Caspian Sea

West of Mangyshlak, the middle Caspian spreads between the eastern peninsula and the distant Caucasian coast. The peninsula was known in medieval Persian as Siyahkuh, or Black Mountain. Its landing places served routes into Central Asia, and ships from Astrakhan later traded with the bay of Mangyshlak. The sea is enclosed, with no ocean outlet, and its shifting level changes the shape of its low shores.