HUMAN GEOGRAPHY
The demographic events that have characterized Azerbaijan over time are common to most of the countries of the Caucasian and Central Asian area. Lands of conquest, passage or mingling of nomadic tribes, peoples, empires, these regions are the result of an unparalleled ethnic and cultural combination. On the other hand, they have suffered, and continue to serve, serious difficulties in the formation of their own national identities and territorial units. It must be said that the hegemonizing control exercised by the USSR constituted until 1991, the year of the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the formation of the CIS, the glue capable of containing tensions and autonomic pressures throughout the area. The majority of the population is Azerbaijani (91.6%), but there are important Lesgian (2%), Russian (1.3%), Talishe (1.3%) and Armenian (1.3%) minorities. leaves in Nagorno-Karabah. According to localtimezone, the population density is 114.34 residents / km². Particularly complex, from the point of view of population, is the situation of the autonomous province of Nagorno-Karabah which, having its own Constitution in 2006, from 1988 to 1997 was the scene of a serious clash of nationalities between Armenians, who claimed the union with Armenia, and Azeris, who fled this region en masse. Main cities, in addition to the capital Baku, which is also the main port and airport and which, in its urban agglomeration, has about a quarter of the total population, are Gäncä and Sumqayit, both important industrial centers with approx. 300,000 residents The urban population of Azerbaijan represents approx. 52.9% of the total.
Nakhchivan
Nakhichevan, Azerbaijani Naxçıvan [naxt ʃ ɪ -],
Autonomous Republic of Nakhchivan, part of Azerbaijan in the south of Transcaucasia, separated from the Azerbaijani heartland by the Sangesur Mountains, which are largely on Armenian territory, borders on Armenia in the north and east, Iran in the south (border river Arax), in the west over a length of 12 km to Turkey, 5 500 km 2, (2014) 435 400 residents; The capital is the city of Nakhichevan. The area has the status of an autonomous republic with its own constitution, its own parliament with 45 members (Ali Mejlis) and its own government. Nakhichevan is predominantly a mountainous country, three quarters of which are over 1,000 m above sea level. It rises from the hot, dry Arax lowlands in the south (600–1,000 m above sea level) on the border with Iran and Turkey to the Ararat highlands with the Sangesurkette (3,904 m above sea level). A strictly continental, dry subtropical climate is predominant, in the plains with hot summers (mean July temperature 28 ° C) and short but cold winters (January mean −3 to −6 ° C). In lower elevations and parts of the foothills mainly semi-desert vegetation with wormwood, in middle mountain regions Phrygana or rock heather, partly also mountain steppe, at high altitudes subalpine and alpine meadows; only 0.5% of the territory is forested.
About 99% of the residents are Azerbaijanis, Russians, Kurds, Ukrainians, Turks and members of other nationalities still live in the area. In Nakhchivan there has been religious and ethnic tensions between Armenians and Azerbaijanis since 1988. The Arax plain is the most densely populated.
Agriculture and horticulture are of the greatest economic importance. Only around 7% of the area can be used, mostly only with sufficient irrigation; Cotton cultivation, viticulture and fruit cultivation, tobacco, vegetable and grain cultivation as well as sheep and cattle farming. Sericulture is a traditional industry. Accordingly, the industry is geared towards the processing of agricultural products (textile and clothing, tobacco, food and luxury goods industries, processing of natural silk and wool, wineries). The electrotechnical and building materials industries as well as the mining of rock salt are also important. The rich molybdenum deposits are hardly used because of the lack of traffic. Two hydropower plants on the Arax ensure the electrical energy supply.
History: Nakhchivan, an old cultural landscape, belonged to the 6th century BC. To the empire of the Achaemenids, since the 4th century BC. To Atropatene (media). A trading center at the turn of the century, it was conquered by the Persians in the 3rd century and by the Arabs in the 7th century. It was subjugated by the Seljuks in the 11th century, the Mongols in the 13th century and Timur in the 14th century. From the 16th to the 18th century it was a subject of dispute between the Ottoman Empire and Persia; in the 18th century an independent khanate was established here, which fell to the tsarist empire after the Russo-Persian War (1826-28). During the Civil War (1918-20), Turkish and British troops invaded the area; Supporters of the “Mousavad” party founded the short-lived “Arakian Republic” in 1918. After the establishment of Soviet power (1920), the Nakhichevan SSR was proclaimed, which – although Armenia also claimed the area – was converted into an autonomous region in 1923 and an ASSR within Azerbaijan on February 9, 1924. In 1989/90 a tense situation arose in the border area with Iran.
