This article is about the history of the Republic of Azerbaijan in the South Caucasus. For the history of the original Azerbaijan, seeHistory of Azerbaijan (Iran).
In this article, thehistory of Azerbaijan is understood as the history of the region now forming theRepublic of Azerbaijan. Topographically, the land is contained by the southern slopes of theCaucasus Mountains in the north, theCaspian Sea in the east, and theArmenian Highlands in the west. In the south, its natural boundaries are less distinct, and here the country merges with theIranian Plateau.[1]
The entity ofCaucasian Albania was established on its soil in ancient times. TheCaucasian Albanian language spoken by the founders of Caucasian Albania was most likely a predecessor of the now endangeredUdi language spoken by theUdi people. From the time of theMedes and theAchaemenid Empire, until the coming of theRussians in the 19th century, the territories of the republic of Azerbaijan andIran have usually shared the same history.[2][1][3] Azerbaijan retained itsIranian character even after theArab conquest of Iran and the conversion of the area's inhabitants to Islam.[1] Some four centuries later,Oghuz Turkic tribes under theSeljuq dynasty entered the area, and Azerbaijan gained a large amount of Turkic inhabitants.[1] Over the centuries, as the original population mingled with the immigrant Turkic nomads, the number of native Persian speakers gradually diminished, and a Turkic dialect nowadays known asAzerbaijani (or Azerbaijani Turkic) gained hold.[1]
One of the regional dynasties, theShirvanshahs, after becoming a state under the roof of theTimurid Empire, helped the Timurids in the war against theGolden Horde State. After Timur's death, two Turkic independent and rival states emerged in the region, namelyQara Qoyunlu andAq Qoyunlu. The Shirvanshahs, on the other hand, became independent again in this process and strengthened their local governments.
In the ensuing period, in post-Iranian Russian-held EastCaucasia, anAzerbaijani national identity emerged at the end of the 19th century.[13] After more than 80 years of being part of the Russian Empire in theCaucasus, theAzerbaijan Democratic Republic was established in 1918. The name "Azerbaijan", adopted by the rulingMusavat Party for political reasons,[14][15] had been used to identify theadjacent region of northwestern Iran.[16][17][18] Azerbaijanwas invaded by Soviet forces in 1920, which led to the establishment of theAzerbaijan SSR. In the earlySoviet period, the Azerbaijani national identity was finally forged.[13] Azerbaijan remained under Soviet rule until the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, after which the independent Republic of Azerbaijan was proclaimed. Hostile relations with the neighboringArmenia and theNagorno-Karabakh conflict have been focal points within Azerbaijani politics since independence.
Azerbaijani prehistory includes Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages with the Stone Age divided intoPaleolithic,Mesolithic, andNeolithic eras and theChalcolithic era being a transitional period from the Stone Age to the Bronze and Iron Ages.[19][20]
ThePaleolithic era is divided into three periods: lower, middle, and upper. The era began with the first human habitation in the region and lasted until the 12th millennium BCE.[20] TheAzykh Cave inKhojavend District is the site of one of Eurasia's oldestarchaic-human habitations. Remnants of pre-Acheulean culture at least 700,000 years old were found in the lowest layers of the cave. In 1968,Mammadali Huseynov discovered a 300,000-year-old partial jawbone from an early human in the Acheulean-age cave layer; it is one of the oldest human remains ever discovered in the territory of the former Soviet Union.[a] Azerbaijan'sLower Paleolithic is known for theGuruchay culture, which has features similar to the culture of Tanzania'sOlduvai Gorge.[23]
TheMesolithic era from approximately 12,000 to 8,000 BCE, is represented by caves in Gobustan National Park (nearBaku) and Damjili (inQazax District).[19] Rock carvings in Gobustan depict scenes of hunting, fishing, work and dancing.[24][25] The newly excavated settlement ofOsmantəpə in theNakhchivan Autonomous Republic seems to cast light on the intermediate stage between the Mesolithic and Neolithic era.[26]
Petroglyphs dating from 8,000 to 5,000 years ago depict long boats (similar toViking ships), indicating a connection with Continental Europe and the Mediterranean Sea.[24]
TheChalcolithic era[c] lasted from the sixth to the fourth millennium BCE, was the period of transition from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age. TheCaucasus Mountains are rich in copper ore, facilitating the development of coppersmelting in Azerbaijan. A number of Chalcolithic settlements inShomu-tepe, Toyratepe, Jinnitepe,Kültepe,Alikomektepe and IIanlitepe have been discovered, and carbon-dated artifacts indicate that inhabitants built homes, made copper tools and arrowheads, and were familiar with non-irrigated agriculture.[32][failed verification]
TheBronze Age in Azerbaijan began in approximately the second half of the fourth millennium BCE and theIron Age began in approximately the seven and sixth centuries BCE. The Bronze Age is divided into early, middle and late eras and have been studied in Nakhchivan,Ganja,Mingachevir andDashkasan District.[d] The early Bronze Age is characterized by theKura–Araxes culture, and the middle Bronze Age by painted earthenware or pottery culture. The late Bronze Age is demonstrated inNakhchivan and by theKhojali–Gadabay andTalish–Mughan cultures.[33][34][35]
Research in 1890 byJacques de Morgan in the mountains of Talysh, nearLankaran, revealed over 230 late-Bronze and early-Iron Age burials. E. Rösler discovered late-Bronze Age materials inKarabakh and Ganja between 1894 and 1903. J. Hummel conducted research from 1930 to 1941 inGoygol District andKarabakh at sites known as Barrows I and II and other late-Bronze Age sites.[37][36][38] Archaeologist Walter Crist of theAmerican Museum of Natural History discovered a 4,000-year-old, Bronze Age version ofhounds and jackals in Gobustan National Park in 2018. The game, popular inEgypt,Mesopotamia andAnatolia at the time, was identified in the tomb of Egyptian pharaohAmenemhat IV.[e]
The Achaemenids were defeated byAlexander the Great in 330 BCE. After the 247 BCE fall of theSeleucid Empires in Persia, theKingdom of Armenia ruled portions of what is today Azerbaijan from 190 BCE to 428 CE.[44][45] TheArsacid dynasty of Armenia was a branch of theParthian Empire, and Caucasian Albania (present-day Azerbaijan andDagestan) was under Parthian rule for the next several centuries. The Caucasian Albanians established a kingdom in the 1st century BCE, primarily remaining a semi-independentvassal state until the Parthians were deposed in 252 and the kingdom became a province of theSasanian Empire.[46][47][48] Caucasian Albania's King Urnayr adoptedChristianity as the state religion during the fourth century, and Albania was a Christian state until the eighth century.[49][50] Although it was subordinate to Sasanid Persia, Caucasian Albania retained itsmonarchy.[51] Sasanid control ended with its 642 defeat by theRashidun Caliphate in theMuslim conquest of Persia.[citation needed]
The migration and settlement of Eurasian and Central Asian nomads has been a regional pattern in the history of the Caucasus from the Sassanid-Persian era to the 20th-century emergence of the Azerbaijani Turks. Among the Iranian nomads were theScythians,Alans andCimmerians, and theKhazars andHuns made incursions during theHunnic andKhazar eras.Derbent was fortified during the Sasanid era to block nomads from beyond theNorth Caucasus pass who did not establish permanent settlements.
After the overthrow of theMedian Empire, Azerbaijan was invaded by the Persian kingCyrus the Great in the 6th century BCE and integrated into theAchaemenid empire. This early Persian rule enabled the rise ofZoroastrianism and other Persian cultural influences. Many Caucasian Albanians came to be known as fire worshippers, a Zoroastrian practice.[52]
Caucasian Albania, Parthians, and Sasanian conquest
The Albanian kingdom coalesced around a Caucasian identity to forge a state in a region of empire-states. During the second or first century BCE the Armenians curtailed the southern Albanian territories and conquered Karabakh and Utik, inhabited by Albanian tribes who included theUtians, Gargarians andCaspians.[53][54] At this time, the border between Albania and Armenia was theKura.[55][56]
As the region became an arena of wars when theRoman andParthian Empires began to expand, most of Albania was briefly dominated by Roman legions underPompey; the south was controlled by the Parthians. A rock carving of what is believed to be the easternmost Roman inscription, byLegio XII Fulminata during the reign ofDomitian, survives just south-west of Baku inGobustan. Caucasian Albania then came fully under Parthian rule.
