ENGLISH CHANNEL

also called The Channel, French La Manche, arm of the Atlantic Ocean separating the southern coast of England from the northern coast of France. The French name (The Sleeve) is a reference to its shape, which gradually narrows from west to east from a maximum of about 112 miles (180 km) to a minimum of 21 miles (34 km) between Dover, Eng., and Calais, Fr. At the eastern end the Strait of Dover connects the channel with the North Sea. Occupying an area of some 29,000 square miles (75,000 square km), the channel is the smallest of the shallow seas covering the continental shelf of Europe, and its average depth generally decreases eastward from 400 to 150 feet (120 to 45 m). The English Channel's historical association as both a route for, and barrier to, invaders of Britain from the continent made it an important region of early, detailed hydrographic survey; its seabed is one of the most intensively examined seafloors in the world. The seafloor dips fairly steeply near the coast and is generally flat in the west and undulating in the east. Formed about 40 million years ago, the channel is a feature of notable scientific interest, especially with regard to the effects of strong tides. The traditional fishing industry of the channel has declined in the 20th century with the development of deep-sea fishing, the exhaustion of resources, and the advent of pollution problems caused, in part, by the channel's development into one of the world's busiest sea routes for oil tankers and ore carriers. Portsmouth and Plymouth are declining naval ports, and Southampton and Le Havre are losing transoceanic passengers but gaining tremendous container-ship and oil-refining capacities. Both England and France use channel waters to cool nuclear-powered generating stations. Scheduled ferries (especially hovercraft) connect many cross-channel ports. For centuries the only passage between England and France was by boat. The often-considered idea of an English Channel tunnel at the Strait of Dover was first proposed in 1802 by a French engineer who perceived the possibilities inherent in the English Channel's chalk floor. Napoleon showed interest; but the renewal of war suspended the question, which was, nonetheless, taken up repeatedly during the 19th century. In the early 1880s private companies actually commenced digging a railroad tunnel near Folkestone, Kent, Eng., and Santerre, France. A pilot tunnel 6,000 feet (1,828 m) long was bored from the English side before a press furor over the alleged threat to Britain's security caused the government to cancel the project. (The channel ensured Britain's safety from any land invasion based on the European continent.) In the mid-1960s the French and British governments again agreed to build a rail tunnel through the chalk layer under the channel. By the mid-1970s some 1.5 miles (2 km) of preliminary digging had been completed on each side of the channel, but the British government canceled the publicly financed project because of its high cost. The project was revived as the Channel Tunnel (q.v.), with construction beginning in 1987. It was privately financed (with stock sales and bank loans from several international banks) by a consortium of French and British firms. Completed in 1994, the double-rail tunnel runs between Folkestone, Eng., and Calais, France, and, with the use of high-speed trains, cuts surface travel time between Paris and London in half. The Baltic and North seas and the English Channel. also called The Channel, French La Manche, narrow arm of the Atlantic Ocean separating the southern coast of England from the northern coast of France and tapering eastward to its junction with the North Sea at the Strait of Dover (French: Pas de Calais). With an area of some 29,000 square miles (75,000 square kilometres), it is the smallest of the shallow seas covering the continental shelf of Europe. From its mouth in the North Atlantic Oceanan arbitrary limit marked by a line between the Scilly Isles and the Isle of Ushantits width gradually narrows from 112 miles (180 kilometres) to a minimum of 21 miles, while its average depth decreases from 400 to 150 feet (120 to 45 metres). Although the English Channel is a feature of notable scientific interest, especially in regard to tidal movements, its location has given it immense significance over the centuries, as both a route and a barrier during the peopling of Britain and the emergence of the nation-states of modern Europe. The current English name (in general use since the early 18th century) probably derives from the designation canal in Dutch sea atlases of the late 16th century. Earlier names had included Oceanus Britannicus and the British Sea, and the French have regularly used La Manche (in reference to the sleevelike coastal outline) since the early 17th century. For map coverage of the English Channel, see the article Baltic Sea. Additional reading Great Britain, Hydrographic Dept., The Channel Pilot, 2nd ed. rev. (1984), and The Dover Strait Pilot, 2nd ed. rev. (1985), discuss navigation, the ports, and natural conditions. A historical overview is Shirley Harrison, The Channel (1986). The tunnel under the channel between England and France is portrayed in Peter Haining, Eurotunnel (1973, reissued 1989); Institution of Civil Engineers (Great Britain), The Channel Tunnel (1989), a collection of conference papers; and Richard Gibb (ed.), The Channel Tunnel: A Geographical Perspective (1994). Christopher Frederick Wooldridge The Editors of the Encyclopdia Britannica