Major Straits of the World Part 1

Major Straits of the World – Part 4

Straits of Pacific Ocean

Part 1

Bering Strait:

  • The Bering Strait is a strait between the Pacific and Arctic oceans, separating the Chukchi Peninsula of the Russian Far East from the Seward Peninsula of Alaska.
  • The present Russia-United States maritime boundary is at 168° 58′ 37″ W longitude, slightly south of the Arctic Circle at about 65° 40′ N latitude.
  • The Strait is named after Vitus Bering, a Danish explorer in the service of the Russian Empire.
  • The Bering Strait has been the subject of the scientific theory that humans migrated from Asia to North America across a land bridge known as Beringia.
  • This view of how Paleo-Indians entered America has been the dominant one for several decades and continues to be the most accepted one.

Cook Strait:

  • Cook Strait separates the North and South Islands of New Zealand.
  • The strait connects the Tasman Sea on the northwest with the South Pacific Ocean on the southeast.
  •  It is 22 kilometres wide at its narrowest point, and is considered one of the most dangerous and unpredictable waters in the world.
  • The strait is named after James Cook, the first European commander to sail through it, in 1770.

Korea Strait:

  • The Korea Strait is a sea passage in East Asia between Korea and Japan, connecting the East China Sea, the Yellow Sea and the Sea of Japan in the northwest Pacific Ocean.
  • The strait is split by the Tsushima Island into the Western Channel and the Tsushima Strait or Eastern Channel.
  • To the north, the Korea Strait is bounded by the southern coast of the Korean Peninsula.
  • And to the south, it by the southwestern Japanese islands of Kyūshū and Honshū.
  • It is about 200 km wide and averages about 90 to 100 meters deep.
  • Since a branch of the Kuroshio Current passes through the strait its warm branch is sometimes called the Tsushima Current.