Naxçivan History

History

Legend claims that Naxçivan was founded by none other than Noah. The biblical ark supposedly crashed through the then-submerged crest of İlandağ before landing on nearby Ararat (Mt Ağrı, Turkey), whose twin cones loom powerfully above the western tip of the enclave. In the 12th century Naxçivan was one of three capitals of the Atabey dynasty, which controlled much of western Persia. Throughout medieval times it flourished as an important centre of trade, emerging as an independent khanate in the 18th century. Like many Azeri khanates, Naxçivan was sucked into the Russian Empire following a series of Russo-Persian wars, sealed by the 1828 treaty of Turkmenchay.

When Azerbaijan was briefly independent from 1918 to 1920, it stretched from Baku to Naxçivan. However, in the early Soviet era that followed, Lenin’s divide-and-rule policies gave Armenia the province of Zangezour, thus isolating Naxçivan from the rest of Azerbaijan. In 1924 Naxçivan was declared an Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.

In January 1990, as the Soviet Union began to crack, Naxçivan became the first part of the Soviet Union to formally declare independence, beating Lithuania by a matter of weeks. It didn’t last. Naxçivan soon rejoined the rest of Azerbaijan and remains an integral (if dislocated) part of the nation.