AND FLAMES WILL RISE FROM ROCKS

Baku is an ancient city. One of the first people to write about its "eternal flames" was the Byzantine scholar of the 5th century AD, Priscus of Pannonia. Describing the cities of Caucasian Albania, he mentions a city where "flames rise from the rocks." Archaeological and numismatic research date the beginning of Baku's history to 5th century BC. The first written source mentioning Baku is dated 930 AD. Some historians point out that the city was founded during the rule of the Achaemenid Persian Shah Darius I, who lived from 522-486 BC.

Baku's "eyes"

Arab historian Al-Balazuri wrote about oil and salt deposits in Sirvan. After the spread of Islam through the region in the 9th century, Arab geographers and historians began to write about Baku, describing it as a small but developed feudal city. They wrote that there were sources of white and grey oil here and that merchants from many countries - Russia, Khazar Khaganate, China, Byzantium, Iraq, Syria, Kenya, Venice, Iran and India - visited Baku to buy oil.

Baku soon became the capital of the Sirvansah state. In the early 11th century, walls were built around the city. A stone epitaph which was found during restoration work reads that the walls around the city were built by Sirvansah Manuchohr II (1120-1160). During the rule of his son Akhsitan I, a large flotilla was built in Baku, which defeated Russians who attacked the city with 73 ships in 1175. When Askhitan I moved his residence to Baku in 1191, Baku became the capital of the Sirvansahs. Large-scale construction work started on the Abseron Peninsula:  a large numbers of castles, mosques, minarets, madrassas, caravanserais, baths, underground water reservoirs (ovdans) and residential buildings were built. The city walls were further fortified and, to protect the city from the sea, the Sabail fortress was built in the Bay of Baku in 1232-1235. At present, the fortress is under water.

Mongols, who entered the city after a long siege in 1230, plundered and destroyed it. This was punishment for the resistance they encountered. When the Mongols were driven out in the 15th century, Baku became a city of the Sirvansahs' state which was later occupied by Iran, then by Turkey and then by Iran again. When the occupants left, local rulers began to rebuild normal life in the city. To support trade and rebuild the economy, a number of taxes were abolished, which resulted in the revival of trade in the early 16th century. This had an effect on the seaport of Baku too, which was frequently visited by ships from Genoa and Venice. Baku established trade relations with the Golden Horde, the Moscow Principality and European countries. The city exported oil, expensive carpets and other luxury items. Bakuvian merchants traded in Astrakhan and Central Asia. In the second half of the 14th century, the economic and political situation in Baku improved immensely and the Caspian Sea was often called the Baku Sea. The architectural monuments in the fortress of Baku - the Bukhara caravanserai (15th century) and the Multany caravanserai (15th century) testify to broad economic ties between Baku, Central Asia and India.

The growing economic and political power of Baku prompted Halilullah I to move his residence there from Samaxi in the 15th century, which triggered massive construction. It was in this period that the grand monument of the Sirvan-Abseron style of Azerbaijani architecture - the Sirvansah Palace - was built. Together with trade, arts and crafts developed quickly and diplomatic relations were established with the Principality of Moscow.

The Icari Sahar complex contains narrow streets with 10-11th century buildings, the Siniq Qala minaret (11th century) and 14th century catacombs. And the true gem of Icari Sahar is Qiz Qalasi (the Maiden Tower). Although it is dated to the 12th century, archaeologists say that the tower is a monument from the 6-7th centuries. Its purpose remains unclear. In ancient times, information about enemy invasions was spread using fires that were lit on the tops of all the towers in the country, and it is thought that Maiden Tower was built for this purpose. The name alludes to its inviolability and unassailability by an enemy. It is also known that another name for the tower was Goz Qalasi (the Eye Tower). The sentries in the tower were first to report attacks on the city from the sea.

There is a legend that Maiden Tower was a place where Zoroastrians performed their rituals. No attempts to change the original interior layout of the tower were made before the 1950s. Back then, people who entered the tower felt they were at the bottom of a well, because the floors there now were built later and visitors ascended to the top using the stone stairs along the walls. Some historians of the period argue that the tower was a shrine and that bodies of the dead used to be left at the entrance for three days because it was believed that the soul parts with the body three days after death. Then the body was taken to the top, laid on a ledge at the top of the tower and left. When vultures had left only the bones they were collected and thrown into a 20-metre well which was dug at the bottom of the tower. However, this ceremony was performed only for the wealthy and influential people, whereas commoners were buried in the ordinary way.

Maiden Tower is a gem of Azerbaijani architecture and no region in the East has anything similar. Our ancestors who founded Icari Sahar were very well aware of the scientific principles of urban development. Because the city had virtually no green areas, the streets were planned in such a way that even a light breeze could cool them in the summer, whereas cold winter gales could not reach them. Stone pavements prevented puddles after rain or snow.

