Azerbaijan Republicy

Azarbaichan Respublikasy

CAPITAL: Baku

FLAG: Three equal horizontal bands of blue (top), red, and green; a crescent and eight-pointed star in white are centered in the red band.

ANTHEM: Azerbaijan National Anthem, composed by Uzeyir Hajibeyov.

MONETARY UNIT: The manat, consisting of 100 gopik, was introduced in 1992 and remains tied to the Russian ruble with widely fluctuating exchange rates. As of May 2003, 1 manat = $0.000204 (or $1 = 4,909 manat).

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES: The metric system is in force.

HOLIDAYS: New Year's Day, 1 January; International Women's Day, 8 March; Novruz Bayrom (Holiday of Spring), 22 March; Day of the Republic, 28 May; Day of Armed Forces, 9 October; Day of State Sovereignty, 18 October; Day of National Revival, 17 November; Universal Azeri Solidarity Day, 31 December.

TIME: 4 PM = noon GMT.

Location, Size, and Extent

Azerbaijan is located in southeastern Europe/southwestern Asia between Armenia and the Caspian Sea. Comparatively, Azerbaijan is slightly smaller than the state of Maine with...