The City of Winds ( az, Küləklər şəhəri) is an unofficial, literary name for

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...

, mainly because it is windy throughout most of the year. The name derives from the ancient

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

name of this locality: بادکوبه (Bādkube, lit. "pounding winds"). There are two winds common to Baku: cold and rough Khazri, and mild and gentle Gilavar. The former is associated with negativeness, while the latter is associated with goodness, forming an important chain in Azerbaijani mythology and beliefs that is related to the struggle of Good and Evil. Despite having one of the dirtiest chemical industry centres of the former

Soviet Union 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 national ...

in one of its suburbs,

Sumqayit Sumgait (; az, Sumqayıt, ) is a city in Azerbaijan, located near the Caspian Sea, on the Absheron Peninsula, about away from the capital Baku. The city has a population of around 345,300, making it the second largest city in Azerbaijan after Bak ...

, the air of Baku remains relatively clean since the winds dissipate the pollution.

References

{{Reflist Culture in Baku City nicknames

See also

References