Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan is a magnificent country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, on the coast of the Caspian Sea. Being a part of the South Caucasus region, Azerbaijan has always played a significant role in the international trade and the Silk Road history. It is often called «The Land of Fire» due to the rich deposits of oil and gas, that made the country a center of fire worshipping for ages.The country is bounded by Russia on the north, by Turkey on the south-west, by Iran on the south, by Georgia on the north-west, and on the west by Armenia. Population of the country is slightly more than 10 million with 3.5 million people residing in the capital city of Baku. Azerbaijan is a multicultural country with many ethnic groups living there since the ancient times. It covers the area of 86,600 sq. m. and famous for the diversity of climatic zones and beautiful nature: from the mountainous north to the subtropical south.

The earliest evidence of human settlement in Azerbaijan dates back to the late Stone Age. The remains of inhabited caves, burials and petroglyphs from the Upper Paleolithic to the Middle Ages could be found in Gobustan reservation located on the south-west from Baku. The Scythians, who were the early settlers in 9th century BC, then were followed by the Medes Empire, later integrated into the Achaemenid Empire around 550 BC. That was the era of Zoroastrianism. For about 6 centuries, most of the territory of Azerbaijan was covered by Caucasian Albania which led to the spread of Christianity and Albanian Churches in the north-west. In the first half of the 7th century, Caucasian Albania, as a vassal of the Sasanians, came under nominal Muslim rule due to the Muslim conquest of Persia.