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| The modern statehood, blood, language, literature, culture, garments, dances, folklore and national character of Azerbaijan and the Azerbaijanis comes from the ]. | The modern statehood, blood, language, literature, culture, garments, dances, folklore and national character of Azerbaijan and the Azerbaijanis comes from the ]. | ||
| ==Pre-Islamic roots== | |||
| Azerbaijan Republic was known as Caucasian Albania in the pre-Islamic period, and later as Arran. From the time of ancient Media (ninth to seventh centuries b.c.) and the Persian Empire (sixth to fourth centuries b.c.), Azerbaijan usually shared the history of what is now Iran. According to the most widely accepted etymology, the name "Azerbaijan" is derived from Atropates, the name of a Persian satrap of the late fourth century b.c. Another theory traces the origin of the name to the Persian word azar ("fire"') - hence Azerbaijan, "the Land of Fire", because of Zoroastrian temples, with their fires fueled by plentiful supplies of oil. | |||
| Throughout the history of pre-Islamic Azerbaijan, Turkic peoples had lived in the land for centuries, although they were not fully unified. The Huns, Khazars, Bulgars, Barsils, Sabirs, Gokturks, Kutugurs, Kipchaks and others had been some of the Turkic people who had dwelled in Azerbaijan and participated in pre-Islamic Azerbaijan's state formations . | |||
| According to the 1911 encyclopedia "the people of the Mada (Mata), the Medes, appear in history first in 836 B.C., when the Assyrian conqueror Shalmaneser II in his wars against the tribes of the Zagros received the tribute of the Amadai ....Herodotus gives a list of six Median tribes among them the Paraetaceni....names in the Assyrian inscriptions prove that the tribes in the Zagros and the northern parts of Media (Azerbaijan) '''were not Iranians nor Indo-Europeans''', but an aboriginal population.....perhaps connected with the numerous tribes of the Caucasus (northern Azerbaijan, Albania)....Gelae, Tapuri, Cadusii, Amardi, Utii and other tribes in northern Media (Azerbaijan) and on the shores of the Caspian were not Iranians. With them Polybius, Strabo and Pliny mention the Anariaci, whom they consider as a particular tribe; but in reality their name, the Non-Aryans, is the comprehensive designation of all these small tribes..... | |||
| Richard N. Frye states the following regarding the ethnic composition of Media: "in Azerbaijan (Media) the Medes were in contact with a settled majority of '''non-Indo European''' (non-Iranian) speakers represented by the Urartians, Mannaeans, Hurrians etc..possibly related to the peoples speaking "Japhetic" (Ural-Altaic) languages also spoken in the Caucasus (northern Azerbaijan, Albania). | |||
| Frye also states that "The land around the Lake of Urmia, the center of (southern) Azerbaijan, perhaps provided the richest conditions for a livelihood...here the population has been important and active since antiquity...armies marched over these routes as did migrating tribes...in the past as today, '''Azerbaijan was never an Iranian land."''' | |||
| According to historian Kalankatly, in the period between '''191-200 A.D.,''' hordes of Barsil and Khazar Turks crossed the Kura river in Azerbaijan. | |||
| According to the historian Tabari, descriptions of incursions into Azerbaijan by Turks (Huns and Khazars) occured in the '''4th and 5th centuries.''' Tabari also states that by the mid-6th century, there was a significant Turkish presence in Azerbaijan. | |||
| Kalankatly also states that in the year '''629,''' the army of the Gokturks as well as a series Khazar Turkic tribes entered Azerbaijan and declared the land to be '''"eternal possesion"''' of Turks. | |||
| Byzantine sources of the '''mid 6th century''' refer to the "settlement of Khazar Turks" in the left bank of the Kura river, and Moisey Khaghankatli, a historian from pre-Islamic Azerbaijan reffered to a "Hun state" on the left bank of the Kura River in the 7th century. | |||
| According to Professor Peter B. Golden, "In the course of the '''seventh century,''' the two major tribal unions emerged in Azerbaijan under the Turk banner: the Khazars and the Bulgars...the Khazars formed the bulk of the Turk forces used by the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius (610-640) in his counter-offensive against the Sasanids (rulers) in Azerbaijan" | |||
