4SEAS

The Black Sea is an inland sea with the total area of 436,400 km² (its longest east-west extent is about 1175 km) and the maximum depth of 2,200 m (7,200 ft). It is bounded by southeastern Europe, the Caucasus and the Anatolian peninsula (Turkey). Figure above: The Black Sea map, Copyright (C) 2000, 2001, 2002 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

The name of the Black Sea is of Turkic origin – “Kara Denghis”, “Karadeniz” in modern Turkish, with its translation to other languages: Chyornoe More (Russian), Cherno More (Bulgarian), Marea Neagra (Romanian), etc. Rough weather conditions were believed to shock Turkic nomads when they first came to the Black Sea from sunny Middle Asia that can be an explanation of the adjective “black” in the name. It is interesting that much earlier, ancient Greeks named the sea “Pontos Axenos” that means inhospitable, hostile sea. After getting to know the Pontos Axenos better, they changed it to “Pontos Euxinos”, i.e. kindly, hospitable sea.

Geology and Origin

History

What Makes the Black Sea Unique

Biology

Current State and Future

Oddities

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