History of the name Azerbaijan

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Azerbaijan or Azarbaijan is the name used by the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Iranian region of Azarbaijan.

Contents

Origin of the name

The name Azerbaijan itself is thought to be derived from Atropates, an Iranian Median satrap (governor), who ruled a region found in modern Iranian Azarbaijan called Atropatene.[1] Atropates name is believed to be derived from the Old Persian roots meaning "protected by fire."[2] The name is also mentioned in the Avestan Frawardin Yasht: âterepâtahe ashaonô fravashîm ýazamaide which translates literally to: We worship the Fravashi of the holy Atare-pata. [3]

There are also alternative opinions that the term is a slight Turkification of Azarbaijan, in turn an Arabicized version of the original Persian name Āzarābādagān, made up of āzar+ābadag+ān (āzar=fire; ābādag=cultivated area; ān=suffix of pluralization); that it traditionally means "the land of eternal flames" or "the land of fire", which probably implies Zoroastrian fire temples in this land.

Historical Azerbaijan

See also: Azerbaijan (Iran)
Abbasid provinces during the caliphate of Harun al-Rashid
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Abbasid provinces during the caliphate of Harun al-Rashid

According to professor Tadeusz Swietochowski, "as a political or administrative unit, and indeed as a geographic notion, Azerbaijan's boundaries were changing throughout history. Its northern part, on the left bank of the Araxes River, was known at times under different names – Caucasian Albania in the pre- Islamic period, and, subsequently, Arran. From the time of ancient Media and the Achaemenid Kingdom, Azerbaijan usually shared its history with Iran". According to the same source, the term Azerbaijan was seldom used for the territory north of Araxes. [4] Professor Tadeusz Swietochowski also writes: What is now the 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. [5]

According to Professor Ben Fowkes: In fact, in medieval times the name 'Azarbaijan' was applied not to the area of present independent Azerbaijan but to the lands to the south of Araxes river, now part of Iran. The lands to the north west of the Araxes were known as Albania; the lands to the north east, the heart of present-day post-Sovier Azerbaijan, were known as Sharvan (or Shirwan) and Derbent[6]

Historically the term Azerbaijan was mostly used to denote North Western Iran [7]. Historical sources site that the limits of Azerbaijan are between the Daylamites of Northern Persia to their east, with the Araxes River as its northernmost limit. The region north of that, which constitutes the present-day Republic of Azerbaijan, went by many names, including Arran, Albania, Georgia, Armenia, and Shirvan.[8][9][10] Ancient and medieval scholars such as Strabo, Arrian, Ibn-Hawqal, Hamdollah Mostowfi, Mīrzā Muhammad Mahdī Hān “Kawkabī” Astarābādī, Al-Muqaddasi, and Yaqut Al-Hamavi, along with texts such as the Hodud-ol-Alam and Borhan-e-Qate, also use the term Azerbaijan only in reference to Iranian Azerbaijan and distinguish the entity to the north as a seperate region.

Arrian, Ibn-Hawqal, and Yaqut Al-Hamavi record that the region north of the Araxes River is cited as “Albania” and south of the Araxes as “Media Atropatene”. Al-Muqaddasi divides Persia (Iran) into eight regions, showing Azerbaijan (which constitues Iranian Azerbaijan) and Arran (which constitutes parts of the present-day Republic of Azerbaijan).[11]

The Samanids chronicler Abu Ali Muhammad Ibn-i Muhammad Ibn-i Ubaidullah-i Bal'ami, the translator of At-Tabari’s Tarikh al-Rusul wa al-Muluk (History of the Prophets and Kings) also writes that Azerbaijan’s borders start from Hamadan (Iran) and end in Darband (Modern Russia, North of Azerbaijan Republic) of the Khazars. He adds that whatever is in the middle is called Azerbaijan: Azerbaijan’s original/primary border starts in Hamadan and passing through Abhar and Zanjan, end in Darband of the Khazars. All of the citites in the middle of these [two] are in Azerbaijan. [12]

Russian Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary, published in 1890, states the following in the artilce called "Azerbeijan":

   
History of the name Azerbaijan
 Azerbeijan, or Aderbeijan — fire land; 'Atrupatkan' in Pahlavi and 'Aderbadekan' in Armenian, is the north-westernmost province and the richest trade and industrial region of Persia. It borders Persian Kurdistan and Iraq of Adjam (Media) to the south, Turkish Kurdistan and Armenia to the west, Russian Armenia (Southern Transcaucasia), from which it is separated by the Aras River, to the north, Russian province of Tashil to the east and Persian province of Gilan near the Caspian sea. [13]
   
History of the name Azerbaijan

However, the boundaries of the historical Azerbaijan like those of many other ancient regions were fluid and they periodically included parts of what today constitutes the Republic of Azerbaijan(such as Nakhichevan or Mughan) [14] [15].

