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The English Channel (, "the sleeve") is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates the Island of Great Britain from northern France and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about 560 km (350 miles) long and varies in width from 240 km (150 miles) at its widest to only 34 km (21 miles) in the Strait Of Dover ."English Channel". ''The Columbia Encyclopedia'', 2004. It is the smallest of the shallow seas around the continental shelf of Europe, covering an area of only some 75,000 km&2 (29,000 square miles)."English Channel." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. GEOGRAPHY The length of the Channel is most often defined as the line between Land's End and Ushant at the (arbitrarily defined) western end, and the Strait of Dover at the eastern end. The Strait is also the Channel's narrowest point, while its widest point lies between Lyme Bay and the Gulf of Saint Malo near the midpoint of the waterway. It is relatively shallow, with an average depth of about 120 m at its widest part, reducing to about 45 m between Dover and Calais . From there eastwards the sea continues to shallow to about 26 m in the Broad Fourteens where it lies over the watershed of the former land bridge between East Anglia and the Low Countries . It reaches a maximum depth of 180 m (590 ft) in the submerged valley of Hurds Deep , 30 km (19 miles) northwest of Guernsey ."English Channel." ''The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia including Atlas.'' 2005. A number of major islands are situated in the Channel, of which the most notable are the Isle Of Wight off the English coast and the British-ruled Channel Islands off the coast of France. The Isles Of Scilly off the far south-west coast of England are not generally counted as being in the Channel. The coastline, particularly on the French shore, is deeply indented; the Cotentin Peninsula in France juts out into the Channel, and the Isle of Wight creates a small parallel channel known as the Solent . The Channel is of geologically recent origins, having been dry land for most of the Pleistocene period. It is thought to have been created between 450,000 and 180,000 years ago by two catastrophic Glacial Lake Outburst Flood s caused by the breaching of the Weald-Artois Anticline , a ridge which held back a large Proglacial Lake in the Doggerland region, now submerged under the North Sea. The flood would have lasted several months, releasing as much as one million cubic metres of water per second. The cause of the breach is not known but may have been caused by an Earthquake or simply the build-up of Water Pressure in the lake. As well as destroying the isthmus that connected Britain to continental Europe, the flood carved a large bedrock-floored valley down the length of the English Channel, leaving behind streamlined islands and longitudinal erosional grooves characteristic of catastrophic megaflood events.1 At its west end, it is narrowly separated from the Celtic Sea and Bay Of Biscay by the peninsulas of Cornwall and Brittany respectively. For the UK Shipping Forecast the English Channel is divided into the areas of (from the West): NAME The name "English Channel" has been widely used since the early 18th century, possibly originating from the designation ''Engelse Kanaal'' in Dutch sea maps from the 16th century onwards. Prior to then it was known as the British Sea, and it was called the ''Oceanus Britannicus'' by the 2nd century geographer Ptolemy . The same name is used on an Italian map of about 1450 which gives the alternative name of "canalites Anglie" - possibly the first recorded use of the "Channel" designation." Map Of Great Britain , Ca. 1450", Collect Britain The French name "La Manche", referring to the Channel's sleevelike shape, has been in use since at least the 17th century. In Breton it is known as "Mor Breizh" (the Sea of Brittany ). ARCHAEOLOGY The geology and geography of the Channel make it a productive site for Maritime Archaeologists and it has thousands of shipwrecks http://www.ryemuseum.co.uk/shipwrec.htm In August of 2007, artifacts including wood and hazel nuts from the 8000-year-old Bouldnor Cliff Mesolithic Village were presented by the Underwater Archaeology Centre based in the Isle of Wight. The preservation of organic material from the stone age is unique to the UK and already the site is of international importance. The most famous shipwreck is Henry VIII's flagship the Mary Rose . HISTORY
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