Editing Kotlin Island

{{short description|Russian island in the Gulf of Finland}}
{{Infobox islands
| name             = Kotlin Island
| local_name      = Остров Котлин
| sobriquet        = <!-- or nickname -->
| etymology        = 
| image_name       = Map of Kronstadt bay.png
| image_size       = 
| image_caption    = Map of Kronstadt bay with Kotlin Island in the upper left corner
| image_alt        = 
| map              = Russia Saint Petersburg# European Russia#Europe
| map_caption      = Kotlin Island within Saint Petersburg##Kotlin Island within Russia##Kotlin Island within Europe
| location         = [[Gulf of Finland]]
| coordinates      = {{coord|60|00|45|N|29|44|01|E|region:RU-SPE_type:isle|display=inline,title}}
| archipelago      = 
| waterbody        = 
| total_islands    = 
| major_islands    = 
| area_km2         = 15
| area_footnotes   = 
| rank             = 
| length_km        = 10.2
| length_footnotes = 
| width_km         = 3.7
| width_footnotes  = <ref name="GE">[[Google Earth]]</ref>
| coastline_km     = <!-- or coastline m  -->
| coastline_footnotes = 
| elevation_m      = 17
| elevation_footnotes = 
| highest_mount       = <!--name-->
| Country_heading     = 
| country             = [[Russian Federation]]
| country_admin_divisions_title     = Region
| country_admin_divisions           = [[Saint Petersburg]]
| country_admin_divisions_title_1   = 
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| country_admin_divisions_title_2   = 
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| demonym                           = 
| population                        = 43,005
| population_as_of                  = 2010
| population_footnotes = 
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| population_rank_max = 
| density_km2                       = 2,867
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}}

'''Kotlin''' ({{langx|ru|Ко́тлин}}; {{langx|sv|Reitskär}}) is a Russian [[island]], located near the head of the [[Gulf of Finland]], {{convert|32|km|mi|abbr=out}} west of [[Saint Petersburg]]<ref name=EB1911>{{EB1911 |wstitle=Kronstadt |volume=15 |page=927–928 |first1=Peter |last1=Kropotkin |author1-link=Peter Kropotkin |first2=John Thomas |last2=Bealby |inline=1}}</ref> in the [[Baltic Sea]]. Kotlin separates the [[Neva Bay]] from the rest of the gulf. The fortified city of [[Kronstadt]] is located on the island and forms part of a [[World Heritage Site]] that is [[Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments|''Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments'']]. The island serves as a gateway to Saint Petersburg and as such has been the site of several military engagements.

==History==
The island is mentioned in the 13th century treaty of [[Novgorod]] with [[Hanseatic League]] and [[Gotland]], once as "Kotlign" and twice as "Kotling".<ref>K.E. Napierski. Gramoty, kasayushchiesya do snosheniy Severo-Zapadnoy Rossii s Rigoyu i Ganzeyskimi gorodami v XII, XIII, XIV veke. Arheograficheskaya komissiya. St. Petersburg, 1868 (К.Э. Напиерский, Грамоты, касающиеся до сношений Северо-Западной России с Ригою и Ганзейскими городами в XII, XIII и XIV веке. Археографическая комиссия. Санкт-Петербург, 1868) [http://history-fiction.ru/books/all/book_136/]</ref>
The city of Kronstadt was founded on Kotlin island by [[Peter the Great]], who took it from the [[Sweden|Swedes]] in 1703.<ref name=EB1911/> In March 1921, Kotlin was the site of the [[Kronstadt rebellion]], which resulted in over 11,000 casualties.<ref>Pukhov, A. S. ''Kronshtadtskii miatezh v 1921 g.'' Leningrad, OGIZ-Molodaia Gvardiia.</ref><ref>Orlando Figes, ''A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1891-1924'' (New York: Viking Press 1997), 767.</ref>

Off Kronstadt is [[Fort Alexander (Saint Petersburg)|Fort Alexander]], an artificial island that housed a research laboratory on plague and other bacterial diseases, from 1898 to 1917.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qOs6EQAAQBAJ&pg=PA308 |first=Vladimir A. |last=Gorshkov-Cantacuzene |title=The Opera on the Plague |year=2024 |isbn=9798350739053 |page=308|publisher=Vladimir Gorshkov-Cantacuzene }}</ref>

==Geography==
In general outline, the island forms an elongated triangle; {{convert|12.1|km|mi|abbr=on}} long by about {{convert|1.6|km|mi|1|abbr=on}} broad, with its base towards St Petersburg. The eastern or broad end is occupied by the city of Kronstadt, and [[shoal]]s extend for {{convert|2.4|km|mi|1|abbr=on}} from the western point of the island to the rock on which the Tolbaaken [[lighthouse]] is built.<ref name=EB1911/>

The island thus divides the seaward approach to St Petersburg into two channels; that on the northern side is obstructed by shoals which extend across it from Kotlin to [[Lisiy Nos]]; the southern channel, the highway to the former capital, is narrowed by a spit which projects from opposite [[Lomonosov, Russia|Lomonosov]] on the Russian mainland, and, lying close to Kronstadt, has been historically strongly guarded by [[artillery battery|batteries]].<ref name=EB1911/>

The naval approach to Saint Petersburg was greatly facilitated by the construction in 1875–85 of a [[canal]], {{convert|7|m|ft|abbr=on}} deep, through the shallows,<ref name=EB1911/> whereas cars can travel overland to the island by using the [[Saint Petersburg Dam]] from the north and south shores of the [[Gulf of Finland]]. Started in 1980, but delayed by political upheaval in the 1990s, the dam project was completed in 2010 and officially commissioned in 2011.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/08/12/54579666.html| title=St. Petersburg gets protecting dam| publisher=[[Voice of Russia]]| date=12 August 2011| access-date=14 August 2011| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120908172747/http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/08/12/54579666.html| archive-date=8 September 2012| url-status=dead}}</ref>

<gallery widths="200px" heights="160px">
File:Kronstadt1June1942.jpg|Luftwaffe aerial reconnaissance photo of Kotlin Island, 1 June 1942
File:Песчаный пляж на северном берегу.jpg|Beach in west Kotlin Island
</gallery>

==Transportation==
The low water depth in [[Neva Bay]] was an incentive to build a [[:ru:Морской канал (Санкт-Петербург)|Sea Canal]] to accommodate large vessels, this canal allows the  movement of vessels with a draft of 11 metres (to fresh water), a length of 320 metres and a width of 42 metres.<ref>Водные_объекты/961/Морской_канал_Санкт-Петербурга</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://www.google.com/maps/place/Kronshtadt,+Saint+Petersburg,+Russia/@59.9990276,29.7046978,9640m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x4696454b36f2a757:0x143522ed1efe654b!8m2!3d59.9959303!4d29.7655452?hl=en Google Earth view of Kotlin Island]

{{Islands in the Baltic Sea}}

[[Category:Islands of Saint Petersburg]]
[[Category:Russian islands in the Baltic]]
[[Category:Gulf of Finland]]
[[Category:Saint Petersburg Ring Road]]
[[Category:Islands of Russia|Gulf of Finland]]
[[Category:Kronstadt]]