Harbor

Artificial harbors are frequently built for use as ports. The oldest artificial harbor known is the Ancient Egyptian site at Wadi al-Jarf, on the Red Sea coast, which is at least 4500 years old (ca. 2600-2550 BCE, reign of King Khufu). The largest artificially created harbor is Jebel AliinDubai.^[2] Other large and busy artificial harbors include:

• Port of Houston, Texas, United States
• Port of Long Beach, California, United States
• Port of Los AngelesinSan Pedro, California, United States
• Port of Rotterdam, Netherlands
• Port of Savannah, Georgia, United States

The Ancient Carthaginians constructed fortified, artificial harbors called cothons.

A natural harbor is a landform where a section of a body of water is protected and deep enough to allow anchorage. Many such harbors are rias. Natural harbors have long been of great strategic naval and economic importance, and many great cities of the world are located on them. Having a protected harbor reduces or eliminates the need for breakwaters as it will result in calmer waves inside the harbor. Some examples are:

For harbors near the North and South poles, being ice-free is an important advantage, especially when it is year-round. Examples of these are:

• Hammerfest, Norway
• Liinakhamari, Russia
• Murmansk, Russia
• NakhodkainNakhodka Bay, Russia
• Pechenga, Russia
• Prince Rupert, Canada
• Valdez, United States
• Vardø, Norway
• Vostochny Port, Russia

The world's southernmost harbor, located at Antarctica's Winter Quarters Bay (77° 50′ South), is sometimes ice-free, depending on the summertime pack ice conditions.^[3]

Although the world's busiest port is a contested title, in 2017 the world's busiest harbor by cargo tonnage was the Port of Ningbo-Zhoushan.^[7]

The following are large natural harbors:

•   Media related to Harbours at Wikimedia Commons
•   The dictionary definition of harbor at Wiktionary
• Harbor Maintenance Finance and Funding Congressional Research Service
• "Harbor" . New International Encyclopedia. 1905.