The island is part of Azerbaijan and lies off the north-eastern shore of the Apsheron Peninsula, 43 kilometres (27 mi) to the east-north-east of Baku.

The island forms part of the Absheron archipelago Important Bird Area (IBA), designated as such by BirdLife International because it supports significant populations of wintering whooper swans, common pochards, tufted ducks, great crested grebes and common coots, as well as breeding Caspian gulls.

In ancient times, there was a place of worship and pilgrimage on the island, but there is no exact data on which religion it belongs to.

It is said that undersea booty from a 1660 sea battle between Persians and Cossack leader Stepan Razin lies off the northern tip of the island.

The old Artyom village was evacuated due to rising water levels of the Caspian Sea and residents moved to a series of apartment towers built by German prisoners in 1948 .On 5 October 1999, the current name was returned.