The Azerbaijan–Georgia border ( az, Azərbaycan–Gürcüstan sərhədi, ka, აზერბაიჯან-საქართველოს საზღვარი, tr) is the international boundary between

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...

and

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. It is 428 km (266 m) in length and runs from the

tripoint A tripoint, trijunction, triple point, or tri-border area is a geographical point at which the boundaries of three countries or subnational entities meet. There are 175 international tripoints as of 2020. Nearly half are situated in rivers, l ...

with

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ' ...

in the west to the tripoint with

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

in the east.

Description

The border starts in the west at the tripoint with Armenia and proceeds overland to the north-east, cutting through

Jandari Lake __NOTOC__ Jandari Lake ( ka, ჯანდარის ტბა; az, Candargöl) is a lake on the Azerbaijan–Georgia border, it is located in south-east Georgia and north-west Azerbaijan, at 291,4 metres above sea level. The area of surface is 1 ...

, before turning to the south-east down to the vicinity of Azerbaijan's

Mingachevir reservoir The Mingachevir reservoir ( az, Mingəçevir su anbarı) or The Mingachevir sea ( az, Mingəçevir dənizi),) is a large reservoir in northwestern Azerbaijan. It is the largest reservoir in the Caucasus. The reservoir's filling began in 1953 and w ...

. It then utilises the

Alazani The Alazani ( ka, ალაზანი, az, Qanıx) is a river that flows through the Caucasus. It is the main tributary of the Kura in eastern Georgia, and flows for . Part of its path forms the border between Georgia and Azerbaijan, before i ...

river as it flows north-east and then north-west, leaving the river due east of Tsnori and proceeding overland to the Russian tripoint.

History

During the 19th the Caucasus region was contested between the declining

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

and

, which was expanding southwards. Russia formally annexed the eastern Georgian

Kingdom of Kartli and Kakheti The Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti ( ka, ქართლ-კახეთის სამეფო, tr) (1762–1801 ) was created in 1762 by the unification of two eastern Georgian kingdoms of Kartli and Kakheti. From the early 16th century, accor ...

in 1801, followed by the western Georgian

Kingdom of Imereti The Kingdom of Imereti ( ka, იმერეთის სამეფო, tr) was a Georgian monarchy established in 1455 by a member of the house of Bagrationi when the Kingdom of Georgia was dissolved into rival kingdoms. Before that time, Im ...

in 1804. Over the course of the 1800s Russian pushed its southern frontier southwards, at the expense of the Persian and Ottoman Empires. By the

Russo-Persian War (1804–1813) The 1804–1813 Russo-Persian War was one of the many wars between the Persian Empire and Imperial Russia, and began like many of their wars as a territorial dispute. The new Persian king, Fath Ali Shah Qajar, wanted to consolidate the north ...

and the subsequent

Treaty of Gulistan The Treaty of Gulistan (russian: Гюлистанский договор; fa, عهدنامه گلستان) was a peace treaty concluded between the Russian Empire and Iran on 24 October 1813 in the village of Gulistan (now in the Goranboy Distr ...

, Russia acquired the bulk of what is now Azerbaijan and parts of Armenia. Russia organised its Georgian and Azeri territories into the governorates of

Tiflis Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million pe ...

, Kutaisi, Baku, Elisabethpol. Following the 1917 Russian Revolution, the peoples of the southern Caucasus had declared the

Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic The Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic (TDFR; (), (). 22 April – 28 May 1918) was a short-lived state in the Caucasus that included most of the territory of the present-day Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, as well as pa ...

(TDFR) in 1918 and started peace talks with the Ottomans. (Armenian Perspective) (Turkish Perspective) Internal disagreements led to

leaving the federation in May 1918, followed shortly thereafter by

and

, however the borders between the three republic were contested. The dispute between Azerbaijan and Georgia centred on the area of Zakatal Okrug (Zaqatala) within the former Tiflis Governorate. When Russia recognised the independence of Georgia via the

Treaty of Moscow (1920) The Treaty of Moscow (russian: Московский договор, ''Moskovskiy dogovor''; ka, მოსკოვის ხელშეკრულება, ''moskovis khelshekruleba''), signed between Soviet Russia (RSFSR) and the Democratic R ...

, it recognised Georgian ownership of Zakatal, prompting protests by the Azeri government. Lang, DM (1962). ''A Modern History of Georgia'', p. 226. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. In May 1920 it was agreed that a Russian-sponsored delimitation would decide the fate of the area. Much of the border was agreed upon at peace talks held on 12 June 1920, with Zaqatala to be decided by the Russian-led commission. In 1920 Russia's

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...

invaded Azerbaijan and

, ending the independence of both, followed in February–March 1921 by Georgia. On 5 July 1921 Russia confirmed that the non-disputed sections of the Azeri-Georgian border would remain as they were, whilst transferring Zakatal to Azerbaijan, with this arrangement finalised by treaty on 15 November 1921. In 1922 all three states were incorporated into the

Transcaucasian SFSR , conventional_long_name = Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic , common_name = Transcaucasian SFSR , p1 = Armenian Soviet Socialist RepublicArmenian SSR , flag_p1 = Flag of SSRA ...

within the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

, before being separated in 1936. The boundary became an international frontier in 1991 following the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the independence of its constituent republics. Work began in 1994 on the delimitation of the border but progress has been slow due to overlapping claims. Part of the border around the Red Bridge remains mined, a legacy of the First Nagorno-Karabakh War in the 1990s when Azerbaijan feared that Armenia would take advantage of chaos in Georgia's and utilise the area to launch attacks on its territory. The site of the

David Gareja monastery complex David Gareja ( ka, დავითგარეჯის სამონასტრო კომპლექსი) is a rock-hewn Georgian Orthodox monastery complex located in the Kakheti region of Eastern Georgia, on the half-desert slopes o ...

, a sacred site to Georgians which sits directly by the border, has proven especially contentious. There is a sizeable Azeri minority in Georgia, concentrated especially in the southern municipalities of

Kvemo Kartli Kvemo Kartli ( ka, ქვემო ქართლი, az, Aşağı Kartli) or "Lower Kartli", is a historic province and current administrative region ( mkhare) in southeastern Georgia. The city of Rustavi is the regional capital. Location K ...

region,Jonathan Wheatley. ''Obstacles Impeding the Regional Integration of the Kvemo Kartli region of Georgia''. European Centre for Minority Issues Working Paper #23. February 20052014 Georgian General Population Census - Demographic And Social Characteristics
. Retrieved 21 May 2017. as well as a Georgian minority in Azerbaijan, concentrated especially in the Saingilo region where they are known as Ingiloys.