| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
The Bosporus or Bosphorus ( Turkish Bogaziçi or Istanbul Bogazi) is a strait that separates the European part (Rumeli) of Turkey from its Asian part (Anadolu), connecting the Sea of Marmara (Marmara Denizi) with the Black Sea (Karadeniz). It is 30 km long, with a maximum width of 3,700 meters at the northern entrance, and a minimum width of 750 meters between Anadoluhisari and Rumelihisari. The depth varies from 36 to 124 meters in midstrem.
The shores of the strait are heavily populated as the city of Istanbul (population at least 11 million) straddles it.
Two bridges cross the Bosporus Strait. The first, Bogazici (Bosporus I) bridge, is 1074 meters long and was completed in 1973. The second, Fatih Sultan Mehmed (Bosporus II) bridge, is 1090 meters long, and was completed in 1988 about five kilometers north of the first bridge.
Bosporus means in GreekThe Greek language ( /Elini'k{/) is an Indo-European language which has existed from around the 14th century BC in the Cretan inscriptions called Linear B. Mycenaean Greek of this period is distinguished from later Classical or Ancient Greek of the 8th ce "ox fordA ford is a section of water (most commonly a section of a river) that is sufficiently shallow as to be traversable by wading. The name of several towns is derived from such a location, i. Stratford or Oxford where an ox could cross the river (note the Ox" or "ox passage"; the name comes from a Greek mythGreek mythology comprises the collected legends of Greek gods and goddesses and ancient heroes and heroines, originally created and spread within an oral-poetic tradition. Our surviving sources of mythology are either transcriptions of this spoken word, o about Io'sThis article is about the mytholgical figure. For the moon of Jupiter, see Io (moon). In Greek mythology, Io (pronounced "EE oh" though "EYE oh," is acceptable) was the daughter of Inachus, a river god (it should be noted that the early genealogy of the H travels after Zeus turned her into an ox for her protection.
The ancient Greeks referred to this strait as the Thracian Bosporus, as they called the Strait of Kerch the Cimmerian Bosporus. Increasing the chances of confusion, they also called a land area near these two straits by the same name: the Thracian Chersonesus, which is known today as Gallipoli, and the Cimmerian Chersonesus, known today as the Crimea.
Due to the importance of the strait for the defense of Istanbul, the Ottoman sultans constructed a fortification on each side of it, Anadoluhisari ( 1393) and Rumelihisari ( 1451). Its strategic importance remains high: several international treaties have governed vessels using the waters. including the Montreux Convention Regarding the Regime of the Turkish Straits, signed in 1936.
Some have argued that a massive flood occurring in the region around 5600 BC is the historic basis for the flood stories in the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Bible.
Straits Straits of Europe Turkey