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Azerbaijan became Islam. Nizami Ganjavi (1141-
Most of the Albanians also 1209), poet and philoso-
converted to Islam and only a pher, now one of the treas-
minority remained Christian. ures of the world's cultural
heritage.
The cohabitation of the popu-
lations of Albania and The 12th and 13th cen-
Atropatene within the con- turies saw the rise to
fines of a single state, and prominence in the moun-
their profession of one and tainous regions of
the same religion, helped to Garabagh, of the Khachen
ensure the consolidation of principality ruled by the
the people of Azerbaijan. The Albanian kings. The rule
notions of freedom, inde- of Hasan Jalal (1215-
pendence and universal 1262) ushered in an
nurtured
Albanian renaissance and
the
equality
Hurramite movement, led by saw the completion of the
Babak, which flourished in construction of Gandzasar
complex,
Azerbaijan in the early 9th monastery
century. whose cathedral was to
become the center of the
Following the anti-Caliphate early church and whose
rising by the local population, consecration was presided
several new states arose in over by the Catholicos of
the territory of Azerbaijan in Albania.
the 9th century, the most
powerful of which was the In the mid-14th century, fol- was the official language of centuries, Azerbaijan was
State of Shirvan, with its cap- lowing an uprising by the the Safavid state. fought over by the Persian,
ital at Shamakhi. This local population to cast off Russian and Ottoman
endured until the 16th centu- the yoke of the Mongol In the mid 18th century with empires, each eager to secure
ry and played an enormous invaders, the local Jalairid the weakening of the power hegemony over this country
role in the history of feudal lords took up the reins exercised by the Persian whose geopolitical situation
medieval Azerbaijan. The of power in Azerbaijan and, shahs over the territory of lent its significant strategic
independent states of the with the support of the Azerbaijan, the country dis- advantages. A number of the
Sajids, Salarids, Ravvadids Azerbaijani nobility, estab- integrated into some 20 khanates rose up in arms to
(with their capitals at lished the Jalairid state khanates, namely, Ardabil, defend their sovereignty,
Maraghi, Ardabil and Tabriz) (1359-1410). Ganja, Derbent, Eravan, while others were forced, in
and Shaddadids (with their Javad, Qarabagh (Karabakh an effort to defend their own
capital at Ganja) arose from The Azerbaijani dynasties of in Russian), Baku, Shirvan, interests, to conclude agree-
the 9th to the 11th centuries Qara-Qoyunlu and Aq- Tabriz, etc. In addition to ments reducing them to the
in the territory of Azerbaijan. Qoyunlu ruled over these khanates, the country status of vassaldom.
Between the period 1136- Azerbaijan in 1410-1468 and was further subdivided into
1225, the Atabey Eldegiz 1468-1501, and under them the sultanates of Gazakh- Thus, on May 14, 1805, a
state held sway in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan grew significant- Samshaddil, Ilisu, Arash, treaty was signed on the
ly in power. In 1501, the Gutgashen and Daghligh banks of the river Kur with
The sharing by the country's Safavid state was formed in (Mountainous) Qarabagh, the Azerbaijani Khan
indigenous population of a Azerbaijan, which was which was inhabited by Ibrahim Khalil, under which
common Turkic language named after the ruling Azerbaijani Muslims and the independent Azerbaijani
(Albanian) khanate of Garabagh was
and Turkic provenance and Azerbaijani dynasty with its Azerbaijani
their adherence to the same capital in Tabriz. Under this Christians, formed an inte- placed under Russian rule.
Islamic faith made possible a dynasty, all the lands of gral part of the Azerbaijani
process of consolidation of Azerbaijan were united for khanate of Qarabagh, which The first Perso-Russian War
the Azerbaijani nation that the first time in their history covered the territories lying of 1804-1813, was fought to
reached its culmination in the into a single Azerbaijani between the Kur and Araz establish dominance over the
11th and 12th centuries. This state. The territory of the rivers. The local duchies-or Azerbaijani khanates, and
Dizak, resulted in the first division
same period saw the greatest Safavid state stretched from "malikdoms"-of
flowering of the culture of the Amu Darya River to the Varanda, Khachin, and of Azerbaijani territories
which
Azerbaijan, Gulistan, all of which lay between Russia and Persia.
Euphrates and from Derbent
bequeathed to the world an to the shores of the Persian within the mountainous The peace treaty of Gulistan,
array of illustrious philoso- Gulf. This polity was created regions of Garabagh, also signed on October 12, 1813,
phers, architects, poets and and developed as an essen- formed part of this khanate, annexedthe khanates of
scholars. The crowning tially Azerbaijani state and all to which their inhabitants northern Azerbaijan to
achievement of Azerbaijani political power remained in owed allegiance as vassals. Russia, with the exception of
social and cultural thought of the hands of the Azerbaijani Nakhchivan and Eravan. The
that period were the works of feudal nobility. Azerbaijani At the end of the XVIII and second Perso-Russian War of
in the first third of the XIX 1826-1828 led, to the signing
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