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 A ...

in the west and with the Buzachi Peninsula, 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. It lies in the west of Tajikistan, south of Hisor , image_skyline = Hisor-Tajikistan1.jpg , image_caption = Old castle in Hisar , image_flag = , image_seal = , image_map = , map_caption = , p ...

and the Mangystau Range, with the highest point reaching 555 m. Administratively, the peninsula is in Kazakhstan's

Mangystau Province Mangystau ( kk, Маңғыстау облысы, Mañğystau oblysy; russian: Мангистауская область, Mangistauskaya oblast) is a region of Kazakhstan. Its capital is Aktau (a seaport), which has a population of 183,350 (2017) ...

. 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: 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 Fedor Ivanovich Soimonov (russian: Фёдор Иванович Соймо́нов; 1692 – 22 July 1780), Knight of the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky, was a nautical surveyor of the Imperial Russian Navy, hydrographer and pioneering explor ...

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 "nonprofi ...

. Peninsulas of Kazakhstan Turkic toponyms {{Kazakhstan-geo-stub