Caspian Sea

The Absheron peninsula reaches into the Caspian from the western shore, with islands and shoals scattered around its tip. Baku's sheltered bay made it a major port of Shirvan. Oil from the peninsula's wells, together with silk and salt, travelled from Baku to northern Iran, Central Asia and, through Astrakhan, to Russia. A Catalan atlas of 1375 marked the city's importance by calling the Caspian the Sea of Baku.