Mangyshlak or Mangghyshlaq Peninsula ( kk, Маңғыстау түбегі, translit=Mañğystau tübegı; russian: Полуостров Мангышла́к, translit=Poluostrov Mangyshlák) is a large peninsula located in western
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
. It borders on the
Caspian Sea
The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, often described as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia; east of the Caucasus, west of the broad steppe of Central Asia ...
in the west and with the
Buzachi Peninsula
The Buzachi Peninsula ( kk, Бозащы түбегі, ''Bozaşy tübegı''; russian: Полуостров Бузачи) is a peninsula located in western Kazakhstan. It borders on the Mangyshlak Bay of the Caspian Sea in the west and with the Man ...
, a marshy sub-feature of the main peninsula, in the northeast. The
Tyuleniy Archipelago lies off the northern shores of the peninsula.
The area is between desert and
semidesert
A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi-ar ...
with a harsh continental dry climate. There are no rivers and no fresh water springs. Geologically, the Mangyshlak Peninsula is part of the
Ustyurt Plateau
The Ustyurt or Ust-Yurt (from kk, Үстірт; uz, Ustyurt; tk, Üstyurt; — flat hill, plateau) is a transboundary clay desert shared by Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.
The plateau's semi-nomadic population raises sheep, goats, an ...
. To the north, three mountain ranges stretch across the peninsula, the North and South
Aktau Range The Aktau Range is a mountain range of Tajikistan
Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhu ...
and the Mangystau Range, with the highest point reaching 555 m.
[ Administratively, the peninsula is in Kazakhstan's Mangystau Province. The largest city, and the capital of the province, is ]Aktau
Aktau ( kk, Aqtau, Ақтау , russian: Актау) is a city in Kazakhstan, located on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea. Its current name means "white mountain" in Kazakh, which may be due to its cliffs that overlook the Caspian. From 1964 to ...
(formerly Shevchenko).
This peninsula was formerly also known as Sīāhkūh (Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
: سیاهکوه) which means 'Black Mountain' in Persian.[de Planhol, Xavier: (1990)]
CASPIAN SEA i. GEOGRAPHY
Encyclopædia Iranica. Vol.V, Fasc. 1, pp. 48-50 The Mangyshlak peninsula was overtaken in 1639 by Kalmyks
The Kalmyks ( Kalmyk: Хальмгуд, ''Xaľmgud'', Mongolian: Халимагууд, ''Halimaguud''; russian: Калмыки, translit=Kalmyki, archaically anglicised as ''Calmucks'') are a Mongolic ethnic group living mainly in Russia, w ...
.
Cartography
The area was mapped by Fedor Ivanovich Soimonov during the Caspian Expedition, which surveyed the Caspian Sea from 1719 to 1727.[Igor S. Zonn, Aleksey N Kosarev, Michael H. Glantz & Andrey G. Kostianoy, ''The Caspian Sea Encyclopedia'', p. 285]
Sources
External links
The wildlife of Mangyshlak
at the site of the Nuclear Threat Initiative
The Nuclear Threat Initiative, generally referred to as NTI, is a non-profit organization located in Washington, D.C. The American foreign policy think tank was founded in 2001 by former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn and describes itself as a "nonprofit ...
.
Peninsulas of Kazakhstan
Turkic toponyms
{{Kazakhstan-geo-stub