How did Azerbaijanis appear? Customs and traditions of the Azerbaijani people

Azerbaijanis conquered the world with their singing, the art of carpet weaving and tambour embroidery. The people, in which Persian and Turkic features are combined, considered themselves united for many years, although they did not have their own name. Today, Azerbaijan, with more than 90% of its population made up of ancient “Muslims,” is a vibrant, distinctive, and modern state in which the narrow cobbled streets of the old city of Icheri Sheher coexist with the skyscrapers of the center of Baku.

Name

The toponym "Azerbaijan", from which the people "Azerbaijanis" is called, has ancient roots and comes from the name of the state of Media Atropatena. It existed from the 3rd century BC and was located on the territory of modern Iran and the southeast of Azerbaijan. In a distorted form, it was the Middle Persian word "Aderbadgan", from which the modern name of the state and people originated.

A number of researchers find a connection with the personal name Adarbador, which in Media means "keeper of fire" or "temple of fire". This version is confirmed by the fact that Zoroastrianism was developed in the region, the cult of which assumed the presence of temples with never-going lights.
It is noteworthy that the Azerbaijanis themselves have never called themselves that. Moreover, they united not on a national basis, but on a religious basis, calling themselves the common word "Muslims". In connection with the heterogeneous, multinational composition of the nationality living in the same territory, its representatives could call themselves Turks, Tatars, Caucasians or Turks.
For a more accurate self-name, the people used tribal or tribal affiliation, for example, Avshars or Airums: this was common among nomads. Settled residents of cities used their territorial affiliation for these purposes, calling themselves, for example, Karabakh people or Baku people.
It is even more surprising that the nation never had a single name on the world map either. Other nations also called them differently:

1. Kyzylbashi - in the XVI-XVII centuries, all nomadic tribes were called so.
2. Busurmane is a common name in the Russian Empire for all Muslims, including Azerbaijanis.
3. Ajami - this is how the people are designated in the manifesto of Peter I before the Persian campaign.
4. Ajam - so the Ottoman Turks called the Persians and Azerbaijanis. In Iran, this word is still considered a derogatory name for the people.
5. Tatars - the name of all the Turkic tribes, which assimilated the indigenous Azerbaijanis from the 11th-13th centuries. Later, the name Azerbaijani Tatars or Transcaucasian Tatars took root in Russia.
6. Persians - one of the names of the people in Turkey and pre-revolutionary Russia.
7. Qajarly, qazhar, padar, gamshari, mughals, azerbezhano - a variety of names for Azerbaijanis among the peoples of the North Caucasus.

Where live

Most of the nation lives in Azerbaijan, making up 91.6% of the country's population. A significant part of the representatives of the nationality occupies the territory of northwestern Iran: according to some data, the number of Azerbaijanis is one third of the state.

In Russia, Azerbaijanis live mainly in South Dagestan, but representatives of the nation who have migrated or come to work can be found in any region of the country. In addition, there are significant Azerbaijani diasporas in Georgia (south and southeast), Turkey, and Turkmenistan. After the collapse of the USSR, many migrated to the CIS countries, America, and Europe.
More than 180,000 Azerbaijanis lived in Armenia in the 70s of the last century. After interethnic clashes, which resulted in the Karabakh conflict, the vast majority of them left the country. It is believed that only a few hundred of them live here permanently.

population

The approximate number of Azerbaijanis who live all over the world today is 50 million people. Surprisingly, most of them live in Iran - according to some sources, about 30 million. The next on the list is, in fact, Azerbaijan - 8.2 million.
According to the 2010 census, the number of Azerbaijanis in Russia is 603,000. Experts believe that in fact there are three times more of them - about 2 million. The homeland for the representatives of the nation was such states as:

• Turkey - 3 million;
• USA - 1 million;
• Egypt - 850 thousand;
• Iraq - 800 thousand;
• Georgia - 600 thousand;
• Ukraine - 500 thousand;
• Afghanistan - 430 thousand;
• Kingdom of Jordan - 410 thousand;
• Pakistan - 350 thousand;
• Germany - 300 thousand;
• India - 300 thousand

Language

The Azerbaijani language belongs to a large group of Turkic, representing its southwestern or Oghuz group. It also includes Turkmen, Uzbek, Turkish languages, Kumyk is phonetically close. The language was formed after the capture of the Persian territories by the Oghuz tribes in the early Middle Ages. There is a great influence of Arabic and Persian languages, native to the indigenous population of this area.
The writing of the people has existed since ancient times, and the first surviving monuments date back to the 13th century. It acquired its final forms in the period of the XV-XVIII centuries. The works of classical national poets Nasimi, Fizuli and Khatai belong to this time.
The alphabet in the 20th century changed three times according to the scheme characteristic of the peoples of the USSR: it switched from Arabic to Latin, and then to Cyrillic. The modern alphabet of the Azerbaijani language differs depending on the regions of residence. Cyrillic remained in Dagestan, Arabic is used in Iran, and a new version was created in Azerbaijan: Latin based on Turkish.

Story

In antiquity, the territories of the modern settlement of the people were occupied by nomadic tribes of the Caucasian and Caspian anthropological types. Later, they formally united into Caucasian Albania, which was a union of 26 nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes living independently.

In the 4th century BC, Alexander the Great came to the region and founded the state of Media Atropatena. It gave rise to the name of the nation and the territorial boundaries of the main area of ​​its deployment. The state existed until the 8th century AD, when it was conquered by the powerful Arab Caliphate, which brought Islam, which quickly replaced the Zoroastrianism that had dominated here for centuries.