In 252–253, Caucasian Albania was conquered and annexed by the Sasanian Empire. A vassal state, it retained itsmonarchy; the Albanian king had no real power, however, and most civil, religious, and military authority was held by the Sasanidmarzban. After the Sasanid victory over Rome in 260, the victory and the annexation of Albania andAtropatene were described in a trilingual inscription byShapur I atNaqsh-e Rostam.[57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64]
Urnayr (343–371), related by marriage toShapur II (309–379), held power in Albania. With a somewhat-independent foreign policy, he allied with the Sasanian Shapur. According toAmmianus Marcellinus, the Albanians provided military forces (particularlycavalry) to Shapur's armies in their attacks against Rome. Thesiege of Amida (359) ended in a Sasanian victory, and some Albanian regions were returned. Marcellinus noted that the Albanian cavalry played a role in the siege similar to that of theXionites, and the Albanians were commended for their alliance with Shapur:[63][49][61]
Close by him [Šapur II] on the left went Grumbates, king of the Chionitae, a man of moderate strength, it is true, and with shriveled limbs, but of certain greatness of mind and distinguished by the glory of many victories. On the right was the king of the Albani, of equal rank, high in honour.[65]
After the 387 division of Armenia between Byzantium and Persia, the Albanian kings regained control of the provinces of Uti and Artsakh (south of the Kur) when the Sasanian kings rewarded them for their loyalty to Persia.[54][66]
Medieval Armenian historians such asMovses Khorenatsi andMovses Kaghankatvatsi wrote that the Albanians were converted to Christianity during the fourth century byGregory the Illuminator of Armenia.[67][68] Urnayr accepted Christianity, was baptised by Gregory, and declared Christianity his kingdom's official religion.
TheMihranids (630–705) arrived in Albania fromGardman during the early seventh century. Partav (nowBarda) was the dynasty's administrative centre. According to M. Kalankatli, the dynasty was founded by Mehran (570–590) andVaraz Grigor (628–642) assumed the title of "prince of Albania".[69][34]
Partav was Albania's capital city during the reign of Grigor's son,Javanshir (642–681), who demonstrated his allegiance early to Sasanian shahYazdegerd III (632–651). He led the Albanian army as itssparapet from 636 to 642. Despite the Arab victory in the 637 battle of Kadissia, Javanshir fought as an ally of the Sasanians. After the 651 fall of the Sasanian Empire to an Arabcaliphate, he shifted his allegiance to theByzantine Empire three years later.Constans II protected Javanshir, who defeated theKhazars near the Kura in 662. Three years later the Khazars successfully attacked Albania, which became its tributary in exchange for the return of captives and cattle. Javanshir established diplomatic relations with the caliphate to protect his country from invasion via theCaspian Sea, meeting withMuawiyah I inDamascus in 667 and 670, and Albania's taxes were reduced. Javanshir was assassinated in 681 by rival Byzantine nobles. After his death, the Khazars again attacked Albania; Arab troops entered in 705 and put Javanshir's last heir to death in Damascus, ending the Mihrani dynasty and beginning caliphate rule.[70][71][72][73]
Muslim Arabs defeated the Sasanian and Byzantine Empires as they marched into the Caucasus, making Caucasian Albania a vassal state after Javanshir's 667 surrender.[74][full citation needed] Between the ninth and 10th centuries, Arab authors began calling the region between the Kura and Aras "Arran".[75][full citation needed] Arabs fromBasra andKufa came to Azerbaijan, seizing abandoned lands.
At the beginning of the eighth century, Azerbaijan was the centre of the caliphate–Khazar–Byzantine wars. In 722–723, the Khazars attacked ArabTranscaucasian territory. An Arabian army led byAl-Jarrah ibn Abdallah drove the Khazars back across the Caucasus. Al-Jarrah fought his way north along the west Caspian coast, recoveringDerbent and advancing with his army to the Khazar capital ofBalanjar, captured the capital of the Khazar khanate and placed prisoners aroundGabala. Then al-Jarrah returned toSheki.[76][77][78]
During the ninth century, theAbbasid Caliphate dealt with uprisings against Arab rule. TheKhurramites, led byBabak Khorramdin, staged a persistent revolt. Babak's victories over Arab generals were associated with his seizure ofBabak Fort, according to Arab historians who said that his influence extended to Azerbaijan: "southward to nearArdabil andMarand, eastward to the Caspian Sea and theShamakhi district andShervan, northward to the Muqan (Moḡan) steppe and the Aras riverbank, westward to the districts of Jolfa, Nakjavan, and Marand".[79][80][81][82]
Shirvanshah, Shīrwān Shāh[86] or Sharwān Shāh,[86] was the title of the rulers ofShirvan: aPersianized dynasty[86] of Arab origin.[86] The Shirvanshahs maintained a high degree of autonomy as local rulers and vassals from 861 to 1539, a continuity which lasted longer than any other dynasty in the Islamic world.[62]
V.F.Minorsky in his book titled "A History of Sharvan and Darband in the 10th–11th Centuries" distinguishes four dynasties of Shirvanshahs; 1. TheShirvanshahs (the Sassanids designated them for the protection of northern frontier); 2.Mazyadids; 3.Kasranids; 4. Derbent Shirvanshahs or Derbent dynasty.[87][59]
At the end of the 10th – beginning of the 11th century they began wars with Derbent (this rivalry lasted for centuries), and in the 1030s they had to repel the raids of the Rus, andAlans.[88]
The last ruler of theMazyadid was Yazid ibn Ahmad, and from 1027 to 1382, theKasranid dynasty began to rule the Shirvanshahs. In 1032 and 1033, the Alans attacked the territory ofShamakhi, but were defeated by the troops of the Shirvanshahs. The Kasranid dynasty ruled the state independently until 1066 when theSeljuk tribes came to their territory, and Shirvanshah I Fariburz accepted dependence on them, preserving internal independence.[59][86][89]
Shirvan was reportedly independent during two periods: under the legendary sultanManuchehr andAkhsitan I (who built Baku),[citation needed] and under the 15th-centuryHouse of Derbent. Between the 13th and 14th centuries, the Shirvanshahs were vassals of the Mongol and Timurid empires.[89]
TheSajid dynasty was an Islamic dynasty that ruled from 879–880 until 941. The Sajids ruled Azerbaijan first fromMaragha andBarda and then fromArdabil.[82]
According to the Azerbaijani historianAbbasgulu aga Bakikhanov, from 908–909 to 919, the Sajids made theShirvanshahMazyadids dependent on them. Thus, at the beginning of the 10th century, the Sajid state included territories fromZanjan in the south toDerbent in the north, theCaspian Sea in the east, to the cities of Ani and Dabil in the west, covering most of the lands of modernAzerbaijan.[90]
After the death of Yusuf ibn Abu Saj, the last ruler of the Sajid dynasty Deysam ibn Ibrahim was defeated by the ruler of Daylam (Gilan)Marzban ibn Muhammad who ended the Sajid dynasty and founded theSallarid dynasty in 941 with its capital in Ardabil.[91][64]
The Sallarid dynasty was an Islamic dynasty that ruled the territories of Azerbaijan, as well as Iranian Azerbaijan from 941 until 979.[92][64]
In 943–944, the Russians organized a campaign to the Caspian region, which was many times more brutal than the 913/14 March. As a result of this campaign, which affected the economic situation in the region,Barda lost its position and essence as a large city and gave this position toGanja.[93][94][82]
TheSallaryid dynasty was forced to recognize the rule of theShaddadids, which strengthened in Ganja in 971. Then, they were assimilated by theSeljuk Turks at the end of the 11th century.[95][64]
TheShaddadids were a Muslim dynasty that ruled the area between the rivers Kura and Araxes from 951 to 1199 AD.[96]
Muhammad ibn Shaddad was considered the founder of the Shaddadid dynasty. Taking advantage of the weakening of Sallarids, Muhammad ibn Shaddad took control of the city of Dvin and established his state. The Shaddadids eventually extended their power over the territories of Azerbaijan and ruled major cities such as Barda and Ganja.[96]
Fadl ibn Muhammad built theKhodaafarin Bridges along the Aras River to reconnect the territories between the north and south banks of Aras. In 1030, he organized an expedition against the Khazar khaganate.[97]
In 1030, a new attack on Shirvanshahs by 38 Russian ships took place. Shirvanshah Manučehr was heavily defeated. At that time, Fadl I's son Askuya rebelled in Beylagan. Fadl I's loyal son Musa paid money to the Russians to save Beylagan. As a result, Askuya's revolt was suppressed, and he was executed.[96]
The history of what comprises the present-day Republic of Azerbaijan as part of theSeljuk Empire may have been more pivotal than the Arab conquest since it helped shape the identity of modern Azerbaijani Turks. At the beginning of the 11th century, the region was occupied by waves ofOghuz Turks fromCentral Asia. The first Turkic rulers were theGhaznavids from northernAfghanistan, who took over part of Azerbaijan[citation needed] by 1030. They were followed by the Seljuks, a western branch of the Oghuz Turks who conquered Iran and the Caucasus. The Seljuks pressed on toIraq, where they overthrew the Buyids inBaghdad in 1055.
