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 until after the death of Peter the southern coast of the Caspian Sea remained nominally in the possession of Russia; the native Khans continuing, however, to rule in their respective states. The Caspian provinces of Persia were restored to that power in the time of Nadir, and they still remain a portion of the Persian empire; but the idea of Peter the Great of making the Caspian Sea a Russian lake has never been abandoned, and much has been done by his successors towards its realization. Nadir obtained the submission of the ruler of Georgia, and he not only recovered the whole of the Persian possessions to the west