The next period, to which researchers attribute the separation of Azerbaijanis as a nation, is the 11th-13th centuries. The Oghuz tribes who spoke the Turkic language began to actively penetrate the region: the flow increased during the rule of the Tatar-Mongols. The final touch to the formation of the ethnic group was the Turkmens who came from Central Asia. By the 15th century, the inhabitants of the territories of modern Iran and Azerbaijan considered themselves one people and spoke the same language.
From the 16th to the 18th century, the powerful Safavid dynasty ruled, during which the empire flourished, imposed tribute on neighboring regions and encroached on foreign territories. Then the state fell into decay and was divided into many khanates, for which the Russians, Iranians, Afghans, the Ottoman Caliphate fought for the next century.
After the revolution, the Azerbaijan SSR was formed, and in 1991 the country's independence was restored. In Iran, representatives of the nation were discriminated against for a long time, but today many government posts are occupied by Azerbaijanis.

Appearance

Azerbaijanis belong to the Caucasoid type, representing its Caspian subtype, which includes signs of the Indo-Afghan and Mediterranean races. The distinctive features of the appearance of the nation include:

• average height: 170-175 cm;
• predominantly black eye color;
• blue-black hair;
• medium and high level of vegetation;
• narrow and low face;
• protruding nose;
• skin pigmentation is darker than that of other Caucasian peoples.

Genetic studies have shown that Azerbaijanis are close to the Persians and the peoples of the Caucasus, and the Turks, immigrants from Asia Minor and representatives of the Indo-European group had little influence on the formation of external features.

clothing

The national women's costume consisted of many components. Underwear included:

1. A spacious kyinek shirt.
2. A skirt that differed in cut, depending on the region.
3. Wide pants dzhyutbalag or narrow darbalag.

Outerwear was even more varied. Mandatory elements are an overshirt and an arkhalyg: a short caftan with a high collar that fits snugly to the body. In the regions of Sheki and Ganja, it was replaced by lebbade: collarless shoulder clothing with short flared sleeves, richly decorated with embroidery and braid. Arkhalyg was supplemented with belts made of leather, silver or gold. On their feet they put on multi-colored leggings and shoes with a bent toe.

Particular attention was paid to bright accessories made of stones. The head was covered with a small hat, covered with a kelaghayi - a scarf with a traditional printed pattern. This authentic piece of national costume was included in the UNESCO Intangible Heritage List in 2014. The final element was the veil, which was covered when leaving the house.
The men's costume consisted of an undershirt and underpants, over which they wore wide trousers and an archalyg with a belt. They supplemented the outfit with a chukha - an analogue of the Circassian coat, in cold regions they wore sheepskin coats or cloaks. A common version of winter clothing is a long fur coat with false sleeves to the floor.

Men

Since ancient times, the norms of Islam have determined the dominant role of men. His task was to provide the family with housing and finances. The man did not take part in household chores and raising children. His word was the law for the wife and was not disputed, women were treated with disdain. Men were allowed polygamy, levirate and sororat were practiced, treason was allowed.
Azerbaijani men are distinguished by a calm and firm character, keep a serious expression on their faces, behave modestly and with dignity. They quickly make decisions and follow them clearly, without any doubts. They are anxious about the encroachment on the honor of the family or their own, they keep their word, public opinion, status, and appearance are of particular importance.

Women

Azerbaijani women have always been on the sidelines. Her main task is to take care of the household, not go out and raise children. Women did all the housework themselves, including chopping wood and carrying water. After marriage, they had to listen not only to their husband, but also to all his older relatives. In the native family, in addition to the father, the word of the brothers was the law.
In a woman, modesty, humility, diligence and beauty were valued. Her honor was of paramount importance: neither before nor after marriage, she should not be seen in discrediting relationships with men: this was considered a shame.

Family way

The main ones in families and tribal settlements were old people, who were called aksakals. They made all public decisions, they went to them for advice, they were involved in resolving disputes, economic issues, and asked for help in matchmaking. In small families, its head had a decisive word; children, wife, sisters and brothers could not disobey him.
The marriageable age for girls came at 15-17 years old, sometimes they were given in marriage even earlier. After the wedding, the bride came to her husband's house. Traditionally, by this time, the parents prepared separate housing for their son, in a number of villages it was customary to live with their parents. The daughter-in-law was forbidden to be the first to speak with her father-in-law, and in the case of a dialogue, it was required to cover her mouth with a corner of a handkerchief.
The birth of a child, especially a son, was a real holiday. According to tradition, immediately after cutting the umbilical cord, he was bathed in salt water so that he was clean and bold. After that, they were handed over to the mother, with whom he did not part until 7-10 years old. The name was usually chosen consonant with the names of other children, often given the names of grandfather or grandmother.

dwelling

In the mountainous regions, Azerbaijanis settled in crowded settlements located on terraces. Houses were built of raw stone or raw brick, covered with turf or gabled roofs. Often they stood so close to each other that it was problematic for two riders to pass.

On the plains, a chaotic arrangement of houses surrounded by estates or small courtyards was practiced. They were built from the same materials, made multi-room and two-story. On the first one, livestock and utility rooms were placed, on the second one they lived, supplementing it with open terraces. They were used as workshops or fruit was dried in them.
Later, wooden houses with a gable roof appeared. The attic was used to store supplies or grow silkworms. They slept on mats right on the floor: during the day they were rolled up and put away. They heated the dwelling with a hearth, such as a fireplace, in the cold season they additionally heated the stoves.

Life

The main occupations of Azerbaijanis living in the plains were related to agriculture. They grew wheat, oats, rye, simply, corn, barley, rice, were engaged in cotton growing, viticulture, and gardening. An important role was occupied by the breeding of cattle and distant sheep breeding.

Traditional crafts were associated with the processing of metals: copper, gold, silver. Jewelry made by local craftsmen, blades, forged chests with exquisite patterns were widely famous: they collected dowries for brides.
Local carpets with national patterns are still famous all over the world. Tambour embroidery with silk threads on velvet in black, blue, and red shades was considered a particularly valuable craft. Only the rich could afford it, and Dumas the father noted its standard quality and low price.

culture

The architecture of Azerbaijan attracts with well-preserved castle-fortresses (for example, on the Absheron Peninsula), palaces, among which the Shah's palace in Nukha stands out, cobbled streets, mausoleums, caravanserais, houses made of raw stone create a unique urban look.
At all times, the song has played a special role for the people. The art of ashugs, professional singers and storytellers, has been included in the UNESCO World Intangible Heritage List.