Azerbaijan as the name of an independent republic

Main article: Azerbaijan
Map of the Republic of Azerbaijan
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Map of the Republic of Azerbaijan

With the collapse of Tsarist Russia in 1917, three major nations of the Caucasus – Armenians, Georgians and Azeris – came together to form the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic in February 1918. The federation dissolved when Georgia declared its independence on May 26. With this break up, the Azerbaijani fraction of the Transcaucasian Sejm (parliament), led by Turkish Democratic Musavat Party, some leaders of which supported at the time the idea of unification with Turkey, met in Tbilisi on May 28, 1918 to create their own state. They proclaimed independence of their country under the name of Azerbaijan. The name of the new state drew protests from some Iranians, who suspected that it was chosen with the purposes of detaching the Azerbaijan province from Iran, even though the proclamation of independence of Azerbaijan Republic limited the territory of the new state to the areas north of the Araxes river.

Mohammad Amin Rasulzade, the leader of Musavat party, who lived in exile after the Soviet invasion and occupation of Azerbaijan Republic, later admitted a mistake in choosing the name Azerbaijan for the state. Rasulzade admitted in an article that he wrote that Albania (referring to Caucasian Azerbaijan) was different than Azerbaijan (referring to Iranian Azerbaijan). Also, in an letter to Seyyed Hassan Taqizadeh, an important Iranian intellectual of the early 20th century, Rasulzade declared his eagerness to do "whatever is in his power to avoid any further discontent among Iranians".[16]

Vasily Bartold, the famous Soviet scholar wrote:

   
History of the name Azerbaijan
 There is no reason to doubt that Aran was separate from Azarbaijan and that the Aras River constituted the northern border of Azarbaijan, and Aran had never been called Azerbaijan. [17]
   
History of the name Azerbaijan

The academician Barthold most clearly mentioned the Aras River as lying between Azarbaijan and Aran or the ancient Albania (present-day Republic of Azerbaijan) and:

   
History of the name Azerbaijan
 The name 'Azerbaijan' was adopted because it was presumed that through the establishment of the Azerbaijan Republic, the Iranian Azarbaijan and the Azerbaijan Republic will eventually become one." Somewhere else in this same volume, Barthold wrote: "Wherever and whenever a name should be required with which one can refer to the whole region of the Azerbaijan Republic, one can use Aran[18]
   
History of the name Azerbaijan

Iranian scholars such as Sheik Mohammad Khiabani [19]and Seyyed Ahmad Kasravi (the latter who was an Iranian Azerbaijani was known for advocating the need for national integration of Iran on the basis of Persian and linguistic assimilation of minorities [20]. His history works have been used by eminent scholars like Vladimir Minorsky, Roger Savory, Richard Frye, Ali Azeri. He was granted the membership of London Royal College of Asian Studies and American Academy based on his publications.) Ahmad Kasravi protested the name change, and for a short time referred to Iranian Azerbaijan as "Azadistan", meaning "land of freedom", in retaliation. Professor Swietochowski notes "a characteristic tone of bias" when Kasravi writes:

   
History of the name Azerbaijan
 Why are our Arani brothers destroying their national history and their past at the onset of their national life? This itself is an enormous loss and there is no other example of such a strange deed in history.[21]
   
History of the name Azerbaijan

Encyclopaedia Iranica also states:

   
History of the name Azerbaijan
 ...the historical province had been renamed Azadistan Khiabani and his followers as a gesture of protest against the giving of the name "Azerbaijan" to the part of the Caucasus centered on Baku.[22]
   
History of the name Azerbaijan

Other Iranian Azerbaijani authors, such as Ali Azari, offered a simpler explanation for the name "Azadistan": it commemorated the sacrifices that Azerbaijan had suffered in the struggles during the Constitutional Revolution.[23].

On September 4, 1945, a new party was created in what was then Soviet Azerbaijan, the Democratic Party of Azerbaijan. It was this party that first used the terms "North Azerbaijan" and "South Azerbaijan". Their motives later became clear, as the party advocated the unification of the "two" Azerbaijan's within the Soviet Union.[24] With further assistance from the Soviet Union, who would benefit from the situation, the terms North and South Azerbaijan were used in Turkish and Soviet texts when referring to the region.

