The Strelasund or Strela Sound is a

sound In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by ...

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into '' coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons' ...

of the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and fr ...

which separates

Rügen Rügen (; la, Rugia, ) is Germany's largest island. It is located off the Pomeranian coast in the Baltic Sea and belongs to the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The "gateway" to Rügen island is the Hanseatic city of Stralsund, w ...

from the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

mainland. It is crossed by a road and rail bridge called the Rügendamm in

Stralsund Stralsund (; Swedish: ''Strålsund''), officially the Hanseatic City of Stralsund ( German: ''Hansestadt Stralsund''), is the fifth-largest city in the northeastern German federal state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania after Rostock, Schwerin, ...

. It runs northwest to southeast from a small shallow bay just north of Stralsund called the Kubitzer Bodden through to another such bay, the Greifswalder Bodden in the southeast. The sound is nowhere much more than 3 km wide, reaching its greatest width towards its southeast end. It is roughly 25 km long. The only island of any size in the Strelasund is

Dänholm Dänholm (literally ''Danes' Isle'') is a small island on the German coast of the Baltic Sea. It is situated in the Strelasund just east of Stralsund. Both bridges linking Rügen with the mainland, Rügendamm and Rügenbrücke, run across it. ...

just off Stralsund, which carries part of the Rügendamm across the sound. On the Rügen side, the shore is in many places steep, although this is punctuated by lower shorelines with reed beds in some places. On the mainland side, however, the shores are overridingly flat. The Strelasund has been the site of two battles. The first in 1362 and the second in 1369 both pitted Danish king Valdemar IV against the

Hanseatic The Hanseatic League (; gml, Hanse, , ; german: label=Modern German, Deutsche Hanse) was a medieval commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Central and Northern Europe. Growing from a few North German town ...

fleet. Differences between the two parties were settled by the Treaty of Stralsund in 1370.

External links

{{Authority control Stralsund Sounds of Europe Straits of the Baltic Sea Straits of Germany Geography of Rügen Lagoons of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania