History of Azerbaijan

[6][7][8][9][10][11] According to the Treaty of Turkmenchay, Qajar Iran recognized Russian sovereignty over the Erivan, Nakhchivan and Talysh Khanates (the last parts of Azerbaijan still in Iranian hands).

[b][31] Petroglyphs dating from 8,000 to 5,000 years ago depict long boats (similar to Viking ships), indicating a connection with Continental Europe and the Mediterranean Sea.

A number of Chalcolithic settlements in Shomu-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.

[37][36][38] Archaeologist Walter Crist of the American Museum of Natural History discovered a 4,000-year-old, Bronze Age version of hounds and jackals in Gobustan National Park in 2018.

[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.

Javanshir established diplomatic relations with the caliphate to protect his country from invasion via the Caspian Sea, meeting with Muawiyah I in Damascus in 667 and 670, and Albania's taxes were reduced.

Thus, at the beginning of the 10th century, the Sajid state included territories from Zanjan in the south to Derbent in the north, the Caspian Sea in the east, to the cities of Ani and Dabil in the west, covering most of the lands of modern Azerbaijan.

[96] The history of what comprises the present-day Republic of Azerbaijan as part of the Seljuk Empire may have been more pivotal than the Arab conquest since it helped shape the identity of modern Azerbaijani Turks.

According to the anonymous Tariḵ Bab al-Abwab, Alp Arslan appointed al-Bab and Arran as iqta to his slave Sav Tegin who seized these areas by force from Fażlun in 1075 and ended the dynasty's reign.

[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 the Absheron Peninsula.

This march was organized by the order of the great Khan Ögedei against Jalâl ad-Dîn Khwârazmshâh, who was ruling these areas after putting an end to Atabek's power in Azerbaijanin 1225.

[128][129][130][131] In 1364 Shaykh Uways Jalayir campaigned against the Shirvan Shah Kai-Ka'us, but a revolt begun by the governor of Baghdad, Khwaja Mirjan, forced him to return to reassert his authority.

[139] The Kara Koyunlu were ascendant when their chief, Qara Yusuf, overcame Sultan Ahmed Mirza (the last of the Jalayirids), conquered lands south of Azerbaijan in 1410, and established his capital at Tabriz.

Aware of Qizilbash power, Abbas continued the policy of integrating the Caucasus into Persian society and deported hundreds of thousands of Circassians, Georgians and Armenians to Iran.

They served in the army, the royal house and in civil administration, effectively killing the feudal Qizilbash; the converted Caucasians (known as ghulams) were loyal to the shah, not their tribal chiefs.

[158] Agha Mohammad Khan demanded that Heraclius II renounce the Treaty of Georgievsk, which had been signed several years earlier, denouncing dependence on Persia and agreeing to Russian protection and assistance in its affairs.

[159] Heraclius appealed to Empress Catherine 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, and Igdir.

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.

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).

[153] According to The 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.

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.

Despite the Russian conquest, throughout the entire 19th century, preoccupation with Iranian culture, literature, and language remained widespread amongst Shia and Sunni intellectuals in the Russian-held cities of Baku, Ganja and Tiflis (Tbilisi, now Georgia).

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.

The intellectual and newspaper editor Ali bey Huseynzade (1864–1940) led a campaign to 'Turkify, Islamise, modernise' the Caucasian Tatars, whereas Mammed Said Ordubadi (1872–1950), another journalist and activist, criticized superstition amongst Muslims.

[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 of glasnost.

[201] The proposed 18 October 1991 declaration of independence by Azerbaijan's Supreme Soviet was followed by the dissolution of its Communist Party, although its former members (including Mutallibov) retained their posts.

[206] The following day (15 May), armed Azerbaijan Popular Front forces seized the National Council and the state-owned radio and television stations and deposed Mutallibov, who fled to Moscow.

[208] Elchibey's program included opposition to Azerbaijan's membership in the Commonwealth of Independent States, closer relations with Turkey,[209] and a desire for improved links with the Iranian Azerbaijanis.

As a result of limited reforms and the signing of the October 1994 contract for the Azeri–Chirag–Gunashli offshore oilfield complex, which led to increased oil exports to Western markets, the economy began improving.