Editing Azerbaijan (section)

===From the Sasanid period to the Safavid period===
{{multiple image
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| header            = The [[Maiden Tower (Baku)|Maiden Tower]] and the [[Palace of the Shirvanshahs]] in the [[Old City (Baku)|Old City]] of Baku are a UNESCO [[World Heritage Site]], built in the 11th–12th centuries.
| image1            = Qız qalası ümumi 2016.jpg
| alt1              = Maiden Tower
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| width1            = 160
| image2            = Şirvanşahlar saray kompleksi.jpg
| alt2              = Palace of the Shirvanshahs
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The [[Sasanian Empire]] turned [[Caucasian Albania]] into a [[vassal state]] in 252, while King [[Urnayr]] officially adopted Christianity as the state religion in the 4th century.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Christianity: The Biography: 2000 Years of Global History|last=Shaw|first=Ian|publisher=Zondervan Academic|year=2017|isbn=978-0-310-53628-4}}</ref> Despite Sassanid rule, Caucasian Albania remained an entity in the region until the 9th century, while fully subordinate to Sassanid Iran, and retained its monarchy. Despite being one of the chief vassals of the Sasanian emperor, the Albanian king had only a semblance of authority, and the Sasanian [[marzban]] (military governor) held most civil, religious, and military authority.<ref>{{cite book |author=[[Ehsan Yarshater]] |date=1983 |title=The Cambridge history of Iran, Volume 1 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=141 |isbn=978-0-521-20092-9}}</ref>

In the first half of the 7th century, Caucasian Albania, as a vassal of the Sasanians, came under nominal Muslim rule with the [[Muslim conquest of Persia]]. The [[Umayyad Caliphate]] repulsed both the Sasanians and [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantines]] from the [[South Caucasus]] and turned Caucasian Albania into a vassal state after Christian resistance led by King [[Juansher]] was suppressed in 667. The power vacuum left by the decline of the [[Abbasid Caliphate]] was filled by numerous local dynasties such as the [[Sallarid dynasty|Sallarids]], [[Sajid dynasty|Sajids]], and [[Shaddadids]]. At the beginning of the 11th century, the territory was gradually seized by the waves of migrating [[Oghuz Turks]] from Central Asia, who adopted a [[Turkoman (ethnonym)|Turkoman]] [[ethnonym]] at the time.<ref>Barthold, V.V. ''Sochineniya''; p. 558: "Whatever the former significance of the Oghuz people in Eastern Asia, after the events of the 8th and 9th centuries, it focuses more and more on the West, on the border of the Pre-Asian cultural world, which was destined to be invaded by the Oghuz people in the 11th century, or, as they were called only in the west, by the Turkmen."</ref> The first of these Turkic dynasties established was the [[Seljuk Empire]], which entered the area by 1067.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BPrjCwAAQBAJ&q=Tughril+and+Chaghri+Seljuk+Empire&pg=PA6|title=Court and Cosmos: The Great Age of the Seljuqs|last1=Canby|first1=Sheila R.|last2=Beyazit|first2=Deniz|last3=Rugiadi|first3=Martina|last4=Peacock|first4=A. C. S.|date=2016-04-27|publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art|isbn=978-1-58839-589-4|language=en}}</ref>