Boys and girls took part in folk dances. The former are characterized by sharp, emotional movements, while the latter danced smoothly, elegantly, and restrainedly. The typical structure of the dance is three-part: first, the participants move slowly in a circle, then freeze in a symbolic position, and then continue the circular movement, but more emotionally and expressively.

Religion

90% of Azerbaijanis living in the Caucasus, Iran and Azerbaijan profess Shiite Islam. An insignificant part of the representatives of the nation belongs to the Hanafi, adherents of the Sunni branch. In recent years, conversion to Orthodoxy has been gaining popularity: according to 2007 data, the number of representatives of this denomination in Azerbaijan totaled 5,000 people.

Traditions

The tradition of hospitality that has passed through the centuries is known all over the world. Previously, the whole village, led by aksakals, came out to meet important guests. The visitor was treated to sweets and tea, entertained with folk songs and dances.
Any traveler will find shelter with an Azerbaijani, if he asks. First of all, he is taken into the house (on the threshold you need to take off your shoes) and drink tea from the national glass of armudu with sweets.

In translation, the word "armudu" means "pear-shaped", which corresponds to its shape. It is believed that its unusual appearance refers to the figure of an oriental beauty. Scientists explain the shape from a scientific point of view: due to the narrow “waist”, the liquid from the lower part does not cool down, and the energy released by it heats the drink in the upper compartment.
The tea ceremony and sweets are the invariable attributes of any feast and holiday of Azerbaijanis. Tea begins and ends any meal, it is drunk during negotiations, rest, matchmaking. Teahouses are popular in the country, however, unlike Asian ones, they serve only sweets and tea. Only men gather here in the evenings to relax and discuss business. Sweets symbolize the sweet life: they are present in large quantities at weddings.
If the guest was not poured tea, then this meant that they were not happy to see him in the house. And the unexpected delivery of a full bag of food indicated that hospitality should not be abused and the owners asked the stranger to leave the house.

Food

The basis of the diet of the people was flour, dairy and meat products. Bread and lavash were baked in tandoors, kutaby were popular - pies made from unleavened dough stuffed with greens or cottage cheese. In everyday life they ate rich lamb soups - bozbash and piti. A special attitude was to pilaf: the national cuisine has more than 30 of its recipes. Throughout the post-Soviet space, such Azerbaijani dishes as dolma, kebab and shish kebab are popular.

Notable Azerbaijanis

The vocal abilities of Azerbaijanis did not disappear with the advent of the new time. This is confirmed by famous singers and musicians Muslim Magomayev, Emin Agalarov (EMİN), Bakhtiyar Aliyev (Bahh Tee), Timur Rodriguez.

Emin Garibov, the former captain of the Russian gymnastics team, actor and model Rustam Dzhabrailov, a member of the Russian national football team Alexander Samedov, achieved fame. Of the women, journalist Irada Zeynalova, grandmaster Elmira Mirzoyeva, model Gunay Musayeva became famous.

Video

Azerbaijan is a country in the southeast of the Caucasus. Many important and interesting events took place on these lands. And history can tell us a lot about them. Azerbaijan will appear in a historical retrospective, revealing the secrets of its past.

Location of Azerbaijan

Located in the east of Transcaucasia. From the north, the border of Azerbaijan has contact with the Russian Federation. In the south the country borders with Iran, in the west - with Armenia, in the northwest - with Georgia. From the east, the country is washed by the waves of the Caspian Sea.

The territory of Azerbaijan is almost equally represented by mountainous regions and lowlands. This fact played an important role in the historical development of the country.

primeval times

First of all, we learn about the most ancient times into which history allows us to look. Azerbaijan was inhabited at the dawn of human development. Thus, the most ancient monument of the presence of a Neanderthal in the country dates back to more than 1.5 million years ago.

The most significant sites of ancient man were found in the Azikh and Taglar caves.

Ancient Azerbaijan

The first state, which was located on the territory of Azerbaijan, was Manna. Its center was within the borders of modern Iranian Azerbaijan.

The name "Azerbaijan" comes from the name of Atropat - the governor who began to rule in Mann after its conquest by Persia. In honor of him, the whole country began to be called Midia Atropatena, which later transformed into the name "Azerbaijan".

One of the first peoples that inhabited Azerbaijan were Albanians. This ethnic group belonged to the Nakh-Dagestan language family and was closely related to modern Lezgins. In the 1st millennium, the Albanians had their own state. Unlike Manna, it was located in the north of the country. Caucasian Albania was constantly exposed to the aggressive aspirations of Ancient Rome, Byzantium, the Parthian kingdom and Iran. For some time, Tigran II was able to gain a foothold in large areas of the country.

In the IV century. n. e. Christianity came to the territory of Albania, which until then had been dominated by local religions and Zoroastrianism, from Armenia.

Arab conquest

In the 7th century n. e. an event occurred that played a decisive role in the history of the region. It's about the Arab conquest. First, the Arabs conquered the Iranian kingdom, from which Albania was in and then launched an attack on Azerbaijan itself. After the Arabs captured the country, its history made a new round. Azerbaijan has now become forever inextricably linked with Islam. The Arabs, having included the country in the Caliphate, began to pursue a systematic policy of Islamization of the region and quickly achieved their goals. The southern ones were first subjected to Islamization, and then the new religion penetrated the countryside and the north of the country.

But not everything was so easy for the Arab administration in the southeast of the Caucasus. In 816, an uprising began in Azerbaijan against the Arabs and Islam. This popular movement was led by Babek, who adhered to the ancient Zoroastrian religion. The main support of the uprising were artisans and peasants. For more than twenty years, the people, led by Babek, fought against the Arab authorities. The rebels even managed to expel the Arab garrisons from the territory of Azerbaijan. To suppress the uprising, the Caliphate had to consolidate all its forces.

State of the Shirvanshahs

Despite the fact that the uprising was crushed, the Caliphate weakened every year. He no longer had the strength, as before, to control various parts of a vast empire.

