AZERBAIJAN. – The largest (85,500 sq. km.), but not the most populous, of the three Soviet federated republics in the Transcaucasian sector. Having entered the Transcaucasian Federation in 1922, it was admitted in December 1936 among the major units of the U.S.S.R.
The Azerbaijan S.S.R. encompasses the southeastern extremity of the Transcaucasian region belonging to the U.S.S.R., extending to the border with Persia, beyond which lies, in that state, the province of the same name (Persian A.), which has had and continues to have close ties with the countries long under Russian rule. The territory of the Azerbaijan S.S.R. essentially consists of the basin of the middle and lower Kura, which is largely a flat region, and the two mountain systems that border it to the north and south; the southern one, which continues into the adjacent Iranian region, is slightly less elevated (Mount Kapudjikh, 3,918 m.) and more impassable than the high Caucasus barrier (Mount Bazar Dyuza, 4,489 m.). Corresponding to the depressed sector is an arid territory (less than 200 mm. of rainfall annually on average), though artificial irrigation can nonetheless open broad agricultural possibilities (cereals, cotton, tobacco, fruit); the two mountain ranges present a far more varied landscape, moreover rich in mineral resources (iron, coal, aluminum, silver, lead, etc.), among which the oil deposits are particularly significant, running along both sides of the Caucasus divide, especially where it extends into the Caspian (Apsheron Peninsula).
The economy of Azerbaijan, though still based on agriculture and pastoralism, is gradually making room for industrial activity, in which, alongside fuel extraction and processing, there are now power plants, large textile factories, and a wide variety of food-processing enterprises. Craftsmanship is also flourishing, continuing ancient traditions (rugs, silk weaving, ceramics, copper and silver work). Communications have seen significant development over the past two decades; nonetheless, Azerbaijan gravitates more toward the south (Persia) than toward the neighboring Soviet territories.
The population grew from 2.3 to 3.2 million between 1926 and 1939; the urban population rose from 28% to 36% in the same period. It consists of more than three-fifths Turkic-Tatar elements (Turkmens, Kirghiz, Nogais, Kumyks, Karachays, etc.), both nomadic and sedentary, about one-tenth Armenians, and an equal share of Russians. The capital, Baku, which barely had 13,000 inhabitants eighty years ago, is today, with its 800,000 inhabitants, the third-largest city in the entire U.S.S.R. (after the destruction suffered by Kiev and Kharkov). The old Asian core is now submerged within a vast complex of modern districts, predominantly working-class in character; yet the city has also become an active intellectual center, by far the most notable in the entire Caucasus region.
Administratively dependent on Azerbaijan are the small territory (4,160 sq. km. with 150,000 inhabitants) of Mountainous Karabakh (Nagorno-K.), inhabited mainly by Armenians (8% and less than 1% Russians) and typically agricultural (capital Stepanakert, with about 6,000 inhabitants), and the Autonomous Republic of Nakhichevan (5,480 sq. km. with 117,000 inhabitants, of whom nine-tenths are Turks and only 2% Russians; the capital is Nakhichevan with about 12,000 inhabitants), enclosed within the borders of the neighboring Armenian federated republic.
For ecclesiastical history V. GEORGIA.