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| Azerbaijanis are commonly associated with the Turkish language and the ancient land of Azerbaijan. The main ancestors of the Azerbaijanis were the Oghuz Turks who created a majority in Azerbaijan following mass migrations from Central Asia in the 10th and 11th centuries during the advent of the Seljuks. Prior to Oghuz Turkish migrations there were peoples of Turkic and non-Turkic strains that inhabited the land. Many historians believe that ancient Azerbaijanis spoke and Ural-Altaic language, however Caucasian and Indo-European linguistic elements were vibrant in the region. | Azerbaijanis are commonly associated with the Turkish language and the ancient land of Azerbaijan. The main ancestors of the Azerbaijanis were the Oghuz Turks who created a majority in Azerbaijan following mass migrations from Central Asia in the 10th and 11th centuries during the advent of the Seljuks. Prior to Oghuz Turkish migrations there were peoples of Turkic and non-Turkic strains that inhabited the land. Many historians believe that ancient Azerbaijanis spoke and Ural-Altaic language, however Caucasian and Indo-European linguistic elements were vibrant in the region. | ||
Revision as of 10:13, 2 June 2004
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Azerbaijanis are commonly associated with the Turkish language and the ancient land of Azerbaijan. The main ancestors of the Azerbaijanis were the Oghuz Turks who created a majority in Azerbaijan following mass migrations from Central Asia in the 10th and 11th centuries during the advent of the Seljuks. Prior to Oghuz Turkish migrations there were peoples of Turkic and non-Turkic strains that inhabited the land. Many historians believe that ancient Azerbaijanis spoke and Ural-Altaic language, however Caucasian and Indo-European linguistic elements were vibrant in the region.
Azerbaijanis speak the Azerbaijani language (often called Azerbaijani Turkish or Azeri) that belongs to a Turkic branch of the Altaic languages. Azerbaijani is very close to Turkish and Turkmen, which are also languages which have emerged from the Oghuz Turks. This language developed from from the 10th to the 13th centuries, in a timespan that is called Azerbaijan's national, cultural and linguistic "golden era."
Besides the newly-independent Republic of Azerbaijan which has a population of around 8 million, the Azerbaijani people number a significant amount in Iran where according to ethnologue, 14th edition, they account for nearly 37% of the population (most sources claim that the Azerbaijanis in Iran constitute 24% of the population) They also inhabit in the Dagestan republic of the Russian Federation, where they number around 80,000 people. There are 307,000 Azerbaijanis in Georgia 500,000 in Turkey and have sizeable communities in Iraq and the United States.