Prehistoric Azerbaijan

The history of Azerbaijan is understood as the history of the region now forming the Republic of Azerbaijan. Topographically, the land is contained by the southern slopes of the Caucasus Mountains in the north, the Caspian Sea in the east, and the Armenian Highlands in the west. In the south, its natural boundaries are less distinct, and here the country merges with the Iranian Plateau.

The entity of Caucasian Albania was established on its soil in ancient times. The Caucasian Albanian language spoken by the founders of Caucasian Albania was most likely a predecessor of the now endangered Udi language spoken by the Udi people. From the time of the Medes and the Achaemenid Empire, until the coming of the Russians in the 19th century, the territories of the republic of Azerbaijan and Iran usually shared the same history. Azerbaijan retained its Iranian character even after the Arab conquest of Iran and the conversion of the area's inhabitants to Islam. Some four centuries later, Oghuz Turkic tribes under the Seljuq dynasty entered the area, and Azerbaijan gained a large amount of Turkic inhabitants. Over the centuries, as the original population mingled with the immigrant Turkic nomads, the number of native Persian speakers gradually diminished, and a Turkic dialect nowadays known as Azerbaijani (or Azeri Turkic) gained hold.

One of the regional dynasties, the Shirvanshahs, after becoming a state under the roof of the Timurid Empire, they helped the Timurids in the war against the Golden Horde State. After Timur's death, two Turkic independent and rival states emerged in the region, namely Qara Qoyunlu and Aq Qoyunlu. The Shirvanshahs, on the other hand, became independent again in this process and strengthened their local governments.

After the Russo-Persian wars of 1804–1813 and 1826–1828, Qajar Iran was forced to cede its Caucasian territories to the Russian Empire; the treaties of Gulistan in 1813 and Turkmenchay in 1828 defined the border between Czarist Russia and Qajar Iran.
The region north of the Aras was Iranian until it was occupied by Russia during the 19th century. According to the Treaty of Turkmenchay, Qajar Iran recognized Russian sovereignty over the Erivan, Nakhchivan and Talysh Khanates (the last parts of Azerbaijan still in Iranian hands).

In the ensuing period, in post-Iranian Russian-held East Caucasia, an Azerbaijani national identity emerged at the end of the 19th century. After more than 80 years of being part of the Russian Empire in the Caucasus, the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was established in 1918. The name "Azerbaijan", adopted by the ruling Musavat Party for political reasons, had been used to identify the adjacent region of northwestern Iran. Azerbaijan was invaded by Soviet forces in 1920, which led to the establishment of the Azerbaijan SSR. In the early Soviet period, the Azerbaijani national identity was finally forged. Azerbaijan remained under Soviet rule until the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, after which the independent Republic of Azerbaijan was proclaimed. Hostile relations with the neighboring Armenia and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict have been focal points within Azerbaijani politics since independence.

Prehistory

Azerbaijani prehistory includes the Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages. The Stone Age is divided into three periods: Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic.

Paleolithic

The Paleolithic is divided into three periods: lower, middle, and upper. It began with the first human habitation in the region and lasted until the 12th millennium BCE.

The Azykh Cave in Khojavend District is the site of one of Eurasia's oldest archaic-human habitations. Remnants of pre- Acheulean culture at least 700,000 years old were found in the lowest layers of the cave. In 1968, Mammadali Huseynov discovered a 300,000-year-old partial jawbone of an early human in its Acheulean-age layer; it was the oldest human remains ever discovered in the Soviet Union.

Azerbaijan's lower Paleolithic, known for its Guruchay culture, has features similar to the culture of Tanzania's Olduvai Gorge. The Paleolithic is also represented by finds at Aveidag, Tağlar and Damjily Caves, Zar, Yatagery, Dash Salakhly, Qazma and other sites.

Mesolithic

The Mesolithic, which lasted from approximately 12,000 to 8,000 BCE, is represented by caves in Gobustan National Park (near Baku) and Damjili (in Qazakh District). Rock carvings in Gobustan depict hunting, fishing, work and dancing. Petroglyphs dating from 8,000 to 5,000 years ago depict long boats (similar to Viking ships), indicating a connection with Continental Europe and the Mediterranean Sea.

Neolithic

The Neolithic, during the seventh and sixth millennia BCE, is represented by the Shulaveri-Shomu culture in Agstafa District; finds at Damjili, Gobustan, Kultepe (in Nakhchivan) and Toyretepe, and the Neolithic Revolution in agriculture.

