Adriatic Sea

The Adriatic Sea is part of the Mediterranean Sea separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan peninsula, and the system of the Apennine Mountains from the Dinaric Alps and adjacent ranges.
It extends from the Gulf of Venice south to the Strait of Otranto, linking it to the Ionian Sea. It has an approximate length of 500 miles (800 km), an average width of 100 miles (160 km), and an area of 50,590 sq mi (131,050 sq km).
The sea's western coast runs the length of Italy, while the eastern coast forms the borders of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Albania. A small slice of Slovenia also reaches to the Adriatic Sea. Eleven major rivers flow into the Adriatic Sea. They are the Reno, Po, Adige, Brenta, Piave, Soča/Isonzo, Zrmanja, Krka, Cetina, Neretva, and the Drin (Drini).
The Adriatic Sea has served as a source of transportation, recreation, and sustenance throughout history. From the end of the twentieth century the Adriatic, long renowned for its pristine condition, began to show perilous signs of invasive species introduced by human influence. Six nations border the Adriatic Sea. For the sake of maintaining this important body of water, it is incumbent upon them to unite beyond their national boundaries.


The east and west coasts of the Adriatic vary greatly. The west shore, along Italy, is relatively straight, continuous, and generally low, merging in the northwest, into the marshes and lagoons on either hand of the protruding delta of the River Po, the sediment of which has pushed forward the coastline for several miles within historic times—Adria is now some distance from the shore.
The east coast along the Balkan Peninsula is generally bold and rocky, with over one thousand islands varying in size. Numerous straits form inlets between the islands similar to those of the Norwegian fjords, forming an intricate coastline. South of the Istrian Peninsula, which separates the Gulfs of Venice and Gulf of Trieste from the Bay of Kvarner, the island-fringe of the east coast extends as far south as Dubrovnik.
The islands, which are long and narrow (the long axis lying parallel with the coast of the mainland), rise rather abruptly to elevations of a few hundred feet, with the exception of a few larger islands such as Brač (Vidova gora, 778 m) or the peninsula Pelješac (St. Ilija, 961 m). There are over a thousand islands in the Adriatic, 66 of which are inhabited. On the mainland, notably in the Gulf of Kotor (Boka Kotorska; named after the town of Kotor), lofty mountains often fall directly to the sea.
The prevalent color of the rocks is a light, dead grey, contrasting harshly with the dark vegetation, which on some of the islands is luxuriant. Attesting to this, Montenegro (Black Mountain) was named for the black pines that cover the coast there, and similarly the Greek name for the island of Korčula is Korkyra Melaina meaning "Black Corfu."
Notable cities on the Italian coast are Trieste, Ravenna, Rimini, Ancona, Pescara, Bari, and Brindisi. The city of Venice stretches across numerous small islands in the marshy Venetian Lagoon, which stretches along the shoreline of the Adriatic in northeast Italy between the mouths of the Po (south) and the Piave (north) Rivers.
Major cities on the northeastern coast include Trieste in Italy; Koper in Slovenia; Umag, Poreč, Rovinj, Pula, Opatija, Rijeka, Senj, Zadar, Biograd, Šibenik, Trogir, Split, Makarska, Ploče and Dubrovnik in Croatia; Neum in Bosnia and Herzegovina; Herceg Novi, Kotor, Tivat, Bar, Budva and Ulcinj in Montenegro; and Durrës in Albania.
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Adriatic_Sea

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