AZERBAIJAN

The establishment and development of Azerbaijani theater

Sun, 15 May 2011 07:19:12 GMT

The Establishment and Development of Azerbaijani Theater Azerbaijani Theatre is closely connected with the activity, life, festivities, wedding traditions, and outlook of the people. Ancient traditional ceremonies, such as "Sayachy", "Novruz", and "Gevsech" encompass theatrical elements such as choruses, dances, various archetypical characters, and dialogs in dramatic plays. The most important moment of the ceremony of Novruz, in the game "Kosa-Kosa", is the pattern of the theatrical plays. The game is characterized by a plot, dramatic moments, and actors in masks who wear special clothes. The episodes "Khan-Khan", "Dancing of Mutribs" ("mutrib" means "a boy in woman's dress"), "The Competition Between the Bride and Mother-In-Law" and others performed at wedding ceremonies reveal the importance of elements of games and performance. The elements of a stage theater are also strong in a widespread ceremony "Yugh", at the meetings of Ozans and Ashugs, in the scenes of "Zorxana", and in rope-dancers' shows.

Our national cuisine, its history and characteristic features

Sun, 15 May 2011 07:17:15 GMT

The history of Azerbaijani cuisine is as ancient as its people are. Azerbaijani culinary is quite different from the others by its historical roots and originality. Azerbaijani meals are famous world-wide by their high quality and taste and savour. They may not be mixed up with others. Azerbaijani meals are mainly close to the Eastern cuisine for their taste and method of preparation, as well as adding strong species and savoury additions.

Currently, the requirements of up-to-date culinary are widely regarded in Azerbaijani culinary, in addition to keeping the specific features of ancient methods of preparing meals.

In the past, Azerbaijani national meals had been cooked in a copper pot. And nowadays, meals prepared in a copper pot in a number of villages are more delicious. Therefore, items of Azerbaijani national cuisine (pot, colander, frying-pan, tray, and skimmer) are mainly made from copper. We need to mention that, as it was in the past, now too copper pots and dishes are regularly tinned in order to prevent from excessive entering copper the meal and also the organism. Piti, one of the national meals, is served directly in a pot, in which it was cooked.

The majority of our national meals are cooked from beef, mutton and chicken. Meals made from forcemeat have spread more.

The sea, lakes and rivers of the republic are rich in various types of fishes, especially beluga and sturgeon. Mostly sturgeon and scaly fish types are used in preparation of the national foods.

Our meal is rich in various herbs and vegetables such as eggplants, tomato, sweet pepper, cabbage, spinach, sorrel, beetroot, turnip, onion, cucumber, green beans etc. Various types of culinary products prepared from rice and flour are used in the national meals.

Spices such as saffron, caraway, anise, bay leaf, seeds of coriander, mint, dill, parsley, celery, tarragon, basil, thyme etc. are widely used in our dishes. Saffron, which is an aromatic vegetable, is cultivated only in Absheron Peninsula of Azerbaijan in former USSR. More than 50 various dishes and more than 10 sweets are prepared by adding saffron.

General Information

Sat, 14 May 2011 13:22:03 GMT

The Republic of Azerbaijan lies in the borderlands of Asia and Europe. It is situated in the south-eastern part of the Southern Caucasus and shares borders in the north with the Russian Federation, in the south with the Islamic Republic of Iran, in the west with Turkey, Georgia and Armenia, and in the east its neighbors across the Caspian Sea are Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.

