Caspian Sea

Along the southern Caspian, the narrow coastal plain of Mazandaran lies beneath the forested Alborz mountains. The region was among the provinces that produced raw silk for the Safavid economy. Its shores faced the trading routes north across the sea, but also raids from the eastern Caspian: in the eighteenth century Turkmen seafarers attacked the coasts of Gilan, Mazandaran and Gorgan from their bases across the water.