The Wilmington morning star., 1945-11-25
Lies At Crossroads of Two
Historic Routes of Trade
And Conquest
". THE DARDANELLES AND
THRACE

Ih1S is the 1OQftn OF series Oh
ten articles under the general
title, Orphan Areas of Europe. The
stories have been prepared by the
National Geographic Society for
the Wilmington Star-News to in
form readers about disputed areas
in Europe whose forms of govern
ment and economic relations with
neighboring countries may have to
be determined by negotiations
among the Allied Powers. An arti-
Gle viii appear in the Star-News
each Sunday.
By THE NATIONAL
GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY
The h story of thirty centuries
bristles with proof of the strategic
Importance of the land and waters
surrounding 1stanbul, as old Con-
stantinople (and older Byzantium)
is now known. Today, Istanbul
stands un0immed as the key city
of d key area in the commercial
and military schemes of world
powers.
Grown to a port-metropolis OF
nearly million people, Istanbul
lies at the crossroads of two his
toric routes of trade and conquest.
The city is in Turki-h Thrace,
Turkeys tiny corner of southeast
ern Europe, The land bridge that
joins Europe to Asia between the
Black Sea and the Aegean arm
Of the Mediterranean. And it lies
on the Bosporus, the eastern gate
of the Dardanelles-Sea of Marina
Tablespoons water corridor gen
orally known as 'the Straits
that cuts across the land bridge
to join the two busy seas.
Both the Straits and the land
bridge to their north have been
Turkish for nearly 500 years. But
the succession of wars, treaties,
conventions and agreements which
have threatened or affected con-
troll of the Straits has seemed I'M
ending, with Russia almost always
a participant.
No other power has so genuine
a concern in Turkeys European
corner. The 1o0-mile Straits route
Is Russia's one practical water
gate to the warm seas of world
trade. Persian Gulf and Muir
mansk rout es were wartime
makeshifts, opened because of
neutral Turkeys firm refusal to
open the Straits to the United Ma
tons until the final months of the
European war. Famed by reali-
ties of World War II, the eternal
Straits question flares anew.
Two Doors
Examination of a map of the
Straits will show they are double
doors with vestibule between.
The southwestern door is the G.
mile-long Strait of Dard.nelles
the Hellespont of the ancients
varying from more than four tt
less tn a n one mile in width
Leander of Greek legend swan i
nightly 10 keep his trysts with
Hero. Walled Troy, stormed by
Agamemnon twelve centuries be
fore the Christian era, once dom
mated its southern entrance. Xer
xes of Persia in 48O BIC. led al
army into Europe and Alexande
the Great of Macedon $50 year
later swept into Asia, each b,
building a bridge of boats acros
this part of the Straits.
The vestibule is the Sea Of Mar
mara, about 125 miles across be
tween the ports of Gelibolu (Gal
lipoli of World War I fame> 2
Istanbul. Named with the Gree
word for rock, this salty lake be
tween historic straits is studde
with rocky islands. 1t is little NOR
than half as large as Lake Or
tario, smallest of North America
Great Lakes.
The northeastern or Black Sc
door is the Bosporus, 10 mile
long and from one-half mile to
mile-and-a-half in width. The ha
Dor waters of Istanbul at its sout
ern Gnner) end have long bee
known as the Golden Horn. Swi
currents churn the curving cour!
of the Bosporus; medieval for
and castles, red-roofed vlllag'
line it's shores.
The two straits alone total nea