In 1501, Sah Ismayil Xatai defeated the Sirvansahs and founded the Safavid dynasty. During his rule, the Azerbaijani language was accorded official status and most fiction and research work was written in the language. The Azerbaijani language became the predominant language in the army and in diplomacy. Despite Sah Ismayil's crushing blow, the Sirvansahs' state survived until 1538. In that year, the Safavid ruler Shah Tahmasp put an end to the Sirvansahs' rule and annexed the whole of Sirvan, including Baku.

Aliens in Baku

During the second half of the 16th century and early 17th centuries, the Safavid state fought wars with the Ottoman Empire. Baku changed hands many times in that period: in 1578, it was occupied by the Turks but, in 1580, the Safavids defeated them and drove them out. However, in 1584, it was seized by the Ottomans. In 1607, the Safavids took Baku again and, in accordance with a treaty signed by the two states in Istanbul in 1612, the whole of Azerbaijan and neighbouring vilayets (districts) remained under Safavid rule. Under Safavid rule, copper coins were minted in Baku and carpet weaving, oil extraction and salt mining and trade all developed there. In the 17-18th centuries, architecture and stone carving flourished in the city. In the same period, a second wall was built around Baku. In the 17th century, the Don and Volga Cossacks, led by the outlaw Stepan Razin, attacked the shores of Baku and wiped the village of Mastaqa off the face of the earth. The ataman himself lived in a cave not far from what is now the village of Sabuncu and organized robberies and attacks from there.

From the 17th century, Russian Tsar Peter I turned his thoughts to Baku and its immense natural resources. He was also attracted by the city's strategic location. He wanted to seize the western and southern shores of the Caspian and drive the Iranians and Turks out. To achieve this, the tsar even launched a naval expedition. In late June 1723, a squadron of seven ships under Major General Matushkin's command sailed from Astrakhan towards Baku to seize the city. After a lengthy siege and relentless artillery barrage, the city surrendered. In an attempt to consolidate Russia's position in the region, Peter I pursued a policy of settling Christians, especially ethnic Armenians, on the occupied territories. A few days before his death, the tsar received four Armenian delegates who asked for his permission to settle in the Caspian region. By a decree which Peter I sent to Armenian Patriarch Isiah, Armenians were allowed to settle in Mazandaran, Gilan and Baku. The tsar issued instructions to General Matushkin and Brigadier General Levashov to provide all possible assistance to Armenians in resettling the above areas and in Derbent and to drive the Azerbaijanis from their native land as soon as possible. It is from this period that Armenians started to settle in Baku.

In 1724, 5,000 Tatars, Cheremis (the ethnic Mari were so called back then) and Chuvash were sent to Baku to work in the shipyards. After Peter I's death, the Russians withdrew their troops from Baku, citing the huge expense of keeping the Caspian region under control as the reason. Several independent khanates emerged on the territory of Azerbaijan, including the Baku Khanate. The 20-year rule of Mirza Muhammad Khan in Baku brought about a revival of the economy and development of trade in the city. The khan, who was also an admiral, personally oversaw the building of merchant and navy ships. After Mirza Muhammad Khan's death, his son, Mirza Muhammad Khan II was enthroned. He was the father of Abbasqulu aga Bakixanov, a prominent Azerbaijani historian, poet and educator.

However, Russia did not give up the idea of seizing Baku. A military campaign launched in 1796 on Catherine II's orders ended with the seizure of Baku and the appointment of General Tsitsianov as its commandant. Paul I, Catherine II's son, who ascended the throne after her death, issued an order to bring the Russian troops back home. However, after his assassination, Alexander I decided to bring the Caspian region and Baku under his control. Prince Tsitsianov was appointed commander in chief of the Caucasus Army. The naval artillery began a barrage of the city which had refused to surrender, and Baku ruler Huseyinqulu Khan then agreed to capitulate. On 8 February 1806, he walked out of the city walls accompanied by his retainers and approached Tsitsianov to hand him the key to the city. Just when Tsitsianov was about to take the key from the khan's hands, the noblemen opened fire and killed Tsitsianov and Prince Elizbar Eristov. Tsitsianov's head was sent to Iran to be delivered to Fatali Shah, and the body of the uninvited guest was buried near the city's Samaxi Gates. The Russian troops retreated quickly after hearing the news. On 3 October 1806, General Bulgakov's army entered Baku without encountering any resistance. Baku became part of Russia, and Husseyinqulu Khan emigrated to Iran. The Gulistan Treaty, which was signed by Russia and Iran in 1813, officially acknowledged the inclusion of the Baku Khanate into the Russian Empire.

