Straits around the world

A strait is a narrow channel of water that connects two larger bodies of water, and thus lies between two land masses. The terms strait, channel, passage, sound, and firth can be synonymous and interchangeable, although each is sometimes differentiated with varying senses. Many straits are economically important. Straits can lie on important shipping routes, and wars have been fought for control of these straits.

Numerous artificial channels, called canals, have been constructed to connect two bodies of water over land. Although rivers and canals often form a bridge between two large lakes or a lake and a sea, and these seem to suit the formal definition of straits, they are not usually referred to as straits. Straits are typically much larger, wider structures that do not have water running in a single direction, and normally connect two seas.

Straits are the duals of isthmi. That is, while straits lie between two land masses and connect two larger bodies of water, isthmi lie between two bodies of water and connect two larger land masses.

• Agate Pass - Puget Sound
• Agattu Strait - Aleutians
• Akashi Strait - Japan
• Amchitka Pass - Aleutians
• Anegada Passage - Virgin Islands and Anguilla
• Arthur Kill - Staten Island and New Jersey
• Bab-el-Mandeb - connects Red Sea to Gulf of Aden / Arabian Sea
• Balabac Strait - between Palawan, Philippines and Borneo
• Strait of Baltiysk - between Vistula Bay and Gdansk Bay
• Bangka Strait - between Sumatra and Bangka Island
• Bass Strait - between mainland Australia and Tasmania
• Strait of Belle Isle - between Newfoundland and mainland Canada
• Bering Strait - between Asia and North America
• Bransfield Strait - between South Shetland Islands and Antarctic Peninsula
• Bohol Strait - also called Cebu Strait, between Bohol and Cebu in the Philippines
• Strait of Bonifacio - between Corsica and Sardinia
• Bosporus - between Europe and Asia
• Bungo Channel - Japan
• Cabot Strait - between Newfoundland and Cape Breton Island
• Strait of Canso - between Cape Breton Island and mainland Nova Scotia
• Carquinez Strait - connects San Pablo Bay and Suisun Bay, California
• Chatham Strait - between Chichagof Island and Admiralty Island, Alaska
• Clarence Strait - between Prince of Wales Island and mainland Alaska
• Colvos Passage - Puget Sound
• Cook Strait - between the North Island and South Island of New Zealand
• Dalco Passage - Puget Sound
• Dampier Strait (Papua New Guinea) - between New Britain and Umboi Island
• Dampier Strait (Indonesia) - between Bird's Head Peninsula and Raja Ampat Islands
• Danish straits - between Scandinavia and Jutland
• Dardanelles - between Europe and Asia
• Davis Strait - between Baffin Island and Greenland
• Deception Pass - Puget Sound
• Denmark Strait - between Greenland and Iceland
• Detroit River - between Lake St. Clair and Lake Erie
• Dolphin and Union Strait - between Northwest Territories and Victoria Island
• Strait of Dover or Pas de Calais - (English Channel)
• Dragon's Mouth (Boca del Dragón) - between Trinidad and Venezuela
• Drake Passage - between South America and Antarctica
• East River - between Manhattan, the Bronx and Long Island
• English Channel - between Great Britain and France
• Falkland Sound, - between West Falkland and East Falkland
• Straits of Florida - between Florida and Cuba
• Foveaux Strait - between the South Island and Stewart Island of New Zealand
• Fury and Hecla Strait - between Baffin Island and Melville Peninsula,
• formosa strait in asia
• Strait of Georgia - between Vancouver Island and British Columbia
• Strait of Gibraltar - between Europe and Africa
• Golden Gate - between the Marin headlands and San Francisco, California
• Great Belt - Denmark
• Guadeloupe Passage - north of Guadeloupe, ((West Indies))
• Harlem River - between Manhatten and The Bronx
• Hecate Strait - between Queen Charlotte Island and British Columbia
• Honguedo Strait - between Anticosti Island and Gaspé Peninsula in Quebec
• Strait of Hormuz - between Arabia and Iran
• Hoyo Strait - Japan
• Hudson Strait - between Baffin Island and Quebec
• Johor Strait - between Singapore and the state of Johor of Malaysia
• Strait of Juan de Fuca - between Vancouver Island, Canada and Olympic Peninsula, United States
• Kalmar Strait - between Öland and Småland
• Kanmon Strait - between Honshu and Kyushu
• Kara Strait
• Karimata Strait - between Sumatra and Borneo
