Country Profiles: Azerbaijan

Official name: Republic of Azerbaijan

Official language: Azerbaijani

Land area: 33,436 sq mi/86,600 sq km

Population: 8,726,000

Dominant religion: Islam

Capital: Baku

Current leader: President Ilham Aliyev

Azerbaijan is located in the Caucasus Mountain range in southwestern Asia. The northern part of the country is in Europe. Azerbaijan is bordered by Russia to the north, the Caspian Sea to the east, Iran to the south, Armenia to the west and Georgia to the northwest. Another part of Azerbaijan, referred to as the Naxcivan Autonomous Republic, lies to the west, separated from the rest of the country by Armenia. A small portion of Azerbaijan lies in Europe.

 Ethnic Azerbaijanis make up most of the population while Armenians, Lezgins and Russians make up the rest. Most of the urban dwellers live in Soviet-style block apartments while rural dwellers live in one- or two-story single-family homes.

 Half of the economy, which is mostly controlled by the government, is industry-based which includes machine-building, mining, petroleum refining, chemical processing, textile production and other activities.

 Azerbaijan fell under of the Safavid Empire in the 1500’s. The Ottoman Empire then took control from the Safavids in the late-1500’s before losing Azerbaijan again. Russia then took control in the early-1800’s but lost it at the end of the World War I. Azerbaijan experienced two years of independence from 1918 to 1920 before falling under control of Russian again. In 1936 it became the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic of the Soviet Union. In 1991 it regained independence when the Soviet Union disintegrated.