Caspian Sea

The eastern Caspian coast is broken by the great bay of Balkan and the projecting Cheleken peninsula. Around these rocky shores Turkmen sailors developed a maritime life distinct from that of the merchants of Astrakhan and Persia. In the eighteenth century the bay, the cape and nearby islands sheltered raiders, who also fished between their expeditions. Inland, the dry country rises towards the Balkan mountains.