The territory of Russia options and borders 15 seas and every of them has its personal distinctive nature and historical past.
Northern seas
The Barents Sea
Lev Fedoseev/TASS
This sea is part of the Arctic Ocean; it washes the shores of Russia and Norway. It was named after Dutch seafarer Willem Barentsz in 1853. However, many ethnic peoples of Russia have their very own names to the ocean. For instance, the Pomors name it ‘Studenets’; till it was given its present official identify, it was referred to as the Murmansk Sea (in honor of the town of Murmansk on its shores) or just Russian Sea.
The Pechora Sea
Максим Блинов/Sputnik
In actuality, it is not a full-fledged sea, however reasonably, a water territory throughout the Barents Sea, which was referred to as the Pechora Sea again on maps from the mid-Sixteenth century. However, in 1935, Soviet authorities put an finish to this debate: of their decree, they determined that the south-eastern a part of the Barents Sea can be referred to as the Pechora Sea – and nothing else.
The White Sea
Сергей Бобылев/TASS
This sea absolutely belongs to Russian internal waters and to the group of the Arctic Ocean seas. The White Sea is without doubt one of the smallest seas on this planet. Until the seventeenth century, it had many names – the Cold Sea, the Solovetskoye Sea, the Northern Sea, the Calm Sea, the White Gulf; in Scandinavian chronicles, it was referred to as ‘Gandvik’, which suggests ‘The Bay of Snakes’.
Its present identify derives from the Karelian ‘Valgiemeri’, the place ‘valgie’ means ‘white’ and ‘meri’ – ‘sea’. It’s ‘white’, as a result of, in sunny climate, when the ice retreats, one can see the cloudy sky in its reflection. Because of that it seems like the ocean is of the identical white shade.
The East Siberian Sea
Andrei Zima/Sputnik
This sea lies absolutely throughout the borders of Russia and, as many others, belongs to the Arctic Ocean. Territory-wise it washes the shores of Yakutia and Chukotka. Its identify was given to it by the Russian Geographical Society in 1935, attributable to it being situated within the jap a part of Siberia, virtually on the very fringe of the continent.
A big portion of its shoreline is swamps and sands, blended with perennial ice. Currently, the ice is slowly melting, thus continually altering the define of the shore. So, maps of the shoreline of this sea must be renewed yearly.
The Kara Sea
Pavel Lisitsyn/Sputnik
This sea additionally belongs to the waters of the Arctic Ocean. It’s situated close to the Barents Sea within the northern a part of Russia; these seas are separated solely by the Novaya Zemlya archipelago. In the previous, it was referred to as the ‘Nyarzomskoye Sea’ or the ‘Narzemskoye Sea’, derived from the Dutch phrase ‘Noordzee’ – ‘The Northern Sea’. In the 18th century, it was renamed ‘Kara Sea’ – from the identify of the Kara River that flows into its waters.
The Laptev Sea
Fred Greenberg/Sputnik
This sea neighbors the Kara Sea and can be a part of the Arctic Ocean. The Laptev Sea and the Kara Sea are separated by the Taymyr Peninsula and by the Severnaya Zemlya Islands. It was named in honor of Russian polar explorers – brothers Dmitry and Khariton Laptevs. Until 1935, this physique of water bore the identify ‘Nordenskiöld’ – in honor of the seafarer who, for the primary time in historical past, crossed the Northeast Passage to the Pacific Ocean.
The Laptev Sea can be the most important supply of Arctic Sea ice on this planet; on the floor, this sea’s water is nearly contemporary, reasonably than salty, as a result of great amount of rivers flowing into it – the Lena, Khatanga, Anabara, Olenka and Yana, in addition to a mess of smaller rivers.
The Chukchi Sea
Ekaterina Shtukina/Sputnik
This is an Arctic Ocean sea, situated between Chukotka and Alaska. The International Date Line runs by way of its waters – an imaginary line that separates the start of the following day from the top of the earlier one (technically, by crossing this line from East to West, you may journey to the following day). Its identify comes from the Chukchi ethnic people who initially populated the Chukotka Peninsula.
Southern Seas
The Sea of Azov
Legion Media
This sea is taken into account to be the shallowest on this planet – its most depth would not exceed 13.5 meters and has a median depth of simply 7 meters. According to the vast majority of variations, this physique of water was named after the Cuman prince Asup (Asuf), who constructed a fortress on the shore of this sea and dominated right here within the eleventh century. The Sea of Azov entered the Russian toponymy solely within the second half of the 18th century.
