Canakkale

Canakkale is a city and seaport in Turkey in Canakkale Province on the southern coast of the Dardanelles at their narrowest point. The population of the town is 186,116 (2014 estimate).Canakkale is the finishing point every year for an organised swim across the Dardanelles from Eceabat. This event emulates the swim in 1810 by Lord Byron, who was himself emulating the legendary swim by Leander in the story of Hero and Leander.Canakkale is the nearest major urban center to the ancient city of Troy, which is located inside Canakkale Province.

Originally a 15th-century Ottoman fortress called Kale-i Sultaniye, it had by the 18th century developed a reputation for its pottery, whence its name (Turkish canak, “pot,” and kale, “fortress”). The pottery industry reached its peak in the 18th and 19th centuries and has now declined, but the city has become one of the chief centres of the Turkish fish-canning industry. It is connected by steamer service with Istanbul. Because of its location controlling the Dardanelles, less than 1 mile (1.6 km) wide at that point, Canakkale has always been strategically important. It was damaged by British bombardment during World War I.