Bosporus

Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)

bos'po-rus, the strait that joins the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmora. It forms part of the boundary between Asia and Europe. The name is Greek for ox-ford. It is about eighteen miles long and 3,000 feet wide. A surface current flows outward from the Black Sea; an under current flows inward toward the Black Sea. The shores are high and picturesque. This is the strait that Darius crossed on a bridge of boats in his expedition against the Scythians. By treaty at the close of the Crimean War, it was agreed by the European powers that no battleships should be permitted to pass through the Bosporus without the consent of Turkey. This measure was taken to prevent the Russians from gaining access to the Mediterranean. The shores of the Bosporus are defended by a series of Turkish forts. The Bosporus abounds in fish. Its waters have been fished for thousands of years with nets and lines, but the fish seem as numerous as ever. Following the center of the channel, the water is from 148 to 388 feet deep. About once a century the surface is frozen over. See Hellespont ; Constantinople ; Golden Fleece 2026 Editor's Note: The Bosporus remains one of the most strategically valuable waterways on earth, the sole sea route out of the Black Sea — its use governed since 1936 by the Montreux Convention, which lets Turkey close it to warships in wartime, a power that mattered again after Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Three bridges now leap the strait, and a rail tunnel runs beneath it. (Ed: BR 2026-06-22)