The Seljuks then ruled an empire which included Iran and Azerbaijan until the end of the 12th century. During their rule, the sultanNizam ul-Mulk (a noted Persian scholar and administrator) helped to introduce a number of educational and bureaucratic reforms. With his death in 1092 began the decline of the Seljuk empire, which hastened after the death of the sultanAhmad Sanjar in 1153.
In 1075,Alp Arslan annexed the last of the Shaddadid territories. According to the anonymousTariḵ Bab al-Abwab, Alp Arslan appointed al-Bab and Arran asiqta to his slave Sav Tegin who seized these areas by force from Fażlun in 1075 and ended the dynasty's reign. A branch of the Shaddadids continued to rule in the Ani emirate as vassals of the Seljuq Empire, while the others were assimilated by the Seljuqs.[64][95][59][96]
Referring to the work ofMinorsky, Azerbaijani historianSara Ashurbeyli states that in 1066–67, during the reign of Shah Fariborz b. Sallār (1063–1096), ruler ofShirvanshahs, Seljuk Turks headed by commander Qarategin made great marches toShamakhi andBaku, and then Shah I Fariburz accepted to be dependent on the Seljuks by paying 40,000 dinars a year.[59]
The absence of the sultan's name on the coins minted during the reign of his son Akhsitan I indicates that the Seljuk state was already weakened and the Shirvanshahs were independent.[101][35]
Seljuk possessions were ruled byatabegs, vassals of the Seljuk sultans who were sometimesde facto rulers themselves. The title of atabeg became common during Seljuk rule in the 12th century. From the end of the 12th to the early 13th century, Azerbaijan became a Turkic cultural centre. Palaces of the atabegEldiguz and theShirvanshahs hosted distinguished guests, many of whom were Muslim artisans and scientists.
The Atabeks of Azerbaijan's power base was centered aroundNakhchivan and would focus onGeorgia. It expanded to Arran and took control of fromBaylagan toShamkir. He made himself virtually independent ruler of Azerbaijan by 1146. His marriage to the Mumine Khatun enabled him to intervene in the dynasty dispute between the Seljuk sultans of Iraq, which began after Masud's death in 1152.[102][103][104]
After Muhammad Jahan Pahlavan's death, his brotherQizil Arslan (1186–1191) ascended the throne. He continued his successful struggle against theSeljuq rulers. At the same time, the central power began to get weaker as mamluks, who had strengthened their dominance in their areas, did not want to obey the Sultan. EvenShirvanshahAkhsitan I who used to be Atabegs' attempted to intervene in the interior affairs of the Eldiguzids and opposedQizil Arslans aspiration to the throne. In the response to this, Qizil Arslan invaded Shirvan in 1191, reached to Derbent and subordinated the whole Shirvan to his authority. In 1191,Toghrul III, the last Seljuq ruler was overthrown by Qizil Arslan. Then, byKhalif's leave, he proclaimed himself a Sultan, and then he was poisoned by Innach Khatun in September 1191.[103]
The Eldiguzid atabegAbu Bakr attempted to stem the Georgian advance, but suffered a defeat at the hands of David Soslan at theBattle of Shamkor and lost his capital to a Georgianprotégé in 1195. Although Abu Bakr was able to resume his reign a year later, the Eldiguzids were only barely able to contain further Georgian forays. The State's defense capability was stricken. Khorezmshahs' and Georgians' non-stopping forays aggravated the situation in the country and speeded up its decay.[105][82]
Under the Seljuks, progress was made in poetry by the Persian poetsNizami Ganjavi (1141–1209),Mahsati Ganjavi (1089–1159) andKhaqani (1120–1199), who lived in this region, and mark the zenith of medieval Persian literature.[108][109][110][111][112] The region experienced a building boom, and the unique Seljuk architecture is exemplified by the 12th-century fortress walls, mosques, schools, mausoleums, and bridges of Baku, Ganja, and theAbsheron Peninsula.
TheMongol invasions and conquests of Azerbaijan took place during the 13th and 14th centuries and involved large-scale raids. The Mongol invasion of the Middle East and the Caucasus impacted Azerbaijan and most of its neighbors. Invasions resulted in the incorporation of the territories of Azerbaijan into the newly establishedHulagu state with the capital of Maragha in 1256 and lasted until 1357.[99][116][117][118][119]
The Mongol forces approached Tabriz and got a ransom from the city in 1221. After destroying the city ofMaragha, they attacked Diyarbakir and Ardabil and then again returned to Azerbaijan. Thus, the Mongols marched to the north, plundering Shirvanen route. In addition, Beylagan was plundered in the spring of 1221. This took them through the Caucasus into Alania and the South Russian steppes where the Mongols routed the Rus'-Kipchak armies at theBattle of the Kalka River (1223).[122][123]
The second invasion of the Mongolians to Azerbaijan is connected with the name of Chormagan Noyon- a military commander ofGenghis Khan in the 1230s. This march was organized by the order of the great Khan Ögedei againstJalal al-Din Mangburni, who was ruling these areas after putting an end to Atabek's power in Azerbaijanin 1225. Ögedei Khan sent 30,000 men under the command of Chormagan and the Khwarazmians were swept away by the new Mongol army. In 1231, theMongols occupied most of Azerbaijan[124] Four years later, they destroyed cities of Ganja,Shamkir,Tovuz, andŞabran on their way toKievan Rus'.[125] By 1236, Transcaucasia was in the hands ofÖgedei Khan.[126][105]
The third invasion of territories of Azerbaijan by Mongolians is associated with the name ofHulagu khan. After his brother Möngke's accession as Great Khan in 1251. The state established in the areas of modernIran,Azerbaijan,Turkey, and parts of modernIraq,Syria,Armenia,Georgia,Afghanistan,Turkmenistan,Pakistan, was an attempt to repair of the damage of the previous Mongol invasions.[119]
After the death of Abu Sa'id, theChobanids dynasty ruled over Azerbaijan, Arrān, and parts of Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, and west central Persia from 1335 to 1357, until the death ofMalek Ashraf.[128][129][130][131]
Timur (Tamurlane) invaded Azerbaijan during the 1380s, temporarily incorporating it into his Eurasian domain.[136] Shirvan, underIbrahim I of Shirvan, was also a vassal state of Timur and assisted him in his war with the Mongol rulerTokhtamysh of theGolden Horde.[137] Azerbaijan experienced social unrest and religious strife during this period due to sectarian conflict initiated byHurufism, theBektashi Order, and other movements.
After Timur's death in 1405,Shah Rukh (his fourth son) reigned until his death in 1447. Two rival Turkic rulers emerged west of his domain: theQara Qoyunlu (based aroundLake Van)[138] and theAq Qoyunlu, centred aroundDiyarbakır.[139] The Kara Koyunlu were ascendant when their chief,Qara Yusuf, overcameSultan Ahmed Mirza (the last of theJalayirids), conquered lands south of Azerbaijan in 1410, and established his capital atTabriz.[140] UnderJahan Shah, they expanded into central Iran and as far east asGreater Khorasan. The Aq Qoyunlu became prominent underUzun Hasan, overcoming Jahan Shah and the Qara Qoyunlu.[141]Uzun Hasan ruled Iran, Azerbaijan, and Iraq until his death in 1478. The Aq Qoyunlu and Qara Qoyunlu continued theTimurid tradition of literary and artistic patronage, illustrated by Tabriz'Persian miniature paintings.
Shah Abbas I of Safavid at a banquet. Detail from a ceiling fresco, Chehel Sotoun palace, Isfahan.
TheSafavid order was aSufi religious order based in Iran and formed during the 1330s bySafi-ad-din Ardabili (1252–1334), for whom it was named. The order converted toTwelver Shia Islam by the end of the 15th century. Some Safavid followers (notably theQizilbash) believed in the mystical and esoteric nature of their rulers and their relationship to the house ofAli, and were willing to fight for them. The Safavid rulers claimed to be descended from Ali and his wife,Fatimah (the daughter ofMuhammad), through the seventhImamMusa al-Kadhim. Qizilbash numbers increased by the 16th century; their generals waged a successful war against theAq Qoyunlu, and captured Tabriz.
The Safavids, led byIsmail I, expanded their base inArdabil; they conquered the Caucasus, parts ofAnatolia,Mesopotamia, Central Asia, and western portions ofSouth Asia. Ismail sacked Baku in 1501 and persecuted the Sunni Shirvanshahs. Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Dagestan were conquered by the Safavids between 1500 and 1502.[142]
Ismail I's empire
During the reign of Ismail I and his son,Tahmasp I, Shia Islam was imposed upon the Sunni population of Iran and Azerbaijan. The conversion was especially harsh in Shirvan, where many Sunnis were massacred.[citation needed] Safavid Iran became a feudal theocracy during this period, and the shah was held to be the divinely-ordained head of the state and its religion. The Qizilbashi chiefs were designatedwakils (provincial administrators), and the position ofulama was created. Wars with the rival SunniOttoman Empire continued during the reign of Tahmasp I, and the Safavid cities ofShamakha, Ganja, and Baku were occupied by the Ottomans during the 1580s.
