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AEGEAN SEA

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Originally appearing in Volume V01, Page 251 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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AEGEAN See also:SEA , a See also:part of the Mediterranean Sea, being the See also:archipelago between See also:Greece on the See also:west and See also:Asia See also:Minor on the See also:east, bounded N. by See also:European See also:Turkey, and connected by the See also:Dardanelles with the Sea of See also:Marmora, and so with the See also:Black Sea. The name Archipelago (q.v.) was formerly applied specifically to this sea. The origin of the name Aegean is uncertain. Various derivations are given by the See also:ancient grammarians—one from the See also:town of Aegae; another from Aegea, a See also:queen of the See also:Amazons who perished in this sea; and a third from See also:Aegeus, the See also:father of See also:Theseus, who, supposing his son dead, drowned himself in it. The following are the See also:chief islands:—Thasos, in the extreme See also:north, off the Macedonian See also:coast; See also:Samothrace, fronting the Gulf of See also:Saros; See also:Imbros and See also:Lemnos, in prolongation of the See also:peninsula of See also:Gallipoli (Thracian See also:Chersonese) ; See also:Euboea, the largest of all, lying See also:close along the east coast of Greece; the See also:Northern See also:Sporades, including Sciathos, Scopelos and Halonesos, See also:running out from the See also:southern extremity of the Thessalian coast, and See also:Scyros, with its satellites, north-east of Euboea; See also:Lesbos and See also:Chios; See also:Samos and Nikaria; See also:Cos, with Calymnos to the north; all off Asia Minor, with the many other islands of the Sporades; and, finally, the See also:great See also:group of the See also:Cyclades, of which the largest are See also:Andros and Tenos, See also:Naxos and See also:Paros. Many of the Aegean islands, or chains of islands, are actually prolongations of 'promontories of the mainland. Two See also:main chains extend rightacross the sea—the one through Scyros and Psara (between which shallow See also:banks intervene) to Chios and the See also:hammer-shaped promontory east of it; and the other running from the See also:south-eastern promontory of Euboea and continuing the See also:axis of that See also:island, in a southward See also:curve through Andros, Tenos, Myconos, Nikaria and Samos. A third curve, from the south-easternmost promontory of the Peloponnese through Cerigo, See also:Crete, Carpathos and See also:Rhodes, marks off the See also:outer deeps of the open Mediterranean from the shallow seas of the archipelago, but the Cretan Sea, in which depths occur over r000 fathoms, intervenes, north of the See also:line, between it and the Aegean proper. The Aegean itself is naturally divided by the island-chains and the ridges from which they rise into a See also:series of basins or troughs, the deepest of which is that in the north, extending from the coast of See also:Thessaly to the Gulf of Saros, and demarcated southward by the Northern Sporades, Lemnos, Imbros and the peninsula of Gallipoli. The greater part of this trough is over 600 fathoms deep. The See also:pro-See also:fusion of islands and their usually bold See also:elevation give beauty and picturesqueness to the sea, but its See also:navigation is difficult and dangerous, notwithstanding the large number of safe and commodious gulfs and bays. Many of the islands are of volcanic formation; and a well-defined volcanic See also:chain See also:bounds the Cretan Sea on the north, including See also:Milo and Kimolos, See also:Santorin (See also:Thera) and Therasia, and extends to Nisyros.

Others, such as Paros, are mainly composed of See also:

marble, and See also:iron ore occurs in some. The larger islands have some fertile and well-watered valleys and plains. The chief productions are See also:wheat, See also:wine, oil, See also:mastic, See also:figs, raisins, See also:honey, See also:wax, See also:cotton and See also:silk. The See also:people are employed in fishing for See also:coral and See also:sponges, as well as for See also:bream, See also:mullet and other See also:fish. The men are See also:hardy, well built and See also:hand-some; and the See also:women are noted for their beauty, the ancient See also:Greek type being well preserved. The Cyclades and Northern Sporades, with Euboea and small islands under the Greek See also:shore, belong to Greece; the other islands to Turkey.

End of Article: AEGEAN SEA

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