Çanakkale 7.47

Çanakkale is a city and seaport in Turkey, in Çanakkale Province, on the southern (Asian) coast of the Dardanelles at their narrowest point. The population of the town is 186,116 (2014 estimate). The current mayor is Ülgür Gökhan (CHP).Çanakkale is the finishing point every year for an organised swim across the Hellespont 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.The city is the nearest major town to the site of ancient Troy. The "wooden horse" from the 2004 movie Troy is exhibited on the seafront. Çanakkale is the second city to be situated on two continents after Istanbul, but Çanakkale is closer to mid-division than Istanbul.NameÇanakkale is the name for a site earlier known as Kale-I-Sultaniye, which was adopted as the official term for the town in 1890, though current a century earlier. Çanakkale was an Ottoman fortress called Kale-i Sultaniye or Sultaniye kalesi (Fortress of the Sultan). From the late 17th century it also became known for its fine-glazed pottery, Çanakkale ceramics, compared by one traveler to Delftware hence the later name Çanak kalesi 'pot fortress'. The Greek Byzantine name for Çanakkale چینک قله was Δαρδανέλλια, Dardanellia, from which the English name Dardanelles is derived.