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The Caspian is argued to be the world’s most enormous body of water completely surrounded by land. It’s called the biggest lake on the planet or rather a sea. It is 143,244 square miles in area and is 3,363 feet deep. It rests between Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran. When the Romans first came to the body of water and tasted it, it tasted salty so they named it a sea.
There are several islands in the Caspian Sea including Ashuradeh, Bulla, Cikil, Cilov, Gil, Nargin, Parallahi, Turkmenistan, Qara Su, Qum and Vulf.
A cave was discovered in the area that indicates there were humans living there as early as 75,000 years ago.
Caviar is an export of the area due to the large number of sturgeon found in the sea despite the threats of over-fishing. The sea is home to a few species that it has given its name to mainly the Caspian Seal, Caspian Gull, Caspian White Fish, Caspian Salmon and Caspian Tern. The Caspian Seal is one of very few seal species that lives inland.
Oil and natural gas have been discovered in the area and as is common neighboring countries disagree on who owns the rights to the resources. Current estimates of the worth of the oil in the Caspian basin is in excess of $12 trillion with expectations of this amount tripling by 2010. |
