melt, the sea level rose and the land bridge went under water. Thus, a strait was formed at the site of the land bridge and the route from Asia to America was closed.
Beringia Historical Region The grassy steppe, including the Bering Isthmus, which stretches for hundreds of kilometers to the Eurasian and North American continents, was called Beringia. During the ice age, this area did not freeze, because it was a rain shadow and the southwest winds of the Pacific Ocean lost moisture over the frozen Alaska Range.
Humans (Palaeo-Indians) and animals migrated from Asia to North America across the Bering Isthmus about 25,000 years ago and established settlements initially in Beringia and then populated the American continents. The modern territory of Beringia includes the Bering Strait, the Chukchi Sea, the Bering Sea, the Chukchi and Kamchatka Peninsulas, as well as Alaska.
Drift ice in the Bering Strait
Interesting fact: From October to July, the surface of the Bering Strait is covered with drifting ice, the average thickness of which is 1.2-1.5 m. In some areas, the ice remains all year round. The water temperature in the Bering Strait in winter is about 2-3 °C below zero, and in summer the surface water layer reaches 7 to 10 °C above zero. Winter in the region is the season of severe storms.
Islands in the Bering Strait
On the territory of the Bering Strait, which in ancient times was a land bridge, in modern geography, land is represented by islands. The Diomede Islands, located in the central part of the Bering Strait, include two rocky islands that are 4 km apart from each other: Small Diomede (Kruzenshtern Island), belonging to the United States, and Big Diomede (Ratmanov Island), which is the territory of Russia. Between the Diomede Islands, which lie in the middle of the strait, stretches the border between Russia and the United States and, in addition, the International Date Line.
The American Fairway Island is less than 15 km southeast of the Diomede Islands. St. Lawrence Island is located in the southern part of the Bering Strait.
Strait opening
Semyon Ivanovich Dezhnev discovered the Bering Strait in 1648. In 1648, the expedition of the Russian navigator and explorer Semyon Ivanovich Dezhnev sailed through the Bering Strait for the first time. Semyon Dezhnev went around the eastern tip of Asia (Cape Dezhnev), discovered the Diomede Islands, and reached the Anadyr River. Founded the Anadyr prison. However, the results of the expedition of S.I. Dezhnev did not become public. Initially, it remained unknown and the navigator's route was not used. Semyon Dezhnev is considered the discoverer of the Bering Strait. Passing it along its entire length (from north to south).
Vitus Bering's research
Vitus Jonassen Bering In 1725, a Danish naval officer in the Russian naval service, cartographer Vitus Jonassen Bering, was appointed by Tsar Peter I as captain of the First Kamchatka Expedition (1725-1730). The purpose of which was to find new unexplored lands, map them and establish whether the coasts of Asia and North America converge. In 1728, Bering, in search of the North American coast, heading north from the Kamchatka Peninsula, crossed the strait and discovered the Chukchi Sea. Navigators received evidence that the Eurasian and North American continents are not connected by land.
V. I. Bering and A. I. Chirikov Thus, Vitus Bering explored the Bering Strait and proved that Asia and North America were separated by sea. During the Second Kamchatka Expedition (1733-1741), Bering managed to reach the North American coast and discover the islands of the Aleutian ridge.
Interesting fact: At the end of the 18th century, the English navigator and discoverer James Cook gave the strait the name of Bering, expressing admiration for the accuracy of the maps compiled during the voyages of Vitus Bering. In addition to the Bering Strait, the names of other natural objects bear the name of Vitus Bering: the Bering Sea, the Bering Glacier, Bering Island, Cape Bering, as well as the Bering Isthmus and the historical region of Beringia.
Routes of expeditions of Vitus Bering Thus, the Bering Strait, located between the Chukchi Peninsula and Alaska, was discovered in 1648 by the Russian explorer Semyon Dezhnev. The strait was named after the Danish cartographer, officer of the Russian navy Vitus Bering, who in 1728 crossed the strait, entered the Chukchi Sea and proved that Asia and North America do not have a land connection.
During the last cycle of the Ice Age, a land bridge (Bering Isthmus) existed on the territory of the Bering Strait, which appeared due to a decrease in the level of the World Ocean and the accumulation of water in the Arctic glaciers. This historic landmass, known as "Beringia", was the first route of human settlement in the Americas.
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A strait is a body of water that separates two areas of land, which in turn connects adjacent bodies of water. As you know, the widest strait on Earth is the Drake Passage, connecting the Pacific and Atlantic oceans in the south. However, each section of the strait can have completely different widths, so this rating is based on the narrowest parts of the straits.
1. Drake Passage (800 km)
Located south of the tip of South America, the Drake Passage is bounded from the north by the Tierra del Fuego archipelago, numbering about 40 thousand large and small islands, and from the south by the South Shetland Islands, belonging to the mainland Antarctica. This strait is the only artery (except the Panama Canal) that connects the two largest oceans of the Earth - the Pacific and the Atlantic.
The Drake Passage has always been dangerous for sailors, who were convinced of this when they first passed it on sailing ships. There are several reasons for this. The first is terrible weather and violent storms that drive waves up to 20 meters high, while a hurricane wind blows at a speed of 40 m / s. In addition, there are many icebergs in the Drake Passage that have broken off from neighboring Antarctica. And there is also a very strong circumpolar current. The southernmost point of South America - the Diego Ramirez Islands, is located here. However, rare tourists in these places often visit Cape Horn, which is much easier to get to. The strait is named after the Englishman Francis Drake, who was the first European to pass through here in 1578.
