The English Channel (La Manche, "the sleeve") is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates the island of Great Britain from northern France and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about 562 km (350 miles) long and varies in width from 240 km (150 miles) at its widest to only 34 km (21 miles) in the Strait of Dover. "English Channel". The Columbia Encyclopedia, 2004. It is the smallest of the shallow seas around the continental shelf of Europe, covering an area of only some 75,000 km² (29,000 square miles). "English Channel." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007.