• Kerch Strait - between Crimea and Russia
• Kill Van Kull - between Staten Island and Bayonne, New Jersey
• Kitan Strait - Japan
• Korea Strait - between Korea and Japan
• Kwangtung Strait
• La Perouse Strait (also Soya Strait) - between Sakhalin and Japan
• Lancaster Strait
• Little Belt - Denmark
• Lombok Strait
• Luzon Strait - between Taiwan and Luzon, Philippines
• Straits of Mackinac - between Michigan's Upper and Lower Peninsulas
• Strait of Magellan - between South America and Tierra del Fuego
• Makassar Strait - between Borneo and Sulawesi
• Straits of Malacca - between Malaysia and Sumatra
• Mare Island Strait
• Martinique Passage - between Dominica and Martinique
• McClure Strait - Melville Island and Banks Island
• Menai Strait - between Anglesey and mainland Wales
• Strait of Messina - between Sicily and mainland Italy
• Mindoro Strait - between Mindoro and Palawan in the Philippines
• Mona Passage - between Hispaniola and Puerto Rico
• Myeongnyang Strait - between Jindo Island and mainland South Korea
• Nares Strait - between Ellesmere Island and Northern Greenland and connects Baffin Bay with Lincoln Sea / the Arctic Sea.
• The Narrows - between Staten Island and Brooklyn in New York City
• Naruto Strait - Japan
• North Channel - between Northern Ireland and Scotland
• Northumberland Strait - between Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick/Nova Scotia
• Oresund - between Denmark and Sweden
• Strait of Otranto - between Italy and Albania
• Palk Strait - between India and Sri Lanka
• Pertuis d'Antioche - on the Atlantic coast of Western France
• Pickering Passage - Puget Sound
• Port Washington Narrows - Puget Sound
• Porte des Morts - between the Bay of Green Bay and Lake Michigan
• Panama - Between North America and South America (Panama Canal)
• Qiongzhou Strait - Hainan and Guangdong
• Rich Passage - Puget Sound
• San Bernardino Strait - between Luzon and Samar in the Philippines
• San Juanico Strait - between Samar and Leyte islands in the Philippines
• Serpent's Mouth (Boca del Serpiente) - between Trinidad and Venezuela
• Skagerrak between Denmark, Norway and Sweden
• Shelikof Strait - between mainland Alaska and Kodiak Island
• Shimonoseki Strait
• Strait of Dover - part of the English Channel between Great Britain and France
• Strait of Sicily - between Sicily and Africa
• Singapore Strait - between Singapore and Indonesia (Sumatra)
• Smith Strait
• Sumba Strait - between Flores and Sumba, Indonesia
• Sunda Strait - between Sumatra and Java
• Surigao Strait - between Leyte and Mindanao islands in the Philippines
• Tablas Strait - between Mindoro and Panay islands in the Philippines
• Tacoma Narrows - Puget Sound
• Taiwan Strait - between Taiwan and Mainland China
• Tanon Strait - between Negros and Cebu islands in the Philippines
• Strait of Tartary (also Mamiya Strait and Strait of Nevelskoi) - Sakhalin
• Strait of Tiran - between the Sinai peninsula and Saudi Arabia
• Torres Strait - between New Guinea and Australia
• Tsugaru Strait - between Hokkaido and Honshu
• Tsushima Strait - between Iki Island and Korean Peninsula
• Soya Strait -
• Vitiaz Strait - between New Guinea and Long Island
• Windward Passage - between Cuba and Hispaniola
• Yucatan Channel - between Mexico and Cuba

Well-known straits in the world include:

• the palk strait, between India and Sri Lanka, the location of Ram Sethu and rich in natural resources
  
• the Strait of Dover, between England and France, which connects the North Sea with the English Channel
  
• the Strait of Gibraltar, the only natural passage between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea
  
• the Bosporus and the Dardanelles, which connect the Mediterranean and the Black Sea
  
• the Strait of Magellan, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans north of Tierra del Fuego
  
• the Bering Strait between Alaska and Siberia, which connects the Pacific and Arctic Oceans
  
• the Strait of Hormuz connecting the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, through which Persian Gulf petroleum is shipped to the world
  
• the Strait of Malacca, which lies between Peninsular Malaysia and Sumatra, and connects the Indian Ocean with
• the South China Sea. (It is one of the highest-volume shipping lanes in the world.)
  
• and the Bass Strait, which lies between mainland Australia and Tasmania, and connects the Indian Ocean with the Pacific Ocean.