The Arabat Spit (Ukrainian: Арабатська коса; Russian: Арабатская коса; Crimean Tatar: Arabat beli), or Arabat Arrow (Russian: Арабатская стрелка), is a barrier spit that separates the large, shallow, salty Syvash lagoons from the Sea of Azov. The spit runs between the Henichesk Strait in the north and the north-eastern shores of Crimea in the south. It is the largest of several spits of the Sea of Azov.
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👉 Arabat Spit in the context of Crimea
Crimea (/kraɪˈmiːə/ kry-MEE-ə) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukraine. To the east, the Crimean Bridge, constructed in 2018, spans the Strait of Kerch, linking the peninsula with Krasnodar Krai in Russia. The Arabat Spit, located to the northeast, is a narrow strip of land that separates the Syvash lagoons from the Sea of Azov. Across the Black Sea to the west lies Romania and to the south is Turkey. The population is 2.4 million, and the largest city is Sevastopol. The region, internationally recognised as part of Ukraine, has been under Russian occupation since 2014.
Called the Tauric Peninsula until the early modern period, Crimea has historically been at the boundary between the classical world and the steppe. Greeks colonised its southern fringe and were absorbed by the Roman and Byzantine Empires and successor states while remaining culturally Greek. Some cities became trading colonies of Genoa, until conquered by the Ottoman Empire. Throughout this time the interior was occupied by a changing cast of steppe nomads, coming under the control of the Golden Horde in the 13th century from which the Crimean Khanate emerged as a successor state. In the 15th century, the Khanate became a dependency of the Ottoman Empire. Lands controlled by Russia and Poland-Lithuania were often the target of slave raids during this period. In 1783, after the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774), the Russian Empire annexed Crimea. Crimea's strategic position led to the 1854 Crimean War and many short lived regimes following the 1917 Russian Revolution. When the Bolsheviks secured Crimea, it became an autonomous soviet republic within the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. It was occupied by Germany during World War II. When the Soviets retook it in 1944, Crimean Tatars were ethnically cleansed and deported under the orders of Joseph Stalin, in what has been described as a cultural genocide. Crimea was downgraded to an oblast in 1945. In 1954, the USSR transferred the oblast to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic on the 300th anniversary of the Pereyaslav Treaty in 1654.
In this Dossier
Arabat Spit in the context of Syvash
The Syvash or Sivash (Ukrainian and Russian: Сива́ш; Crimean Tatar: Sıvaş, Сываш, lit. 'dirt'), also known as the Putrid Sea or Rotten Sea (Russian: Гнило́е Мо́ре, romanized: Gniloye More; Ukrainian: Гниле́ Мо́ре, romanized: Hnyle More; Crimean Tatar: Çürük Deñiz), is a large area of shallow lagoons on the western edge of the Sea of Azov. Separated from the sea by the narrow Arabat Spit, the water of the Syvash covers an area of around 2,560 km (990 sq mi) and the entire area spreads over about 10,000 km (3,900 sq mi). The Henichesk Strait is its eastern connection to the Sea of Azov. The Syvash borders the northeastern coast of the main Crimean Peninsula. The central and eastern Syvash were registered as wetlands of Ukraine under the Ramsar Convention. Since the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the entire Syvash has been occupied by Russia.
Arabat Spit in the context of Arabat Fortress
The Arabat Fortress, built in the 17th century by the Ottoman army, stands at the southernmost part of the Arabat Spit. Its purpose was to guard the spit and Crimea from invasions. It was in use, with intermissions, until the Crimean War of 1853–1856.
Arabat Spit in the context of Henichesk Strait
46°9′36.97″N 34°47′33.72″E / 46.1602694°N 34.7927000°E
The Henichesk Strait (alternatively Genichesk Strait; Ukrainian: Генічеська протока, Crimean Tatar: Ceniske, Cengięke, Russian: Генический пролив,) is a narrow strait which connects the Syvash (the shallow lagoon system separating the Crimea from the rest of Ukraine east of the Isthmus of Perekop) with the Sea of Azov. It separates the Arabat Spit from the Ukrainian mainland.
Arabat Spit in the context of Spits of the Sea of Azov
The spits of the Sea of Azov are narrow peninsulas of sand, silt and shells in the Sea of Azov. They are as long as 112 km (Arabat Spit, the world's longest spit), 45 km (Fedotov Spit), 31 km (Achuevsk Spit), 30 km (Obytichna Spit) and 23 km (Berdiansk Spit). Their total length exceeds 300 km which is larger than the width of the sea (about 180 km).
Most of the spits were formed by the deposition of sand, silt and shells by river flows into the Azov Sea bays. Therefore, many spits stretch to the south into the sea and are continuations of the (right) river banks (see table and map). The Chushka and Tuzla spits are located inside the Strait of Kerch; the former spit is formed by the outflow of water from the Azov Sea to the Black Sea and therefore also faces south, whereas the latter is facing north. A major oil spill occurred near those spits on 11 November 2007.