The governors of the northern part of Azerbaijan (Shirvan), starting from 861, began to be called Shirvanshahs and transfer their power by inheritance. They were nominally subordinate to the caliph, but in fact they were completely independent rulers. Over time, even nominal dependence disappeared.

The capital of the Shirvanshahs was originally Shemakha, and then Baku. The state existed until 1538, when it was included in the Persian state of the Safavids.

At the same time, in the south of the country, there were alternating states of the Sajids, Salarids, Sheddadids, Ravvadids, who also either did not recognize the power of the Caliphate at all, or did so only formally.

Turkization of Azerbaijan

No less important for history than the Islamization of the region, caused by the Arab conquest, was its Turkization due to the invasion of various Turkic nomadic tribes. But, unlike Islamization, this process dragged on for several centuries. The importance of this event is emphasized by a number of factors that characterize modern Azerbaijan: the language and culture of the modern population of the country is of Turkic origin.

The first wave of the Turkic invasion was the invasion of the Oguz tribes of the Seljuks from Central Asia, which occurred in the 11th century. It was accompanied by huge destruction and destruction of the local population. Many residents of Azerbaijan, escaping, fled to the mountains. Therefore, it was the mountainous regions of the country that were the least affected by Turkization. Here, Christianity became the dominant religion, and the inhabitants of Azerbaijan mixed with the Armenians living in the mountainous regions. At the same time, the population remaining in their places, mixing with the Turkic conquerors, adopted their language and culture, but at the same time preserved the cultural heritage of their ancestors. The ethnic group formed from this mixture began to be called Azerbaijanis in the future.

After the collapse of the united state of the Seljuks in the territory of southern Azerbaijan, the Ildegezids dynasty of Turkic origin ruled, and then for a short time these lands were seized by the Khorezmshahs.

In the first half of the 13th century, the Caucasus was subjected to a Mongol invasion. Azerbaijan was included in the state of the Mongol Khulaguid dynasty with its center in the territory of modern Iran.

After the fall of the Khulaguid dynasty in 1355, Azerbaijan became part of the state of Tamerlane for a short time, and then became part of the state formations of the Oghuz tribes of Kara-Koyunlu and Ak-Koyunlu. It was during this period that the final formation of the Azerbaijani people took place.

Azerbaijan within Iran

After the fall of the Ak-Koyunlu state, in 1501, a powerful state of the Safavids with its center in Tabriz was formed on the territory of Iran and southern Azerbaijan. Later, the capital was moved to the Iranian cities of Qazvin and Isfahan.

The Safavid state had all the attributes of a real empire. The Safavids waged a particularly stubborn struggle in the west against the growing power of the Ottoman Empire, including in the Caucasus.

In 1538, the Safavids managed to conquer the state of the Shirvanshahs. Thus, the entire territory of modern Azerbaijan was under their rule. Iran retained control over the country under the following dynasties - Hotaki, Afsharids and Zends. In 1795, the Qajar dynasty of Turkic origin reigned in Iran.

At that time, Azerbaijan was already divided into many small khanates, which were subordinate to the central Iranian government.

Conquest of Azerbaijan by the Russian Empire

The first attempts to establish Russia's control over the territories of Azerbaijan were made under Peter I. But at that time, the advance of the Russian Empire in the Transcaucasus did not have much success.

The situation changed radically in the first half of the 19th century. During the two Russian-Persian wars, which lasted from 1804 to 1828, almost the entire territory of modern Azerbaijan was annexed to the Russian Empire.

It was one of the turning points in history. Since then, Azerbaijan has been linked with Russia for a long time. The beginning of oil production in Azerbaijan and the development of industry belong to the time of his stay in Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan within the USSR

After the October Revolution, centrifugal tendencies emerged in various regions of the former Russian Empire. In May 1918, the independent Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was formed. But the young state could not withstand the fight against the Bolsheviks, including due to internal contradictions. In 1920 it was liquidated.

The Bolsheviks created the Azerbaijan SSR. Initially, it was part of the Transcaucasian Federation, but since 1936 it has become a completely equal subject of the USSR. The capital of this was the city of Baku. During this period, other cities of Azerbaijan also developed intensively.

But in 1991 the Soviet Union collapsed. In connection with this event, the Azerbaijan SSR ceased to exist.

Modern Azerbaijan

The independent state became known as the Republic of Azerbaijan. The first president of Azerbaijan is Ayaz Mutalibov, who was previously the first secretary of the republican committee of the Communist Party. After him, Heydar Aliyev alternately held the post of head of state. Currently, the President of Azerbaijan is the son of the latter. He assumed this position in 2003.

The most acute problem in modern Azerbaijan is the Karabakh conflict, which began at the end of the existence of the USSR. During the bloody confrontation between the government forces of Azerbaijan and the inhabitants of Karabakh, with the support of Armenia, the unrecognized Republic of Artsakh was formed. Azerbaijan considers this territory its own, so the conflict is constantly renewed.

At the same time, one cannot fail to note the successes of Azerbaijan in building an independent state. If these successes are developed in the future, then the prosperity of the country will become a natural result of the joint efforts of the government and the people.

It simply forces us to curtsey towards Azerbaijan, so as not to offend the eternal rival countries in the region!
In addition, the origin of Azerbaijanis is not as simple as it is commonly thought!

artificial people

Like Mordovians, Azerbaijanis - a modern term that was used for the general designation of the peoples of the Caucasus, who lived in the Iranian province of the same name "Iranian Azerbaijan" and around Lake Urmia.
It became widely used when the USSR included half of "great Azerbaijan" in its composition, calling this formation the Azerbaijan SSR.
Such a primitive approach made it possible to attribute this complex ethnic group to one unit, but completely ignored the numerous differences.
After all, even the population of Azerbaijan and its Iranian part is quite different.

Initially, Azerbaijan was called the region of Atropatena (Northern Media), which translates as "the land of Aturpat", which occupied the south of present-day Azerbaijan and part of Iranian Azerbaijan.

