Encyclopedia of Seas – serie

This book focuses on the Adriatic Sea, which is part of the Mediterranean. It includes 700 articles on the hydrographic and geographic objects, hydrological features and biological resources, as well as the administrative-territorial units of the Adriatic countries, briefly describing significant natural objects like islands, peninsulas, bays, rivers, mountains, and their geographical peculiarities. It also covers the economy, culture and history, cities, ports, international agreements, research institutions and the activities of outstanding scientists, researchers, and travelers. Lastly, it provides a chronology of the main historical events that have become significant landmarks in the history of discovery and exploration of the Adriatic Sea, from the 625 B.C. to the present day.

The book is dedicated to the Ionian Sea, which is part of the Mediterranean. The encyclopedia contains about 600 articles on the hydrographic and geographic objects, hydrological features of the sea, biological resources, as well as administrative-territorial units of the Ionian countries. The most significant natural objects like islands, peninsulas, bays, rivers, mountains, their geographical peculiarities are briefly described as well as economy, culture and history, cities, ports, international agreements, research institutions, activities of outstanding scientists, researchers, travelers are presented in the publication. The chronology of the main historical events that have become significant landmarks in the history of discovery and exploration of the Ionian Sea from the 31 B.C. to the present day is given.

This Encyclopedia is designed to accumulate and systematize our knowledge about the unique natural water areas - the Laptev, East Siberian and Chukchi seas, their wealth, the events that took place on its waters and shores, and the remarkable people whose lives were and are closely intertwined with the seas. The Encyclopedia contains about 1,500 terms and concepts related to the seas in alphabetical order. It describes geographical features: rivers, lakes, straits, bays; provides information about towns, seaports, transport communications, basic aquatic biological species, nature reserves, national and international programs for the study of the sea, research institutes, historical monuments, activities of prominent explorers and travelers, researchers and scientists. The Encyclopedia also includes a chronology of major historical events connected with the Eastern Arctic seas for more than 400 years.

This Encyclopedia is designed to accumulate and systematize our knowledge about the unique natural water areas - the Barents, White and Kara seas, their wealth, the events that took place on its waters and shores, and the remarkable people whose lives were and are closely intertwined with the seas. The Encyclopedia contains about 900 terms and concepts related to the seas. It describes geographical features: rivers, lakes, straits, bays; provides information about towns, seaports, transport communications, basic aquatic biological species, nature reserves, national and international programs for the study of the sea, research institutes, historical monuments, activities of prominent explorers and travelers, researchers and scientists. The Encyclopedia includes a chronology of major historical events connected with the Western Arctic seas for more than 1200 years.

The ‘‘Aral Sea Encyclopedia’’ is the first one in the new series of encyclopedias about the seas of the former Soviet Union. Preparing it we faced certain difficulties. The thing is that this encyclopedia is a monument to the sea that is disappearing during our lifetime. The world community considers the situation with the Aral Sea and all changes that occurred in its whereabouts in the recent decades as one of the most serious, if not disastrous anthropogenic environmental crises of the 20th century. Before 1960, this was a water-abundant sea-lake that was fourth among world lakes after the Caspian Sea (USSR, Iran), the Great Lakes (USA, Canada) and Victoria Lake (Africa). This was a real ‘‘pearl’’ among the sands of the largest deserts, the Karakums and the Kyzylkums. Navigation between the sea ports Muinak and Aralsk and fisheries famous for the Aral breams, barbells, sturgeons, shemaya, and others were developed here. One could find beautiful recreational zones and beaches here. The deltas of the Amudarya, the major river of Central Asia, and the Syrdarya bringing their waters into the Aral Sea were famous for their biodiversity, fishery, muskrat rearing, reed prod- tion. The local population found occupations related to the water infrastructure.

“The Caspian Sea Encyclopedia” is the second one in the new series of encyclo- dias about the seas of the former Soviet Union published by Springer-Verlag. The ?rst volume – “The Aral Sea Encyclopedia” was published by Springer in 2009. The series will be continued by “The Black Sea Encyclopedia” in 2010. Today the Caspian Sea is known to readers thanks to its oil and gas resources, sturgeon and caviar, signi?cant sea-level variations, socio-economic and political problems. The Caucasus and Central Asia (http://eurodialogue. org/?les/fckeditor_?les/Caspian-s- map2. png) vii viii Introduction For more than 250 years the Caspian Sea was shared by two states: Russia (the Soviet Union) and Persia (Iran). After the disintegration of the USSR in 1992, the new independent states of Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan have radically changed the political and economic situation in the region. In addition to Russia and Iran, who had determined the situation on the Caspian for a long period, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan are now interested parties, beginning a new stage in the historical development of the Caspian region. This increase in the number of the Caspian legal entities from two to ?ve has given rise to a whole tangle of geopolitical, economic, international legal, ethnic and environmental problems, each of which demands its own approach and settlement mechanism.

This publication is devoted to the natural feature – the Black Sea and its littoral states. At the same time the Azov Sea is also considered here. This region is the focus of many geopolitical, economic, social and environmental issues that involve not only the countries coming out to the Black and Azov Seas, but other world countries, too.This publication contains over 1500 articles and terms providing descriptions of geographical and oceanographic features, cities, ports, transport routes, marine biological resources, international treaties, national and international programs, research institutions, historical and archaeological monuments, activities of prominent scientists, researchers, travelers, military commanders, etc. who had relation to the Black Sea.It includes a multi-century chronology of the events that became the outstanding milestones in the history of development of the Black Sea – Azov Sea region.