The pre-Turkic population spoke several [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] and Caucasian languages, among them [[Armenian language|Armenian]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hewsen |first1=Robert H. |last2=Salvatico |first2=Christoper C. |title=Armenia: A Historical Atlas |date=2001 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-33228-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZfZBrFza_IYC |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Samuelian |first1=Thomas J. |title=Hewsen, Robert H. (1982). Thomas J. Samuelian, ed. "Ethno-History and the Armenian Influence upon the Caucasian Albanians". Classical Armenian Culture: Influences and Creativity. (Philadelphia: Scholars Press. p. 45.) |date=1982 |publisher=Scholars Press |isbn=978-0-89130-565-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iiduAAAAMAAJ&pg=45}}</ref><ref>
{{cite book
|last=Hewsen |first= Robert H.
|title=Armenia: a Historical Atlas
|location=Chicago
|publisher=University of Chicago Press
|year=2001
|pages=32–33, map 19 (shows the territory of modern Nagorno–Karabakh as part of the [[Orontids]]' Kingdom of Armenia)
}}
</ref><ref name="VII в 1877">Моисей Хоренский. Армянская География VII в. Перевод Патканова К.П. СПб., 1877. стр. 40,17</ref><ref>Hewsen, Robert H. "The Kingdom of Artsakh", in T. Samuelian & M. Stone, eds. ''Medieval Armenian Culture''. Chico, CA, 1983</ref> and an [[Iranian languages|Iranian language]], [[Old Azeri]], which was gradually replaced by a [[Turkic languages|Turkic language]], the early precursor of the [[Azerbaijani language]] of today.<ref>{{cite book
|last=Yarshater
|first=E.
|chapter=The Iranian Language of Azerbaijan
|title=Encyclopædia Iranica
|volume=III/2
|year=1987
|chapter-url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/azerbaijan-vii
|access-date=15 January 2012
|archive-date=17 November 2017
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171117014959/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/azerbaijan-vii
|url-status=live
}}</ref> Some linguists have also stated that the [[Tat language (Caucasus)|Tati dialects]] of [[Azerbaijan (Iran)|Iranian Azerbaijan]] and the Republic of Azerbaijan, like those spoken by the [[Tat people (Caucasus)|Tats]], are descended from Old Azeri.<ref>
{{cite book
|last=Ludwig
|first=Paul
|year=1998
|location= Cambridge
|title=Proceedings of the Third European Conference of Iranian Studies
|volume= 1
|edition= Nicholas Sims-Williams (ed.)
|publisher= Wiesbaden: Reichert
|isbn=978-3-89500-070-6
}}
</ref><ref>
{{cite book
|last=Roy
|first=Olivier
|year=2007
|title=The new Central Asia: geopolitics and the birth of nations
|page= 6
|edition= reprint
|publisher=I.B. Tauris
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-eMcn6Ik1v0C&pg=PA7
|isbn=978-1-84511-552-4
}}
</ref>
Locally, the possessions of the subsequent Seljuk Empire were ruled by [[Eldiguzids]], technically vassals of the Seljuk sultans, but sometimes ''de facto'' rulers themselves. Under the Seljuks, local poets such as [[Nizami Ganjavi]] and [[Khaqani]] gave rise to a blossoming of [[Persian literature]] in the region.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Neẓāmī |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |year=2009 |access-date=February 28, 2009 |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/413374/Nezami |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081204172005/https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/413374/Nezami |archive-date=December 4, 2008 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Khaqani |title=Khāqānī |author=<!--Not stated--> |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |date=19 March 2024 |access-date=23 November 2020 |archive-date=20 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210420084008/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Khaqani |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Shirvanshahs]], the local dynasty of Arabic origin that was later Persianized, became a vassal state of [[Timurid Empire]] of [[Timur]] and assisted him in his war with the ruler of the [[Golden Horde]] [[Tokhtamysh]]. Following Timur's death, two independent and rival Turkoman states emerged: [[Qara Qoyunlu]] and [[Aq Qoyunlu]]. The Shirvanshahs returned, maintaining for numerous centuries to come a high degree of autonomy as local rulers and vassals as they had done since 861. In 1501, the [[Safavid dynasty]] of Iran subdued the Shirvanshahs and gained its possessions. In the course of the next century, the Safavids [[Safavid conversion of Iran to Shia Islam|converted the formerly Sunni population to Shia Islam]],<ref>
{{cite book
|last=R. Ward
|first=Steven
|year=2009
|title=Immortal: a military history of Iran and its armed forces
|url=https://archive.org/details/immortalmilitary00ward
|url-access=limited
|page= [https://archive.org/details/immortalmilitary00ward/page/n57 43]
|publisher=Georgetown University Press
|isbn=978-1-58901-258-5
}}
</ref><ref>{{cite book
|last=Malcolm Wagstaff
|first=John
|year=1985
|title=The evolution of middle eastern landscapes: an outline to A.D. 1840, Part 1840
|page= 205
|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tcPWhU10mGMC&pg=PA205
|isbn=978-0-389-20577-7
}}
</ref><ref>
{{cite book
|last=L. Altstadt
|first=Audrey
|year=1992
|title=The Azerbaijani Turks: power and identity under Russian rule
|page= 5
|publisher=Hoover Press
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sZVN2MwWZVAC
|isbn=978-0-8179-9182-1
}}
</ref> as they did with the population in what is modern-day Iran.<ref>{{cite book |last=Akiner|first=Shirin |author-link= Shirin Akiner |year=2004|title=The Caspian: Politics, Energy and Security|page= 158 |publisher=RoutledgeCurzon |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N8IKR0oqdRkC|isbn=978-0-7007-0501-6}}</ref> The Safavids allowed the Shirvanshahs to remain in power under Safavid suzerainty until 1538, when Safavid King [[Tahmasp I]] completely deposed them and made the area into the Safavid [[Safavid Shirvan|province of Shirvan]]. The Sunni Ottomans briefly managed to occupy present-day Azerbaijan as a result of the [[Ottoman–Safavid War (1578–1590)|Ottoman–Safavid War of 1578–1590]]; by the early 17th century, they were ousted by Safavid Iranian ruler [[Abbas I of Persia|Abbas I]]. In the wake of the demise of the Safavid dynasty, [[Baku]] and its environs were briefly occupied by the Russians as a consequence of the [[Russo-Persian War (1722–1723)|Russo-Persian War of 1722–1723]]. Remainder of present Azerbaijan was [[Nader Shah#First Ottoman campaign and the reconquest of the Caucasus|occupied by the Ottomans]] from 1722 to 1736.<ref name="ĀŠRAFIRANICA">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Balland |first=D. |title=ĀŠRAF ḠILZAY |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica |access-date=2011-12-31 |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/asraf-gilzay-the-afghan-chief-who-ruled-as-shah-over-part-of-iran-from-1137-1725-to-1142-1729 |archive-date=17 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111117002952/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/asraf-gilzay-the-afghan-chief-who-ruled-as-shah-over-part-of-iran-from-1137-1725-to-1142-1729 |url-status=live }}</ref> Despite brief intermissions such as these by Safavid Iran's neighboring rivals, the land remained under Iranian rule from the earliest advent of the Safavids up to the course of the 19th century.<ref>{{cite book |last=Swietochowski|first=Tadeusz |author-link= Tadeusz Swietochowski |year=1995|title=Russia and Azerbaijan: A Borderland in Transition|pages= 69, 133 |publisher=Columbia University Press |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=FfRYRwAACAAJ&q=Russia+and+Iran+in+the+great+game:+travelogues+and+orientalism|isbn=978-0-231-07068-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=L. Batalden|first=Sandra |year=1997|title=The newly independent states of Eurasia: handbook of former Soviet republics|page= 98|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=WFjPAxhBEaEC&q=The+newly+independent+states+of+Eurasia:+handbook+of+former+Soviet+republics|isbn=978-0-89774-940-4}}</ref>