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UPPCS World Geography Gap Sheet: Straits of the World.
UPPCS has asked 16 of these. 15 have not been asked yet. Lock the first list, then read the second: it holds what UPPCS has not used yet.
First, the concept
A strait is a narrow sea passage between two land masses that joins two seas. An isthmus is the opposite: a narrow land strip between two seas (Suez, Panama).
Many straits are 'chokepoints' of world trade: Hormuz (oil from the Gulf), Malacca (India–China sea route), Bab-el-Mandeb (Red Sea entry).
UPPCS asks a strait with the two lands it separates or the two seas it joins.
✅ Already asked (16)
Asia
- Malacca · Malay Peninsula ↔ Sumatra; Andaman Sea ↔ South China Sea
- Sunda · Java ↔ Sumatra
- Lombok and Makassar · Bali ↔ Lombok; Borneo ↔ Sulawesi
- Hormuz · Iran ↔ Oman; Persian Gulf ↔ Gulf of Oman
- Bab-el-Mandeb · Yemen ↔ Djibouti; Red Sea ↔ Gulf of Aden
- Palk Strait · India ↔ Sri Lanka
- La Perouse (Soya) · Hokkaido ↔ Sakhalin (Russia)
- Bering · Russia (Asia) ↔ Alaska (North America)
Europe and the Mediterranean
- Gibraltar · Spain ↔ Morocco; Mediterranean ↔ Atlantic
- Bosphorus · Istanbul; Black Sea ↔ Sea of Marmara
- Dover · England ↔ France; narrowest part of the English Channel
Americas, Africa and Oceania
- Magellan · South American mainland ↔ Tierra del Fuego
- Drake Passage · South America ↔ Antarctica
- Davis and Hudson Straits · Greenland ↔ Baffin Island; into Hudson Bay
- Mozambique Channel · Mozambique ↔ Madagascar
- Torres Strait · Australia ↔ New Guinea
❌ Not asked yet (15)
Items marked 'asked in other exams' have come in UPSC or other state exams, not yet in UPPCS.
Asia
- Taiwan Strait · China ↔ Taiwan asked in other exams
- Korea (Tsushima) Strait · South Korea ↔ Japan
- Tsugaru · Honshu ↔ Hokkaido (Japan)
- Tatar Strait · Sakhalin ↔ Russian mainland
Europe and the Mediterranean
- Dardanelles · Sea of Marmara ↔ Aegean Sea
- Messina · Sicily ↔ Italy
- Bonifacio · Corsica ↔ Sardinia
- Otranto · Italy ↔ Albania; Adriatic ↔ Ionian Sea
- Kerch · Crimea ↔ Russia; Black Sea ↔ Sea of Azov
- Skagerrak and Kattegat · Denmark ↔ Norway and Sweden; North Sea ↔ Baltic
Americas, Africa and Oceania
- Florida Strait · Florida (USA) ↔ Cuba asked in other exams
- Bass Strait · Australia ↔ Tasmania asked in other exams
- Yucatan Channel · Mexico ↔ Cuba
- Cook Strait · North Island ↔ South Island (New Zealand)
- Foveaux Strait · South Island ↔ Stewart Island (New Zealand)
⚠️ Bosphorus joins the Black Sea to Marmara; Dardanelles joins Marmara to the Aegean. Bass Strait is Australia–Tasmania, Cook Strait is inside New Zealand. Sunda is Java–Sumatra, Malacca is Malaysia–Sumatra.
'Asked' and 'not asked' are checked against every UPPCS question on this site. 'Not asked yet' does not mean it will surely come.