Ketik Kala

Ketik Kala was a coastal settlement on the Tupkaragan peninsula, projecting into the Caspian Sea from Mangyshlak. Its harbour connected the peninsula to routes across the inland sea, while the arid interior stretched eastward toward the Ustyurt plateau. In 1717 an expedition sent by Peter the Great toward Khiva established a Russian fort at Cape Tupkaragan. The coast offered a landing place on a difficult shore backed by dry steppe and escarpments.