Chalcolithic

The Chalcolithic (or Eneolithic), from the sixth to the fourth millennium BCE, was the period of transition from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age. The Caucasus Mountains are rich in copper ore, facilitating the development of copper smelting in Azerbaijan. A number of Chalcolithic settlements in Shomutepe, Toyratepe, Jinnitepe, Kultepe, Alikomektepe and IIanlitepe have been discovered, and carbon-dated artifacts indicate that inhabitants built homes, made copper tools and arrowheads, and were familiar with non-irrigated agriculture.

Bronze and Iron Ages

The Bronze Age began in the second half of the fourth millennium BCE and ended in the second half of the second millennium BC in Azerbaijan, and the Iron Age began in about the seven and sixth centuries BCE. The Bronze Age is divided into three eras (early, middle and late), and have been studied in Nakhchivan, Ganja, Mingachevir and Dashkasan District.

The early Bronze Age is characterized by the Kura–Araxes culture, and the middle Bronze Age by painted earthenware or pottery culture. The late Bronze Age is demonstrated in Nakhchivan and by the Khojali-Gadabay and Talish-Mugan cultures.

Research in 1890 by Jacques de Morgan in the mountains of Talysh, near Lankaran, revealed over 230 late-Bronze and early-Iron Age burials. E. Rösler discovered late-Bronze Age materials in Karabakh and Ganja between 1894 and 1903. J. Hummel conducted research from 1930 to 1941 in Goygol District and Karabakh at sites known as Barrows I and II and other late-Bronze Age sites.

Archaeologist Walter Crist of the American Museum of Natural History discovered a 4,000-year-old, Bronze Age version of hounds and jackals in Gobustan National Park in 2018. The game, popular in Egypt, Mesopotamia and Anatolia at the time, was identified in the tomb of Egyptian pharaoh Amenemhat IV.

Caucasian Albanians may be the earliest known inhabitants of Azerbaijan.Historical Dictionary Early invaders included the Scythians during the 9th century BCE.Azerbaijan
– ''US Library of Congress Country Studies'' (retrieved 7 June 2006). The South Caucasus became part of the Achaemenid Empire around 550 BCE, and Zoroastrianism spread in Azerbaijan.

Antiquity

The Achaemenids were defeated by Alexander the Great in 330 BCE. After the 247 BCE fall of the Seleucid Empires in Persia, the Kingdom of Armenia ruled portions of what is today Azerbaijan from 190 BCE to 428 CE."Armenia-Ancient Period"
– ''US Library of Congress Country Studies'' (retrieved 23 June 2006)Strabo, "Geography"
– ''Perseus Digital Library'', Tufts University (retrieved 24 June 2006). The Arsacid dynasty of Armenia was a branch of the Parthian Empire, and Caucasian Albania (present-day Azerbaijan and Dagestan) was under Parthian rule for the next several centuries. The Caucasian Albanians established a kingdom in the 1st century BCE, primarily remaining a semi-independent vassal state until the Parthians were deposed in 252 and the kingdom became a province of the Sasanian Empire.p. 38 Caucasian Albania's King Urnayr adopted Christianity as the state religion during the fourth century, and Albania was a Christian state until the eighth century."Albania"
– ''Encyclopaedia Iranica'', vol. I, p. 807 (retrieved 15 June 2006).
– ''Azerbaijan International'', Summer 2002 (retrieved 7 June 2006). Although it was subordinate to Sasanid Persia, Caucasian Albania retained its monarchy.Nevertheless, "despite being one of the chief vassals of Sasanian '' Shahanshah'', the Albanian king had only a semblance of authority, and the Sassanid marzban (military governor) held most civil, religious, and military authority. Sasanid control ended with its 642 defeat by the Rashidun Caliphate"Islamic Conquest." in the Muslim conquest of Persia.

The migration and settlement of Eurasian and Central Asian nomads has been a regional pattern in the history of the Caucasus from the Sassanid-Persian era to the 20th-century emergence of the Azerbaijani Turks. Among the Iranian nomads were the Scythians, Alans and Cimmerians, and the Khazars and Huns made incursions during the Hunnic and Khazar eras. Derbent was fortified during the Sasanid era to block nomads from beyond the North Caucasus pass who did not establish permanent settlements.pp. 385–386

Achaemenid and Seleucid rule

After the overthrow of the Median Empire, Azerbaijan was invaded by the Persian king Cyrus the Great in the 6th century BCE and integrated into the Achaemenid empire. This early Persian rule enabled the rise of Zoroastrianism and other Persian cultural influences. Many Caucasian Albanians came to be known as fire worshippers, a Zoroastrian practice.

