Dardanelles

Dardanelles, Hellespont, or Strait of Gallipoli, a narrow strait connecting the Sea of Marmora with the Grecian Archipelago. Its length is about 140 miles, and its breadth from 1 to 4 miles. The narrowest part of the channel, which runs from N.E. to S.W., is in the neighbourhood of Abydos, famous as the point where Xerxes' army crossed in his invasion of Greece, 480 B.C., and as the landing place of Alexander in his Asiatic expedition, 334 B.C. Both shores, which are well supplied with harbours, are strongly fortified. The scenery on the Asiatic shore is exceptionally beautiful, on the European side wild and rugged. By the treaty of Berlin, in 1878, it was finally decided that no foreign man-of-war should enter the straits without the consent of Turkey.