Arabat Spit

The spit is commonly called the Arabat Arrow (, Arabatska strilka; ; , 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". ==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. 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, festuce grasses, spear grass, crambe, salsola, salicornia, Carex colchica, tamarisk, rose hip, liquorice, etc. 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. The is located in the southern part of the spit and the adjacent area of Crimea, together with the adjacent aquatory. ==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 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 located within the boundaries of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, a territory internationally recognized as part of Ukraine. Since 2014, Russia has administered the peninsula as part of the Republic of Crimea. The entire spit came under Russian control on 25 February 2022, one day after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. ==Populated places==

The rural communities of Henicheska Hirka, Shchaslyvtseve and Strilkove are located in the northern section of the spit, within the Kherson Oblast. The village of is located in the southern part of the spit, administered as part of the Republic of Crimea. == 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 and windsurfers. ==See also==