Canakkale, in northwestern Turkey, has been the crossing point from Asia to Europe over the Dardanelles for centuries. King Xerxes of Persia crossed in 481 B.C., and Alexander the Great a century and a half later. In the Ottoman days it was used by the Ottoman armies to march into Europe. The strait has also been of great strategic and economic importance as the gateway to Istanbul and the Black Sea from the Mediterranean.

Hellespont (the ancient name for Dardanelle) was also the location of several mythological stories. Possibly the most famous one is the love story between Hero and Leander.

In the 19th century, the area witnessed one of the bloodiest wars in World War I. Visitors often come to Canakkale to visit the nearby the battlefields of Gallipoli (Gelibolu), which can be reached by ferry. There are many war memorials, erected to honor the soldiers who died there.

Another popular site near Canakkale is the ancient Troy. Excavations have identified a sequence of nine principal stratas representing nine periods, in which houses were built, occupied and ultimately destroyed. Troy VIIa, which was destroyed by fire sometime about the 13th century BC, is probably the city of King Priam described in Homer’s Iliad. Homer immortalized Troy in the stories of King Priam, Hector, Paris and the beautiful Helen. A symbolic wooden Trojan horse commemorates the legendary war.

Assos was originally founded by Aeolian colonists from Lesbos in the 7th century B.C. In the 6th century B.C.it came under the rule of the Lydians and with their defeat at the hands of the Persians in 546 B.C., the city came under Persian rule. Ariobarzanes, the Persian governor who rebelled against King Artaxerxes was defeated at Assos in 365 B.C. and he was replaced by Euboulos, a prominent banker. He was succeeded by the eunuch Hermias, one of Plato's students and it was because of this association that Hermias's friend Aristotle stayed with him for three years at Assos (348-345 B.C.).
    In 334 B.C. Assos was taken by Alexander, and the city was part of the Pergamon kingdom from 241 to 133 B.C. after which it came under Roman rule. Assos was ruled by Byzantium after 395 A.D. During this period it was known as Makhram. (It is believed that "Behramkale", the name of the village above Assos, is derived from this.)
    Assos became an Ottoman possession during the reign of Murad I (1359-1389). The acropolis was defended by a double wall. The inner walls appear to have been repaired in Medieval and Ottoman times and have been restored. Beside them is a mosque built during the reign of Murad I. The bridge below, which is no longer usable, was also built in the 14th century.