Naftalan is a city in

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

, known as a medical touristic center. It is located on an agricultural plain near the Lesser

Caucasus Mountains The Caucasus Mountains * * Azerbaijani: , * * * * * * * * * * * is a mountain range at the intersection of Asia and Europe. Stretching between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, they are surrounded by the Caucasus region ...

. The word ''naftalan'' also means a petroleum product that can be obtained there. It is the centre of a

petroleum industry The petroleum industry, also known as the oil industry, includes the global processes of hydrocarbon exploration, exploration, extraction of petroleum, extraction, oil refinery, refining, Petroleum transport, transportation (often by oil tankers ...

, with a grade of oil referred to as "Naftalan".Dr. D. Y. Huseinov and Dr. A. I. Rustamov
Naftalan: The Oil that Heals
''Azerbaijan International'', (3.4) Winter 1995, ''Accessed on December 4, 2006'' The city is located approximately 330 kilometers west of Baku, 50 kilometers from Ganja city, and 40 kilometers from

Mingachevir Mingachevir ( ) is the fourth largest city in Azerbaijan with a population of about 106,000. It is often called the "city of lights" because of its hydroelectric power station on the Kura (South Caucasus river), Kura River, which divides the city ...

city. It is 225 meters above sea level and experiences a warm spring and mild winter climate, with an average annual temperature of approximately +14.8 degrees Celsius. The city covers an area of 35.73 square kilometers.

Etymology

The word ''Naftalan'', can be traced to the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

word "

naphtha Naphtha (, recorded as less common or nonstandard in all dictionaries: ) is a flammable liquid hydrocarbon mixture. Generally, it is a fraction of crude oil, but it can also be produced from natural-gas condensates, petroleum distillates, and ...

" ("νάφθα"), meaning pertaining to

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) and lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturate ...

, and the Azerbaijani suffix "-alan", which is of the verb "to take" (and literally meaning "oil buyer").Eldar Abbasov
Naftalan - The Miracle Oil: Azerbaijan's Therapeutic Oil
''Azerbaijan International'', (10.2) Summer 2002, ''Accessed on December 4, 2006''

History

Archaeological findings in the region date to the 12th century AD. Naftalan city was functioning as a settlement within the Goranboy and Yevlakh districts until 1967. On April 28, 1967, Naftalan was granted the status of the subordinate city. The city of Naftalan consists of a city and two villages. The base of Naftalan city is Sanatorium - Resort infrastructure. Naftalan Resort has been operating since 1933. In 1938, the Naftalan Experimental Laboratory was established in the Azerbaijan Scientific-Research Institute of Medical Rehabilitation. The biological and therapeutic effects of the Naftalan oil began to be studied there. Also, in 1965, Scientific Research Laboratory was established in Naftalan. In the 2010s, the number of hotels increased in the city after the Azerbaijani government's tourism policy.

Geography

Naftalan city is located 330 km west of

Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

, 50 km from

Ganja ''Ganja'' (, ; ) is one of the oldest and most commonly used synonyms for cannabis flower, specifically marijuana or hashish. Its usage in English dates to before 1689. Etymology ''Ganja'' is borrowed from Hindi (, IPA: �aːɲd͡ʒa� ...

in the foothills of the Lesser Caucasus Mountains. It's located at an altitude of 225 m above sea level. The spring is warm, the winter is soft here. The average annual temperature is +14.8 degrees. The wind in Naftalan is mainly

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in Atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annu ...

. The city's territory is 35.73 km².

Demographics

According to the 1999

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

, the population in Naftalan was 7,551. As of 2017, the population of the city is 8718 persons. ''Ethnic Groups Population (1979 census)'' * Azerbaijanis 3,245 (90.6%) *

Tatars Tatars ( )Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary are a group of Turkic peoples across Eas ...

6 (0.2%) * Russians 136 (3.8%) * Armenians 182 (5.1%) *

Lezgins Lezgins ( or ) are a Northeast Caucasian ethnic group native to southern Dagestan, a republic of Russia, and northern Azerbaijan, who speak the Lezgin language. Their social structure is firmly based on equality and deference to individuality ...

7 (0.2%)

Economy

Petroleum spas

The area is home to

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring un ...

spas (or "oil spas"), that were popular vacation spots of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

.Andrew E. Kramer
Bathing in Black Gold for Health and Profit in Azerbaijan
''The New York Times'', December 4, 2006. At the height of their Soviet-era popularity, the spas in Naftalan had 75,000 visitors a year. The combination of the

First Nagorno-Karabakh War The First Nagorno-Karabakh War was an ethnic conflict, ethnic and territorial conflict that took place from February 1988 to May 1994, in the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in southwestern Azerbaijan, between the majority ethnic Armenians of Nag ...

and the end of Soviet-sponsored free trips brought the industry to its knees in the late-1980s. All but one of the older spas were converted into

refugee A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

housing. The remaining spa, the Naftalan Therapeutic Center, had 1,000-beds. The number of domestic and foreign tourists coming to Naftalan, which had a capacity of about 2,200 tourists a day, has increased by 5–6 times in 2016 and reached 30,000. the city has again become a major destination for health tourism.

Culture

There are two Houses of Culture that promote national traditions. Also, there is the Naftalan Museum and Music School. There are four parks in the city of Naftalan.

Education

There are three general education schools and one Children's Creative Center in the city.

Transport

Naftalan resort city can be reached by car or train from Baku and Ganja cities. The closest route for foreign visitors is the flight to Ganja International Airport.

Governance

The administrative authority of Naftalan city is overseen by the Head of the Executive Power of Naftalan, who is responsible for its governance. Over the years, there have been several individuals who have held the position of the city's head since 2004: # Sadigov Fizuli Vali oghlu (2004–2006) # Musayev Musa Hazi oghlu (2006–2010) # Aslanov Natiq Musa oghlu (2010–2018) # İbrahimov Rovshan Huseyn oghlu (2018–2019) # Novruzov Vugar Vahid oghlu (2019–present)

Sister cities

Naftalan is twinned with: *

L'Aigle L'Aigle is a commune in the Orne department in Normandy in northwestern France. Before 1961, the commune was known as ''Laigle''. According to Orderic Vitalis, the nest of an eagle (''aigle'' in French) was discovered during the construction ...

, France (2013) *

Positano Positano ( ; in Neapolitan language, Neapolitan: () is a village and ''comune'' on the Amalfi Coast (Province of Salerno), in Campania, Italy, mainly in an enclave in the hills leading down to the coast. History The first evidence of a settle ...

, Italy (2013) * Yessentuki, Russia (2014) * Uniejów, Poland (2014) *

Ivanić-Grad Ivanić-Grad or Ivanić Grad () is a town in Zagreb County, Croatia. Geography Ivanić-Grad is located south-east from Zagreb, connected: * by highway A3 (Bregana-Zagreb-Ivanić-Grad-Slavonski Brod-Lipovac) * by train on direction Zagreb - Sl ...

, Croatia (2023)

References

External links

Naftalan: Azerbaijan's Therapeutic Oil by Eldar Abbasov
AZER.com, ''Azerbaijan International'', Vol. 10:2 (Summer 2002), pp. 60-61.

by Dr. D. Y. Huseinov and Dr. A. I. Rustamov. AZER.com, ''Azerbaijian International'', Vol. 3:4 (Winter 1995), pp. 70-71. *
World Gazetteer: Azerbaijan
– World-Gazetteer.com {{Administrative divisions of Azerbaijan Populated places in Goranboy District Resorts in Azerbaijan 1967 establishments in Azerbaijan