|
WWW.ADRIA.COM |
|
||
|
ADRIA - The Adriatic Sea is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan peninsula, and the system of the Apennine Mountains from that of the Dinaric Alps and adjacent ranges. The Adriatic Sea is a part of the Mediterranean Sea. The western coast is Italian, while the eastern coast runs mostly along Croatia, but lesser parts belong to Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Albania. Major rivers joining the Adriatic are the Reno, Po, Adige, Brenta, Piave, Soča/Isonzo, Neretva, Drin |
|||
|
|||
|
The name has existed since the antiquity; in Latin
it was Mare Hadriaticum. In modern languages, it is Mare Adriatico in Italian,
Deti Adriatik in Albanian, Jadransko morje in Slovenian, and Jadransko more in
Croatian, Serbian and Bosnian. The name, derived from the town of Adria (or Hadria), belonged originally only to the upper portion of the sea (Herodotus vi. 127, vii. 20, ix. 92; Euripides, Hippolytus, 736), but was gradually extended as the Syracusan colonies gained in importance. But even then the Adriatic in the narrower sense only extended as far as the Mons Garganus, the outer portion being called the Ionian Sea: the name was sometimes, however, inaccurately used to include the Gulf of Tarentum (the modern-day Gulf of Taranto), the Sea of Sicily, the Gulf of Corinth and even the sea between Crete and Malta. The Adriatic Sea is situated largely between the eastern coast of Italy and Croatia, both major tourist attractions. It was used by the ancient Romans to transport goods (including animals and slaves) to Ostia (the Roman port). |
|||
|
|||
|
The Adriatic extends northwest from 40° to 45° 45' N., with an extreme length of about 770 km (415 nm, 480 mi). It has a mean breadth of about 160 km (85 nm, 100 mi), although the Strait of Otranto, through which it connects at the south with the Ionian Sea, is only 45-55 nautical miles wide (85-100 km).
The west shore is generally low, merging, in the northwest, into the marshes and lagoons on either hand of the protruding delta of the river Po, the sediment of which has pushed forward the coastline for several miles within historic times -- Adria is now some distance from the shore.
On the mainland, notably in the Gulf of Kotor (Boka Kotorska; named after the town of Kotor), lofty mountains often fall directly to the sea. |
|||
|
Hosted by Orbis Shared Web hosting - Dedicated servers - Domain name registration | |||