Straits of Corfu case against the People's Republic of Albania to the International Court of Justice. Because of the incidents, Britain, in 1946, broke off talks with Albania aimed at establishing diplomatic relations between the two countries. Diplomatic relations were only restored in 1991. Straits of Corfu The Straits of Corfu or Corfu Channel is the narrow body of water along the coasts of Albania and Greece to the east separating these two countries from the Greek island of Corfu on the west. The channel is a passage from the Adriatic Sea on the north to the Ionian Sea that is used by
Mediterranean Sea when Augustus founded the Roman Empire, the Romans referred to the Mediterranean as "Mare Nostrum" ("Our Sea"). For the next 400 years, the Roman Empire completely controlled the Mediterranean Sea and virtually all its coastal regions from Gibraltar to the Levant. Darius I of Persia, who conquered Ancient Egypt, built a canal linking the Mediterranean to the Red Sea. Darius's canal was wide enough for two triremes to pass each other with oars extended, and required four days to traverse. The Western Roman Empire collapsed around AD 476. Temporarily the east was again dominant as Roman power lived on in