Where is the Sea of ​​Darkness located?

Sea of ​​Darkness website

Separates water Sea of ​​darkness Or what is known as the Atlantic Ocean, between the continents of Africa and Europe, and between the two American continents, and it extends south towards the Antarctic Pole, and north towards the North Pole, with a distance of up to 14 thousand km, and an area of ​​​​more than 82 million square kilometers, and a width of 5 thousand km, However, it narrows at the equator to about 3 km in length and 4 km in depth. The Atlantic Ocean is considered the second largest ocean in the world after the Pacific Ocean. The equator passes through the Atlantic Ocean, dividing it into a southern part and a northern part, and each part has its own characteristics that distinguish it. The northern part includes the most important islands, such as the Italian archipelago, Iceland, Greenland, and the Canary Islands. This part is also bordered by several bodies of water, such as the Mediterranean Sea, the Caribbean Sea, and the Gulf of Mexico, and some giant valleys and rivers, such as the Canadian Lake Hudson. As for the southern part, there is no It has important islands except the island of Saint Helena, and it is not bordered by any seas or bays, except that the Amazon, coming from Brazil, and the Congo, coming from the continent of Africa, flow into it.

Calling the Atlantic Ocean the Sea of ​​Darkness

The name of the Atlantic Ocean goes back to a Greek god called Atlas, as people considered him the god of astronomy and navigation. This name was given around the year 450 BC, during the reign of Herodotus in Greece, and later it became Atlantis and Atlas. As for the name of the Sea of ​​Darkness, he gave it Arabs on the Atlantic Ocean; This is because several fatal accidents occurred in the Atlantic Ocean, so they called it the Sea of ​​Darkness. To explain people's fear of it, as for Ibn Khaldun, he explained the reason for calling the ocean the Sea of ​​Darkness by saying: “The sea is far and the sun does not reach it, and due to the lack of solar rays, the temperature necessary to break up the steam rising from the sea is low, so the vapors condense in the form of clouds close to Its surface to block the light more and make the sea darker.” The Arabs also called it other names, such as the Sea of ​​Nun, the Outer Sea, and the Sea of ​​the Ocean, noting that the name “Sea of ​​Darkness” prevailed until the arrival of Columbus.

The importance of discovering the sea of ​​darkness

The discovery of the Atlantic Ocean was of great importance in the history of humanity. People had not yet discovered that the Atlantic Ocean connects several continents. They were using it to move between Europe, Africa, and Asia separately, and between the Americas separately, and they moved within large distances by orbiting the Earth. The boundaries of the Atlantic Ocean were not known until Columbus's discoveries of America in 1492 AD. When he discovered the ocean, people began to move to sail through it and migrate from one continent to another. It is worth noting that the economy and food changed in Europe. This is due to exports coming from America, as they moved to trade across the sea for expensive materials that are exposed to bandits on land, such as gold, salt, ivory, fabrics, and spices, in addition to the beginning of discoveries on the islands in the Atlantic Ocean, such as the Canary Islands, the Islands of the Odes, and the Cape Islands. The green areas were exploited as agricultural colonies for Portugal, and the Atlantic Ocean was exploited for negative purposes, such as wars and the slave trade.

Characteristics of the Sea of ​​Darkness

The Sea of ​​Darkness is characterized by many biological, biological, and geological characteristics, which makes it a distinguished ocean with its unique characteristics. The following is a summary of the characteristics that characterize the Sea of ​​Darkness:

Vital properties

The Atlantic Ocean includes several large species of animals and plants that grow at its bottom and on its edges. In one of the unique phenomena of the Atlantic Ocean, scientists discovered in 2006 between 10-20 new species of microorganisms in its depths. The Atlantic Ocean has gained the advantage of biodiversity. Because it possesses a set of characteristics related to its water and climate, these characteristics are:

• Low salinity of water: The Atlantic Ocean is one of the oceans whose waters are characterized by low salinity. The reason for this is due to the role played by neighboring water bodies, which work to reduce the level of salinity in the water.
• Diversity of its environments: The Atlantic Ocean falls within different climate systems. As it extends from pole to pole.
• Sediment availability: Sediments are considered beneficial to marine life, and these sediments come from bodies of water adjacent to the ocean.
• Temperature moderation: The Atlantic Ocean is exposed to sea currents that contribute to moderating its temperatures, especially in the Gulf of Guinea region and the areas close to it, where the Guinea Current helps provide the conditions for growth and fertility necessary for the vegetation in the ocean, and this is the reason why the shores of northwestern Africa are rich in fish. Especially since this area is affected by a cold current coming from the Spanish Canary Islands.
• Diversity of living organisms: It is considered a home to many living creatures, such as: sponges, sea turtles, molluscs, dolphins, seals, whales, and many other types of different living creatures. Note that each type of organism that lives in it lives within a specific climate. For example, dolphins live in the tropical regions of the ocean, while seals live in the northwest, and whales prefer cold, moderate regions, in addition to the Antarctic regions in the region. South of the ocean.

Geological features

The Atlantic Ocean arose 200 million years before our present time. As the land began to separate; Due to the activity of tectonic plates, which separated the continent of Eurasia from North America, and the continent of South America from Africa, and due to this separation, a vacuum arose that led to the creation of a marine environment that formed the Atlantic Ocean. The Atlantic Ocean is characterized by a unique geological structure; In its center stands a huge mountain chain, part of which appears on the surface of the ocean water in the form of islands, such as Cape Verde, Bermuda, and the large Rio chain in the southern part of the Atlantic Ocean.