Caspian Sea of around 149,200 square miles (386,400 square km)— bigger than the region of Japan—and its surface lies somewhere in the range of 90 feet (27 meters) below sea level. The sea bed in the southern part reaches as low as 1,023 m (3,356 ft) below sea level, which is the second lowest natural depression on earth after Lake Baikal (−1,180 m, −3,871 ft). The ancient inhabitants of its coast perceived the Caspian Sea as an ocean, probably because of its saltiness and large size. The sea has a surface area of 371,000 km (143,200 sq mi) (not including the detached
Lowest bridging point often was at a location that allowed seagoing traffic to approach it from a downstream direction. Examples of lowest bridging points in Britain include London, the lowest bridging point on the Thames; Lancaster, the lowest bridging point on the Lune; York, the lowest bridging point on the Ouse; and Gloucester, the lowest bridging point on the Severn. Glasgow grew up at the lowest bridging point on the Clyde which was about twelve miles upstream from its lowest fording point at Dumbuck. Mathew Paris’s map of 1247 appears to show only one bridge in the whole of Britain: at Stirling, the