Aturpat - "keeper of the fire", an Iranian name of Zoroastrian origin, who was the legendary king of these places. Actually, with the arrival of the Indo-Europeans, the history of Azerbaijan begins here.

Components of the Azerbaijani people

The fire-worshipping Zoroastrians became the main population of these lands, having assimilated the autochthonous tribes of the Caucasus, close to the ancient Europeans. Until now, Azerbaijan is called the "country of fire", although it has long professed Islam, and not the cult of Ahura Mazda.
The fertile lands attracted those who wanted easy money, soon the Scythians, Massagets and related Parthians would appear here, and then the Turks: Oguzes, Huns, Khazars.

The latter changed the ethnic history of the region, making the Turkic element dominant, and not the Iranian element, as it was before.
The Arab conquest, the forced Islamization of the country further strengthened Azerbaijan's connection with the world of Islam.
Both the Turks and Arabs, and later the Mongols, will profess Islam, which means that the Azerbaijani peoples will constantly fight under the flags of different caliphates, carrying faith or simply fighting for the interests of others.

The Iranian population and its cultural paradigm, more and more dissolved and disappeared in the Turkic world, it was finally fixed during the heyday of the Ottoman Empire, where one of the Turkish clans, the Seljuks, directly descended from the descendants of the mixed population of the Turks, the remnants of the Massagets and the population of modern Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijanis, as a people, were formed as a result of a long historical development, the gradual consolidation of local ancient tribes (Albanians, Udins, Caspians, Talysh, etc.) with Turkic-speaking tribes that came in different periods - the Huns, Oguzes, Kypchaks, etc., - and According to the opinion existing in science, the change of the indigenous languages ​​of the population by the Turkic spoken language here dates back to the 11th-13th centuries.
In turn, the Turkic-speaking tribes were rather variegated in their ethnic components, uniting many other, partly more ancient tribes, who later participated in the ethnogenesis not only of Azerbaijanis, but also of a number of other Turkic-speaking peoples.
S. Gadzhiyeva (famous Dagestan ethnographer)

For a long time, the border zone between Iran and the Ottoman port was also the border zone of the Turkic and Iranian parts of the Azerbaijani people.
But in the 19th century, it became completely blurred.

Opinion of geneticists

Hadji Murad, although not an Azerbaijani

Genetics love to confuse things.
So it happened with the Azerbaijanis. According to their data, the genetic trace of the Turks is rather weak and belonged to narrow group of men, probably the elite of the Turks, who recruited harems among local women.
But the majority of Azerbaijanis have haplotypes of the autochthonous peoples of the Caucasus, which emphasizes their significant role in the formation of the people.
The distribution of the R1B group and the G typical of the Middle East is also significant.
But the share of the Iranian R1A is quite modest ...
This refutes the opinion about the high proportion of Persians in the genesis of Azerbaijanis.

Anthropology about Azerbaijanis

One of the anthropological types of Azerbaijan

Azerbaijanis are Caucasoids of the Mediterranean and Pontic types, with an almost total predominance of dark eyes and hair.

• head shape is long
• height average and above average,
• asthenic build and accelerated metabolism predominate.

The elongated head of the Azerbaijanis is perhaps the main distinguishing feature, since other Caucasian peoples are broad-headed. This is associated with the opinion that the Indo-Europeans of Iran were long-headed, but geneticists deny their significant contribution.

The Brockhaus and Efron Dictionary calls Azerbaijanis Turks by language and Iranians by race.

Opinion of linguists

Here the role of language specialists is not very significant: Azerbaijanis speak the Turkic language, the Oguz group, with a strong influence of the languages ​​of the Kypchak group (Iranian).
Most likely, this is the second language that the Azerbaijanis adopted from the Turkic conquerors, but data on their original language has not been preserved.

So where did the Azerbaijanis come from?

Summing up all the data: Azerbaijanis are repeatedly a mixed people.
original substrate from aborigines of the Caucasus first received Indo-Aryan influence from Media to Parthia, and then Turkic. The latter had a decisive impact on the language and religion of the people, but had a rather weak effect on the anthropology of the population!

Since the closest morphological analogies of the Caspian population group are noted among the population of Afghanistan and North India, then the ancestors of the Azerbaijanis should be sought among those ancient peoples who simultaneously gave rise to the Nuristanis and many peoples of North India ...
But even in the absence of paleoanthropological data, somatological materials suggest that the immediate ancestors of the Azerbaijani people should be sought among the ancient peoples of Asia Minor and that ties in the southeast direction are decisive in the ethnogenesis of Azerbaijanis.
Contact with the peoples who spoke Turkic languages, and the transition to Turkic speech associated with it, did not have any noticeable impact on the formation of the anthropological characteristics of the Azerbaijani people.
V. Alekseev (Russian anthropologist)

Today's Azerbaijanis are culturally and linguistically close to the Turks, but by origin they are no less close to the most ancient peoples of the Caucasus and the Middle East.

Many curious users are eager to find out who the Azerbaijanis are and where they came from. After the Russo-Persian wars of 1813 and 1828, the territories of the exalted state of Iran in the Caucasus were transferred to the Russian Empire, and the treaties - Gulistan in 1813 and Turkmanchay in 1828 - created new borders between Russia and Iran.

The formation of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic took place in 1918. Despite the fact that they live on both sides of the Persian-Azerbaijani border, Azerbaijanis form a single ethnic group. However, northerners and southerners differ because of almost two centuries of separate social evolution of Iranian Azerbaijanis and Azerbaijanis in Russian/Soviet Azerbaijan. The language of the people unites Azerbaijanis, but centuries of separation have led to significant differences in the grammatical and lexical structure of the language. In addition, Turkish and Azeri are close enough that their speakers could have a simple conversation without prior acquaintance, which has led some Turkic linguists to classify them as two dialects of a single language. But this is only a small part of the intricate history of the origin of the nation of Azerbaijanis.

