Play

Çanakkale

City in TürkiyeÇanakkale is a port city in the northwest of Türkiye, on the southern, Asian shore of the Dardanelles, at the point where the strait is narrowest, only about 1.2 km wide.

What it's known for

Every ship sailing between the Aegean Sea and the Sea of Marmara passes Çanakkale on its way through the Dardanelles. The city is the nearest urban centre to ancient Troy and the main base for visiting the First World War cemeteries at Gallipoli.

Fun facts

  1. From the late 17th century the town became known for its glazed pottery, which gave it the name Çanak Kalesi, 'Pottery Castle'.
  2. The wooden horse from the 2004 film Troy stands on the Çanakkale waterfront.
  3. Sultan Mehmed II built a fortress here in 1462, now called Çimenlik Castle; with the Kilitbahir fort on the opposite shore, it controlled ships passing through the strait.

Finding it on the globe

Trace the Dardanelles, the narrow strait in Türkiye's far northwest; Çanakkale is on its southern side, closer to the Aegean end than to the Sea of Marmara.

Easy to mix up

In Türkiye the 1915 battles are called the Battle of Çanakkale, but the land fighting was mostly on the Gallipoli peninsula across the strait, on the European side.

Sources: Wikipedia: Çanakkale, Wikipedia: Dardanelles, Wikipedia: Gallipoli campaign