Shamakhi Rayon

Shamakhi or Shamakhy (Azerbaijani: Şamaxı) is a rayon of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and a town in the rayon. It is the historical center of the region of Shirvan.

The town is 70 miles west of Baku. It has some 20,000 inhabitants, among them Azerbaijanis (75%), Armenians, Gypsies and Russians. Once Shamakhy was famous for its traditional dancers, the Shamakhi Dancers. Though Shamakhy has suffered from attack, earthquake and siege it remains rich in historical and cultural monuments, chief among them the Baba Zinda near the settlement of Maraza.

In its history eleven major earthquakes have rocked Shamakhi, but each time it was reconstructed by its inhabitants due to role as economic and administrative capital of Shirvan and one of the key towns on the way of the Silk Road. The only building to have survived eight of the eleven earthquakes is the landmark Juma Mosque (10th century CE).

History

Shamakhi was first mentioned as "Kamachia" by the ancient Greco-Roman Egyptian geographer Claudius Ptolemaeus in the 1st to 2nd century.

Shemakhy was an important town during the Middle Ages and served as a capital of Shirvanshah state in 8-15 century and the capital of independent Shirvan Khanate, which was also known as khanate of Shemakha. The Catholic friar, missionary and explorer William of Ruysbroeck passed there on his return journey from the Mongol Great Khan's court.

In the middle of the 16th century it was the seat of an English commercial factory, under the traveler Anthony Jenkinson, afterwards envoy extraordinary of the Persian Shah to Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible of Russia.

Adam Olearius, who visited Shamakhi in 1636, wrote that the population of the city consisted of Persians, Armenians and some Georgians, and while they all had their own languages, they spoke Turkish language, like the people of Shirvan in general. [ [http://www.vostlit.info/Texts/rus7/Olearij/text13.phtml?id=1038 Adam Olearius. Description of travels of the Holstein Ambassadors to Muscovy and Persia.] ] In the 1720s, the population of Shemakhi was about 60,000, most of whom were Armenians and strangers. [An Universal History: From the Earliest Accounts to the Present Time By George Sale, George Psalmanazar, Archibald Bower, George Shelvocke, John Campbell, John Swinton p. 138] In 1742 Shemakhy was taken and destroyed by Nadir Shah of Persia, who punished the inhabitants for their disobedience and Sunnite creed by building a new town under the same name about 16 miles to the west, at the foot of the main chain of the Caucasus Mountains. The new Shemakha was at different times a residence of the Shirvan Khanate, but it was finally abandoned, and the old town rebuilt. The Russians first entered Shirvan in 1723, but soon retired leaving it to Ottomans who possessed it in 1723-35. Shirvan Khanate was finally annexed by Russia in 1805.

The British Penny Cyclopaedia published in 1833 stated that "The bulk of the population of Shirvan consists of the Tahtar, or, to speak more correctly, Turkish race, with me admixture of Arabs and Persians. Besides the Mohammedans, who form the mass of the population, there are many Armenians, some Jews, and a few Gipsies. According to the official returns of 1831, the number of males belonging to the Mohammedan population was 62.934; Armenians, 6,375; Jews, 332; total males 69,641." The same source also states that according to the official returns of 1831, the city was inhabited by only 2233 families, as result of devastation during the wars. [The penny cyclopædia of the Society for the diffusion of useful knowledge. 1833. Georgia.] According to Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary, Shamakhi had 20008 inhabitants (10450 males and 9558 females); of them Russians 3%, Armenians 18%, and Azerbaijani Tatars 79%. [ [http://gatchina3000.ru/brockhaus-and-efron-encyclopedic-dictionary/115/115487.htm Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary. Shemakha] ]

Until the devastating earthquake of 1859, Shamakhi was the capital of the Shamakhi Governorate of the Russian Empire. From 1859, when the capital of the province was transferred to Baku, the importance of the city declined.

"Queen of Shemakha" is a major protagonist in "The Tale of the Golden Cockerel" by Alexander Pushkin and opera "The Golden Cockerel" by Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov. The character has, however, no real relation to the city.

Earthquakes

*1191 earthquake was so destructive that the capital of Shirvan was transferred to Baku.
*1667 earthquake is considered to be the worst with a death toll of 80,000 and one third of the city plunged according to the Persian merchants' reports;
*December 2, 1859 earthquake caused the shifting of the same-named government center to Baku.
*1902 devastating earthquake that destroyed the 10-century Juma Mosque.

Twin cities

* Iğdır, Turkey

Famous people

* Khagani Shirvani, poet
* Imadaddin Nasimi, poet
* Armen Ohanian, dancer
* Alexander Shirvanzade, Armenian playwright
* Mirza Alakbar Sabir, poet
* Gostan Zarian, Armenian writer

ources and References

* "Каталог землетрясений Российской Империи" ("The Catalogue of the Earthquakes in the Russian Empire").
*1911