Main contributor: Dr. David Heffernan
The flag of Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan is a country in the South Caucasus, lying along the western side of the Caspian Sea. Historically the region has been dominated by other bigger powers of West Asia such as the Persian and Parthian empires, the Arab Caliphate, the Seljuk and Ottoman Turks and the Soviet Union. An Azerbaijani national identity only emerged fully in the nineteenth century and the country recently became independent in 1991 as the USSR collapsed at the end of the Cold War. The country is unusual in the Near East in being almost universally Muslim, but with a broadly secular political system. Today it is an emerging power in the wider region with a substantial population of over ten million people and high oil revenues, while the capital Baku is the largest city in the Caucasus and on the shores of the Caspian Sea.[1]

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The regions of Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan is divided into 67 districts known as rayon and 11 cities called şəhər, while legislation in 2021 further categorized the country into 14 different economic zones. The capital and by far the largest city, with a municipal population of 2.6 million people and 3.6 million in the metro area, is Baku. It is in the far east of the country on the shores of the Caspian Sea and is the largest city in the Caucasus.[2] The Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic is a landlocked pocket of Azerbaijan that is cut off from the rest of the country and which can only be entered from the rest of Azerbaijan by air or by travelling through Armenia. Nearly half a million Azerbaijanis live here. The Nagorno-Karabakh region has long been disputed between Armenia and Azerbaijan, but in recent times Azerbaijan has claimed full control of Nagorno-Karabakh.[3]

History of Azerbaijan

Ruins of the gates of ancient Qabala

Azerbaijan lies near some of the oldest centers of advanced civilizations in the world. Several cultures here in the third and second millennia BCE were influenced by developments further south in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq). By the first millennium BCE it was being absorbed into empires emanating from Mesopotamia and Persia (modern-day Iran). The region was recognized as a distinct one with its own people and culture along the shores of the Caspian Sea in Greek and Roman times. It was known as Albania at that time, often referred to as Caucasian Albania by historians today to distinguish it from Balkan Albania. These Caucasian Albanians had their capital at Qabala, the ancient gates of which are still standing today.[4]

From late antiquity onwards vast changes occurred here. Caucasian Albania was absorbed into the Achaemenid Persian, Parthian and then Sassanid Persian Empires between the sixth century BCE and the sixth century CE. It is from this period that the name Azerbaijan derives, ultimately meaning ‘The Land of Holy Fire’ in Persian, though the application of the name has only widely occurred since the twentieth century. Like the rest of the Persian state it was in turn conquered during the Arab conquests of the seventh century CE. This brought Islam to the western coast of the Caspian Sea and it has remained a Muslim-dominated region ever since.[5]

Azerbaijan or Caucasian Albania continued to be ruled by the Arab Caliphate for centuries to come. In subsequent centuries its overlord changed many times between the Seljuk Turks, the Mongols, the Persians again and finally the Russians, who conquered much of the Caucasus region in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Azerbaijan was subsequently amalgamated into the Soviet Union and only acquired its independence in 1991. Today it is an emerging regional power, with the largest population of the states of the Caucasus and growing revenue from oil and gas resources.[6]

Geography of Azerbaijan

File:Baku Flame Towers.jpg
The Flame Towers of Baku

Azerbaijan is a country with a mixed geography. There are mountainous regions coming down from the Armenian Highlands, punctuated by lowlands and steep gradients in between. Much of the country is dry, arid and desert-like, though with the entire east of the country lying along the coast of the Caspian Sea. Azerbaijan also includes several islands in the Caspian Sea. It is bordered to the north by the Russian Federation, to the west by Georgia and Armenia and to the south by Iran. The Nakkchivan Autonomous Region is further west again and is cut off from the rest of Azerbaijan via the southward extension of Armenia to the border with Iran. Baku is by far the largest city, with a population of 2.6 million people and 3.6 million in the metro area. It is also a major regional hub for the production of oil and gas and Azerbaijan’s wealth has been growing owing to fossil fuel resources since independence.[7]

Researching Family History in Azerbaijan

There are numerous archives and research libraries in Azerbaijan that have collections relevant for the study of Azerbaijani family history and genealogy. They are as follows:

The National Archive Department of Azerbaijan, Baku – The National Archive Department is the officially repository of government and official documentation in Azerbaijan and contains a wealth of demographic and genealogical material relevant to the study of family history in Azerbaijan.[8]

The National Library of Azerbaijan, Baku – The National Library of Azerbaijan is located in Baku and was founded in 1923. It is one of the largest research libraries in the Caucasus.[9]

MyHeritage provides access to over 1.3 million military records pertaining to the lands of the Russian Empire during the First World War, including Azerbaijan.

A major imperial census of the Russian Empire was carried out between 1897 and 1905, including parts of Azerbaijan, and is of great use for genealogical studies, though unfortunately many of the original records are now lost and fragmentary.[10]

Azerbaijani surnames

There are a number of very common surnames in Azerbaijan. These are as follows:

  • Mammadova – Over 320,000 Azerbaijanis, or nearly one in every thirty people in the country, have this surname. ‘Mammad’ is a regional variant of Muhammad, while ‘dova’ is a patronymic, so Mammadova effectively means ‘son of Muhammad'.
  • Mammadov – Held by nearly 300,000 people, this is simply the feminine equivalent of Mammadova.
  • Aliyeva – Another patronymic indicating a line of descent from ‘Ali’. Like ‘son of Muhammad’, it has a religious significance as Ali was the recognized successor of the prophet Muhammad amongst Shia Muslims, who are dominant in Azerbaijan.
  • Aliyev – The feminine equivalent of Aliyeva. Approximately a quarter of a million people hold the surname Aliyeva and a similar number are Aliyev. Thus, well over a million Azerbaijanis are effectively called ‘son of’ or ‘daughter of’ ‘Muhammad’ or ‘Ali’.[11]
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