Thursday, September 25, 2014

Up with Geography: Azerbaijan

Country Name:
Azerbaijan

Capital:
Baku

Continent:
Asia

Maps:

Asian continent. Azerbaijan outlined in dark, shaded,
and with an arrow pointing to it.

A close up of Azerbaijan & its neighbors.

Neighbors:
Russia, Iran, Armenia, Georgia

Water Borders:
Caspian Sea

Total Area(added March 2015)
33,436 square miles

Five Largest Cities:
Baku, Ganja, Sumqayit, Mingachevir, Khirdalan

Famous Geographical Point:
Caucasus Mountains

Famous Person:
Elchin Khalilov, geophysicist

Book Set In/About:
Azerbaijan Diary by Thomas Goltz

One reporter's account of his time spent in Azerbaijan shortly after it gained its independence from the Soviet Union.

Movie Set In/About:
"The Scoundrel (Merzavets)" (1988), directed by Vagif Mustafayev

The tale of a man who falls in love with a lady of the streets in Baku. According to the one IMDB user who reviewed it, it's both very sad & funny.

Headline of the Day:
"Armenian President Criticizes Azerbaijan at UN Over Karabakh Dispute" in Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

If you're like me, this headline will make no sense to you. I took the liberty of doing some research. From what I gather, there is a region of Azerbaijan called Nagorno-Karabakh trying to break away and join Armenia. It is, surprisingly, not the part of Azerbaijan that is already separated from the rest by Armenia, but is contained within the larger body of the country.

2 comments:

Patricia said...

Those five largest cities are a proofreader's nightmare. I never knew there was a city named Ganja though. I suppose I could find out if there is a marijuana/Ganja connection, but I won't.

balyien said...

I too raised my eyebrows at the fact that there's a town named "Ganja." A cursory look through Wikipedia suggests that the weed nickname "ganja" derives from Sanskrit whereas it's believed that "Ganja" the city gets its name from the New Persian word "ganj," which means "treasure."