The city has a territory of 83 square kilometres (32 sq mi). It was founded as a suburb of Baku in 1944 and received city status on 22 November 1949, growing into a major industrial center during the Soviet period.[4] The municipality of Sumgait also includes the settlements ofJorat andHaji Zeynalabdin. It is home toSumqayit State University.
The city is best known internationally for where theSumgait pogrom took place in 1988, in which local Armenian populations were killed or forced to relocate due to threats of violence.
The name of city comes from the name of theMongol tribe Sugaut (Sagait).[5]
According to localfolklore, the city is named after theSumgait River. One folk legend tells the tale of a hero by the name of "Sum", who is chosen by the community to fight a monster that was blocking the Sumgait River.[6] Sum eventually manages to kill the monster, but when the river is released he is swept away by the waters and never seen again. After that, his beloved, Jeyran, inconsolable due to Sum's disappearance, would go to the river and cry "Sum qayıt!" (which means "Sum, come back!" inAzerbaijani).[7] So the river became known as Sumgait, after which the city was named.
According to historians,Medean tribes lived in the area in ancient times. During the construction boom, when the foundation of the executive power building was being excavated, remains of an ancientcaravanserai along with personal items and kitchenware was found at the site.[citation needed]
The first reports of settlements at the present site of Sumgait were in 1580, when English traveller H. Barrow mentioned Sumgait in his writings and in 1858, whenAlexander Dumas wrote about the area in his memoirsTrip to Caucasus, although nothing substantial was created on the site until theSoviet Union gained control over the area in the 1920s.[8]
Following the politics ofglasnost, initiated byMikhail Gorbachev, civil unrest and ethnic strife grew in various regions of the Soviet Union, includingNagorno-Karabakh,[9] an autonomous region of the Azerbaijani SSR.
TheSumgait pogrom against the localArmenian population on 27–29 February 1988 was one of the first violent events of theNagorno-Karabakh conflict.[10] It killed more than 30 people, wounded some 200, and produced thousands of refugees; most of the victims were Armenians who constituted a large minority of the population.[11]
As a result of the Soviet planning of the industrial boom era, the city became heavily polluted.[citation needed] Soon after Azerbaijan's independence, the industrial sectors went into decline. The Absheron Peninsula (which consists of Sumgait,Baku and theAbsheron District) was considered by scientists to be the most ecologically devastated part of Azerbaijan. The city was known for its children's cemetery, known as the "Baby Cemetery" which contains many graves of infants born with deformities and mental retardation that were further complicated by the lack of adequate medical care for the poor.[15] Sumgait was named as the most polluted place on Earth by the U.S.-based environmental group theBlacksmith Institute in 2006 and placed on their list ofThe World's Most Polluted Places byTime magazine in 2007.[16] The report noted the former Soviet industrial base was polluting the local environment with industrial chemicals like chlorine andheavy metals. The report also mentioned cancer rates in Sumgait were as much as 51% higher than the national average and thatgenetic mutations andbirth defects were commonplace.[17]The city administration prepared an environmental protection plan for 2003–2010 which has been steadily decreasing the levels of pollution to minimal. The program oversees 118 activities aimed at minimizing pollution at all possible levels of economic production. The program was prepared with the participation of all industrial enterprises in the city and its enforcement is being regulated by the executive power of the city. For instance, the amount of wastewater from industrial production went down from 600,000 m3 (21,000,000 cu ft) during the 1990s to 76,300 m3 (2,690,000 cu ft) in 2005. Solid waste went down from 300,000 to 3,868 tons a year. TheWorld Bank has issued a loan to the Azerbaijani government for construction of a burial range formercury waste.[18]
The municipality of Sumgait consists of the city of Sumgait and the municipalities ofJorat andHaji Zeynalabdin.[19] Executive power in the city is held by the mayor, presentlyZakir Ferejov.[20]
According to theState Statistics Committee, as of 2018, the population of city was 341,200 people, having increased by 84,500 (about 33 percent) from 256,700 people in 2000.[21] The population consists of 168,300 men and 172,900 women.[22] More than 23 percent of the population consists of young people and teenagers aged 14–29.[23]
Population of the city (at the beginning of the year, thsd. persons)[21]
Azerbaijanis comprise 85% of the population,Talysh 5%,Lezgins 5%,Russians 2%,Turkish 1%, and others 2%. Prior to February 1988, Sumgait was home to 20,000 Armenians, who were displaced as a result of theSumgait pogrom.
Sumgait did not have a mosque until after the collapse of the Soviet Union.[24] In the 2010s, the city emerged as a center forSalafism in Azerbaijan, a form of Sunni Islam that advocates a return to Islam's earliest practices.[24][25] TheSyrian Civil War and emergence ofISIL forced authorities to crack down on perceived religious radicals in Sumgait.[24][26][27]
1938 – Barracks for workers were created in place of Thermal Power Station. Architects begin the construction for settlers of the Sumgait Thermal Power Station.
1939 – Foundations were built for synthetic rubber and chemical plants.
1940 – All construction activities suspended with the start of theGreat Patriotic War.
1941 – Thermal Power Station is launched and Baku's oil industries received its first electricity.
1944 – The construction of chemical and metallurgical plants.
1945 – Sumgait chemical plant produced its first production and the great construction wave has been started.
1949 – Settlement awarded city status by Presidium of Supreme Soviet ofAzerbaijan SSR
1955 – Sumgait Aluminum plant established
1957 – Construction of scientific-research institutes and cultural centres, the city infrastructure is being developed.