The Achaemenid Empire lasted for over 250 years before it was conquered by Alexander the Great, leading to the rise of Hellenistic culture throughout the former Persian empire. The Seleucid Greeks inherited the Caucasus after Alexander's death in 323 BCE, but were beset by pressure from Rome, secessionist Greeks in Bactria, and the Parni: a nomadic East Iranian tribe who made inroads into the northeastern Seleucid domain from the late 4th to the 3rd century BCE; this allowed local Caucasian tribes to establish an independent kingdom for the first time since the Median invasion.

Caucasian Albania, Parthians, and Sasanian conquest

The Albanian kingdom coalesced around a Caucasian identity to forge a state in a region of empire-states. During the second or first century BCE the Armenians curtailed the southern Albanian territories and conquered Karabakh and Utik, inhabited by Albanian tribes who included the Utians, Gargarians and Caspians.Vladimir Minorsky. ''A History of Sharvān and Darband in the 10th–11th Centuries''. At this time, the border between Albania and Armenia was the Kura.

As the region became an arena of wars when the Roman and Parthian Empires began to expand, most of Albania was briefly dominated by Roman legions under Pompey; the south was controlled by the Parthians. A rock carving of what is believed to be the easternmost Roman inscription, by Legio XII Fulminata during the reign of Domitian, survives just south-west of Baku in Gobustan. Caucasian Albania then came fully under Parthian rule.

In 252–253, Caucasian Albania was conquered and annexed by the Sasanian Empire. A vassal state, it retained its monarchy; the Albanian king had no real power, however, and most civil, religious, and military authority was held by the Sasanid marzban. After the Sasanid victory over Rome in 260, the victory and the annexation of Albania and Atropatene were described in a trilingual inscription by Shapur I at Naqsh-e Rostam.

Urnayr (343-371), related by marriage to Shapur II (309-379), held power in Albania. With a somewhat-independent foreign policy, he allied with the Sasanian Shapur. According to Ammianus Marcellinus, the Albanians provided military forces (particularly cavalry) to Shapur's armies in their attacks against Rome. The siege of Amida (359) ended in a Sasanian victory, and some Albanian regions were returned. Marcellinus noted that the Albanian cavalry played a role in the siege similar to that of the Xionites, and the Albanians were commended for their alliance with Shapur:

Close by him �apur IIon the left went Grumbates, king of the Chionitae, a man of moderate strength, it is true, and with shriveled limbs, but of certain greatness of mind and distinguished by the glory of many victories. On the right was the king of the Albani, of equal rank, high in honour

After the 387 division of Armenia between Byzantium and Persia, the Albanian kings regained control of the provinces of Uti and Artsakh (south of the Kur) when the Sasanian kings rewarded them for their loyalty to Persia.

Medieval Armenian historians such as Movses Khorenatsi and Movses Kaghankatvatsi wrote that the Albanians were converted to Christianity during the fourth century by Gregory the Illuminator of Armenia.Moses Khorenatsi. ''History of the Armenians'', translated from Old Armenian by Robert W. Thomson. Harvard University Press, 1978 Urnayr accepted Christianity, was baptised by Gregory, and declared Christianity his kingdom's official religion.

The Mihranids (630-705) arrived in Albania from Gardman during the early seventh century. Partav (now Barda) was the dynasty's administrative centre. According to M. Kalankatli, the dynasty was founded by Mehran (570-590) and Varaz Grigor (628-642) assumed the title of "prince of Albania".