Population of Azerbaijan Republic

Sat, 14 May 2011 13:16:51 GMT

Number of population (at the beginning of the year)

Years	Total number of population, thsd person	of which:		Per cen, of total population
Years	Total number of population, thsd person	urban places	rural places	urban places	rural places
2000	8 032.8	4 116.4	3 916.4	51.2	48.8
2001	8 114.3	4 167.2	3 947.1	51.4	48.6
2002	8 191.3	4 219.7	3 971.6	51.5	48.5
2003	8 269.1	4 273.7	3 995.4	51.7	48.3
2004	8 349.0	4 403.6	3 945.4	52.7	47.3
2005	8 447.3	4 477.6	3 969.7	53.0	47.0
2006	8 553.0	4 565.7	3 987.3	53.4	46.6
2007	8 665.9	4 636.6	4 029.3	53.5	46.5
2008	8 779.8	4 733.6	4 046.2	53.9	46.1
2009	8 896.9	4 818.3	4 078.6	54.2	45.8
2010	8 997.4	4 866.6	4 130.8	54.1	45.9
2011	9 111.1	4 829.5	4 281.6	53.0	47.0

Holidays

Sat, 14 May 2011 13:10:56 GMT

1. The following is deemed as the holidays of the Republic of Azerbaijan:

The New Year's Day (1 and 2 January);

The Women's Day (8 March);

The Victory Day over fascism (9 May);

The Republic Day (28 May);

The Day of National Salvation of the Azerbaijani People (15 June);

The Armed Forces Day (26 June);

The National Independence Day (18 October);

State Flag Day of Azerbaijan (9 November);

The Constitution Day (12 November);

The National Revival Day (17 November);

The World Azerbaijanis Solidarity Day (31 December);

Novruz - five days;

Gurban - two days;

Ramadan - two days.

Mud Volcanoes

Tue, 10 May 2011 14:31:36 GMT

Mud Volcanoes

Mud volcanoes are pervasive within the Republic of Azerbaijan. In local language, mud volcanoes are also known as "pilpila", "yanardag", "bozdagh", "ahtarma", "gaynarja" etc. There are over 220 mud volcanoes in Azerbaijan (Absheron Peninsula, Gobustan, southeast Shirvan plain, Samur-Davachi plain terrane, both Absheron and Baku Archipelago. The biggest are Galmas, Toragay, Big Kanizadag etc. Most of them have a cone shape. Their height varies in the range from 20 to 400m, whereas base diameter may vary from 100 to 4500m.

The coasts and islands of the Caspian Sea

Tue, 10 May 2011 14:30:32 GMT

The coasts and islands of the Caspian Sea

Caspian Sea coastal area consists of the Quaternary deposits, while its shoreline configuration varies in different places. The coasts are smooth and invariable in some places whereas in other places they are tortuous. There are such gulfs as Gizlar, Astrakhan, and Mangishlag, as well as a variety of bays. The peninsulars of Agrakhan, Buzachi, Tub-Karagan and Mangishlag are very interesting. Both Volga and Ural Rivers mouth shorelines are variable and consist of numerous small islands and distributary channels. Caspian middle sector shoreline configuration is characterized by smooth outline. The Absheron Peninsula is located on the western margin of the Caspian Sea, right where the middle and the southern sectors are bordering with each other. To the west of the Absheron Peninsula there are several islands and shoals of the Absheron archipelago. The largest Pirallahi and Chilov Islands. To the south of the Absheron Peninsula there are such islands of the Baku archipelago as Hara Zira, Gum, Chigil, Gil, Garasu, Zanbil, Sangi-Mughan, Dash Zira, Kur Dashy etc. Middle Caspian east shoreline is more tortuous. The most profound feature here is Kazakh gulf with Kandarly bay, as well as Peschany, Rakushechny and Sue spits. The biggest gulf of the sea east margin is Gara-Boghaz-Gol gulf. The origin of the listed islands and some shoals located within the Caspian south sector (Livanovo etc) is associated with the bottom-sea mud-volcanoes activity.