Etymology of the name Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan is believed to be named after Atropates, a Persian satrap (governor) who ruled in Atropatene (modern Iranian Azerbaijan) around 321 BC. This explains a lot in the issue of the origin of Azerbaijanis. The name Atropata is the Hellenistic form of Aturpat which means "guardian of the fire", "fire" (later corrupted into adur and then into āðar in New Persian; today pronounced āzar). Today's name Azerbaijan is the Arabic form of Azarbaigan. The latter is derived from Ādurbādagān, ultimately from Āturpātakān, which means "the land associated with (satrap) Aturpat" (-an, here corrupted into -kān, is a suffix for association or formation of adverbs and plurals).

The history of the Azerbaijani nation is imbued with the spirit of heroic antiquity, referring to the times of ancient satraps and Iranian fire worshipers.

Ethnonym of Azerbaijanis

The modern ethnonym "Azerbaijani" or "Azerbaijani" refers to the Turkic peoples of Iranian Azerbaijan and the Republic of Azerbaijan. They historically called themselves (or were called by others) Muslims, Turks, Turkmens, Persians or Ayami - that is, religious identification prevailed over ethnic. This reflects the origin of Azerbaijanis from Iranians and Turks.

When the South Caucasus became part of the Russian Empire in the nineteenth century, the Russian authorities, who traditionally classified all Turkic people as Tatars, defined the Turks living in the Transcaucasus region as Caucasian or Aderbeyan (Aderbeijan) Tatars to distinguish them from other Turkic groups. The Russian Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron, written in the 1890s, also described "Tatars" in Azerbaijan as Aderbeyjans (Aderbeyjans), while noting that the term was not widely accepted. This ethnonym was also used by Joseph Deniker, who owns the following description:

Thus, the Aderbeijans of the Caucasus and Persia, who speak Turkic, are of the same physical type as the Hajmei Persians, who speak Iranian.

In Azeri-language publications, the expression "Azerbaijani nation", referring to those who were known as Tatars of the Caucasus, first appeared in the newspaper Kashkul in 1880.

Story

Search for an answer to the question: "Where did the Azerbaijanis come from as a nationality?" makes you plunge into deep antiquity. The ancient inhabitants of the region spoke the old Azerbaijani language from the Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. The origin of Azerbaijanis in the early stages of the development of this people was Iranian. In the 11th century AD, with the conquests of the Seljukids, the Oghuz Turkic tribes began to move across the Iranian plateau to the Caucasus and Anatolia. The influx of Oghuz and other Turkmen tribes was further exacerbated by the Mongol invasion. Here the Oghuz tribes split into several smaller groups, some of which (mostly Sunnis) moved to Anatolia (i.e. the later Ottomans) and became settlers, while others remained in the Caucasus region, and later (due to the influence of Safavi) turned into an enclave of Shia Islam in the region. The latter had to hold onto the name "Turkmen" or "Turk" for a long time: since the 13th century, they have gradually consolidated the Iranian-speaking population of Azerbaijan (historical Azerbaijan, also known as Iranian) and Shirvan (Republic of Azerbaijan), thereby creating a new identity based on Shiites and Oghuz Turks. Today, this Turkic-speaking population is known as Azeris.

Antiquity

The question "Where did the Azerbaijanis come from?" relevant to this day. It is believed that the Caucasian-speaking Albanian tribes are the earliest inhabitants of the region in which the modern Republic of Azerbaijan is located. Early Iranian settlements included the Scythians (Kingdom of Ishkuz) in the ninth century BC. Following the Scythians, the Medes came to dominate the area south of the Aras River. The ancient Iranian people of the Medes created a huge empire between 900 and 700 BC. BC, which the Achaemenids united into their empire around 550 BC. e. During this period, Zoroastrianism spread to the Caucasus and Atropatene.

Without knowing all this long and confusing history, it is impossible to understand where the nation of Azerbaijanis came from. Alexander the Great defeated the Achaemenids in 330 BC, but allowed the Median satrap Atropates to remain in power. After the fall of the Seleucids in Persia (in 247 BC), the Kingdom of Armenia controlled most of Caucasian Albania. The Caucasian Albanians established a kingdom in the first century BC and remained largely independent until the Persian Sassanids made their kingdom a vassal state in 252 AD. The ruler of Caucasian Albania, King Urnair, went to Armenia and then officially adopted Christianity as the state religion (in the fourth century AD), and Albania remained a Christian state until the eighth century. Sasanian control ended in defeat to the Muslim Arabs in 642 CE. e. due to the Muslim conquest of Persia.

Middle Ages

The history of the origin of the Azerbaijani people, having passed through heroic antiquity, stretches through the entire Middle Ages. Muslim Arabs defeated the Sassanids and Byzantines when they went to the Caucasus region. The Arabs made Caucasian Albania a vassal state after the Christian resistance led by Prince Javanshir surrendered in 667.

Between the ninth and tenth centuries, Arabic authors began to refer to the region between the Kura and Aras rivers as Arran. During this time, the Arabs from Basra and Kufa arrived in Azerbaijan and seized the lands that the indigenous peoples had left - they became the local landowning elite there. Converting to Islam was slow as local resistance persisted for centuries, and resentment grew as small groups of Arabs began migrating to cities such as Tabriz and Maragha. This tributary caused a major revolt in Iranian Azerbaijan from 816 to 837, led by the local Zoroastrian commoner Babak. However, despite pockets of continued resistance, most Azerbaijanis converted to Islam. Later, in the 10th-11th centuries, parts of Azerbaijan were ruled by the Kurdish dynasties of Sheddadids and Ravvadids, which somewhat reveals the answer to the question of where the Azerbaijanis came from.

In the middle of the eleventh century, the Seljuk dynasty overthrew Arab rule and created an empire spanning much of Southwest Asia. The Seljuk period marked the influx of Oguz nomads into the region, and it was they who became the main "initiators" of the origin of the Azerbaijani people. The emerging Turkic identity was recorded in epic dastans (poems), the oldest of which was Dede Korkut's book, which tells of the early Turks in the Caucasus and Asia Minor.