UnderAbbas the Great (1587–1630), the monarchy assumed a Persian Shiite identity. Abbas' reign was the Safavid zenith, and he repelled the Ottomans and re-captured the Caucasus (including Azerbaijan) between 1603 and 1607. Aware of Qizilbash power, Abbas continued the policy of integrating the Caucasus into Persian society and deported hundreds of thousands ofCircassians,Georgians andArmenians to Iran. They served in the army, the royal house and in civil administration, effectively killing the feudal Qizilbash; the converted Caucasians (known asghulams) were loyal to the shah, not their tribal chiefs. TheirArmenian,Georgian, andCircassian descendants still live in Iran. The religious impact of Safavid Iran was significant in Azerbaijan due to its early-16th century conversion to Shia Islam,[143] and the country has the world's second-largest population of Shiites (by percentage, after Iran).[144]
18th- and early 19th-century khanates and cession to Russia
After the collapse of Safavid Iran,Nader Shah (an Iranian military man ofTurkoman origin) came to power. He seized Iran, banished the Afghans in 1729, and marched as east asDelhi in the hope of founding another Persian empire. Not fortifying his Persian base, however, exhausted Nader's army. He controlled ShahTahmasp II and was regent of the infantAbbas III until 1736 when he had himself crowned as shah on theMugan plain. Nader quickly established a new Iranian empire, amassing territory unknown since the Sasanians. He conquered the Caucasus, Mesopotamia, portions of Anatolia, large parts of Central Asia, and defeated theMughals in theBattle of Karnal. Nadersacked Delhi, the Mughal capital, and brought much wealth back to Persia. Although his empire was short-lived, he is considered Asia's last great conqueror.
Transcaucasia in the early 19th century
Nader Shah'sAfsharid dynasty disintegrated after his assassination in 1747, and several Turkickhanates with varying degrees of autonomy emerged in the region.[146][147][148][149][150] The eunuchAgha Mohammad Khan Qajar turned to the restoration of the outlying Safavid and Afsharid provinces. Returning to Tehran in the spring of 1795, he assembled a force of about 60,000 cavalry and infantry and set off for Azerbaijan in May. He intended to reconquer all territory lost to the Ottomans and Russians, including the region between the Aras and Kura formerly under Iranian Safavid and Afsharid control. The region contained a number of khanates, of which the most important wasKarabakh (with its capital atShusha);Ganja;Shirvan, across the Kura, with its capital atShamakhi; and Christian Gurjistan (Georgia), on both banks of the Kura in the north-west with its capital atTiflis.[151][152][153] All were under nominal Persian suzerainty.[152][154][155][156] The khanates warred constantly among themselves and against external threats. The most powerful northern khan was Fat'h Ali Khan of Quba (died 1783), who united most of the neighbouring khanates and mounted an expedition to seize Tabriz from theZand dynasty. The Karabakh Khanate subdued neighbouringNakhchivan and portions ofErivan.
Agha Mohammad Khan was victorious in the civil war which began with the death of the last Zand king. His reign is noted for the re-emergence of a united Iran. After the death of Nader Shah and the last of the Zands, most of Iran's Caucasian territories had broken away and formed khanates. Agha Mohammad Khan (like the Safavid kings and Nader Shah before him) viewed the region as no different from Iran, and his first objective after securing Iran was to reincorporate the Caucasus into it.[157]Georgia was seen as an integral territory.[158] For Agha Mohammad Khan, the subjugation and reintegration of Georgia into the Iranian empire was part of the process which broughtShiraz,Isfahan, and Tabriz under his rule.[158] According toThe Cambridge History of Iran, Georgia's secession was inconceivable; it had to be resisted like an attempt at separatingFars orGilan province.[158] Agha Mohammad Khan did whatever was necessary to subdue and reincorporate the recently lost regions after Nader Shah's death and the fall of the Zands, including suppressing what was seen as treason by thewali of Georgia: KingHeraclius II, who was appointed viceroy of Georgia by Nader Shah.[158]
Agha Mohammad Khan demanded that Heraclius II renounce theTreaty of Georgievsk, which had been signed several years earlier, denouncing dependence on Persia and agreeing to Russian protection and assistance in its affairs. He demanded that Heraclius II again accept Persian suzerainty[157] in return for peace and security. The Ottomans, Iran's neighbouring rival, recognized Iranian rights toKartli andKakheti for the first time in four centuries.[159] Heraclius appealed to EmpressCatherine II of Russia for at least 3,000 Russian troops;[159] although he received no response (leaving Georgia to fend off Persia alone),[160] he rejected Agha Mohammad Khan's ultimatum.[161] Agha Mohammad Khan invaded the Caucasus, crossing the Aras and recapturing Shirvan, the Erivan, Nakhchivan,Derbent,Talysh,Shaki and Karabakh Khanates, andIgdir. TheBattle of Krtsanisi resulted in the sack of Tiflis and the reintegration of Georgia into Iran.[162][163] When he returned with 15,000 to 20,000Georgian captives,[160][164] Agha Mohammad was crownedshah in 1796 on the Mughan plain, as Nader Shah had been sixty years earlier.
He was assassinated while preparing a second expedition against Georgia in 1797 inShusha,[165] and Heraclius II died early the following year. Iranian rule of Georgia was short-lived; in 1799, the Russians marched into Tbilisi.[166] Russia had pursued a policy of expansion with its southern neighbours (the Ottoman Empire and Iran) since the late 17th and early 18th centuries. The two years following Russia's entrance into Tbilisi were a time of confusion, and Georgia wasabsorbed by Russia in 1801.[160][161] Iran would not allow the cession of Transcaucasia and Dagestan,[167] leading to theRusso-Persian War of 1804-1813 and the1826-1828. Eastern Georgia, Dagestan, Armenia, and Azerbaijan were ceded to Russia in the 1813Treaty of Gulistan and the 1828Treaty of Turkmenchay.[165][162] Although the 1804–1813 Russo-Persian War disrupted trade and agriculture in the Caucasus, the 1826–1828 war was primarily fought in Iran.[168] As a result of the wars, long-standing ties between Iran and the region were severed during the 19th century.[169]
The brief and successful Russian campaign of 1812 was concluded with the Treaty of Gulistan, which was signed on October 12 of the following year. The treaty provided for the incorporation into the Russian Empire of vast tracts of Iranian territory, including Daghestan, Georgia with the Sheragel province, Imeretia, Guria, Mingrelia, and Abkhazia (latter four regions were vassals of Ottomans), as well as the khanates of Karabagh, Ganja, Sheki, Shirvan, Derbent, Kuba, Baku, and Talysh.[169]
In 1812 Russia ended a war with Turkey and went on the offensive against Iran. This led to the treaty of Gulistan in 1813, which gave Russia control over large territories that hitherto had been at least nominally Iranian, and moreover a say in Iranian succession politics. The whole of Daghestan and Georgia, including Mingrelia and Abkhazia, were formally ceded to Russia, as well as eight Khanates in modern-day Azerbaijan (Karabakh, Ganja, Sheki, Kuba, Shirvan, Talysh, Baku, and Derbent). However, as we have seen the Persians soon challenged Russia's rule in the area, resulting in a military disaster. Iran lost control over the whole of Azerbaijan, and with the Turkemenchai settlement of 1828 Russia threatened to establish its control over Azerbaijan unless Iran paid a war indemnity. The British helped the Iranians with the matter, but the fact remained that Russian troops had marched as far as south of Tabriz. Although certain areas (including Tabriz) were returned to Iran, Russia was in fact at the peak of its territorial expansion.[153]
According toThe Cambridge History of Iran,
Even when rulers on the plateau lacked the means to effect suzerainty beyond the Aras, the neighbouring Khanates were still regarded as Iranian dependencies. Naturally, it was those Khanates located closest to the province of Āzarbāījān which most frequently experienced attempts to re-impose Iranian suzerainty: the Khanates of Erivan, Nakhchivān and Qarābāgh across the Aras, and the cis-Aras Khanate of Ṭālish, with its administrative headquarters located at Lankarān and therefore very vulnerable to pressure, either from the direction of Tabrīz or Rasht. Beyond the Khanate of Qarābāgh, the Khān of Ganja and the Vāli of Gurjistān (ruler of the Kartli-Kakheti kingdom of south-east Georgia), although less accessible for purposes of coercion, were also regarded as the Shah's vassals, as were the Khāns of Shakki and Shīrvān, north of the Kura river. The contacts between Iran and the Khanates of Bākū and Qubba, however, were more tenuous and consisted mainly of maritime commercial links with Anzalī and Rasht.The effectiveness of these somewhat haphazard assertions of suzerainty depended on the ability of a particular Shah to make his will felt, and the determination of the local khans to evade obligations they regarded as onerous.[170]
According to Audrey L. Altstadt, Russia had been moving militarily towards the Caucasus since 1790. After its defeat by Russia, Qajar Iran ceded Dagestan, Georgia, and most of Azerbaijan to Russia. Local khanates were abolished (Baku and Ganja) or accepted Russian patronage.[171]
The 1826–1828 Russo-Persian war resulted in another defeat for Iran. The Qajars ceded their remaining Caucasian territories: the remainder of Azerbaijan (the Nakhchivan andTalysh Khanates) and Armenia's Erivan Khanate. Tariffs were lowered on Russian goods, and Russia could keep a navy in the Caspian Sea. The Treaty of Turkmenchay defined Russian-Iranian relations until 1917,[171] establishing the present borders of Azerbaijan and Iran as khan rule ended. In the newly-Russian-controlled territories, two provinces were established which became most of present-day Azerbaijan: Elisavetpol (Ganja) in the west andShamakhi District in the east.[6][7][8][9][10][11] Azerbaijanis are now divided between Azerbaijan and Iran.[172] The Russian conquest sparkedan exodus of Caucasian Muslims toward Iran, including many Turkic peoples from north of the Aras.
