The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez (leading to the Suez Canal). The Red Sea is a Global 200 ecoregion.Occupying a part of the Great Rift Valley, the Red Sea has a surface area of roughly 438,000 km² (169,100 square miles ).
- The name of the sea may signify the seasonal blooms of the red-colored cyanobacteria Trichodesmium erythraeum near the water’s surface.
- Some suggest that it refers to the mineral-rich red mountains nearby which are called Harei Edom. Edom, meaning “ruddy complexion”, is also an alternative Hebrew name for the red-faced biblical character Esau (brother of Jacob), and the nation descended from him, the Edomites, which in turn provides yet another possible origin for Red Sea.
- Yet another theory favored by some modern scholars is that the name red is referring to the direction south, the same way the Black Sea’s name may refer to north. The basis of this theory is that some Asiatic languages used color words to refer to the cardinal directions. Herodotus on one occasion uses Red Sea and Southern Sea interchangeably.
- A final theory suggests that it was named so because it borders the Egyptian Desert which the ancient Egyptians called the Dashret or “red land”; therefore it would have been the sea of the red land.
The White Sea is a southern inlet of the Barents Sea located on the northwest coast of Russia. It is surrounded by Karelia to the west, the Kola Peninsula to the north, and the Kanin Peninsula to the northeast. The whole of the White Sea is under Russian sovereignty and considered to be part of the internal waters of Russia.The White Sea is an important traffic center of northwestern Russia, interconnecting various economic regions and providing an outlet to the foreign routes. The White Sea – Baltic Canal links it through Onega Lake to the Baltic Sea and the major city and port of Saint Petersburg. The Baltic Sea, in turn, is connected by the Volga–Baltic Waterway to the Volga River, Black, Caspian, and Azov seas. The major ports on the White Sea are Arkhangelsk, Belomorsk, Onega, Mezen, Kem, Kandalaksha and Umba. Despite being frozen in winter, the sea remains navigable all year around because of deployment of icebreakersIt is frozen over from September to May (this could be the reason why they named it the White Sea) but ice-breaking ships keep sections of the sea open during winter.
The Black Sea is an inland sea bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of theDardanelles connects it to the Aegean Sea region of the Mediterranean. These waters separate eastern Europe and western Asia. The Black Sea also connects to the Sea of Azovby the Strait of Kerch.
Why did they call it the Black Sea? Well, here are some bases regarding the origin of the name.
- The reason for the name may be an ancient assignment of colors to the direction of the compass — black referring to the north, and red referring to the south. Herodotus on one occasion uses Red Sea and Southern Sea interchangeably.
- Another possible explanation comes from the color of the Black Sea’s deep waters. Being further north than the Mediterranean Sea and much less saline, the microalgae concentration is much richer, causing the dark color. Visibility in the Black Sea is on average approximately five meters, as compared to up to thirty-five meters in the Mediterranean.
- One Bulgarian understanding of the name is that the sea used to be quite stormy.
- In naval science, the Black Sea is thought to have received its name because of its hydrogen sulfide layer that begins about 200 meters below the surface, and supports a unique microbial population which produces black sediments probably due to anaerobic methane oxidation.
The Yellow Sea is the name given to the northern part of the East China Sea, which is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean. It is located between mainland China and theKorean Peninsula. Its name comes from the sand particles from Gobi Desert sand storms that turn the surface of the water golden yellow. In North Korea and South Korea, the sea is sometimes called the West Sea (서해).The innermost bay of the Yellow Sea is called the Bohai Sea (previously Pechihli Bay or Chihli Bay). Into it flow both the Yellow River (through Shandong province and its capital Jinan) and Hai He (through Beijing and Tianjin). Deposits of sand and silt from those rivers contribute to the sea color.
Why did they call this sea “Yellow Sea”?
Literally speaking, this sea is named Yellow Sea because it’s really yellow.
