The Arabat Spit ( uk, Арабатська коса; russian: Арабатская коса) or Arabat Arrow is a barrier spit that separates the large, shallow and very salty

Syvash The Syvash or Sivash (Russian and Ukrainian: ; , Cyrillic: Сываш, "dirt"), also known as the or (, ''Gniloye More''; , ''Hnyle More''; , Cyrillic: Чюрюк Денъиз), is a large area of shallow lagoons on the west coast of the Sea ...

lagoons from the Sea of Azov. The spit runs between the

Henichesk Strait The Henichesk Strait (alternatively Genichesk Strait; russian: Генический пролив, uk, Генічеська протока) is a narrow strait which connects the Syvash (the shallow lagoon system separating the Crimea from the res ...

in the north and the north-eastern shores of

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...

in the south.

Name

The spit is commonly called the Arabat Arrow ( uk, Арабатська стрілка, ''Arabatska strilka''; crh, Arabat beli; russian: Арабатская стрелка, ''Arabatskaya strelka'') in Russia and Ukraine. It has been called an "arrow" since at least the middle of the 19th century. The ''Arabat'' part of the name comes from the Arabat Fortress, a 17th-century Turkish fort at the southern end of the spit. "Arabat" derives from either Arabic "rabat" meaning a "military post" or Arabic "rabad" meaning a "suburb".Arabat Fortress
(in Russian)

Geography and geology

The Arabat Arrow is long, and from wide. Its surface area is and thus the average width is . The spit is low and straight on the Azov Sea side, whereas its Sivash side is more convoluted. It contains two areas which are wide and have brown-clay hills. They are located and from the Henichesk Strait.Shutov

Semenov, p.111 The top layers of other parts of the spit are formed by sand and shells washed by the flows of the Azov Sea. Its vegetation mostly consists of various weed grasses,

thorn Thorn(s) or The Thorn(s) may refer to: Botany * Thorns, spines, and prickles, sharp structures on plants * ''Crataegus monogyna'', or common hawthorn, a plant species Comics and literature * Rose and Thorn, the two personalities of two DC Com ...

, festuce grasses, spear grass,

crambe ''Crambe'' is a genus of annual and perennial flowering plants in the family Brassicaceae, native to a variety of habitats in Europe, Turkey, southwest and central Asia and eastern Africa. They carry dense racemes of tiny white or yellow flowe ...

salsola ''Salsola'' is a genus of the subfamily Salsoloideae in the family Amaranthaceae. The genus ''sensu stricto'' is distributed in central and southwestern Asia, North Africa, and the Mediterranean. A common name of various members of this genus and ...

salicornia ''Salicornia'' is a genus of succulent, halophytic (salt tolerant) flowering plants in the family Amaranthaceae that grow in salt marshes, on beaches, and among mangroves. ''Salicornia'' species are native to North America, Europe, Central Asia, ...

, Carex colchica,

tamarisk The genus ''Tamarix'' (tamarisk, salt cedar, taray) is composed of about 50–60 species of flowering plants in the family Tamaricaceae, native to drier areas of Eurasia and Africa. The generic name originated in Latin and may refer to the Ta ...

rose hip The rose hip or rosehip, also called rose haw and rose hep, is the accessory fruit of the various species of rose plant. It is typically red to orange, but ranges from dark purple to black in some species. Rose hips begin to form after pollina ...

, liquorice, etc.Shutov
Part 1
Semenov, p.111 Offshore water is shallow with the depth reaching only some from the shore. Its temperature is around in winter (near freezing), in spring and autumn, and in summer; air temperature is almost the same. The spit is very young and was created by sedimentation processes around 1100–1200 AD.Shutov

History

The Arabat Arrow was wild until 1835 when a road and five stations at intervals were built along it for postal delivery. Later in the 19th century, 25 rural and 3 military settlements and one village named Arabat appeared on the spit. The rural population amounted to some 235 people whose occupation was mostly fishing, farming, and salt production. The latter activity is traditional for the region due to the vast areas of shallow and very saline water in the

Sivash The Syvash or Sivash ( Russian and Ukrainian: ; , Cyrillic: Сываш, "dirt"), also known as the or (, ''Gniloye More''; , ''Hnyle More''; , Cyrillic: Чюрюк Денъиз), is a large area of shallow lagoons on the west coast of the Sea ...

lagoons. Salt production in the 19th century was about on the Arabat Arrow alone. Nowadays, the spit is a health resort and its Azov Sea side is used as a beach. While the spit is geophysically part of the Crimean Peninsula, politically its northern half belongs to Kherson Oblast, Ukraine, while its southern portion is, ''de facto'' since 2014, a part of the

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

Republic of Crimea The Republic of Crimea, translit. ''Respublika Krym'' ; uk, Республіка Крим, translit. ''Respublika Krym'' ; crh, , is an unrecognized federal subject ( republic) of Russia, located in the Crimean Peninsula. Its territory ...

. The entirety of the spit was occupied during the annexation, although Russia withdrew its forces from the northern Kherson side in December 2014. The entire spit has been back under Russian control since 25 February 2022, following the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

Populated places

The rural communities of Henicheska Hirka,

Shchaslyvtseve Shchaslyvtseve ( uk, Щасливцеве) is a village in southern Ukraine. The community is located on the Arabat Spit and is geographically in Crimea, but administered as part of Henichesk Raion, Kherson Oblast. It belongs to Henichesk urban h ...

and

Strilkove Strilkove ( ua, Стрілкове; russian: Стрелковое; crh, Çoqraq) is a Ukrainian village in Henichesk raion of Kherson oblast. It belongs to Henichesk urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. In 2001 its population was 1,37 ...

are located in the northern section of the spit, within the Kherson Oblast. The community of Solyane is located in the southern part of the spit, administered as part of the

Tourism

Arabat Spit is a popular place for summer vacation among Ukrainians because of the warm water of the Sea of Azov. There are a variety of hotels and guesthouses on the first line of the sea. Arabat Spit is popular among

kitesurfers Kiteboarding or kitesurfing is a sport that involves using wind power with a large power kite to pull a rider across a water, land, or snow surface. It combines aspects of paragliding, surfing, windsurfing, skateboarding, snowboarding, and wak ...

and

windsurfers Windsurfing is a wind propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the aerospace and surf culture of California. Windsurfing ga ...

Notes

References

Bibliography

* *Shutov, Yu. "Арабатская стрелка" (in Russian) Tavria, 1983

External links

Detailed map of the Arabat Spit
{{Authority control Spits of Crimea Spits of the sea of Azov Russia–Ukraine border Divided regions