| Pre-Islamic Turkic presence in Azerbaijan is evident in literature after the Islamic conquest of the region, in an era that was famous for it's historical, geographical and scientific analyzations of the world by Muslim scholars and Islamic states. According to the 7th century work of '''Ubeid ibn Shariyya al-Jurhumi,''' the Muslim Caliph Mueviyyen (661-680) was told that Azerbaijan "has long been a land of Turks. Having gathered over there, they have mixed with one another and become integrated." | |||
| It must also be noted that the famous "Book of Dede Korkut" which is the epic of the Oghuz Turks (considered the main ancestors of Azerbaijanis) was written in Azerbaijan in the 6th and 7th centuries, indicating that the Oghuz Turks, who were a majority in Azerbaijan in the 10th and 11th centuries and henceforth, were also present in the land prior to Islam | |||
| Azerbaijan maintained its national character after its conquest by the Arabs in the mid-seventh century a.d. and its subsequent conversion to Islam. At this time it became a province in the early Muslim empire. Only in the 11th century, when Oghuz Turkic tribes under the Seljuk dynasty entered the country, did Azerbaijan acquire a significant number of Turkic inhabitants. The original Persian population became fused with the Turks, and gradually the Persian language was supplanted by a Turkic dialect that evolved into the distinct Azerbaijani language. The process of Turkification was long and complex, sustained by successive waves of incoming nomads from Central Asia. After the Mongol invasions in the 13th century, Azerbaijan became a part of the empire of Hulagu and his successors, the Il-Khans. In the 15th century it passed under the rule of the Turkmens who founded the rival Qara Qoyunlu (Black Sheep) and Aq Qoyunlu (White Sheep) confederations. Concurrently, the native Azerbaijani state of the Shirvan-Shahs flourished. At the end of the 15th century, Azerbaijan became the power base of another native dynasty, the Safavids, who through a series of conquests and a vigorous centralization policy built a new Persian kingdom. Shah Ismail I (r. 1502-1524), whose capital was at Tabriz, made the Shi' a branch of Islam the official religion of his domain, thus setting the Azerbaijanis firmly apart from the Ottoman Turks. Under the Safavids, Azerbaijan was frequently a battleground in the wars between Persia and Sunni Muslim Turkey. Because of the threat from Ottoman incursions, the Safavid capital was moved from Tabriz to Qazvin and then to Isfahan. A strategically vital province, Azerbaijan remained under the authority of a governor who usually combined his position with the highest military rank, that of sepahsalar. Safavid rule, which gradually lost its Azerbaijani character, lasted for more than two centuries, finally ending in 1722. | |||
| ==Language== | ==Language== | ||
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Azerbaijanis, or "Azerbaijani Turks," are a Turkic-Muslim people who number more than 45 million worldwide and are natives of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the South Azerbaijan region of northwestern Iran. They also have sizeable communities in Turkey, Georgia and Russia.
The Azerbaijanis are primaraly the descendants of Oghuz Turks, and are also inheritants of several ancient civilizations.
Turkic Origins
in the land.
In "Borders and Brethren" American author Brenda Shaffer states that "under Seljuk rule in the tenth and eleventh centuries, major waves of immigation of Oghuz Turks into Azerbaijan created a clear Turkic majority and unified the ethnic basis of both north and south Azerbaijan. More Turks came during Mongol Ilkhanid rule from the thirteenth through the fourteenth centuries, and during the Qara Qoyunlu and Aq Qoyunlu Turkic dynasties in the fifteenth century, which had their capital in South Azerbaijan, at Tabriz."
The 1911 encyclopedia states that the Azerbaijanis " are the descendants of various bodies of Turks..... but more particularly of the Oghuz tribes who invaded it during the Seljuk period."