All roads lead to Baku

At that time, within the walls of Icari Sahar there were 300 buildings and 3,000 civilian residents. Oil production played an important role in the growth and development of the city. Intense development of the oil deposits started in Baku. The world's first deep oil well was drilled in Baku (Bibieybat deposits) in 1848, and the first oil tankers were put into operation in 1880-1885. Roughly half of the world's oil extraction was concentrated in Baku by the turn of the 20th century. The city had cement and machine factories, power stations, a textile plant and tobacco factory, steam mill, brewery and banks operating in the city. The Baku-Tiflis railway was opened in 1883 and, by 1900, the new Baku-Petrovsk (currently Makhach-kala) railway line was built. The first telephone exchange was built in 1886. In 1917, Baku began to receive water via the Sollar aqueduct, which remains in service to this day. The number of expatriates arriving in Baku in search of work was growing and, already by 1883, the city's population was 45,000. In 1913, Baku had a population of 200,000. By the end of the 19th century, Baku had become one of the largest industrial and cultural centres in the Russian Empire.

After the fall of the Provisional Government and the Bolshevik coup, a conference of the People's Commis-sars Council decided, on 2 November 1917, to declare the establishment of Soviet power in Baku. The Baku Soviet's punitive operations in March 1918 against the unarmed residents of Muslim districts resulted in the slaughter of 10,000 people. Under the pretext of combating Musavat party members, Bolshevik and ethnic Armenian gangs, armed to the teeth, massacred the local population. They were under the command of the executioner Stepan Shaumyan. The ethnic Azerbaijani-populated districts of the city came under artillery fire from both land and sea. Shrapnel from the naval guns damaged Maiden Tower and if you look at it from the sea, you will notice the dents and holes (the places which were damaged by shrapnel were later filled with stones which can be clearly seen against the darker background of the ancient tower). Later, pillaging gangs of Bolsheviks and Armenians organized massacre of peaceful Azerbaijanis in different regions of the country. Yet further proof of the genocide perpetrated by Armenians was the recent discovery of a mass grave near the town of Quba.

On 28 May 1918, the first republic of the Muslim world, the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan, was founded under the leadership of the Musavat party. Because Baku was in the hands first of the Baku Commune and then of the Central Caspian Dictatorship, the national government held its meetings in Tiflis and Ganca. The 15,000-strong Islamic Army of the Caucasus under Nuru Pasha's command entered Baku to help the young republic. Together with the Turks, the Azerbaijani military units formed by General Sixlinski also fought against the Bolsheviks and Armenians. On 18 November 1918, the national government headed by Fatali xan Xoysky arrived in Baku. The government existed for about two years. The 11th Red Army crossed the national border, entered Baku on 28 April 1920 and declared the victory of the workers' and peasants' socialist revolution.

But the flag hoisted once was to be hoisted again! And in 1991, the whole of Azerbaijan, including Baku, became independent again. Debates about the origins of the place name "Baku" and about the age of the city continue to this day. British archaeologist William Petrie suggested that the phrase "Mount Bakhou which gives birth to the sun," which is found in the "Book of the Dead" written in Egypt in the 2nd century BC, refers to Baku. Some scholars link the city's name with the names Gaytara, Albana, Baruka, which are found in ancient manuscripts. In 5-7th century sources Baku is called Bavagan or Firy Bavugan. From the 9th century, Arab sources make the first mention of the names "Baku," "Bakuh," Bakuya," and Bakuye." From the 18th century, the name Baku is mentioned in Persian sources in the form "Badkube," that is, the "city of winds." The prominent researcher into this area, Professor Sara xanim Asurbeyli, is certain that the place name "Baku" is borrowed from "Baga," which, in a number of ancient languages meant "Sun" and "fire." The Turkish Islamic Encyclopaedia points out that Baku derives from "Bey Koy", which means "main city." In the opinion of historian Ali Huseyinzada, the place name of Baku is used in the famous dictionary of Turkic languages of Mahmoud Kashkari, which was compiled in the 11th century, and it means "hill." Some scholars link the place name with the ancient Bakan or Baggi tribes which lived in Abseron from the 12-5 centuries BC

Baku is a large and beautiful city. A new page was turned in the history of the architecture of our ancient and eternally young city. The "contract of the century", which was signed in 1994 on the initiative of national leader Heydar Aliyev, has paved the way for the achievement of a modern level of development. The favourable environment in our country for investment has made it possible to build many modern buildings in our city. Urban architecture is developing at a fast pace today. Modern residential blocks, hotels which meet the highest international standards, business centres, major supermarkets, new roads and bridges are all built in Baku. We all wholeheartedly love our ancient Baku, which becomes younger and more beautiful by the day. After all, living and working in this city is a real blessing!