Information AboutShamakhi |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT SHAMAKHI | |
| cities in azerbaijan | |
| districts of azerbaijan | |
|
Shamakhi ( of Azerbaijan , and a town in the rayon. The town is 70 miles west of Baku (40 38 N 48 40 E). It has some 20,000 inhabitants, consisting of Azerbaijani s (75%), Armenians and Russians. HISTORY It was known to the Roman geographer Ptolemy as ''Kamachia''. Shemakha was an important town during the Middle Ages and served as a capital of Shirvanshah state in 8-15 century and the capital of independent Shirvan Khanate ), which was also known as khanate of Shemakha The Catholic friar, missionary and explorer William Of Ruysbroeck passed there on his retun journey from the Mongol Great Khan's court. In the middle of the 16th century it was the seat of an English commercial factory, under the traveller Jenkinson, afterwards envoy extraordinary of the Persian Shah to Tsar Ivan IV The Terrible of Russia . In 1742 Shemakha was taken and destroyed by Nadir Shah of Persia , who punished the inhabitants for their disobedience and Sunnite creed by building a new town under the same name about 16 miles to the west, at the foot of the main chain of the Caucasus Mountains . The new Shemakha was at different times a residence of the Shirvan Khanate , but it was finally abandoned, and the old town rebuilt. The Russians first entered Shirvan in 1723 , but soon retired leaving it to Ottomans who posessed it in 1723-35. Shirvan Khanate was not finally annexed by Russia until 1805 . Until devastating earthquake of 1859, Shamakhi was the capital of the Province of Shamakha. From 1859 as the capital of the province was transferred to Baku the importance of the city declined. EARTHQUAKES
SOURCES AND REFERENCES
|
|
|