Black Sea
Black Sea (Karadeniz in Turkish) lies to the north of Turkey, bordering with two regions; Marmara and Black Sea. Besides Turkey, other countries that circle the Black Sea are; Bulgaria, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, and Georgia. It’s connected to the Sea of Marmara with the Bosphorus Strait in the southwest. Some of the important ports on the Black Sea are; Istanbul,Trabzon, Samsun, Sinop, Burgas, Varna, Constanza, Yalta, Odessa, Sevastopol, Kerch, Novorossiysk, Sochi, Sukhumi, Poti, and Batumi.
Black Sea is an inland sea covering an area of about 420 thousand square kilometers (over 162 thousand square miles) reaching at 2206 meters (7237 feet) in its deepest point. Below 200 meters the oxygen level in the water is very low so marine life is very limited below this depth. Most known fish they catch in the Black Sea are; Black Sea turbot, gurnard, and small sharks.
Sea of Marmara
Sea of Marmara (Marmara Denizi in Turkish) is an inland sea within the Marmara region connecting to the Black Sea with the Bosphorus Strait in the northeast, and to the Aegean Sea with the Dardanelles Strait in the southwest. It lies between Thrace and Anatolia parts of Turkey, covering an area of over 11 thousand square kilometers (4247 square miles). It is approximately 280 kilometers (174 miles) long from northeast to southwest and about 80 kilometers (50 miles) wide at its greatest width. Its maximum depth reaches 1355 meters (4445 feet) near the center.
There are many marble sources on its islands which gave its name to the Sea; marble is “Marmaros” in Greek and “Mermer” in Turkish. Some of the main islands in the Sea of Marmara are; Avsa, Marmara, Imrali, and Princes Islands near Istanbul (Buyukada, Heybeli, Burgaz, Kinali, and Sedef).
Aegean Sea
Aegean Sea (Ege Denizi in Turkish) is a part of Mediterranean Sea lying between Turkey and Greece. There is Mediterranean Sea to the south, Greek Peninsula to the west, Anatolia and part of Thrace to the east. It’s connected to the Sea of Marmara by Dardanelles Strait to the northeast. It covers an area of 214 thousand square kilometers (about 83 thousand square miles), stretching for about 660 kilometers (410 miles) from north to south, and reaching at a maximum depth of 3543 meters (11624 feet). Tides are very limited in the Aegean Sea.
Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea (Akdeniz in Turkish) is surrounded by Asia to the east, Europe to the north and Africa to the south. It’s connected to the Atlantic Ocean to the west with Gibraltar Strait. It’s also connected to the Red Sea in the southeast with the Suez Canal in Egypt, a man-made canal built in 1869. And to the east it’s connected to the Sea of Marmara by Dardanelles Strait.Aegean and Marmara Seas are often considered as a part of the Mediterranean Sea. The sea gave also its name to the Mediterranean region of Turkey.
Mediterranean covers about 2,5 million square kilometers (almost 1 million square miles), its shores were home to many ancient civilizations in the history, such as Phoenicians, Egyptians, Carthaginians, Greeks, Lycians, Arabs, Persians, Romans, Byzantines, Seljuks, Ottomans and so on. The name comes from Latin; “Medi” means middle, “Terra” means land or place. The Romans called it Mare Nostrum, which in Latin means Our Sea. In Turkish it’s called Akdeniz, meaning White Sea.
