Torres Strait
Channel between the Arafura Sea and the Coral Sea, separating the island of New Guinea from Cape York on the northern tip of Queensland, Australia; width 130 km/80 mi. The strait is scattered with reefs and small islands.
The strait is named after the Spanish navigator Luis Vaez de Torres, the first European to sail through it, in 1606. The Torres Strait Islands, the administrative centre of which is Thursday Island, were annexed to Queensland in 1872.
| The Torres Strait Islands are possibly the remnants of a land bridge which once linked Asia and Australia. |
