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The Republic of Azerbaijan occupies the southern part of the isthmus between the Black and Caspian seas, bordered on the north by Russia, on the east by the Caspian Sea, on the south by Iran, on the west by Armenia, and on the northwest by Georgia. The Azerbaijani exclave of Naxç[van (Nakhichevan) is separated from Azerbaijan proper by Armenia, and is also bounded by Iran and Turkey. The capital of Azerbaijan is Baku. The area of Azerbaijan is 33,400 square miles (86,600 square km). The estimated population of Azerbaijan in July, 2004 was 7,868,385. The official language is Azeri. Azerbaijan became part of the Russian empire in the 1800s, then was independent for 2 years, from 1918 to 1920, before becoming part of the Soviet Union. As the USSR broke up, Azerbaijan declared sovereignty on Sept. 23, 1989, and independence Aug. 30, 1991. Despite a 1994 cease-fire, Azerbaijan has yet to resolve its conflict with Armenia over the Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh enclave (largely Armenian populated). Azerbaijan has lost 16% of its territory and must support some 800,000 refugees and internally displaced persons as a result of the conflict. Corruption is ubiquitous and the promise of widespread wealth from Azerbaijan's undeveloped petroleum resources remains largely unfulfilled. -- The CIA World Factbook: Azerbaijan
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The New York Times, February 18, 1902:2,000 DEAD AT SHEMAKHADetails of the Great Earthquake Slowly Reaching Baku.4,000 Houses Destroyed--Surrounding Villages Also Suffered--A Volcano in Active Eruption. Thirty-four villages in the country surrounding Shemakha also suffered. A volcano near the village of Marasy, eastward of Shemakha, has broken out into active eruption, and has added to the terrors of the neighborhood. A great crevasse has appeared, whence immense flames and streams of lava are being thrown out. The course of the River Geonchaika has been altered in consequence of its bed being dammed with earth dislodged by the earthquake. Battalions of guards and detachments of sappers, with tents, have been dispatched to Shemakha to aid in the work of rescue... Shemakha is a formerly important but latterly comparatively insignificant town in Transcaucasia, on the Zaglolavai, an affluent of the Peersagat, which falls into the Caspian Sea. On the high road to India, it is situated in a mountainous, picturesque country, covered with luxuriant vegetation, 2,230 feet above the level of the Black Sea, and has numerous ruins of large caravansaries, churches, and public buildings. Shemakha is the capital of the Khanate of Shirvan, and was known to Ptolemy as Kamachia. It was conquered by the Persians in 1501 under Shah Ismail I. About the middle of the sixteenth century an English commercial factory was maintained at Shemakha by the traveler Jenkinson, who become Envoy Extraordinary of the Khan of Shirvan to Ivan the Terrible. In 1712 the town was sacked by the Lesghians, and eight years later by a certain Daghestan, Ala-ud-Daula, who was recognized later as the Khan of Shirvan. In 1724 the Khanate was taken by Turkey, and in 1742 Shemakha was taken and destroyed by Nadir Shah of Persia, who, to punish the inhabitants for their Sunnite creed, built a new town under the same name about sixteen miles to the west, at the foot of the main chain of the Caucasus. The new town was at times a residence of the Khan, but was finally abandoned. The old town was rebuilt under the rule of Mahmud Seyyid. In 1795 Shemakha was captured by the Russians, who had been there once before, in 1723, but was shortly afterward abandoned, and Shirvan was not finally annexed to Russia until November 1805, after the voluntary submission of its last Khan, Mustapha. In recent times Shemakha has suffered severely from earthquake. In 1859 the Governor's seat was moved to Baku because of a shock, and in 1872 a still more terrible shock occurred, from which the town never recovered. Before that year, there were 130 Armenian silk-winding industries there. In addition to the rearing of silkworms, Shemakha produced cotton, wheat, and rice, and maintained several tanneries and dyeing works. The population of Shemakha is said to be about 22,000. Some great earthquakes in the past were: At Catania, Sicily, which in 1114 A.D. was overturned, and 15,000 persons were buried. At Cilicia, Asia Minor, in September 1268, when 60,000 persons perished. At Lisbon, in 1531, when 1,500 houses were overturned and 30,000 persons buried. At Naples and the vicinity in 1626, when thirty villages were destroyed and 70,000 lives were lost. At Lisbon in 1755, when an earthquake in eight minutes destroyed the greater part of the city, and 50,000 inhabitants lost their lives. Several neighboring towns suffered severely, and half of Fez, Morocco, was destroyed, with more than 12,000 Arabs. In Charleston, S.C., 1886, when forty-one lives were lost and $5,000,000 worth of property was destroyed. In Japan in 1981, when an earthquake killed 4,000 persons, injured 5,000 others, and destroyed 50,000 houses. |
Modern Shemakha, now known as Samaxi, has a population of about 25,300 (1991 estimate). It is a center of food industries, particulary known for wines. Carpets (brocaded, flat-stitch with mosaic-tile patterns) are also produced in the surrounding area.
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