The Caspian Sea
Elena Afonina/TASS
This sea is just not linked to the World Ocean and lies on the border between Europe and Asia, attributable to which it is typically merely referred to as a really giant lake. However, the Caspian Sea is extra like a sea, not solely attributable to its space (solely 12% smaller than the Black Sea), however it’s additionally thought of distinctive by its water composition. In the northern a part of the Caspian Sea (the place the Volga River flows into it), the water is nearly contemporary, whereas it is salty within the south. The Caspian Sea can be a novel supply of organic assets; it has as much as 80% of world provide of fish of the sturgeon household.
In the Russian language, its identify comes from the Latin identify ‘Caspium Mare’ – ‘the Caspian Sea’, which takes us again to the traditional tribes of the Caspi folks, who supposedly lived on the shores of this physique of water within the first millennium B.C.
The Black Sea
Dmitry Feoktistov/TASS
This is an internal sea of the Atlantic Ocean; it washes the shores of a number of nations, together with Russia. The distinctive characteristic of this sea is the whole absence of life at depths greater than 150 meters, as a result of giant presence of hydrogen sulfide. One of the variations of its identify origin relies on the truth that anchors made from steel, lowered to a depth of greater than 150 meters for a protracted time frame, acquired a black coating due to the response with the hydrogen sulfide. This sea can be one of many warmest in Russia.
Eastern seas
The Bering Sea
Andrei Zima/Sputnik
This sea washes each the shores of Russia and the U.S. and belongs to the Pacific Ocean. Until the 18th century, it was marked on maps because the ‘Kamchatka Sea’ or because the ‘Beaver Sea’. Under the identify ‘beaver’, folks meant the native sea otter. By the way in which, the manufacturing of fur of this animal was the rationale for the exploration of this sea. Its trendy identify honors sea explorer Vitus Bering, who explored this sea in 1725-1743.
The Sea of Okhotsk
Sergey Krasnoukhov/Sputnik
This is a Pacific Ocean sea, washing the shores of Russia and Japan; it is situated between the Kamchatka Peninsula, the Kuril Islands and the Japanese island of Hokkaido. It’s named after the Okhota River, which flows into it. In the previous, the Japanese referred to as it the Hokkai Sea, which, in translation, actually means ‘the Northern Sea’; however, since this identify was later taken by the Northern Sea within the Atlantic Ocean, they adopted the Russian identify and now it goes by: ‘Okhotsuku-kai’. There are plenty of industrial fish species on this sea, however it’s the Kamchatka crabs which are probably the most fascinating and who can develop to the dimensions of a human!
The Shantar Sea
This is a sea within the Russian East, which makes up part of the Sea of Okhotsk. Its identify derives from the Shantar Islands, which separate the ocean from its giant neighbor. Sometimes, this sea can be dubbed the ‘Russian Bermuda triangle’ for its unusual local weather circumstances – there are common tides with a movement velocity better than 15 km/h – that is sooner than each Russian river. Also, ice can keep on its floor, even in summer time, which is uncharacteristic of this local weather.
The Sea of Japan
Yuriy Smitiuk/TASS
Despite its identify, the ocean washes not simply Japanese shores, but in addition the shores of Russia, North Korea and South Korea. The sea neighbors the Sea of Okhotsk and the Yellow Sea. It’s referred to as the ‘Sea of Japan’ as a result of Japanese archipelago that separates it from the northern a part of the Pacific Ocean. This identify has been used for greater than 200 years. The solely nations that decision it one thing else are North and South Korea. In South Korea, this sea known as the ‘Eastern Sea’, in North Korea – the ‘Korean Eastern Sea’.
Western seas
The Baltic Sea
Legion Media
Of all of the areas of Russia, solely Kaliningrad Region has entry to this sea. According to one of many variations, its identify comes from the Prussian phrase ‘balt’ – or ‘swamp’ in English. This phrase was widespread within the names of many ethnic peoples, together with the Latvian and Lithuanian peoples, who lived on the shores of the Baltic Sea. Some historians say, nevertheless, that its identify got here from the Belt Strait in Denmark.