Goychay ( az, Göyçay, russian: Геокчай) is a city, municipality and the capital of the
Goychay District of
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 th ...
. The municipality includes the city of Goychay and the nearby village of
Qızılqaya.
As of December 2016 the urban population of Goychay was estimated at 42,500, an increase of around 20% since 2004 when the population was recorded as being 35,344.
History
The settlement dates back to the late 1850s following the devastating 1859 earthquake in
Shemakha, though the town was only officially incorporated as such in 1916. Goychay was the administrative center of the
Geokchay Uyezd
The Geokchay ''uezd'' was a county ('' uezd'') of the Baku Governorate of the Russian Empire and then of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and Azerbaijan SSR until its formal abolishment in 1929. The ''uezd ''was located in the central part of t ...
of the
Baku Governorate. During the Soviet era, the city was often known by its Russian pronunciation as used in the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended th ...
, Geokchay.
On 2 June 2018 the main bridge carrying the M4 highway across the Goychay River near the city's Olympic Centre was washed away, leading to criminal accusations against several business leaders associated with its construction.
Climate
Göyçay has a
semi-arid climate
A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi- ...
(
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...
: ''BSk'').
Notable natives
*
Anvar Mammadkhanli
Anvar Gafar oglu Mammadkhanli ( az, Ənvər Qafar oğlu Məmməmədxanlı; 6 February 1913 – 19 December 1990) was a prominent writer and screenwriter, script writer, translator and art worker. Anvar Mammadkhanli since 1938 is a member of Azer ...
— writer, Honored Art Worker of Azerbaijan SSR.
*
Mirza Khazar — prominent radio journalist, essayist, translator of the Bible in
Azeri language
Azerbaijani () or Azeri (), also referred to as Azeri Turkic or Azeri Turkish, is a Turkic language from the Oghuz sub-branch spoken primarily by the Azerbaijani people, who live mainly in the Republic of Azerbaijan where the North Azerbaij ...
.
*
Rasul Rza — writer, People's Poet of Azerbaijan (1960).
*
Rauf Atakishiyev – singer, pianist, People's Artist of Azerbaijan (1967).
*
Sadykh bey Aghabekov — general in the Russian Imperial Army, founder and reformer of Azerbaijani Police, Major General, Orientalist.
Twin towns – sister cities
Goychay is
twinned
Twinning (making a twin of) may refer to:
* In biology and agriculture, producing two offspring (i.e., twins) at a time, or having a tendency to do so;
* Twin towns and sister cities, towns and cities involved in town twinning
* Twinning inst ...
with:
*
Lida, Belarus
*
Valmontone, Italy (2014)
References
External links
*
Populated places in Goychay District
Baku Governorate
{{Goychay-geo-stub