Kura Island

Kura Island

*Kür dili*
Kura Island Kür dili
Island
	Kyzylagach Bay with Kura Island in the southeast.
	Kura Island
	Coordinates: 38°58′30″N 49°07′30″E / 38.97500°N 49.12500°E
Country	Azerbaijan
Region	Aran Region
Area
• Total	43 km2 (17 sq mi)

Kura or Kurkosa (Azerbaijani: Kür dili), also known as Kurinskiy in the Russian language, is an island in the Caspian Sea off the coast of Azerbaijan. It lies 33 km to the south of Neftchala and about 150 km to the SSE of Baku, in the Aran Region.

History[]

The island was formerly attached to the mainland by a narrow spit. It was named Kurkosa after the Kura River located further north by Fedor I. Soimonov, the pioneering explorer of the Caspian Sea during the time of Peter I the Great. Soimonov wrote the 'Pilot of the Caspian Sea', the first report on that until then little known body of water, that was published in 1720 by the Russian Academy of Sciences.^[1]

Geography[]

Kura island is located 7.5 km off the Kura Spit, the nearest point, and 10 km to the east of the (Qızılağac Bay) shore.^[2] Although located quite far away from it, it is considered the southernmost island of the Baku Archipelago.^[3]

The area of Kura Island is 43 km². Its length is 11.8 km and its maximum width 5.2 km.^[4] The island is low, with mudhills, and stretches in a NE to SW direction.

There is a lighthouse on Kura that was built in 1911 and abandoned in 1966.^[5]

Kura Stone[]

Kura Rock or Kura Stone (Kurinskiy Kamen), Azerbaijani: Kür daşı, is a small islet with a maximum length of 0.18 km. It is located 13 km to the east of Kura Island's NE end at