Ogurja Ada
Encyclopedia
Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan , formerly also known as Turkmenia is one of the Turkic states in Central Asia. Until 1991, it was a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic . Turkmenistan is one of the six independent Turkic states...
and the longest in the Caspian Sea
Caspian Sea
The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. The sea has a surface area of and a volume of...
. Ogurja Island is also widely known by its Russian name Ogurchinskiy Island (Ostrov Ogurchinskiy).
Ogurja lies in the Southeastern coastal areas of the Caspian Sea. It is located 17 km SSW off the southern tip of the Cheleken Peninsula.
Ogurja Ada is very long and narrow. It runs from north to south, having a length of 47 km and a maximum width of 3 km it is made up of low sand dunes, mostly covered with grass and bushes.
The island has no permanent settlements owing to lack of fresh water. Between the 15th and the 17th century Ogurchinskiy had been a refuge for pirates and wayfarers and later it became a leper colony
Leper colony
A leper colony, leprosarium, or lazar house is a place to quarantine leprous people.-History:Leper colonies or houses became widespread in the Middle Ages, particularly in Europe and India, and often run by monastic orders...
.
Administratively Ogurja Ada belongs to the Balkan Province
Balkan Province
Balkan Province is one of the Welayat of Turkmenistan. It is in the far west of the country, bordering Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, the Caspian Sea, and Iran. Its capital is Balkanabat, formerly known as Nebit Dag. It has an area of 139,270 square kilometers and a population of approximately 553,500...
(Balkan Welaýaty) of Turkmenistan.
Ecology
Caspian sealCaspian Seal
Caspian seals , one of the smallest members of the earless seal family, are unique in that they are found exclusively in the brackish Caspian Sea. They can be found not only along the shorelines, but also on the many rocky islands and floating blocks of ice that dot the Caspian Sea...
s (Pusa caspica) and a number of different marine birds are common on the shores of this long island.
Gazelle
Gazelle
A gazelle is any of many antelope species in the genus Gazella, or formerly considered to belong to it. Six species are included in two genera, Eudorcas and Nanger, which were formerly considered subgenera...
s (jeirans) are also to be found on Ogurja Island. The gazelles are not endemic to the island, but were settled there as part of a natural reserve project during Soviet times when Turkmenistan was part of the USSR. Ogurja Ada is now part of the Hazar Nature Reserve of Turkmenistan.