A sea is a large body of water filled with salt water, which necessarily has a connection with one of the five oceans. There are seas that wedged deep into the mainland ...
2. Mozambique Channel (422 km)
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This strait, located in the western Indian Ocean, separates the island of Madagascar from Africa. By the way, this is the longest strait on the planet (1760 km). It has the greatest depth in the south and north, but in the middle of the strait there is a lot - 2.4 km. Much earlier than the Europeans, the Arab merchants who traded with the inhabitants of Madagascar actively used the strait. Who was the first to sail here from the Europeans remains unclear. Vasco da Gama is considered one of the candidates for this role, but other historians lean towards Marco Polo, who could sail here two centuries earlier.
3. Davis Strait (338 km)
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The Davis Strait separates the largest island on the planet, Greenland, from Baffin Island, which belongs to Canada (Nunavut). Its width ranges from 338 kilometers at its narrowest point to 950 at its widest, and its maximum depth is 3660 m. islands that border the strait. He also discovered this strait in 1583, along with a piece of land adjacent to it. The Davis Strait connects the Baffin Sea, which belongs to the marginal seas of the Arctic Ocean, from the Labrador Sea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. And the Hudson Strait connects it to the Fox Basin and Hudson Bay.
4. Denmark Strait (290 km)
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In another way, it is called the Greenland Strait, because it separates the island of Greenland from the island of Iceland. At the same time, it connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Greenland Sea. The Greenland Strait is quite shallow, even in the fairway its smallest depth is only 227 meters. From south to north, closer to the coast of Iceland, a branch of the warm Irminger Current passes here, and closer to the Greenland coast, the East Greenland Current, which carries ice all year round, rushes in the opposite direction. The Danish Strait is unique in the largest underwater "waterfalls" known to science - a vertical convergent current that goes from a depth of 600 meters to a depth of 4 kilometers.
5. Bass Strait (240 km)
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Bass Strait separates the island of Tasmania from Australia and at the same time connects the Pacific and Indian Oceans. The strait is quite shallow - the average depth is at the level of 50 meters. Such a shallow depth speaks of the “young” age of Bass Strait, which is only about 10 thousand years old, and it appeared only due to rising sea levels. Before that, Tasmania was just a piece of the Australian mainland. The Englishman Matthew Flinders discovered this strait in 1798 and decided to name it in honor of his ship's doctor George Bass. The opening of this strait came in handy for merchant ships sailing from India or Europe to Sydney, because, passing through it, they saved 1,300 km of distance. A reminder of the epoch of the terrestrial life of the strait, which is quite recent by geological standards, are small islands scattered along it, which were once Australian hills and hillocks.
6. Korea Strait (180 km)
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The Korea Strait separates the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese islands of Kyushu, Iki and the southwestern part of the island of Honshu. They connect the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea, which belong to the Pacific Ocean. In former times, the strategic importance of this strait existed only for these two countries. But when the era of isolationism ended in Japan in the middle of the 19th century, the United States, Russia and other countries also became interested in the Korea Strait. Now, ferries constantly run along this strait between the Korean port of Busan and Jeju Island and the Japanese Tsushima, Fukuoka and others. The strait also provides communication between Busan and China. Recently, plans have been made to build an underwater tunnel or bridge connecting Korea to Japan.
The earth's land has the most diverse outlines of coasts, including peninsulas: among them there are very long, elongated in a narrow strip, there are ...
7. Long Strait (146 km)
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Between Wrangel Island and Eurasia is the Long Strait, which simultaneously connects the Chukchi and East Siberian Seas. A conditional date line runs along its water area. The strait is named after Thomas Long, an American whaler who discovered Wrangel Island. The strait, located in the Arctic, is almost always covered with ice, but nevertheless, the northern sea route passes through it. But navigation here is extremely difficult due to powerful hummocks, so it is carried out only in the short summer months. To ensure year-round shipping, many icebreakers would be required, which turned out to be unprofitable. Mostly ships sail along the Long Strait, which provide the regions of the Far North with essential goods.
8. Taiwan Strait (130 km)
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In the past, this strait, which separates the island of Taiwan from the Asian continent, was called the Formosan. It starts at the South China Sea and ends in the East China Sea. The strait has a large difference in depths in the fairway - from 60 m to 1773 m. In the south of the strait is the Penghu archipelago. The government of mainland China has proposed the construction of a transport tunnel between 127-207 kilometers long under the strait - in any case, if the plans are implemented, it will be the longest underwater railway tunnel on the planet.
9. Makassar Strait (120 km)
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This fairly wide strait separates the Indonesian islands of Sulawesi and Kalimantan, and at the same time connects the Java Sea and the Sulawesi Sea. A southward current operates here, which is intensified by the monsoon in winter. The port of Balikpapan operates on Kalimantan, and Ujungpandang operates on Sulawesi. The imaginary Wallace line passes through this strait, separating the fauna of Asia from the Australian.
The territory of Russia is huge, so it is not surprising that dozens of waterfalls are scattered on it, in its most diverse corners. Some of them are so...
10. Hudson Strait (115 km)
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This strait, named after Henry Hudson, who sailed through it first in 1610, is located in the Arctic Ocean within Canadian territory. In the north it is limited by Baffin Island, and in the south by the Labrador Peninsula. The Hudson Strait connects the Labrador Sea with the inland Fox and Hudson bays. In the southeast, it connects with the Ungava Bay, famous for its powerful tides. Storms often occur here, and shipping is carried out only for 4 months.
