Which strait links the Aegean Sea with the Sea of Marmara in Turkey?

The strait linking the Aegean Sea with the Sea of Marmara in Turkey is the Dardanelles.

The Dardanelles is a long, narrow natural waterway in northwestern Turkey. It connects the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara and forms part of the Turkish Straits, together with the Bosporus. Through that chain, ships can travel between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.

The strait is about 61 kilometres long and separates the Gallipoli Peninsula in Europe from the Troad region of Asian Turkey. Its ancient Greek name was the Hellespont, or “Sea of Helle,” recalling the myth of Helle, who fell from a flying golden ram. The modern name is linked to Dardanus and the ancient Dardanians.

A common mix-up is the Bosporus: it links the Sea of Marmara with the Black Sea, not the Aegean. The Dardanelles has also been strategically important for millennia, including during the 1915 Gallipoli Campaign. In 2022, the 1915 Çanakkale Bridge became the first fixed crossing of the strait.