Dover Straits

Strait of Dover

The Strait of Dover or Dover Strait is the strait at the narrowest part of the English Channel, marking the boundary between the Channel and the North Sea, and separating Great Britain from continental Europe. The shortest distance across the strait, at 20.6 miles, is from the South Foreland, northeast of Dover in the English county of Kent, to Cap Gris-Nez, a cape near to Calais in the French département of Pas-de-Calais. Between these points lies the most popular route for cross-channel swimmers. The entire strait is within the territorial waters of France and the United Kingdom, but a right of transit passage under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea allows vessels of other nations to move freely through the strait.

Dover

Dover is a town, major ferry port and civil parish in Kent, England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at 33 kilometres (21 mi) from Cap Gris-Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. The town is the administrative centre of the Dover District and home of the Port of Dover. In 2024 it had an estimated population of 44,209.

Strait

A strait is a water body connecting two seas or water basins. The surface water is, for the most part, at the same elevation on both sides and can flow through the strait in either direction, although the topography generally constricts the flow somewhat. In some straits, there is a dominant directional current. Most commonly, the strait is a narrow channel that lies between two land masses. Straits are loci for sediment accumulation, with sand-sized deposits usually occurring on the two strait exits, forming subaqueous fans or deltas. Some straits are not navigable because they are too narrow, too shallow, or due to the presence of a reef or archipelago.

straits

Noun

1. plural of strait

Verb

1. third-person singular simple present indicative of strait