History of Azerbaijan

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This article is part of the series on:

History of Azerbaijan

Early History
Ancient History
Caucasian Albania
First Persian Empire
and Alexander's conquests
Roman-Parthian rivalry
and Sassanian conquest
Medieval History
Islamic Period
Seljuk dynasty
Atabegs of Azerbaijan
Khwarezmian, Mongol and Ilkhanid rule
Qara Qoyunlu
Aq Qoyunlu
Shirvanshah
Classical History
Safavid dynasty
Khanates
Qajar dynasty
Russian Rule
Early Independence
Azerbaijan Democratic Republic
March Days
Soviet Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic
Black January
Modern Azerbaijan
Republic of Azerbaijan

This article is about the history of Azerbaijan. For the history of Iranian Azerbaijan, please see the history of Iran

Azerbaijan or Azarbaijan (Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan) is a historical and geographic region on the border of Eastern Europe and Southwest Asia. It's bounded by Caspian Sea to the east, Russia's Daghestan region to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia and Turkey to the west, and Iran to the south. Azerbaijan is a home to diverse ethnicities, majority of which are Azeris, an ethnic group which numbers close to 8 million in the independent Republic of Azerbaijan.

Overview

The name Azerbaijan

Azerbaijanis

See main article: Caucasian origin of the Azerbaijanis
See also: Iranian origin of the Azerbaijanis

The heritage, culture, and civilization of Azerbaijan has both ancient and modern roots. The Azerbaijanis are believed to be inheritors of various ancient civilizations and peoples including the indigenous Caucasian Albanians, Iranic Medes, and Oghuz Turks among others (note that several modern peoples of the Caucasus can trace their ancestries to more than one of these same ancient peoples). Perhaps to clarify who the Turkic-speaking Azeris are by way of ancestry, recent evidence from Genealogical DNA tests show that the modern Azeris of the Republic of Azerbaijan genetically cluster the closest with the peoples of the Caucasus (such as the Georgians, Armenians, and the Lezgians), while the genetic contribution of Iranian peoples and Turkic tribes appears to be more minor than was initially expected.[3] Iranian Azeris have been shown to cluster more with other Iranic peoples[1]) These results may indicate a strong indigenous origin for the people of the Republic of Azerbaijan and links to their immediate neighbors of the Caucasus. During Median and Persian rule, many Albanians adopted Zoroastrianism and then switched to Christianity prior to coming of Muslim Arabs and more importantly Muslim Turks. The Turkic tribes are believed to have arrived as small bands of ghazis whose conquests led to the Turkification of the population as largely native Caucasian and Iranian tribes adopted the Turkish language of the Oghuz and converted to Islam over a period of several hundred years.[2]

After more than 80 years of colonization under the Russian empire in the Caucasus, the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was established in 1918. The state was invaded by Soviet forces in 1920, and remained under Soviet rule until the collapse of the USSR in 1991.

Ancient history

The cave of Azykh in the territory of the Fizuli district in the Republic of Azerbaijan is considered to be the site of one of the most ancient proto-human habitations in Eurasia. Remnants of the pre-Acheulean culture were found in the lowest layers of the Azykh cave. This culture is one of the oldest, and in many ways similar to the Olduvai culture in Tanzania, and Walloon culture in the southeast of France.

The Paleolithic (Homo Sapiens) period in what is now Azerbaijan is represented by finds at Aveidag, Taglar, Damjily, Yatagery, Dash Salakhly and some other sites. Carved drawings etched on rocks in Qobustan, south of Baku, demonstrate scenes of hunting, fishing, labor and dancing, and are dated to the Mesolithic period. The Neolithic period (ca. 6th - 4th millennia BC) was the period of transition from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age. Many Neolithic settlements have been discovered in Azerbaijan, and carbon-dated artifacts show that during this period, people built homes, made copper weapons, and were familiar with irrigated agriculture.

The influence of ancient peoples and civilizations including the Sumerians and Elamites came to a crossroads in the territory of Azerbaijan. A variety of Caucasian peoples appear to be the earliest inhabitants of the South Caucasus with the notable Caucasian Albanians being their most prominently known representative.

In the 8th century BC, the semi-nomadic Cimmerians and Scythians settled in the territory of kingdom of Mannai. The Assyrians also had a civilization that flourished to the west of Lake Urmia in the centuries prior to creation of Media and Albania. Most of the ancient documents and inscriptions used for historical analysis of the area come from the Assyrians and from the kingdom of Urartu. In dealing with the history of Azerbaijan, most western scholars refer to Greek, Arab, Roman, and Persian sources.

Caucasian Albania

Caucasian Albanians are believed to be the earliest inhabitants of Azerbaijan.[3] Early invaders included the Scythians in the ninth century BCE.[4] The South Caucasus was eventually conquered by the Achaemenids around 550 BCE. During this period, Zoroastrianism spread in Azerbaijan. The Achaemenids in turn were defeated by Alexander the Great in 330 BCE. Following the decline of the Seleucids in Persia in 247 BCE, an Armenian Kingdom exercised control over parts of modern Azerbaijan between 190 BCE to 428 CE.[5][6] Caucasian Albanians established a kingdom in the 1st century BCE and largely remained independent until the Sassanids made the kingdom a province in 252 CE.[7][8][3] Caucasian Albania's ruler, King Urnayr, officially adopted Christianity as the state religion in the fourth century CE, and Albania would remain a Christian state until the 8th century.[9][10] Sassanid control ended with their defeat by Muslim Arabs in 642 CE.[11]

Achaemenid and Seleucid rule

Following the overthrow of the Median Empire, all of what is today Azerbaijan was invaded by the Persian king Cyrus in the 6th century BCE. This earliest Persian Empire had a profound impact upon local population as the religion of Zoroastrianism became ascendant as did various early Persian cultural influences. Many of the local peoples of Caucasian Albania came to be known as fire worshipers, which may be a sign of their Zoroastrian faith.

This empire was also quite short-lived and was conquered barely two centuries later by Alexander the Great and led to the rise of Hellenistic culture throughout the former Persian Empire. The Seleucid Greeks inherited the Caucasus following Alexander's death in 323 BCE, but were ultimately beset by pressures from Rome, secessionist Greeks in Bactria, and most adversely the Parthians (Parni), another nomadic Iranian tribe from Central Asia, which made serious inroads into the northern eastern Seleucid domains from the late 4th century BCE to the 3rd century BCE and this ultimately allowed local Caucasian tribes to establish an independent kingdom for the first time since the Median invasion.