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Azerbaijan Physical Environment
Three physical features dominate Azerbaijan: the Caspian Sea,
whose shoreline forms a natural boundary to the east; the Greater
Caucasus mountain range to the north; and the extensive flatlands
at the country's center
(see
fig. 2). About the size of Portugal
or the state of Maine, Azerbaijan has a total land area of
approximately 86,600 square kilometers, less than 1 percent of
the land area of the former Soviet Union. Of the three
Transcaucasian states, Azerbaijan has the greatest land area.
Special administrative subdivisions are the Nakhichevan
Autonomous Republic, which is separated from the rest of
Azerbaijan by a strip of Armenian territory, and the NagornoKarabakh Autonomous Region, entirely within Azerbaijan. (The
status of Nagorno-Karabakh was under negotiation in 1994.)
Located in the region of the southern Caucasus Mountains,
Azerbaijan borders the Caspian Sea to the east, Georgia and
Russia to the north, Iran to the south, and Armenia to the
southwest and west
(see
fig. 1). A small part of Nakhichevan also
borders Turkey to the northwest. The capital of Azerbaijan is the
ancient city of Baku, which has the largest and best harbor on
the Caspian Sea and has long been the center of the republic's
oil industry.
Data as of March 1994
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