Azerbaijan

I was looking through a list of the countries apart of the USSR and I thought I would look more into Azerbaijan.

About the size of Maine, Azerbaijan is located underneath Russia, between Armenia and Georgia and the Caspian sea. It borders Iran in the south. Originally the area was known as Caucasian Albania, but it was eventually conquered by the Turks and became known as Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijani language is based on Turkish and is intelligible by Turks. During the period when Azerbaijan was controlled by the Turks, Turkish displaced the endemic Persian, Arabic, and Caucasian languages. When Azerbaijan join the USSR, the temporarily switched to the Cyrillic alphabet, but switched back to the Latin once they established their independence. Both the Latin and Cyrillic alphabets are in use today as well as the old Perso-Arabic script.

The name "Azerbaijan" is derived from the Persian satrap, Atropates. Atropates is a Greek transliteration meaning "protected by the holy fire." Alexander the Great allowed Atropates to reign over the area of Azerbaijan during his rule.

Nine out of eleven climate zones can be found in Azerbaijan from its unique location. The Greater Caucasus mountains block the northern arctic air masses creating a subtropical climate in some areas. They feature rare Jeyran gazelles and Caucasus goats as well as sturgeon and salmon. Azerbaijan is also known for its Golden Eagles, which can be found on a variety of Azerbaijani stamps.

The largest city is Baku with approximately 2 million people. Between 93 and 96% of the population is Muslims, the rest being Russian or Armenian Orthodox and various other minorities. Below is five finger mountain in Absheron, Azerbaijan. Also below is a Golden Eagle.





















Above is Khinalaug in Quba Rayon, Azerbaijan, an ancient village of Caucasian Albania.


Below are the mountains near Tingalty in Quba.