Despite the Russian conquest, throughout the entire 19th century, preoccupation withIranian culture,literature, and language remained widespread amongst Shia and Sunni intellectuals in the Russian-held cities of Baku, Ganja and Tiflis (Tbilisi, now Georgia).[173] Within the same century, in post-Iranian Russian-held EastCaucasia, an Azerbaijani national identity emerged at the end of the 19th century.[13]
From the Russian conquests to the 1840s, Azerbaijan was governed by the Tsar's military. Russia reorganized the region's khanates into provinces, each governed by an army officer with a combination of local and Russian law. Due to the officers' unfamiliarity with local customs, however, Russian imperial law was increasingly applied; this led to local discontent.[174] Russian administration was unequal to non-Christian Azerbaijanis; religious authorities were kept under control, disturbing non-Christians. Russia made concerted efforts to control the application of Islamic law, and two ecclesiastical boards were created to oversee Islamic activity; it appointed amufti for the Sunni board and ashaykh al-Islām for its Shia counterpart. In 1857 Georgian and Armenian religious authorities were permitted to censor their respective communities, but Muslim religious works were approved by a censorship board in Odessa. Azerbaijani Turks were subject to Russian proselytizing.[174]
During the late 1830s, plans were made to replace the military rule with a civil administration. When the new legal system became effective in January 1841, Transcaucasia was divided into a Georgian-Imeretian province and a Caspianoblast centered in Shamakhi. New administrative borders ignored historic borders or ethnic composition. By the end of military rule in Azerbaijan, Russian imperial law applied to all criminal and most civil matters; the jurisdiction of traditional religious courts andQadis was reduced to family law. After an 1859 earthquake, the capital of the eastern province was transferred from Shamakhi to Baku.[171]
Baku was integrated into the Russian Empire in accordance with the 1813 Treaty of Gulistan, and Azerbaijan experienced significant economic development during the second half of the 19th century.[175] The separate currencies of the former khanates were replaced by theruble, and their tariffs were abolished; these reforms encouraged further investment in the region. Russia began investing in joint-stock companies, and by the 1840s steamships began sailing on the Caspian. Trade in the port of Baku increased from an average of 400,000 rubles during the 1830s to 500,000 in the 1840s and 700,000 to 900,000 rubles after theCrimean War.[176]
Although oil had been discovered and exported from the region centuries before, the 1870s Azerbaijani oil rush led to prosperity and growth in the years leading to World War I and created huge disparities in wealth between the largely-European capitalists and the local Muslim workforce.[171] During the 1870s, Baku experienced rapid industrial growth due to the oil boom. Azerbaijan's first oil refinery was established near Baku in 1859, and the region's first kerosene plant was built in 1863. Oil wells built during the 1870s sparked the boom, and oilfields were auctioned. This system secured investors' holdings, encouraging further investment. Most of the investors were elite Russians and Armenians; of 51 oilfields sold at the first auction, five were bought by Azerbaijani Turks. Two of Baku's 54 notable 1888 oil-extraction firms were owned by Azerbaijanis, who participated in greater numbers in small-scale extraction and refining operations; 73 of 162 oil refineries were Azerbaijani-owned, but all except seven of them employed fewer than 15 people.[177] In the decades after the oil rush (and its foreign investment), other industries grew in Azerbaijan. The banking system was one of the first to react to the oil industry. In 1880, an offshoot of the state bank opened in Baku. In its first year of operation, it issued 438,000 rubles; in 1899, all Baku banks had issued 11.4 million rubles in interest-bearing securities. Transportation and shipping also developed as a result of the expanding oil market, and the number of vessels on the Caspian quadrupled between 1887 and 1899. TheTranscaucasus Railway, completed in 1884, connected Baku (on the Caspian Sea) toBatum on theBlack Sea via Ganja (Elizavetpol) and Tiflis.[178] In addition to transporting oil, the railroad develop new relationships between rural agricultural regions and industrial areas.[178] The region was further interconnected with new communications infrastructure; telegraph lines connected Baku to Tiflis via Elizavetpol in the 1860s, and a telephone system operated in Baku during the 1880s.[178]
Modernisation—compared to the neighboringArmenians andGeorgians—was slow to develop amongst the Tatars of the Russian Caucasus. According to the 1897Russian Empire census, less than five percent of the Tatars were able to read or write. The intellectual and newspaper editorAli bey Huseynzade (1864–1940) led a campaign to 'Turkify, Islamise, modernise' the Caucasian Tatars, whereasMammed Said Ordubadi (1872–1950), another journalist and activist, criticized superstition amongst Muslims.[179]
The oil rush was spurred by Armenian magnateIvan Mirzoev and his drilling practices. Oilfields were auctioned primarily to Russians, Armenians, and Europeans, most notablyRobert Nobel ofBranobel.[171] By 1900, Baku's population increased from 10,000 to about 250,000 as a result of worker migration from the Russian Empire, Iran, and elsewhere. The growth of Baku fostered the emergence of an Azeri nationalist intelligentsia influenced by European and Ottoman ideas. Influential thinkers such asHasan bey Zardabi,Mirza Fatali Akhundov and (later)Jalil Mammadguluzadeh,Mirza Alakbar Sabir,Nariman Narimanov encouraged nationalist discourse, railed against poverty, ignorance, and extremism, and sought reforms in education and the emancipation of dispossessed classes (including women). The financial support of philanthropic millionaires such asHaji Zeynalabdin Taghiyev bolstered the rise of an Azeri middle class.
The situation improved between 1906 and 1914 when a limited parliamentary system was introduced in Russia and Muslim MPs from Azerbaijan promoted Azeri interests. The pan-Turkist and pan-IslamistMusavat Party,[180][181][182][183][184][185] inspired byMammed Amin Rasulzade's left-wing modernist ideology, was formed in 1911. Clandestine at first, the party expanded rapidly in 1917 after Russia'sOctober Revolution. Key components of Musavat ideology were secularism,nationalism and federalism, or autonomy within a broader political structure. The party's right and left wings differed on certain issues, however, most notably land distribution.
When Russia became involved in World War I, social and economic tensions spiked. Its 1917 revolution granted self-rule to Azerbaijan, but also renewed ethnic conflicts between Azeris and Armenians.
It was the Islamic world's first democratic republic. In Baku, however, a coalition ofBolsheviks,Dashnaks andMensheviks fought against a Turkish Islamic army led byNuri Pasha. The coalition, known as theBaku Commune, inspired (or tacitly condoned) themassacre of local Muslims by Dashnak-Armenian forces. It collapsed, and was replaced by the British-controlledCentrocaspian Dictatorship in July 1918. After battles in August and September, the joint forces of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and Ottoman Empire (led by Nuri Pasha) entered Baku and declared it the Azerbaijani capital on 15 September 1918.[186]
Azerbaijan was proclaimed a secular republic, and its first parliament met on 5 December 1918. Although the British administration initially did not recognize the republic, it cooperated with it. The situation in Azerbaijan had more or less stabilized by mid-1919, and British forces left in August of that year. However, advancing Bolshevik forces, victorious in theRussian Civil War, began to threaten the republic (involved in a conflict with Armenia over Karabakh) by early 1920.
Azerbaijan was recognised by the Allies as an independent nation in January 1920 at theParis Peace Conference. The republic was governed by five cabinets, formed by a coalition of the Musavat, the Socialist Bloc, the Independents, the Liberals, theHummet and theIttihad parties. The premier of the first three cabinets wasFatali Khan Khoyski, andNasib Yusifbeyli was premier of the last two. Parliamentary presidentAlimardan Topchubashov, the recognized head of state, represented Azerbaijan at the peace conference.