1960 – Europe's largest petrol-chemical plant construction has started
1970 – The development of light and machine-building industries in the city.
In 1935, the Soviet government decided to develop heavy industry in theAbsheron Peninsula, and the future location of Sumgait was chosen based on its proximity toBaku and its key position on the existing railroad lines.
Between 1938 and 1941, athermal power station was constructed to power Baku's growingpetroleum industry. This was soon followed by more heavy industries. Due toWorld War II the construction of the area stopped and resumed in 1944 whenmetallurgical andchemical plants were constructed and put into operation. The first production ofSumgait Chemical Plant led to a rapid growth and construction boom, creating a new job market, and a need for a resident population. In 1949, Sumgait gained official city status according to the resolution of theSupreme Soviet of Azerbaijan SSR. In 1952, a tube-rolling plant delivered its first produce thus developing black metallurgy production in Azerbaijan. The same year, another newSynthetic Rubber Production Plant started its operations producingethylene obtained fromoil. Operations atSumgait Steel Processing Plant andSumgait Aluminium Plant were commenced in 1953 and 1955, respectively. In 1957–1955, a number of scientific research facilities and cultural centres were built, leading to further development of the city infrastructure. In 1960, authorities started building the Petroleum Chemical Factory, the largest in Europe at the time. From 1961 through 1968, a brick-producing factory, apolymer construction materials industrial complex, aphosphor production plant were built. In the 1970–80s,light industry and mechanical engineering facilities were added to the industrial base of the city. By the end of the 1980s, Sumgait was already the centre of the chemical industry of the USSR.[8]
After thedissolution of the Soviet Union, Sumgait has remained Azerbaijan's second-biggest industrial centre after Baku.[13] Some of the most significant companies operating in the city are Azerpipe, Azeraluminium, Sumgait Aluminium, Sumgait Superphosphate, glass producer Khazar OJSC, Sumgait Knitted Goods Factory, and Sumgait Compressors, many of which have been privatized.[13]
In 2011, the development of Sumgait Technologies Park (STP) andSumgayit Chemical Industrial Park (SCIP) started to receive investor attention.[13][29] The 167-hectare (410-acre) complex will host pharmaceutical, construction, and agricultural businesses, in addition to chemical, automotive, and electronics producers.[13] It is meant as a self-sufficient complex, which will include residential facilities, an exhibition center, laboratories, sports center, schools, and hospitals. SCIP aims to attract domestic and foreign investors, and its management has already received proposals for 20 investment projects in the complex.[13]
Sumgait is known as the "City of Youth" due to its status as the youngest city in Azerbaijan. Sumgait was officially designated as the "Youth Capital" for 2025.[30]
The first studies in architecture and urban planning of the city of Sumgait were carried out by Azerbaijani and Soviet scientist, academician of the International Academy of Architecture of the Eastern Countries, honored architect of Azerbaijan SSRKamal Mammadbeyov. The result of years of research were numerous scientific publications. His book "Sumgait: Architectural and planning development" is preserved and available in the Library of Congress of the USA.[31] Mammadbeyov donated a large number of graphics and illustrations made by him to the archives of The City Museum. The Flag Museum in Sumgait was opened on 15 December 2017, with the participation of Ilham Aliyev.[32][33]
During the Soviet rule of Azerbaijan, Sumgait was believed[by whom?] to have the longestboulevard in the republic. TheCulture and Leisure Park was laid on 23 hectares (57 acres) of Sumgait coastline in 1967. On 17 August 1978, the park was given the name of a distinguishedAzerbaijani poetImadaddin Nasimi. The same year, the city administration raised thePeace Dove sculpture and monument in the middle of the park assigning the city a symbol of peace.[38]
The flora of the park includes 39 types of trees. Events of the 1990s, such as theBlack January tragedy andFirst Nagorno-Karabakh War, led to the establishment ofStars (Ulduzlar) and20 January Monument monuments in the park. In the eastern section of the park, Shehidler Khiyabani, similar toMartyrs' Lane in Baku, was established as a burial ground for thousands of soldiers from Sumgait who died during the war. According to Decree No. 132 of theCabinet of Ministers of Azerbaijan dated 2 August 2001, the park was given the status of national historical importance. Its current size is 80 hectares (200 acres).
In addition to Nasimi Culture and Leisure Park, the city administration built Ludwigshafen Park in 1997 in celebration of the 20th anniversary oftwin-city relations betweenLudwigshafen and Sumgait. In 1999, Heydar Aliyev Park and Luna Park were built in the rapidly growing city.[39]
The city had atram system that functioned from 1959 to 2003.[40] Sumgait'strolleybus system at its height consisted of eight lines and existed until 2006.[41] On 3 June 2015, in Baku, President of AzerbaijanIlham Aliyev opened the reconstructed Baku-Sumgait Railway with trains ofBaku suburban railway taking 40 minutes from Baku to Sumgait.[42][43]
^"16. Сумгаит (трамвай)" [16. Sumqayit (tram)].Горэлектротранс (Electrotrans) website (in Russian). Дмитрий Зиновьев (Dmitry Zinoviev).Archived from the original on 31 January 2013. Retrieved23 September 2012.
^"17. Сумгаит (троллейбус)" [17. Sumqayit (trolleybus)].Горэлектротранс (Electrotrans) website (in Russian). Дмитрий Зиновьев (Dmitry Zinoviev).Archived from the original on 4 January 2013. Retrieved23 September 2012.