Turkic rule was interrupted by the Mongols in 1227, but it returned with the Timurids and then the Sunni Kara Koyunlu and Ak Koyunlu dynasties that dominated Azerbaijan, large parts of Iran, Eastern Anatolia and other minor parts of Western Asia, until then until the Sebavids took power in 1501. But the history of the origin of Azerbaijanis does not end there.

Modernity

After the collapse of the Russian Empire during World War I, the short-lived Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic was declared, making up what are today's republics of Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia. This was followed by a massacre that took place between March 30 and April 2, 1918 in the city of Baku and the surrounding areas of the Baku province of the Russian Empire, as well as the emergence of Azerbaijanis as a political subject.

When the republic collapsed in May 1918, the leading Musavat party adopted the name "Azerbaijan" for the newly created Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, which was proclaimed on May 27, 1918 for political reasons, although the name "Azerbaijan" was always used to refer to the neighboring region of modern north western Iran. It was the first modern parliamentary republic in the Turkic and Muslim world. Among the important achievements of the parliament was the expansion of women's suffrage, which made Azerbaijan the first Muslim country to grant women equal political rights with men. Another important achievement was the creation of the Baku State University, which was the first university of the modern type founded in the Muslim East. The origin of Azerbaijanis as a nation is rooted in those harsh years of anti-communist struggle.

By March 1920, it was obvious that Soviet Russia would attack Baku, which it needed so much. Vladimir Lenin said that the invasion was justified because Soviet Russia could not do without oil. Independent Azerbaijan lasted only 23 months before the invasion of the Bolshevik 11th Red Army, which created the AzSSR on April 28, 1920. Although the main part of the newly formed Azerbaijani army was engaged in suppressing the Armenian uprising that then broke out in Karabakh, the Azerbaijanis did not give up their independence quickly and easily. About 20,000 soldiers died resisting the Bolshevik attack.

The brief independence gained by the short-lived Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in 1918-1920 was replaced by more than 70 years of Soviet rule. After the restoration of independence in October 1991, the country was embroiled in a war with neighboring Armenia (the Karabakh conflict).

Ethnogenesis of Azerbaijanis

In many sources, they are referred to as a Turkic people because of their Turkic language. Modern Azerbaijanis are considered primarily the descendants of the Caucasian Albanians and Iranian peoples who lived in the regions of the Caucasus and northern Iran - before Turkification.

The history of the origin of the nation of Azerbaijanis does not end there. At the beginning of the 11th century, the Ghuzz hordes (first in smaller parties, and then in significant numbers) under the rule of the Seljuks occupied Azerbaijan. As a result, the Iranian population of the country and adjacent parts of the Transcaucasus became Turkic-speaking, and the characteristic features of the Turkish Ashkharbaidzhani language, such as Persian intonations and neglect of vocal harmony, reflect the non-Turkic origin of the local population. That's where the Azerbaijanis came from.

Thus, the centuries-old Turkic migration and the Turkification of the region helped shape the modern ethnic identity. The origin of Azerbaijanis as a nation was largely due to Turkization.

Turkization

The earliest major Turkic incursion into the area now known as Azerbaijan began and accelerated during the Seljuk period. The migration of Oghuz Turks from what is now Turkmenistan, as evidenced by linguistic similarities, remained high throughout the Mongol period, as many of the troops under the Ilkhans were Turkic. During the Safavid period, the Turkification of Azerbaijan continued under the influence of Qizilbash, the Turkic army that was the backbone of the Safavid empire. The very name of Azerbaijan comes from the pre-Turkic name of the province of Azarbaijan or Adarbaijan and illustrates a gradual shift in language, as place names survived Turkification, although before that they existed in a different form.

Most scholars consider the linguistic Turkification of predominantly non-Turkic-speaking indigenous peoples and the assimilation of small groups of Turkic tribes as the most likely version of the origin of the Azerbaijani people.

Iranian roots

The Iranian origin of Azerbaijanis is probably related to ancient tribes such as the Medes in Iranian Azerbaijan, as well as the ancient Scythian invaders who arrived in the eighth century BC.

Encyclopædia Iranica writes:

Turkic-Azerbaijanis are mainly descended from earlier Iranian inhabitants.

A certain number of Iranian ethnic groups are still present in Azerbaijan.

caucasian roots

So where did the Azerbaijanis come from? According to information from the Encyclopædia Britannica, they are of mixed ethnic origin. The most ancient ethnic element in their genealogy goes back to the ancient inhabitants of eastern Transcaucasia and, possibly, to the Medes of Northern Persia. That's where the Azerbaijanis came from.

There is evidence that despite repeated invasions and migrations, the native Caucasians may have been culturally assimilated, first by the ancient Iranian peoples and then by the Oghuz. Considerable information has been learned about the Caucasian Albanians, including their language, history, and early conversion to Christianity. The Udi language that is still spoken in Azerbaijan may be a remnant of ancient Albanian. Here is the answer to the question of where the Azerbaijanis came from in the Caucasus.

This influence of Caucasian culture spread further south - to Iranian Azerbaijan. During the first millennium BC, another Caucasian people, the Mannais (Mannai), inhabited most of Iranian Azerbaijan. Weakened by conflicts with the Assyrians, the Mannais are believed to have been conquered and assimilated by the Medes by 590 BC. e.

Where did the Azerbaijani nation come from: genetic research

Genetic studies show that northern Azerbaijanis are more closely related to other Caucasian peoples such as Georgians and Armenians than to Iranians or Turks. Iranian Azerbaijanis are genetically more similar to northern Azerbaijanis and neighboring Turkic populations than to the geographically distant Turkic peoples of Central Asia. However, it is also important that the indicators of Central Asian genetic admixture (in particular, haplogroup H12), especially Turkmens, are still higher among Azerbaijanis than among their Georgian and Armenian neighbors. Iranian-speaking populations from Azerbaijan (Talysh and Tats) are genetically closer to Azerbaijanis than to the population of Iran proper. Such genetic data supports the view that this nation is descended from the indigenous population living in the area, who adopted the Turkic language in the process of "elite domination". A limited number of Turkic immigrants had a significant cultural impact, but left only a small patrilineal genetic trace.

