Baky

Baky (Azeri: Bak?, Russian: ????), formerly known as Baku, is the capital of Azerbaijan. It is located on the southern shore of the Apsheron Peninsula, at . Today's Baku is really of three parts: the Old Town (İ?əri Şəhər), the boomtown and the Soviet-built town. Population (2003 census): 1,900,000. About 3 million people in metropolitan area(due to high numbers of refugees and IDPs).

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The boomtown, south of the old city, was built after massive petroleum exploitation began nearly a century ago and has interesting beaux-arts architecture. Fine arts, history and literature museums are located there, all housed in the mansions of pre-Revolutionary millionaires.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Modern Baku spreads out from the walls, its streets and buildings rising up hills that rim the Bay of Baku. Greater Baku is divided into 11 districts and 48 townships. Among these are townships on islands in the bay and one island town built on stilts in the Caspian Sea, 100 kilometres from Baku proper (the so-called Oil Rocks).

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Azeri: The Azeri are the dominant Turkic people of Azerbaijan and Arran, which were a part of Persia, until the Azeri khanates north of the Araks River were overrun and absorbed into Tsarist Russia in the early 19th century. When Persia remonstrated, the Tsarist foreign office maintained that all of the no...

Russian: Russian can mean:...

Capital: :This article concerns places that serve as centers of government and politics. For alternative meanings see capital (disambiguation)...