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]

References

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 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. John Freely (2000). The Companion Guide to Istanbul and Around the Marmara. Companion Guides. p. 322. ISBN 978-1-900639-31-6.

40°11′47″N 26°24′52″E