The history of the origin of the nation of Azerbaijanis is quite confusing even at the genetic level. MtDNA analysis shows that Persians, Anatolians, and Caucasians are part of a large western Eurasian group that is secondary to the Caucasian. Although mtDNA genetic analysis indicates that Caucasian populations are genetically closer to Europeans than to Middle Easterners, Y-chromosome results indicate a closer relationship with Middle Eastern groups.

Iranians have a relatively wide range of Y chromosome haplotypes. The population from central Iran (Isfahan) shows a closer similarity regarding the distribution of haplogroups between Caucasians and Azerbaijanis than with the population of Southern and Northern Iran. The range of haplogroups across the region may reflect historical genetic admixture, possibly as a result of invasive male migrations.

The latest comparative study (2013) on the full diversity of mitochondrial DNA in Iranians showed that Iranian Azerbaijanis are more related to the people of Georgia than to other Iranians, as well as to Armenians. However, the same multivariate scale graph shows that Azerbaijanis from the Caucasus, despite their supposed common origin with Iranian Azerbaijanis, are closer to other Iranians (eg Persians, etc.) than to Iranian Azerbaijanis themselves.

Language

Azerbaijani (also referred to as Azeri Turkic) is a Turkic language spoken primarily by Azerbaijanis, who are concentrated mainly in the Transcaucasus and Iranian Azerbaijan. The language has an official status in the Republic of Azerbaijan and in Dagestan (a federal subject of Russia). However, it does not have official status in Iranian Azerbaijan, where the majority of Azerbaijanis live. It is also spoken in the Azerbaijani communities of Georgia and Turkey, as well as in diasporas, primarily in Europe and North America.

This language is part of the Oguz branch of the Turkic languages. It has two main branches: North Azerbaijani (in the Republic of Azerbaijan and Russia, based on the Shirvan dialect) and South Azerbaijani (in Iran, based on the Tabriz dialect). It is closely related to Turkish, Kashgai, Gagauz, Turkmen and Crimean Tatar languages.

Language origin

The Azerbaijani language developed from the eastern branch of the Oghuz Turkic (Western Turkic) branch of languages, which spread in abundance in the Caucasus, Eastern Europe and Northern Iran, as well as Western Asia during the medieval Turkic migrations. Persian and Arabic influenced this language, but Arabic words were mainly transmitted through literary Persian. Iranian dialects have had the deepest influence on the Azerbaijani and Uzbek languages ​​- mainly in phonology, syntax and vocabulary, to a lesser extent in morphology.

The Turkic language of Azerbaijan gradually replaced the Iranian ones in the region that is now Northern Iran. By the beginning of the 16th century, it became dominant in the region and was the spoken language in the states of the Safavids and Afsharids.

The historical development of the Azerbaijani language can be divided into two main periods: early (from the 16th to the 18th century) and modern (from the 18th century to the present). Early Azeri differs from its descendant in that it contains many more Persian and Arabic borrowings, phrases, and syntactic elements. Early writings in Azeri also show linguistic interchangeability between elements of the Oguz and Kypchak dialects in many aspects (eg pronouns, endings, participles, etc.).

As it gradually moved from the simple language of epic and lyric poetry to being also the language of journalism and scientific research, its literary version became more unified and simplified, with the loss of many archaic Turkic elements, Iranianisms and Ottomanisms, as well as other words. , expressions and rules that failed to gain popularity among the Azerbaijani masses.

Between 1900 and 1930, there were several competing approaches to unify the national language in the current Republic of Azerbaijan, popularized by scholars such as Hasan-bek Zardabi and Mammad-aga Shakhtakhtinsky. Despite significant differences, they were all aimed primarily at making it easier for the semi-literate masses to learn to read. They all criticized the overuse of Persian, Arabic and European elements in both colloquial and literary language and called for a simpler and more popular style.

The Russian conquest of Transcaucasia in the 19th century divided the single cultural and linguistic community into two states. The Soviet Union contributed to the development of the language, but significantly changed it with two successive changes in the writing system - from Persian to Latin, and then even tried to introduce the Cyrillic alphabet, while the Iranian Azerbaijanis continued to use Persian letters, as they had done for centuries. Despite the widespread use of the Azerbaijani language in the AzSSR, it became official only in 1956. After independence, the population decided to return to the Latin script.

Azerbaijanis in Iran

In Iran, Azeris like Sattar Khan advocated constitutional reform. The Persian Constitutional Revolution of 1906-1911 shook the Qajar dynasty. The parliament (mejlis) was founded on the efforts of the constitutionalists, the first democratic newspapers appeared. The last Shah of the Qajar dynasty was soon removed as a result of a military coup led by Reza Khan. In an effort to impose national homogeneity in a country where half the population were ethnic minorities, Reza Shah in quick succession banned the use of the Azeri language in schools, as well as theatrical performances, religious rites, and books.

After the overthrow of Reza Shah in September 1941, Soviet troops took control of Iranian Azerbaijan and helped establish the People's Government of Azerbaijan, a puppet state led by Seyid Jafar Pishevari.

The Soviet military presence in Iranian Azerbaijan was aimed mainly at securing supplies for the allies during World War II. Concerned about the continued Soviet presence after World War II, the United States and Britain pressured the Soviets to leave Iranian territories by the end of 1946. Immediately after that, the Iranian government regained control over Iranian Azerbaijan.

On December 11, Iranian forces entered Tabriz and Pishevari's government quickly collapsed. Indeed, the Iranians were enthusiastically welcomed by the people of Azerbaijan, who strongly preferred Tehran's dominance over Moscow's.

The Soviet willingness to relinquish its influence in Iranian Azerbaijan is likely due to several factors, including the realization that sentiment for autonomy was exaggerated, and that oil concessions were a much more important goal. Thus, the middle of the 20th century completed the history of the origin of the Azerbaijani people.