Caspian Sea

Tue, 10 May 2011 14:29:23 GMT

The formation and physiography of the Caspian Sea

Formation The formation of the Caspian Sea began 10M years ago, and during this period of time several changes of the sea water level as well as the recurring transgressions and regressions took place. During the Tertiary period (began about 70M years ago) the Ponto-Caspian basin was isolated from the Tethys Ocean and its southern seas and gradually transformed into a stand-alone inland basin. At the Late Pontian and Middle Pliocene time (10M years ago), the vast inland Sarmatian basin, which extended from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea, was divided into several parts with the stand-alone Caspian Sea. During the Quaternary period (500th years ago), the Caspian Sea was linked to the Black Sea by the Kuma-Manich depression. The fluctuation of the Caspian Sea water level ranged about 300m during the last geological period of time.

Sometimes, sea bottom in the entire North Caspian and partially Middle Caspian sectors underwent subaerial exposure, whereas South Caspian-Lankaran basins remained submerged under the water surface.

Physiography

The five littoral states have a shoreline of 6,500-6,700 km (7,000km with Islands) shoreline. The shoreline length in each of the littoral states is as follows: Republic of Azerbaijan - 955km, Kazakhstan - 2320km, Islamic Republic of Iran - 724km, Russian Federation - 695km and Turkmenistan -1200km.

Etymology

Tue, 10 May 2011 14:27:51 GMT

Etymology

The world's largest lake - the Caspian Sea is situated within the vast continental depression settled over bordering areas of a single Euro-Asia continent.

The most ancient inscriptions related to the Caspian Sea were encountered upon an Assirian ceramic pot, mentioned as the Southern Sea. The Hekatey of Milet's historical and geographic books (VI BC) mentioned this sea as Caspy and Hirkan. The first ethnic name is associated with the name of the Caspy people who were dwelling in southwest coastal areas of the current territory of Azerbaijan. Its second name was originated from Hircan country, which was located in the southeast coastal areas (translated from Persian as "the country of wolves"). These two names of the Caspian Sea were also mentioned by Herodotus (5th century BC). Other ancient authors were also using such names as Alban (in association with the Albanian ethnic name), Stormy and Hirkan names of the sea. Ancient Russian manuscript sources named Caspian Sea as Goy (that means Blue in Mongolian-Turk languages), Kharezm (in association with the Kharezm power located within the area extended from Amu-Darya River lower intercourse up to the Caspian Sea, Khvalin, Darband etc. People that had dwelt around Caspian Sea called it with different names, for example: the Russians - Khvalin, the Tartars - Agh Daniz (White Sea), the Turk people - Kichik Daniz (Small Sea), the Chinese people - Si Hay, and the New west Sea. Venice Ambassador to Iran (1474-1477) A. Kontarini named it as Baku Sea. The Russians used to call the sea Caspian since the 16th century. Other countries around the Caspian Sea called this basin as follows: Caspian (Khazar) in Azerbaijan, (Khazar -Turk speaking people that dwelt within the northwest coastal areas during V-X centuries), Mazandaran - in Iran, as well as Caspian - in Kazakhstan and Turkmanistan. All in all, over 70 names were given to the Caspian Sea by various people who dwelt around the basin in various times.

Lakes

Tue, 10 May 2011 14:27:01 GMT

Lakes

Azerbaijan has a total of nearly 250 lakes. Most of them are small, while Hadjigabul, Sarysu, Masazyr, Djandargol and others are relatively large. The lakes of the middle and high mountain areas (Goygol and Maralgol of the Kurekchay Basin, Major and Minor Alagoller of the Shamkir River Basin) are extremely aesthetically pleasing. The lakes of Azerbaijan have erosion-glacial, erosion-river, tectonic and abrasive origins. There is a number of standing and salt relict lakes in the Absheron peninsula. In the summer, most of the lakes dry up and become saline. Mountain lakes are used for the purposes of cattle watering, irrigation, fishing (Hadjikabul, Sarysu, Aggol and others), while the salt water lakes of the Absheron peninsula are used for the production of chemical agents as well as for medical treatment. The lakes of the upland stream of rivers: the Bababat group of lakes, Ganlygol (the Nakhchivan River Basin), Goygol (the Shemkir River Basin) and others have turned into water reservoirs. They supply additional volumes of water to rivers in the summertime.