Adriatic

ad-re-at'ik, or Gulf of Venice, an arm of the Mediterranean, lying between Italy and Greece. It is 500 miles in length. Geologically it is a continuation of the valley of the Po, which here sinks beneath the surface of the sea. The name is derived from the city of Adria, once a native port, but now fifteen miles inland. The intervening distance has been filled up by silt carried down into the sea by the Po. The coasts of the Adriatic near the Po are low, swampy, fertile, and populous. Elsewhere the Italian, Turkish, and Grecian coasts are precipitous and rocky. They are provided with few good harbors, compared with the coasts of the Aegean. Hence the two peninsulas stand "back to back." They had little early intercourse. Before the discovery of a route around the Cape of Good Hope, the Adriatic and its port, Venice, formed the chief pathway of the world's sea commerce. See Venice; Mediterranean