View source for Mangyshlak Peninsula

{{Infobox settlement
| name                    = Mangyshlak Peninsula
| other_name              = Полуостров Мангышла́к
| native_name             = Маңғыстау 
| native_name_lang        = Kazakh
| settlement_type         = [[Peninsula]]
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<!-- location ------------------>
| subdivision_type       = Sea
| subdivision_name       = [[Caspian Sea]]
| subdivision_type1        = [[List of sovereign states|Country]]
| subdivision_name1        = [[Kazakhstan]]<!-- the name of the country -->
| subdivision_type2       = [[Regions of Kazakhstan|Region]]
| subdivision_name2       = [[Mangystau Region]] 
}}
'''Mangyshlak''' or '''Mangghyshlaq Peninsula''' ({{lang-kk|Маңғыстау}}; {{lang-ru|Мангышла́к}}) is a large peninsula located in western
[[Kazakhstan]]. It borders on the [[Caspian Sea]] in the west and with the [[Buzachi Peninsula]], a marshy subfeature of the main peninsula, in the northeast. The [[Tyuleniy Archipelago (Kazakhstan)|Tyuleniy Archipelago]] lies off the northern shores of the peninsula.

The area is between desert and [[semidesert]] with a harsh continental dry climate. There are no rivers and no fresh water springs. Geologically the Mangyshlak Peninsula is part of the [[Ustyurt Plateau]]. To the north three mountain ranges are stretching across the peninsula, North and South Aktau Range, and the Mangystau Range with the highest point reaching 555 m.<ref name=CS/> Administratively the peninsula is in Kazakhstan's [[Mangystau Province]]. The largest city, and the capital of the province, is [[Aktau]] (formerly Shevchenko).

This peninsula was formerly also known as Sīāhkūh ([[Persian language|Persian]]: سیاهکوه) which means 'Black Mountain' in Persian.<ref>de Planhol, Xavier: (1990), [http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/caspian-sea-i CASPIAN SEA i. GEOGRAPHY], Encyclopædia Iranica. Vol.V, Fasc. 1, pp. 48-50</ref> The Mangyshlak peninsula was overtaken in 1639 by [[Kalmyks]].<ref name="Khodarkovsky2006">{{cite book|author=Michael Khodarkovsky|title=Where Two Worlds Met: The Russian State and the Kalmyk Nomads, 1600-1771|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wQ_EsrVElhIC&pg=PA83#v=onepage&q&f=false|date=1 October 2006|publisher=Cornell University Press|isbn=0-8014-7340-3|pages=83–}}</ref>

==Cartography==
The area was cartographed by [[Fedor Ivanovich Soimonov]] during the [[1719 Caspian Expedition|Caspian Expedition]], which surveyed the Caspian Sea from 1719 to 1727.<ref name=CS>Igor S. Zonn, Aleksey N Kosarev, Michael H. Glantz & Andrey G. Kostianoy, ''The Caspian Sea Encyclopedia'', p. 285</ref>

{|
|- valign="top"
|[[File:Обзорная карта Мангыстау.png|thumb|270px|Map of the Mangyshlak Peninsula area showing the bays surrounding it.]]
|[[File:North-East part of Caspian Sea (IMW NL39).jpg|thumb|260px|Map of the northeastern part of Caspian Sea with the Mangyshlak Peninsula at the bottom.]]
|}

==Sources==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
* [http://aqtau.narod.ru The wildlife of Mangyshlak] {{ru icon}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100413213253/http://www.nti.org/e_research/profiles/Kazakhstan/Nuclear/facilities_mangyshlak.html Kazakhstan Nuclear Facilities: Mangyshlak Atomic Energy Combine] at the site of the [[Nuclear Threat Initiative]].

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[[Category:Peninsulas of Kazakhstan]]

{{Kazakhstan-geo-stub}}