Strait and Narrow Trivia Quiz

Answer: Bab-el-Mandeb

Bab-el-Mandeb means "gate of tears", a name referring to the dangers of navigating its waters. This strait, which connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden, occupies a strategic position for ships (especially oil tankers) that travel from the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean. Bab-el-Mandeb is bordered by the East African nations of Eritrea and Djibouti to the west, and the West Asian nation of Yemen to the east; about 30 km (20 mi) wide, it is divided into two channels by the volcanic island of Perim.

A plan to build a bridge across the strait was announced in 2008, but the project seems to have stalled.

Answer: Strait of Otranto

Called Canale di Otranto in Italian, and Kanali i Otrantos in Albanian, the Strait of Otranto is named after the city of Otranto, in the Italian region of Puglia (Apulia). A waterway of great strategic importance since the time of the Roman Empire, the strait extends between Punta Palascía, Italy's easternmost point at the tip of the Salento peninsula (the heel of the boot), and Capo Glossa in Albania. About 70 km (43.4 mi) wide, the Strait of Otranto forms part of the maritime boundary between Italy and Albania.

In 1997 and 2004, it was the scene of two tragic shipwrecks, in which almost 100 people died trying to cross illegally from Albania to Italy, in order to escape the former Communist country's precarious political and economic situation.

Answer: Sunda Strait

The Sunda Strait (Sunda Selat in Indonesian) separates Sumatra and Java, two of the world's largest and most densely populated islands, both part of Indonesia. The waterway's name comes from the Sunda Kingdom, a Hindu kingdom that flourished in the western part of Java between 669 and 1579; the ethnic group that inhabits that region is also called Sundanese. About 24 km (15 mi) at its narrowest point, and quite shallow overall, the strait is not suitable for navigation by large ships, which use instead the Strait of Malacca, located further north, between Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula.

Many small islands are scattered around the strait, among them Anak Krakatau (child of Krakatoa), the island emerged from the caldera formed in 1883 by the violent explosion of the volcano Krakatoa.

The Sunda Strait is also known for a World War II battle, which occurred in March 1942 between two US cruisers and a Japanese landing force.

Answer: Öresund

Simply known as "Sundet" (the Strait) in Danish and Swedish, and "the Sound" in English, Öresund ("strait of the gravel beach") separates the island of Zealand (Sjćalland) in Denmark from the southern Swedish province of Scania (Skĺne). Its narrowest point (4 km/2.5 mi) lies between the Danish city of Helsingřr (known in English as Elsinore, the setting of Shakespeare's "Hamlet") and the Swedish city of Helsingborg, which are connected by a busy ferry service.

The Öresund Bridge, inaugurated on 1st July, 2000, links Copenhagen, Denmark's capital, with Malmö, Sweden's third-largest city. Öresund is the northernmost of the Danish Straits connecting the North Sea with the Baltic Sea through the Kattegat and the Skagerrak: these two wider sea areas lie north of Öresund, separating the Jutland peninsula from Sweden and Norway.

Answer: Bering Strait

Connecting the Arctic Ocean and the North Pacific Ocean, the Bering Strait (named after 18th-century Danish explorer Vitus Bering) lies between Asia and North America. The Beringia land bridge hypothesis maintains that humans migrated from Asia to North America when lower ocean levels exposed a wide stretch of land.

The narrowest point of the strait (82 km/51 mi) lies between Cape Dezhnev in Far Eastern Russia's Chukchi Peninsula and Cape Prince of Wales in Alaska (US). The International Date Line runs between the islands of Big Diomede (Russia) and Little Diomede (US), located in the middle of the strait, separating them by almost one calendar day.

The western coast of the strait has been a closed military zone since 2012, though it can be visited under strict supervision. Since the 19th century, numerous proposals have been made for building either a bridge or a tunnel across the Bering Strait to allow travel between the two continents; the most recent was approved by the Russian government in 2011.

Answer: Windward Passage

Called Passage au Vent in French, and Paso de los Vientos in Spanish, the Windward Passage lies between the easternmost part of Cuba (Guantánamo Province) and the northwest of Haiti (Nord-Ouest Département), separating the two largest islands in the Caribbean, Cuba and Hispaniola.

