Link it Up Trivia Quiz

Answer: Hellespont

Upon completion of what would appear to be the first recorded open water swim in modern times across the strait now known as the Dardanelles, Byron penned "Written After Swimming from Sestos to Abydos". The poem recalled Leander's nightly crossing of the selfsame strait to be with his beloved Hero. Byron completed the four mile swim on May 3, 1810 at the age of 22. It was an exceedingly proud moment, if his words give any indication: "I plume myself on this achievement more than I could possibly do on any kind of glory, poetical, political or rhetorical." Indeed, he was still boasting about it in "Don Juan" nine years later: "He could, perhaps have passed the Hellespont, as once (a feat on which ourselves we prided) Leander, Mr. Ekenhead, and I did".

The Hellespont was named after the legendary Helle, who fell into the strait and drowned while escaping from Ino on a golden-fleeced ram with her brother Phrixus. Situated in northwestern Turkey, the strait forms part of the continental boundary between Europe and Asia. Along with the Bosporus, the narrow waterway has enormous commercial and military importance allowing passage from the Aegean Sea up to the Black Sea.

Answer: The Skagerrak

The Skagerrak runs between the southern coasts of Norway and Sweden and the Jutland peninsula of Denmark. It has at times been the only passage between the North Sea and the Baltic Sea (by extension through the Kattegat sea area), and remains one of the most trafficked commercial shipping routes in the world. Historically, the Skagerrak was strategically significant to Germany in both World War I and World War II. The Battle of Jutland, also known as the Battle of Skagerrak, was the largest naval conflict in World War I.

The Drake Passage extends from the Antarctic South Shetland Islands and connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans at Cape Horn. The Bering Strait runs between Russia and Alaska and links up the Arctic and Pacific Oceans. Kvarken separates the Bothnian Bay from the Bothnian Sea between Finland and Sweden.

Answer: Between the North and South Islands of New Zealand

Situated between New Zealand's two main landmasses, Cook Strait connects the Tasman Sea to the Pacific Ocean. It is the namesake of British explorer Captain James Cook, who navigated its waters in 1770. Thanks in part to unusual tidal flow and complicated submarine topography, it is highly unpredictable and consequently extremely dangerous.

Answer: Dragon's Mouths

The Dragon's Mouths (Spanish: Bocas del Dragon) are a series of four straits separating the Gulf of Paria between Trinidad and Venezuela in the Atlantic from the Caribbean Sea. The Formosa Strait lies between Taiwan and mainland China, while the Luzon Strait connects Taiwan to the Philippines. The Strait of Malacca runs between Malaysia and the Indonesian island of Sumatra.

Answer: Strait of Gibraltar

The Strait of Gibraltar links the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and runs between Gibraltar and mainland Spain on the European side and Morocco and the Spanish autonomous city Ceuta on the African side. There are only 14 kilometers (9 miles) separating Europe from Africa at the narrowest point of the passage. "The Pillars of Hercules" refer to the Rock of Gibraltar and a North African peak, the identity of which has long been a matter of dispute.

Answer: Straits of Mackinac

The Straits of Mackinac are located between Michigan's Upper and Lower Peninsulas. The main strait links up Lake Huron and Lake Michigan.

The Solent and Dover Strait separate England from the Isle of Wight and France, respectively. Pentland Firth runs between the Orkney Islands and Scotland.

Answer: Denmark Strait

Also known as Greenland Strait, the waterway connects the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans. A maritime skirmish known as the Battle of Denmark Strait took place there during World War II. During the battle, the German battleship Bismarck sank the HMS Hood, a British battlecruiser. The Bismarck was destroyed three days later after passing into the Atlantic.

Answer: Bering Strait

Vitus Bering was in the service of the Russian Navy when he voyaged across the strait that now bears his name. On his first expedition, he set out to establish whether Russia shared a land border with the North American continent. The prevailing hypothesis about how ancient people-groups expanded out into the North American continent has been that they migrated from Asia across a land-bridge known as Beringia.

Answer: Strait of Hormuz

The Strait of Hormuz is another critically important choke point. It issues out of the Persian Gulf into the Gulf of Oman, which itself is technically a strait rather than a gulf. A sizeable percentage of global petroleum exports move through the Strait of Hormuz.

The Suez Canal connects the Mediterranean to the Red Sea. On the opposite end of the Red Sea, the Bab-el-Mandeb connects to the Strait of Aden. It passes between Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula and Djibouti and Eritrea in Eastern Africa. The Strait of Otranto separates Italy and Albania linking up the Adriatic and Ionian Seas.

Answer: The Narrows

The Narrows connects the protected Upper New York Bay to the larger, wider Lower New York Bay. Spanned by the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, it is the primary outflow of the Hudson River into the Atlantic Ocean.

The Hudson Strait links Canada's Hudson Bay to the Atlantic. The Niagara Strait links up Lake Erie in New York and Lake Ontario in Canada. East River is not actually a river but a tidal strait in New York City. It separates Queens from the Bronx and Queens and Brooklyn from Manhattan.