Alternative name: Hellespont (Greek), Çanakkale Boğazı (Turkish)
The Dardanelles is the 61km strait that connects the Aegean section of the Mediterranean to the Sea of Marmara and thence through the Bosphorus to İstanbul, giving it enormous strategic importance. Many battles have been fought for control of the Dardanelles, not least the Gallipoli Campaign of 1915. The Russians, in particular, have always had a particular interest in the Dardanelles (and the Bosphorus) since the two straits offer the main route for exporting their wheat and oil to Europe.
In history the strait was also known as the Hellespont. Its modern name is derived from that of the ancient settlement of Dardanos on the Asian shore.
The strait has always been associated with tragedy. As you gaze out at it, spare a thought for Hero and Leander, legendary lovers who lived on opposite sides of the Dardanelles. Forbidden to see Hero, Leander would swim across every night to meet her under cover of darkness, using the light from a lamp that she hung out to guide him. Then one night a gust of wind blew out the light. Leander lost his way in the dark and was drowned, whereupon Hero threw herself to her death from a tower. Despite the tragic end to this story there are a still surprising number of hardy individuals who want to have a stab at swimming the strait which is 1.2km across at its narrowest point.
In 2022 the opening of the 1915 Çanakkale Köprüsü (Bridge) marked the latest in a series of attempts to bridge the strait dating back at least to the time of Xerxes who, in c.482 BC, had two pontoon bridges built across it to help his Persian army reach Greece. A storm destroyed these bridges so that the crossing had to be made by tying boats together instead.
Under the terms of the 1936 Treaty of Montreux the Dardanelles are an international shipping lane although Turkey is allowed to restrict access to the navies of non-Black Sea countries. At the start of the Russian-Ukrainian War in 2022, Turkey closed the strait to foreign warships.
Most people get to know the Dardanelles through a stay in Çanakkale which is on the Asian side of the strait facing Eceabat and Kilitbahir on the European side.
