Caspian Sea is one of the largest lakes in the world and hardly inferior to the Black Sea area.Six thousand kilometers of its coastline is located on the territory of Russia, left thousands of kilometers divided between the five Asian republics.The peculiarity of the Caspian Sea is that, despite the impressive size (water surface area is 371 sq. Km), it can not be assigned to the sea in full, because it does not have access to any ocean.The depth of the Caspian Sea varies depending on the seabed.The deepest portion thereof is the southern part of the water column in these areas reaches 1025 meters.
And now a bit of history.
Caspian Sea for the first time mentioned in the writings of ancient Greek and Roman scholars.Two thousand years BCsouth-eastern and central part of the modern Caucasus inhabited by tribes Caspians, from which, in fact, and gave the name of the lake, the sea.In the first millennium BC.e.the surrounding land was shaken by numerous tribal wars, resulting in the Caspian Sea have been pushed out of their usual territory in the same sea coast.It was at that time it was called the Caspian.The story ends with the arrival of the ancient people to the shores of the Caspian Sea tribes of Caucasian Albania in the 2nd century BCToday, the ancient civilization almost did not survive no reliable data.Later the northern shore of the lake, the sea was inhabited by nomadic peoples, in particular the Hazaras, warring with the Russian princes.Their main city of Itil was located at the mouth of the Volga River.Not the last role was played by the Caspian Sea in the foreign economic and trade policies of ancient Russia.Through it ran the most important trade routes and exits to Uzbekistan, Baltic and Black Seas.Over many centuries of human civilization on the shores of the sea is not just changed its name.The Caspian Sea was called Khazar, Khvalynsk, Hirkan.
first definition of the Caspian Sea as isolated from all the oceans of the reservoir gives in his writings, the Greek historian Herodotus.Who lived a century later, Aristotle, the scientist continued to work, and only confirmed his opinion.The study of the Caspian Sea is connected with the names of many well-known scientists and famous travelers.Once on its shores have visited the Greek astronomer Ptolemy, the Italian Marco Polo, a Russian officer era of Peter the Great, Alexander Bekovich-Cherkassy.
Location of the Caspian Sea is of particular interest to geographers.With its many kilometers length (about 1 thousand km) from north to south there is a wide variety of climatic conditions.The northern part of the sea has a temperate continental climate.In winter, here there is a significant drop in temperatures and heavy snowfalls.The climate of the southern part is not much different from the Mediterranean subtropical.Summer in this area is hot and dry, winter - wet and mild.
main feature of the flora and fauna of the Caspian Sea is an abundance of plankton.In periods of very rapid growth of algae water surface literally blooms yellow-green.The coastal shallows turns into a thicket.Beautiful nature of the Caspian coast each year attracts tourists.Activities in the Caspian Sea are usually preferred by people who want to relax away from the big noisy city.The most popular resorts are Russian city of Derbent, Makhachkala, Astrakhan, Aktau, Kazakh, Azeri capital Baku.Russian citizens tend to choose leisure in the Caucasus, which combines not only visit the beaches and swimming in the sea, but in the treatment of numerous health resorts, tour of the main interesting places in the region, national parks and reserves.
