Nara Burnu

Nara Burnu (Turkish "Cape Nara"),[1][2] formerly Nağara Burnu,[3] in English Nagara Point,[4] and in older sources Point Pesquies,[3] is a headland on the Anatolian side of the Dardanelles Straits, north of Çanakkale.

It is the narrowest and, with 113 metres (371 ft), the deepest, section of the Dardanelles Strait. As a result, it is also the point where the surface current from the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea is the strongest, with 1.5 to 2 times the normal rate, occasionally reaching the speed of 5 nautical miles (9.3 km) per hour. The undercurrent is 0.5–5 nautical miles (0.93–9.26 km) per hour, flowing in the opposite direction.[5][6] The ancient and medieval city of Abydos is located at the Nara promontory.[7]

Due to the narrowness of the straits at this point, the site was often chosen for crossings of the Dardanelles by armies, beginning with the Achaemenid monarch Xerxes I during his Invasion of Greece in 480 BC, who deployed pontoon bridges to allow his army to cross on foot.[7]

  1. ^ Nihan Ünlü (2002). The Legal Regime of the Turkish Straits. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. pp. 67, 139. ISBN 978-90-411-1904-9.
  2. ^ Ünlülata Ü.; Oğuz T.; Latif M.A.; Özsoy E. "On the Physical Oceanography of the Turkish Straits". In Pratt L.J. (ed.). The Physical Oceanography of Sea Straits. NATO ASI Series (Mathematical and Physical Sciences). Vol. 318. Dordrecht: Springer. p. 32.
  3. ^ a b A Handbook for Travellers in the Ionian Islands, Greece, Turkey, Asia Minor, and Constantinople. London: John Murray. 1840. pp. 213–214.
  4. ^ The Black Sea Pilot: The Dardanelles, Sea of Marmara, Bosporus, Black Sea, and Sea of Azov. Washington: United States Hydrographic Office. 1927. p. 78. Retrieved 2023-11-01.
  5. ^ Türkiye Jeoloji Bülteni - Ağustos 2009- Sh., pp. 158, 162
  6. ^ Oceanography of the Turkish Straits - Volume 2, Issue 1 - Page 2-9, 1988. "The first two stations cover the northeastern part of the Strait from its Marmara end (Gelibolu-Çardak section) to the vicinity of the Nara Burnu where the channel is constricted and bends sharply. The profiles of the hydrographic properties are ..."
  7. ^ a b John Freely (2000). The Companion Guide to Istanbul and Around the Marmara. Companion Guides. p. 322. ISBN 978-1-900639-31-6.