Partav was Albania's capital city during the reign of Grigor's son, Javanshir (642-681), who demonstrated his allegiance early to Sasanian shah Yazdegerd III (632-651). He led the Albanian army as its ''sparapet'' from 636 to 642. Despite the Arab victory in the 637 battle of Kadissia, Javanshir fought as an ally of the Sasanians. After the 651 fall of the Sasanian Empire to an Arab caliphate, he shifted his allegiance to the Byzantine Empire three years later. Constans II protected Javanshir, who defeated the Khazars near the Kura in 662. Three years later the Khazars successfully attacked Albania, which became its tributary in exchange for the return of captives and cattle. Javanshir established diplomatic relations with the caliphate to protect his country from invasion via the Caspian Sea, meeting with Muawiyah I in Damascus in 667 and 670, and Albania's taxes were reduced. Javanshir was assassinated in 681 by rival Byzantine nobles. After his death, the Khazars again attacked Albania; Arab troops entered in 705 and put Javanshir's last heir to death in Damascus, ending the Mihrani dynasty and beginning caliphate rule.

Middle Ages

Islamic conquest

Muslim Arabs defeated the Sasanian and Byzantine Empires as they marched into the Caucasus, making Caucasian Albania a vassal state after Javanshir's 667 surrender.p. 71 Between the ninth and 10th centuries, Arab authors began calling the region between the Kura and Aras "Arran".p. 20 Arabs from Basra and Kufa came to Azerbaijan, seizing abandoned lands.

At the beginning of the eighth century, Azerbaijan was the centre of the caliphate–Khazar–Byzantine wars. In 722–723, the Khazars attacked Arab Transcaucasian territory. An Arabian army led by Al-Jarrah ibn Abdallah drove the Khazars back across the Caucasus. Al-Jarrah fought his way north along the west Caspian coast, recovering Derbent and advancing with his army to the Khazar capital of Balanjar, captured the capital of the Khazar khanate and placed prisoners around Gabala. Then al-Jarrah returned to Sheki.

During the ninth century, the Abbasid Caliphate dealt with uprisings against Arab rule. The Khurramites, led by Babak Khorramdin, staged a persistent revolt. Babak's victories over Arab generals were associated with his seizure of Babak Fort, according to Arab historians who said that his influence extended to Azerbaijan: "southward to near Ardabil and Marand, eastward to the Caspian Sea and the Shamakhi district and Shervan, northward to the Muqan (Moḡan) steppe and the Aras riverbank, westward to the districts of Jolfa, Nakjavan, and Marand".

Feudal states in IX-XI centuries

After the decline of the Abbasid Caliphate, the territory of the contemporary Azerbaijan Republic was ruled by dynasties which included the Iranian Shaddadids, Shirvanshahs and the Salarid, Sajid, and Buyid dynasties.

The Shirvanshahs

Shirvanshah, Shīrwān ShāhBarthold, W., C.E. Bosworth "Shirwan Shah, Sharwan Shah". ''Encyclopaedia of Islam'' Edited by P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs. Brill, 2nd edition or Sharwān Shāh, was the title of the rulers of Shirvan: a Persianized dynasty of Arab origin. The Shirvanshahs maintained a high degree of autonomy as local rulers and vassals from 861 to 1539, a continuity which lasted longer than any other dynasty in the Islamic world.

V.F Minorsky in his book titled "A History of Sharvan and Darband in the 10th–11th Centuries" distinguishes four dynasties of Shirvanshahs; l. The Shirvanshahs, (the Sassanids designated them for the protection of northern frontier); 2. Mazyadids, 3. Kasranids; 4.Derbent Shirvanshahs or Derbent dynasty.

At the end of the 10th - beginning of the 11th century they began wars with Derbent (this rivalry lasted for centuries), and in the 1030's they had to repel the raids of the Rus, and Alans.

The last ruler of the Mazyadid was Yazid ibn Ahmad, and from 1027 to 1382, the Kasranids dynasty began to rule the Shirvanshahs. In 1032 and 1033, the alans attacked the territory of Shamakhi, but were defeated by the troops of the Shirvanshahs. The Kasranid dynasty ruled the state independently until 1066 when the Seljuk tribes came to the territory of Azerbaijan, Shirvanshah I Fariburz accepted dependence on them, preserving internal independence.

Shirvan was reportedly independent during two periods: under the legendary sultan Manuchehr and Akhsitan I (who built Baku), and under the 15th-century House of Derbent. Between the 13th and 14th centuries, the Shirvanshahs were vassals of the Mongol and Timurid empires.

The Shirvanshahs Khalilullah I and Farrukh Yassar presided over a stable period during the mid-15th century, and Baku's Palace of the Shirvanshahs (which includes mausoleums) and the Khalwati Sufi khanqah were built during their reign. The Shirvanshahs were Sunnis, and opposed to the Shia Islam of the Safavid order

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