Azerbaijan Within the Russian Empire
Sixteenth-century palace of the Sheki khans, Sheki
Courtesy Jay Kempen
Beginning in the early eighteenth century, Russia slowly
asserted political domination over the northern part of
Azerbaijan, while Persia retained control of southern Azerbaijan.
In the nineteenth century, the division between Russian and
Persian Azerbaijan was largely determined by two treaties
concluded after wars between the two countries. The Treaty of
Gulistan (1813) established the Russo-Persian border roughly
along the Aras River, and the Treaty of Turkmanchay (1828)
awarded Russia the Nakhichevan khanates (along the present-day
border between Armenia and Turkey) in the region of the Talysh
Mountains. The land that is now Azerbaijan was split among three
Russian administrative areas--Baku and Elizavetpol provinces and
part of Yerevan Province, which also extended into present-day
Armenia.
Data as of March 1994
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