Azerbaijani people

See also: Azerbaijani people

Historically the Turkic-speaking people of Iranian Azerbaijan and the Caucasus often called themselves or were referred to by some neighbouring peoples (e.g. Persians) as Turks, and religious identification prevailed over ethnic identification. When Transacaucasia became part of the Russian empire, Russian authorities, who traditionally called all Turkic people Tatars, called Azeris Aderbeijani/Azerbaijani or Caucasian Tatars to distinguish them from other Turkic people, also called Tatars by Russians.[25] Russian Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary also refers to Azerbaijanis as Aderbeijans in some articles.[26] According to the article Turko-Tatars of the above encyclopedia, “some scholars (Yadrintsev, Kharuzin, Shantr) suggested to change the terminology of some Turko-Tatar people, who somatically don’t have much in common with Turks, for instance, to call Aderbaijani Tatars (Iranians by type) Aderbaijans”.[27] The modern ethnonym Azerbaijani/Azeri in its present form was accepted in 1930s.

See also


References

  1. ^ Historical Dictionary of Azerbaijan by Tadeusz Swietochowski and Brian C. Collins, ISBN 0810835509 (retrieved 07 June 2006).
  2. ^ The Azerbaijani Turks: Power and Identity under Russian Rule by Audrey Altstadt, ISBN 0817991824 (retrieved 07 June 2006).
  3. ^ FRAWARDIN YASHT ("Hymn to the Guardian Angels"). Translated by James Darmesteter (From Sacred Books of the East, American Edition, 1898.).
  4. ^ Tadeusz Swietochowski, Russia and Azerbaijan: A Borderland in Transition. ISBN 0231070683
  5. ^ Historical Background Vol. 3, Colliers Encyclopedia CD-ROM, 02-28-1996
  6. ^ Ben Fowkes, Ethnicity and ethnic conflict in the post-communist world (Basingstoke: Palgrave , 2002) pg 30
  7. ^ 1911 Encyclopedia Brtiannica
  8. ^ Map showing Iranian Azerbaijan and Shirvan to its north (1683) Alain Manesson Mallet, Description de l'Univers, Published 1683, 1st ed. page 163, DE L'ASIE, figure LXXIebay listing
  9. ^ Map showing region north of Iran's Caucasus border as Gerogia
  10. ^ [1] 1837 Malte-Brun Map of Persia & Arabia ( Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Jordan ) map showring most of the caucas republic of Azerbaian as Sherwan
  11. ^ Pan-Turanianism Takes Aim at Azerbaijan: A Geopolitical Agenda; Arran and the Historical By: Dr. Kaveh Farrokh Azerbaijan
  12. ^ Abu Alimuhammad ibne Muhammad Bal’ami; Tarikhnaame Tabari, Volume 1, Tehran 1366 (1987), Xabare gushaadane Azerbaijan ve Darbande Khazaran (The news of conquer of Azerbaijan and Darband), page 529.
  13. ^ (Russian) Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary. "Azerbeijan". St. Petersburg, Russia, 1890-1907
  14. ^ Hamdollah Mostowfi. Nozhat ol-Gholub (نزهه القلوب)
  15. ^ Ibn Khordadbeh. Book of Roads and Kingdoms (الكتاب المسالك والممالك‎)
  16. ^ Atabaki, Touraj Azerbaijan: Ethnicity and the Struggle for Power in Iran, 2nd. edn, London: IB Tauris Publishers , 2000, pages 25-26
  17. ^ Collected Works, Volume 7, Moscow, 1971, page 123
  18. ^ Second volume of his Collected Works, page 782
  19. ^ Atabaki, Touraj Azerbaijan: Ethnicity and the Struggle for Power in Iran, 2nd. edn, London: IB Tauris Publishers , 2000, page 50
  20. ^ Tadeusz Swietochowski, Russia and Azerbaijan: A Borderland in Transition. ISBN 0231070683
  21. ^ Unknown Kings By: Ahmad Kasravi, page 265
  22. ^ Encyclopaedia Iranica Vol. A, pages 177-178
  23. ^ Tadeusz Swietochowski, Russia and Azerbaijan: A Borderland in Transition. ISBN 0231070683
  24. ^ Azerbaijan' newspaper, no. 213, Baku, 23 December 1950
  25. ^ (Russian) Demoscope Weekly. Alphabetical list of people, living in the Russian empire, 1895.
  26. ^ (Russian) Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary. "Turks". St. Petersburg, Russia, 1890-1907
  27. ^ (Russian) Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary. "Turko-Tatars". St. Petersburg, Russia, 1890-1907
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