Caspian Sea

The northeastern Caspian meets the low Buzachi and Mangyshlak peninsulas, where the sea borders a dry land of steppe and desert. Mangyshlak's shores connected the sea with caravan routes across the Ustyurt towards Khiva and Bukhara. In the sixteenth century merchants from Astrakhan visited the coast, while local Turkmen communities knew its waters and shores long before their arrival.