Sumgait (; az, Sumqayıt, ) is a city in
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 ...
, located near the
Caspian Sea
The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, often described as the List of lakes by area, world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia; east of the Caucasus, west of the broad s ...
, 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 Baku.
The city has a territory of . It was founded as a suburb of Baku in 1944 and received city status on November 22, 1949, growing into a major industrial center during the Soviet period.
The municipality of Sumgait also includes the settlements of
Jorat
The Jorat (German: "der Jurten") is the area of the Canton of Vaud (Switzerland) located between the Gros-de-Vaud, West and the Broye, East.
Geography
It is a hill range that stretches from above Lausanne at the South and stretches toward Payer ...
and
Haji Zeynalabdin. It is home to
Sumqayit State University.
Etymology
According to local
folklore
Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, r ...
the city is named after the
Sumgait River. One folk legend tells the tale of a hero by the name of "Sum", who is chosen by the community to fight a monster that was blocking the Sumgait River. Sum eventually manages to kill the monster, but when the river is released he is swept away by the waters and never seen again. After that, his beloved, Jeyran, inconsolable due to Sum's disappearance, would go to the river and cry "Sum qayıt!" (which means "Sum, come back!" in
Azerbaijani
Azerbaijani may refer to:
* Something of, or related to Azerbaijan
* Azerbaijanis
* Azerbaijani language
See also
* Azerbaijan (disambiguation)
* Azeri (disambiguation)
* Azerbaijani cuisine
* Culture of Azerbaijan
The culture of Azerbaijan ...
). So the river became known as Sumgait, after which the city was named.
History
Medieval era
According to historians,
Medean tribes lived in the area in ancient times. During the construction boom, when the foundation of the execu