Aided by dissidents in government, theRed Army invaded Azerbaijan on 28 April 1920. Most of the newly formedAzerbaijani army was engaged in putting down an Armenian revolt which had broken out in Karabakh. The Azerbaijanis did not surrender their brief independence easily; as many as 20,000 died resisting what was essentially a Russian reconquest.[187] The formation of theAzerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic was facilitated by popular support of Bolshevik ideology, particularly by workers in Baku.[188] On the day of the invasion, a Soviet government was formed underNariman Narimanov. The same fate befell Armenia by the end of 1920, and Georgia in March 1921.
After the government surrendered to Bolshevik forces, Azerbaijan was proclaimed aSoviet socialist republic on 28 April 1920.[189] TheCongress of the Peoples of the East was held in Baku in September of that year. It was incorporated into theTranscaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, with Armenia and Georgia, in March 1922. In accordance with a December 1922 agreement, the TSFSR became one of the Soviet Union's four original republics. The TSFSR was dissolved in 1936, and its three regions became republics of the USSR.[190] In the early Soviet period, the Azerbaijani national identity was finally forged.[13]
Like other Union Republics, Azerbaijan was affected by Stalin'spurges during the 1930s. Thousands of people were killed during the period, includingHuseyn Javid,Mikail Mushfig,Ruhulla Akhundov, andAyna Sultanova. The Azerbaijan SSR supplied much of the Soviet Union'sgas and oil during World War II, and was a strategically important region.[191] Although the June 1941 German invasion of the Soviet Union reached theGreater Caucasus in July 1942, the Germans did not invade Azerbaijan.[192] The 1950s were a period of rapid urbanization and industrialization, and asblizheniye (rapprochement) policy began to merge the peoples of the Soviet Union into a monolithic nation.[193]
Azerbaijan's oil industry lost its relative importance to the Soviet economy during the 1960s because of a shift in oil production to other regions of the Soviet Union and the depletion of known terrestrial oil resources; offshore production was not considered cost-effective. Azerbaijan had the second-lowest rate of growth in productivity and economic output of the Soviet republics, ahead ofTajikistan. Although ethnic tensions (particularly between Armenians and Azerbaijanis) began to grow, violence was suppressed.
In an attempt to end thestructural crisis, the government in Moscow appointedHeydar Aliyev as the first secretary of theCommunist Party of Azerbaijan in 1969. Aliyev temporarily improved economic conditions and promoted alternative industries, such as cotton, to supplement the declining oil industry.[194] He consolidated the republic's ruling elite (which now consisted almost entirely of ethnic Azerbaijanis), reversing the previous rapprochement.[195][196] Aliyev was appointed a member of the Communist Party's Politburo in Moscow, the highest position attained by an Azeri in the Soviet Union, in 1982. In 1987, whenMikhail Gorbachev'sperestroika began, he retired.[197]
The Gorbachev era was marked by increasing unrest in the Caucasus, initially overNagorno-Karabakh. Ethnic conflict, centering on Armenian demands for the unification of Azerbaijan'sNagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast with Armenia by March 1988, began in February of that year amidpogroms against the Armenian populations of Baku andSumgait. Although Moscow imposed military rule several times, unrest continued to spread.[198]
The ethnic strife revealed the Communist Party's shortcomings as a champion of national interests, and independent publications and political organizations emerged in the spirit ofglasnost.
Priority over Soviet Union laws and negotiations on a new Treaty
By fall 1989, thePopular Front of Azerbaijan (PFA) seemed poised to seize power from the Communist Party before the party split into conservative-Islamic and moderate wings. The split was followed by an outbreak of anti-Armenian violence in Baku and intervention by Soviet troops.[199]
Azerbaijan declared independence from the USSR on 30 August 1991[200] and became part of theCommonwealth of Independent States. TheFirst Nagorno-Karabakh War began by the end of the year, resulting in the creation of the self-declared separatistRepublic of Artsakh, which persisted until 2023. The refusal by both sides to negotiate resulted in a stalemate, as Armenian troops retained their positions in Karabakh and corridors to Armenia which were seized from Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan SSR presidentAyaz Mutallibov and Georgian presidentZviad Gamsakhurdia were the only Soviet leaders to support the1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, and Mütallibov proposed constitutional changes to permit direct nationwide presidential elections.The1991 Azerbaijani presidential election, in which Mutalibov was the only candidate, was held on 8 September 1991. Although the election was neither free nor fair by international standards, Mutalibov became the country's formal president.[201] The proposed 18 October 1991declaration of independence by Azerbaijan'sSupreme Soviet was followed by the dissolution of its Communist Party, although its former members (including Mutallibov) retained their posts. In a nationwideDecember 1991 referendum, Azerbaijani voters approved the Supreme Soviet's declaration of independence.[202] The country was first recognized byTurkey,Israel,Romania andPakistan, and the United States followed suit on 25 December.
TheNagorno-Karabakh conflict continued, despite efforts to negotiate a settlement. Early in 1992, Karabakh's Armenian leadership proclaimed an independent republic. Armenia gained the upper hand in what was now a full-scale war, with covert assistance from theRussian Army.[203][204] Atrocities were committed by both sides; the 25 February 1992Khojaly massacre of Azerbaijani civilians[205] was criticized for the government's inaction, and Azerbaijani troops killed and captured Armenian civilians in theMaraga massacre. Mütallibov, pressured by theAzerbaijani Popular Front Party, submitted his resignation to theNational Council on 6 March. His failure to build an adequate army he could control caused the downfall of his government.Shusha, the last Azerbaijani-inhabited town in Nagorno-Karabakh, came under Armenian control on 6 May. Eight days later, the Supreme Council investigated the Khojaly massacre, absolved Mutallibov of responsibility, overturned his resignation and restored him as president.[206] The following day (15 May), armed Azerbaijan Popular Front forces seized the National Council and the state-ownedradio andtelevision stations and deposed Mutallibov, who fled to Moscow. The National Council was dissolved, and the National Assembly (composed of Azerbaijan Popular Front members and former communists) was formed. Two days later (as Armenian forces took Lachin),[207]Isa Gambar was elected National Assembly chair and assumed the duties of the president until national elections scheduled for 17 June 1992.
The former communists failed to present a viable candidate for the1992 Azerbaijani presidential election and PFA leader, former dissident and political prisonerAbulfaz Elchibey was elected president with over 60 percent of the vote.[208] Elchibey's program included opposition to Azerbaijan's membership in theCommonwealth of Independent States, closer relations with Turkey,[209] and a desire for improved links with the Iranian Azerbaijanis.[210]
Heydar Aliyev, who had been prevented from running for president by an age limit of 65, was doing well inNakhchivan but had to contend with an Armenian blockade of theexclave.[198] Azerbaijan halted rail traffic into and out of Armenia, cutting most of its land links with the outside world.[206] The negative economic effects of the Nagorno-Karabakh war on both countries illustrated Transcaucasian interdependence.
Within a year of his election, Elchibey faced the same situation which had led to Mutallibov's downfall. The fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh turned in favour of Armenia, which seized about one-fifth of Azerbaijan's territory[211] and created over one millioninternally displaced persons. A military rebellion led bySurat Huseynov broke out in early June 1993 in Ganja. The PFA leadership found itself without political support as a result of the war's setbacks, a deteriorating economy, and opposition from groups led by Aliyev. In Baku, he seized power and quickly consolidated his position, and anAugust vote-of-confidence referendum removed Elchibey from the presidency.[212]
As a result of limited reforms and the signing of the October 1994 contract for theAzeri–Chirag–Gunashli offshore oilfield complex, which led to increased oil exports to Western markets, the economy began improving. However, extreme levels of corruption and nepotism in Aliyev's government prevented Azerbaijan from more sustained development, however, especially in non-oil sectors.
In October 1998, Aliyev wasre-elected to a second term. Although his weakened opposition accused him of voter fraud, there was no widespread international condemnation of the election. Aliyev's second term was characterized by limited reforms, increasing oil production and the dominance ofBP as Azerbaijan's main foreign oil company. TheShah Deniz gas field is part of the European Commission'sSouthern Gas Corridor, and a gas export agreement was signed with Turkey. Work on theBaku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline and theSouth Caucasus gas pipeline began in 2003; the oil pipeline was completed in 2005, and the gas pipeline in 2006. Azerbaijan was a party to the abortedNabucco pipeline.
Aliyev's health began to fail. He collapsed during a televised April 2003 speech, and made his sonIlham the unopposed presidential candidate in October. After several months in theCleveland Clinic with heart and kidney problems, he died on 12 December 2003.[213]
Inanother controversial election, Heydar's son Ilham Aliyev was elected president that year. The election, marred by violence, was criticised by foreign observers. Opposition to the Aliyev administration is widespread, with opponents advocating a more democratic government. Aliyev wasre-elected in 2008 with 87 percent of the vote, however, as opposition parties boycotted the election. After a2009 constitutional referendum, presidentialterm limits were abolished andfreedom of the press was restricted.
