History of Azerbaijan

After collapse of Nadir shah Afshar empire in the territories of Azerbaijan were formed little feudal states called khanate. These khanates were fighting each other, and some of them wanted to unite Azerbaijan. But their efforts were not enough for this idea.  One of the khanates was Tabriz. This city played great role in Azerbaijan history  as well as in Middle East. Tabriz city was the capital of many big states formed in Middle East. During the rules ofHulakid, Aghkoyunlu, Safevid and other states Tabriz was considered as the main city and capital. But Tabriz khanate was not so strong, and couldn't play its role in the unification of Azerbaijan. So, in the first quarter of XIX century Azerbaijan was the territory where Gajars dynasty and Russian empire were fighting. There occured two Russian - Iranian wars, after that historical territories of Azerbaijan was divided into two parts. Most part, including Tabriz city was given to Iran according to Gulustan and Turkmanchay...

It is the image of key of the Shusha fortress. Shusha is one of the ancient towns of Azerbaijan. It was destroyed during mongol conquests of the country. But later on in 1751 khan of Karabakh Panahali built new fortress there. Karabakh was independent after the collapse of Nadeer shah Afshar empire. So, its first head Panahalu khan pay attention to establish strong defence. He built three towers and one of them was Shusha. It is made of mostly river stones, cobble stones and plasters. It had three gates - Ganja, Erivan, and Aghoghlan gates are the entrances to the city.  The key we see on photo was given to Russian army as the symbol of accepting the Russian power. In 1805 Karabakh khanate and Russian empire was signed Kurekchay treaty. According this treaty Karabakh was accepting Russian imperial authority, but also was keeping its internal independence. So, after the agreement keys of the fortresses were given to Russian military forces.  Now, the key if Shusha fortres...

Photo below is the image of bridge which is situated on the river Tartar. It is im the centre of Barda city of Azerbaijan. According to historical sources bridge was built in the VI-VII  centuries AC. At that times Barda was one of the main cities in Azerbaijan which was the capital of Albanian state, and later became adminstrative centre of Arran region of Arab caliphate.  Tartar river was dividing Barda into two parts. Though ancient Barda city was bigger than modern Barda, now Barda city is divided into two parts by Tartar river, too. So there is new bridge there. Ancient bridge was built with fired bricks. Length of bridge was 170 m, and width 5 m. In historical period Tartar river changed its routes several times. So, some parts of bridge was destroyed by river flow. Only small part of this bridge now remaining. It is located on the right bank of Tartar river. In this coast of the river there is modern boulevard which local people and tourists come to rest and watch h...