In "Azerbaijani Turks" by another American author Audrey Altstadt, it is written that "complete Turkization of Azerbaijan can be dated from the arrival of the Seljuks (Oghuz)....and more fully consolidated with Turkish migrations during the 13th century Mongol eruption." The Turks that migrated to Azerbaijan in the 13th century were part of the Oguz branch, but there were also large amounts of Kipchak Turks (another Turkic branch) that also settled in the land to escape the Mongols in Central Asia.
The modern statehood, blood, language, literature, culture, garments, dances, folklore and national character of Azerbaijan and the Azerbaijanis comes from the Oghuz Turks.
Azerbaijan Republic was known as Caucasian Albania in the pre-Islamic period, and later as Arran. From the time of ancient Media (ninth to seventh centuries b.c.) and the Persian Empire (sixth to fourth centuries b.c.), Azerbaijan usually shared the history of what is now Iran. According to the most widely accepted etymology, the name "Azerbaijan" is derived from Atropates, the name of a Persian satrap of the late fourth century b.c. Another theory traces the origin of the name to the Persian word azar ("fire"') - hence Azerbaijan, "the Land of Fire", because of Zoroastrian temples, with their fires fueled by plentiful supplies of oil.
Azerbaijan maintained its national character after its conquest by the Arabs in the mid-seventh century a.d. and its subsequent conversion to Islam. At this time it became a province in the early Muslim empire. Only in the 11th century, when Oghuz Turkic tribes under the Seljuk dynasty entered the country, did Azerbaijan acquire a significant number of Turkic inhabitants. The original Persian population became fused with the Turks, and gradually the Persian language was supplanted by a Turkic dialect that evolved into the distinct Azerbaijani language. The process of Turkification was long and complex, sustained by successive waves of incoming nomads from Central Asia. After the Mongol invasions in the 13th century, Azerbaijan became a part of the empire of Hulagu and his successors, the Il-Khans. In the 15th century it passed under the rule of the Turkmens who founded the rival Qara Qoyunlu (Black Sheep) and Aq Qoyunlu (White Sheep) confederations. Concurrently, the native Azerbaijani state of the Shirvan-Shahs flourished. At the end of the 15th century, Azerbaijan became the power base of another native dynasty, the Safavids, who through a series of conquests and a vigorous centralization policy built a new Persian kingdom. Shah Ismail I (r. 1502-1524), whose capital was at Tabriz, made the Shi' a branch of Islam the official religion of his domain, thus setting the Azerbaijanis firmly apart from the Ottoman Turks. Under the Safavids, Azerbaijan was frequently a battleground in the wars between Persia and Sunni Muslim Turkey. Because of the threat from Ottoman incursions, the Safavid capital was moved from Tabriz to Qazvin and then to Isfahan. A strategically vital province, Azerbaijan remained under the authority of a governor who usually combined his position with the highest military rank, that of sepahsalar. Safavid rule, which gradually lost its Azerbaijani character, lasted for more than two centuries, finally ending in 1722.
Language
Main article: Azerbaijani language
The Azerbaijanis speak Azerbaijani (sometimes called Azerbaijani Turkish or Azeri) which is a Turkic language, close to Turkish and Turkmen (see also Turkic peoples). The standard Azerbaijani language developed from the 10th century onwards.
Prior to the 10th century, there were various Turkish dialects spoken across the region.
Development
The modern written language of the Azerbaijanis developed from the 10th to the 13th centuries, after the Oghuz Turkic migrations and the decline of the Oghuz Yabgu state in Central Asia. This is the timespan that is called Azerbaijan's cultural and linguistic "golden age".
Demographics
There are about total 15 to 20 million Azerbaijanis in the world, but census figures are incomplete.
It is estimated that there are 2 to 5 million Azerbaijanis in Iran, 8 million in the Republic of Azerbaijan, 600 thousand to 2.16 million in Russia, possibly over one million in the US, between 50 and 500 thousand in each of Ukraine and Germany, more than 5 million in Turkey, 286 thousand in Georgia, and 78.3 thousand to 200 thousand in Kazakhstan. The UK, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan also have some populations of Azerbaijanis living there.
More than 90% of Azerbaijanis are Shia Muslims Turks.
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