The2010 election produced a National Assembly loyal to Aliyev; for the first time in Azerbaijani history, no candidate from the main opposition Azerbaijani Popular Front or Musavat parties was elected.The Economist called Azerbaijan's regimeauthoritarian, ranking it 135th out of 167 countries in its 2010Democracy Index.[full citation needed]
Demonstrations were held against Aliyev's rule in 2011, calling for democratic reforms and a new government. Aliyev responded with a security crackdown, using force to crush protests in Baku and refusing to make concessions. Over 400 people were arrested during the protests, which began in March.[214] Opposition leaders, includingMusavat's Isa Gambar, vowed to continue demonstrating despite police suppression.[215]
In April 2018, President Ilham Aliyev secured his fourth consecutive term in theelection that was boycotted by the main opposition parties as fraudulent.[219]
^abcdeSwietochowski, Tadeusz (1985).Russian Azerbaijan, 1905–1920: The Shaping of a National Identity in a Muslim Community. Cambridge University Press. p. 1.
^Harcave, Sidney (1968).Russia: A History: Sixth Edition. Lippincott. p. 267.
^Mojtahed-Zadeh, Pirouz (2007).Boundary Politics and International Boundaries of Iran: A Study of the Origin, Evolution, and Implications of the Boundaries of Modern Iran with Its 15 Neighbors in the Middle East by a Number of Renowned Experts in the Field. Universal. p. 372.ISBN978-1-58112-933-5.
^abYilmaz, Harun (2015).National Identities in Soviet Historiography: The Rise of Nations Under Stalin. Routledge. p. 21.ISBN978-1-317-59664-6.On May 27, the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan (DRA) was declared with Ottoman military support. The rulers of the DRA refused to identify themselves as [Transcaucasian] Tatar, which they rightfully considered to be a Russian colonial definition. (...) Neighboring Iran did not welcome the DRA's adoption of the name of "Azerbaijan" for the country because it could also refer to Iranian Azerbaijan and implied a territorial claim.
^abBarthold, Vasily (1963).Sochineniya, vol II/1. Moscow. p. 706.(...) whenever it is necessary to choose a name that will encompass all regions of the Republic of Azerbaijan, nameArran can be chosen. But the term Azerbaijan was chosen because when the Azerbaijan republic was created, it was assumed that this and thePersian Azerbaijan will be one entity because the population of both has a big similarity. On this basis, the word Azerbaijan was chosen. Of course right now when the word Azerbaijan is used, it has two meanings as Persian Azerbaijan and as a republic, its confusing and a question arises as to which Azerbaijan is talked about.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^abAtabaki, Touraj (2000).Azerbaijan: Ethnicity and the Struggle for Power in Iran. I.B.Tauris. p. 25.ISBN978-1-86064-554-9.
^abRezvani, Babak (2014).Ethno-territorial conflict and coexistence in the Caucasus, Central Asia and Fereydan: academisch proefschrift. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. p. 356.ISBN978-90-485-1928-6.The region to the north of the river Araxes was not called Azerbaijan prior to 1918, unlike the region in northwestern Iran that has been called since so long ago.
^abcBaxşəliyev, Vəli (2006).Azərbaycan Arxeologiyası(PDF). Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 11 January 2020. Retrieved16 March 2020.
^Coimbra, Fernando, ed. (2008).Cognitive Archaeology as Symbolic Archaeology. England: BAR Publishing. p. 32.ISBN978-1-4073-0179-2.
^Veli Bakhshaliyev 2021,OSMAN TEPE IS A NEW MONUMENT OF THE STONE AGE. (Abstract in English) SCIENTIFIC WORKS OF AZERBAIJAN NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, NAKHCHIVAN BRANCH OFFICE. -- "... new finds identified at the Osman Tepe settlement attract attention, make it possible to supplement the gap existing in the study of the pre-ceramic Neolithic in the South Caucasus. ... A small number of ceramic products in our way testifies to the new beginning ceramic Neolithic. Therefore, settlements can be dated 9500-7000 BC."
^Guliyev, Farhad; Yoshihiro, Nishiaki (2012). "Excavations at the Neolithic settlement of Göytepe, the middle Kura Valley, Azerbaijan, 2008-2009".ResearchGate.3:71–84.
^Nishiaki Seiji, Yoshihiro; Guliyev, Farhad; Kadowaki, Seiji (2015). "The origins of food production in the southern Caucasus: excavations at Hacı Elamxanlı Tepe, Azerbaijan".Antiquity.89: 348.
^James Stuart Olson.An Ethnohistorical Dictionary of the Russian and Soviet Empires.ISBN0-313-27497-5
^Encyclopædia BritannicaArchived 2008-01-10 at theWayback Machine: "The list of provinces given in the inscription of Ka'be-ye Zardusht defines the extent of the empire under Shapur, in clockwise geographic enumeration: (1) Persis (Fars), (2) Parthia, (3) Susiana (Khuzestan), (4) Maishan (Mesene), (5) Asuristan (southern Mesopotamia), (6) Adiabene, (7) Arabistan (northern Mesopotamia), (8) Atropatene (Azerbaijan), (9) Armenia, (10) Iberia (Georgia), (11) Machelonia, (12) Albania (eastern Caucasus), (13) Balasagan up to the Caucasus Mountains and the Gate of Albania (also known as Gate of the Alans), (14) Patishkhwagar (all of the Elburz Mountains), (15) Media, (16) Hyrcania (Gorgan), (17) Margiana (Merv), (18) Aria, (19) Abarshahr, (20) Carmania (Kerman), (21) Sakastan (Sistan), (22) Turan, (23) Mokran (Makran), (24) Paratan (Paradene), (25) India (probably restricted to the Indus River delta area), (26) Kushanshahr, until as far as Peshawar and until Kashgar and (the borders of) Sogdiana and Tashkent, and (27), on the farther side of the sea, Mazun (Oman)"
^Nevertheless, "despite being one of the chief vassals of SasanianShahanshah, the Albanian king had only a semblance of authority, and the Sassanidmarzban (military governor) held most civil, religious, and military authority.
^Hewsen, Robert H., Ethno-History and the Armenian Influence upon the Caucasian Albanians, in: Samuelian, Thomas J. (Hg.), Classical Armenian Culture. Influences and Creativity, Chico: 1982, 27–40.
^abVladimir Minorsky.A History of Sharvān and Darband in the 10th–11th Centuries.
^Moses Khorenatsi.History of the Armenians, translated from Old Armenian by Robert W. Thomson. Harvard University Press, 1978
^Movses Kalankatuatsi.History of the Land of Aluank, translated from Old Armenian by Sh. V. Smbatian. Yerevan: Matenadaran (Institute of Ancient Manuscripts), 1984
^ISMAILOV, DILGAM (2017).HISTORY OF AZERBAIJAN(PDF). Baku: Nəşriyyat – Poliqrafiya Mərkəzi.
^Pourshariati, Parvaneh (2008).Decline and Fall of the Sasanian Empire: The Sasanian-Parthian Confederacy and the Arab Conquest of Iran. Bloomsbury Academic.ISBN978-1-84511-645-3.
^Yahya Blankinship, Khalid (1994).The End of the Jihad State: The Reign of Hisham Ibn 'Abd al-Malik and the Collapse of the Umayyads. SUNY Press. p. 149.ISBN978-0-7914-1827-7.
^Alan Brook, Kevin (2006).The Jews of Khazaria. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.ISBN978-1-4422-0302-0.
^abcdeBarthold, W., C.E. Bosworth "Shirwan Shah, Sharwan Shah".Encyclopaedia of Islam Edited by P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs. Brill, 2nd edition
^Жузе, П.К (1937).Мутагаллибы в Закавказьи в IX-X вв. (К истории феодализма в Закавказьи). p. 179.
^Ryzhov, K.V (2004).All the monarchs of the world. The Muslim East. VII-XV centuries. Veche.
^National Geophysical Data Center (1972)."Significant Earthquake Information AZERBAIJAN: GYZNDZHA".ngdc.noaa.gov. National Geophysical Data Center / World Data Service (NGDC/WDS): NCEI/WDS Global Significant Earthquake Database. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information.doi:10.7289/V5TD9V7K. Retrieved4 June 2021.
^abLiberman, Sherri (2003).A Historical Atlas of Azerbaijan. The Rosen Publishing Group.ISBN978-0-8239-4497-2.
^Ibn Ali Ibn Sulayma Ar-Rawandi, Muhammad (2011).The Rahat-Us-Sudur Wa Ayat-Us-Surur: Being a History of the Saljuqs. Cosimo Classics.ISBN978-1-61640-462-8.
^Foundation, Encyclopaedia Iranica."JALAYERIDS".iranicaonline.org. Retrieved23 June 2021.