The strait, which connects the Caribbean Sea with the Atlantic Ocean, is located in a strategic position on the sea route between the Panama Canal and the East Coast of the US. About 80 km (50 mi) at its widest point, the Windward Passage is also important in political terms, as the long-disputed maritime border between Cuba and Haiti - an approximate equidistant line between the coasts of the two nations - runs through it.

Answer: Torres Strait

Compared to most of the straits mentioned in this quiz, the Torres Strait is rather wide - about 150 km (93 mi) at its narrowest point. This body of water, which connects the Coral Sea to the Arafura Sea, lies between the Western Province of Papua New Guinea (the sovereign country located in the eastern part of the island of New Guinea) and Cape York Peninsula in the Australian state of Queensland. Named after 17th-century Spanish explorer Luis Vaz de Torres, the strait is shallow and dangerous to navigate, strewn as it is with islands and coral reefs.

The islands (at least 274 of them) are collectively named Torres Strait Islands, and are considered Australian territory; they have been inhabited for over 2,500 years, and their habitat and traditional way of life are protected by a treaty signed by Australia and Papua New Guinea in 1985.

Answer: Dardanelles

Called Çanakkale Boğazı (Strait of Çanakkale) in Turkish, the Dardanelles connects the Sea of Marmara with the Mediterranean Sea; the Bosphorus, which allows entrance to the Black Sea, is located on the northeastern side of the Sea of Marmara.

The Gallipoli peninsula, known for its role in World War I, lies to the west, on Turkey's European side; the city of Çanakkale, which gives its Turkish name to the strait, is located on the eastern side, in the Troad peninsula. The Dardanelles is 61 km (38 mi) long, with a maximum width of 6 km (3.73 mi).

In spite of its many potential dangers, the strait is a major international waterway, allowing connections not only to the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, but also to the Indian Ocean via the Suez Canal.

The Ancient Greek name of Hellespont, meaning "sea of Helle", is related to the myth of the Golden Fleece; the name "Dardanelles" refers instead to the two castles that stood on each side of the strait in Ottoman times. The ancient city of Troy was located on the strait's eastern shore.

Answer: Beagle Channel

Named after the ship HMS Beagle, who on her second voyage (1831-36) carried Charles Darwin on his groundbreaking scientific expedition around the world, the Beagle Channel (Canal Beagle in Spanish) separates the main island of the Tierra del Fuego Archipelago from other smaller islands.

The eastern half of the channel - which is about 5 km (3 mi) wide at its narrowest point - forms part of the border between Chile and Argentina, while its western half lies entirely in Chilean territory. Together with the Strait of Magellan (which separates the South American mainland from Tierra del Fuego) and the Drake Passage (the open-ocean area between Cape Horn and the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica), the Beagle Channel is one of three navigable passages between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans around South America. Most large ships, however, prefer to use the Drake Passage, which is considered safer.

The two southernmost settlements in the world, Puerto Williams (Chile) and Ushuaia (Argentina) are located on the shores of the Beagle Channel.

Answer: Strait of Bonifacio

The Strait of Bonifacio (Bocche di Bonifacio in Italian, and Bouches de Bonifacio in French) is named after the city of Bonifacio, at the southern tip of Corsica; the Sardinian town of Santa Teresa di Gallura lies on the Italian side. 11 km (6.8 mi) at its narrowest point, the strait connects the Tyrrhenian Sea with the northwestern part of the Mediterranean Sea. For all its small size and gorgeous marine scenery, the Strait of Bonifacio has a very bad reputation among sailors, who fear its unpredictable weather, strong currents and hidden shoals.

In 1855, the French frigate Sémillante, who was transporting troops to the Crimea during the Crimean War, sank with 750 people on board after hitting a reef in a violent storm; no one survived. In 1993, after a disaster involving an oil tanker, a resolution was passed, prohibiting, or at the very least discouraging, the passage of the strait to ships carrying dangerous goods. On the other hand, passenger ferries cross the straits regularly.