What Is The Caspian Sea? About The Largest Inland Body Of Water
CASPIAN SEA – In this topice, we are going to learn about the world’s largest inland body of water called the Caspian Sea.
As mentioned above, it is the largest inland body of water. It is classified variously as the world’s largest lake or a sea.
It is known as an endorheic basin which is found between Europe and Asia.
An endorheic basin is basically a limited basin that retains water and allows no other no outflow to other external bodies of water.
This body of water is to the east of the Caucasus Mountains and to the west of the steppe of Central Asia. It has a surface area of about 371K kilometers squared or 143.2K square miles.
The Caspian is bordered by the following:
- Kazakhstan to the northeast
- Russia to the northwest
- Azerbaijan to the west
- Iran to the south
- Turkmenistan to the southeast
It is also the home to a vast range of species and is known for its caviar and oil industries.
The body of water is named after the ancient people named Caspi who resided in the southwest of the sea in Transcaucasia.
It was formerly called as the following:
- Hycranian Ocean by the Greeks and Persians
- Daryā-e Khazar (درياى خزر) during the middle Persian age and Modern Iran.
- Mazandrian Sea in Iran
- Kazar Sea by Turkic people
- Hazar deňizi by Turkmen
- Xəzər dənizi by Azei
- Hazar denizi by modern Turkish
- Kaspiy teñizi (Каспий теңізі) in Kazakhistan
- Kaspiy deñizi in Kyrgyzstan
- Kaspiy dengizi by Uzbekistan
- Abbacuch Sea, Mar de Bachu, Mar de Sala by Renaissance European maps
- Khvalyn or Khvalis Sea (Хвалынское море / Хвалисское море) by old Russian sources
- Kaspiyskoye more (Каспи́йское мо́ре) by Russians
It is also a remnant of the Paratethys Sea and was landlocked at about 5.5 million years ago.
READ ALSO: What Is The Scientific Name Of Little Grebe? (ANSWERS)