English Channel

English Channel, narrow sea, western Europe, separating France and Great Britain. Known in French as La Manche (“the sleeve”), it is 570 km (350 mi) wide in the west where it meets the Atlantic Ocean and narrows to 34 km (21 mi) at the Strait of Dover in the east at its junction with the North Sea. Its principal islands are the Isle of Wight and the Channel Islands. Chief ports are Cherbourg and Le Havre in France and Southampton in Great Britain. Regular ferry services cross the channel between these and several smaller ports, including Dover, Plymouth, and Portsmouth in Great Britain and Calais, Dunkerque, Boulogne-sur-Mer, and Dieppe in France. Train ferries carry passengers without break from London to Paris, and there is a 30-minute hovercraft connection between Dover and Calais. A channel tunnel crossing, first discussed in 1802, was begun in the mid-1980s. The tunnel opened in 1994 and can carry passengers, automobiles, and trucks. Fishing remains important only in Brittany in northwestern France, where the strong tides common in channel coastal areas have also been harnessed to produce electricity in the Rance River estuary. Numerous seaside resorts are located on both the French and British coasts.