Azerbaijan
(2002 pop. of Republic 8.1 million), (2002 pop. of East Azerbaijan, Iran, 3.4 million), (2002 pop. of West Azerbaijan, Iran, 2.8 million). Azerbaijan is a mountainous region in West Asia, bounded by the eastern Caucasus, northwestern Zagros range, Talish Mountains, and Caspian Sea and divided between the Republic of Azerbaijan in the north and Iran in the south. The word Azerbaijan is derived from the province's ancient name of Media Atropatene and from the Persian satrap Atropates (flourished c. fourth century BCE), who established an independent dynasty there after Alexander of Macedon's death.
Islam was introduced into northern Azerbaijan after the Arab conquest in the seventh century, gradually displacing the Zoroastrianism of the Iranian-speaking majority. Although Turkic elements had a long presence in ethnically diverse Transcaucasia, most experts agree that Turkification of the region started in the eleventh century, with the massive migration of Oghuz nomads from Central Asia to Asia Minor, under the banner of Seljuk conquest.
Between the eleventh and fifteenth centuries various conquerors incorporated Azerbaijan into vast empires stretching from Asia Minor eastward to the Oxus River. The Safavids (1501–1732), who laid the foundations of modern Persia and made Shiʿism its state religion, came from Azerbaijan. Russia's expansion into the Caucasus in the nineteenth century led to Persian-Russian wars and to the final division of Azerbaijan along the Araks River in 1828.
The Republic of Azerbaijan (area 86,600 square kilometers) is bounded by Iran, Armenia, Georgia, the Russian Federation (Dagestan), and the Caspian Sea. It includes Nakhchevan, separated from the rest of the country by a strip of Armenian territory, and the Karabakh Mountain Area, inhabited mostly by Armenians. A drive for the unification of Karabakh with Armenia in 1988 sparked ethnic violence and led to war between Armenia and Azerbaijan in 1991–1994. In 1922 Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia were incorporated into the Soviet Union. Azerbaijan became a separate Soviet republic in 1936. It declared independence in 1991.
The country has significant oil reserves, exploited intensively since the 1870s, and oil-producing and petrochemical industries centered in its capital, Baku, a Caspian seaport. Azerbaijan oil was critically important for the Soviets during World War II, as were the weapons- and machine-building plants established there. In the twenty-first century Azerbaijan's oil continues to spark Western interests in the country.
Iranian Azerbaijan includes East Azerbaijan (capital Tabriz), with an area of 65,840 square kilometers, and West Azerbaijan (capital Orumiyeh), with an area of 43,657 square kilometers. Azerbaijan is Iran's most fertile region, producing cereals, tobacco, sugar beets, apricots, and almonds.
Marta Simidchieva
Further Reading
Altstadt, Audrey L. (1992) The Azerbaijani Turks: Power and Identity under Russian Rule. Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, Stanford University.
Atabeki, Touraj. (1993) Azerbaijan: Ethnicity and Autonomy in Twentieth-Century Iran. London: British Academic Press.
Yarshater, Ehsan, ed. (1989) "Azerbaijan." In Encyclopaedia Iranica. Vol. 3. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 205–257.
This complete Azerbaijan contains 464 words. This
article contains 505 words (approx. 2 pages at 300
words per page).