^Dizadji, H (2010).Journey from Tehran to Chicago: My Life in Iran and the United States, and a Brief History of Iran. Trafford Publishing.ISBN978-1-4269-2918-2.
^Clifford Edmund Bosworth (2004).The New Islamic Dynasties: A Chronological and Genealogical Manual. Edinburgh University Press. pp. 273–274.ISBN978-0-7486-2137-8.OCLC1001660530.Their ruling family seems to have come from the Yïwa or Iwa clan of the Oghuz, and the seats of their power in the fourteenth century lay to the north of Lake Van and in the Mosul region of northern Iraq.
^Bosworth, C. E. (1 June 2019).New Islamic Dynasties: A Chronological and Genealogical Manual. Edinburgh University Press. pp. 275–276.ISBN978-1-4744-6462-8
^René Grousset. "The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia", translated by N. Wallford. Rutgers University Press, 1970,ISBN0-8135-1304-9, p. 458
^Alexander Mikaberidze (2011).Conflict and Conquest in the Islamic World: A Historical Encyclopedia, Volume 1. ABC-CLIO. p. 907.ISBN978-1-59884-336-1. Retrieved February 13, 2013.
^Immortal: A Military History of Iran and Its Armed Forces, By Steven R. Ward, pg.43
^Balland, D."ĀŠRAF ḠILZAY".Encyclopædia Iranica. Retrieved31 December 2011.
^Walker, Christopher J. (1980).Armenia, the survival of a nation. Croom Helm. p. 45.ISBN978-0-7099-0210-2.Tsitsianov next moved against the semi-independent Persian khanates. On the thinnest of pretexts he captured the Muslim town of Ganja, the seat of Islamic learning in the Caucasus (...)
^Saparov, Arsène (2014).From Conflict to Autonomy in the Caucasus: The Soviet Union and the Making of Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Nagorno Karabakh. Routledge.ISBN978-1-317-63783-7.Even though these principalities [the khanates] had not been under Iranian suzerainty since the assassination of Nadir Shah in 1747, they were traditionally considered an inalienable part of Iranian domains. (...) To the semi-independent Caucasian principalities the appearance of the new Great Power (...)
^Kashani-Sabet, Firoozeh (May 1997)."Fragile Frontiers: The Diminishing Domains of Qajar Iran".International Journal of Middle East Studies.29 (2): 210.doi:10.1017/s0020743800064473.In 1795, Ibrahim Khalil Khan, the wali of Qarabagh, warned Sultan Selim III of Aqa Muhammad Khan's ambitions. Fearing for his independence, he informed the Sultan of Aqa Muhammad Khan's ability to subdue Azerbaijan and later Qarabagh, Erivan, and Georgia.
^Barker, Adele Marie; Grant, Bruce (2010).The Russia Reader: History, Culture, Politics. Duke University Press. p. 253.ISBN978-0-8223-4648-7.But they were relatively more accessible given the organization of small, centralized, semi-independent khanates that functioned through the decline of Persian rule after the death of Nadir Shah in the mid-eighteenth century (...)
^Avery, Peter; Hambly, Gavin (1991).The Cambridge History of Iran. Cambridge University Press. p. 126.ISBN978-0-521-20095-0.Agha Muhammad Khan could now turn to the restoration of the outlying provinces of the Safavid kingdom. Returning to Tehran in the spring of 1795, he assembled a force of some 60,000 cavalries and infantry and in Shawwal Dhul-Qa'da/May, set off for Azarbaijan, intending to conquer the country between the riversAras andKura, formerly under Safavid control. This region comprised a number of khanates of which the most important wasQarabagh, with its capital atShusha;Ganja Khanate, with its capital of the same name;Shirvan Khanate across the Kura, with its capital atShamakhi; and to the north-west, on both banks of the Kura, Christian Georgia (Gurjistan), with its capital atTiflis.
^Baddeley, John Frederick (1908).The Russian Conquest of the Caucasus. Harvard University: Longmans, Green and Co. p. 71.Potto sums up Tsitsianoff's achievements and character as follows: "In the short time he passed there (in Transcaucasia) he managed to completely alter the map of the country. He found it composed of minutely divided, independent Muhammadan States leaning upon Persia, namely, the khanates of Baku, Shirvan, Shekeen, Karabagh, Gandja and Erivan (Revan till 1828)..."
^abBertsch, Gary Kenneth (2000).Crossroads and Conflict: Security and Foreign Policy in the Caucasus and Central Asia. Routledge. pp. 297: "Shusha became the capital of an independent "Azeri" khanate in 1752 (Azeri in the sense of Muslims who spoke a version of the Turkic language we call Azeri today).".ISBN0-415-92273-9.
^abCornell, Svante (2001).Small Nations and Great Powers: A Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict in the Caucasus. Routledge.ISBN0-7007-1162-7.
^Nafziger, E. Wayne; Stewart, Frances; Väyrynen, Raimo (2000).War, Hunger, and Displacement: The Origins of Humanitarian Emergencies. Oxford University press. p. 406.ISBN0-19-829739-4.
^Kashani-Sabet, Firoozeh (May 1997)."Fragile Frontiers: The Diminishing Domains of Qajar Iran".International Journal of Middle East Studies.29 (2): 210.doi:10.1017/s0020743800064473.In 1795, Ibrahim Khalil Khan, the wali of Qarabagh, warned Sultan Selim III of Aqa Muhammad Khan's ambitions. Fearing for his independence, he informed the Sultan of Aqa Muhammad Khan's ability to subdue Azerbaijan and later Qarabagh, Erivan, and Georgia.
^Fisher, William Bayne (1991).The Cambridge History of Iran. Vol. 7. Cambridge University Press. pp. 128–129.Agha Muhammad Khan remained nine days in the vicinity of Tiflis. His victory proclaimed the restoration of Iranian military power in the region formerly under Safavid domination.
^Gasimov, Zaur (2022). "Observing Iran from Baku: Iranian Studies in Soviet and Post-Soviet Azerbaijan".Iranian Studies.55 (1): 38.doi:10.1080/00210862.2020.1865136.S2CID233889871.The preoccupation with Iranian culture, literature, and language was widespread among Baku-, Ganja-, and Tiflis-based Shia as well as Sunni intellectuals, and it never ceased throughout the nineteenth century.
^Pourjavady, R. (2023). "Introduction: Iran, Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia in the 19th century". In Thomas, David; Chesworth, John A. (eds.).Christian-Muslim Relations. A Bibliographical History Volume 20. Iran, Afghanistan and the Caucasus (1800-1914). Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. p. 20.
^Pan-Turkism: From Irredentism to Cooperation by Jacob M. Landau P.55
^On the Religious Frontier: Tsarist Russia and Islam in the Caucasus by Firouzeh Mostashari p. 144
^Institute of History of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (1998).Azerbaijan Republic (1918-1920)(PDF) (in Azerbaijani). Baku: Elm Publishing House. pp. 295–300.ISBN5-8066-0925-1. Retrieved20 June 2021.
^Закавказская федерацияArchived 2015-09-25 at theWayback Machine.Большая советская энциклопедия, 3-е изд., гл. ред. А. М. Прохоров. Москва: Советская энциклопедия, 1972. Т. 9 (A. M. Prokhorov; et al., eds. (1972). "Transcaucasian Federation".Great Soviet Encyclopedia (in Russian). Vol. 9. Moscow: Soviet Encyclopedia.)
^Benson, Brett V. (2012).Constructing International Security: Alliances, Deterrence, and Moral Hazard. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 67.ISBN978-1-107-02724-4.Russia was widely viewed as supporting the Armenian position. Much of this perception stemmed from the fact that Russia transferred military support to Armenia during the Nagorno-Karabakh War.
Kalankatu, Moisey (Movses).The History of Caucasian Albanians. transl by C. Dowsett. London oriental series, vol 8, 1961 (School of Oriental and African Studies, Univ of London)
At Tabari,Ibn al-Asir (trans by Z. Bunyadov), Baku, Elm, 1983?
Jamil Hasanli.At the Dawn of the Cold War: The Soviet-American Crisis Over Iranian Azerbaijan, 1941–1946, (Rowman & Littlefield; 409 pages; $75). Discusses the Soviet-backed independence movement in the region and argues that the crisis in 1945–46 was the first event to bring the Soviet Union in conflict with the United States and Britain after the alliance of World War II
Momen, M.An Introduction to Shii Islam, 1985, Yale University Press 400 p
Shaffer, B.Borders and Brethren: Iran and the Challenge of Azerbaijani Identity (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2002).
Swietochowski, Tadeusz.Russia and Azerbaijan: Borderland in Transition (New York: Columbia University Press, 1995).
Van der Leew, Ch.Azerbaijan: A Quest for Identity: A Short History (New York: St. Martin's Press, 2000).
History of Azerbaijan Vol I-III, 1960 Baku (in Russian)
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