Azerbaijan Map

Description: This map shows governmental boundaries of countries; Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, major cities and towns in Azerbaijan.

The Republic of Azerbaijan is a country in the South Caucasus, located where Eastern Europe meets West Asia. It is bordered by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to the south. The Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic is an exclave of Azerbaijan that borders Armenia, Iran and Turkey. The capital and largest city is Baku.

Azerbaijan covers an area of about 86,600 square kilometres and has a population of a little over 10.5 million.

In antiquity, much of the territory of modern Azerbaijan belonged to Caucasian Albania. Over the following centuries the region was ruled by a series of states and empires, including the Sasanian Empire, the Arab Caliphate, the Seljuks and the Safavids. The local Shirvanshah dynasty ruled the region of Shirvan for several centuries during the medieval period. After the Russo-Persian Wars, the Treaty of Gulistan (1813) and the Treaty of Turkmenchay (1828) divided the territory between the Russian Empire and Qajar Iran. The Aras River became the border.

The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was proclaimed on 28 May 1918. It was one of the first secular democratic republics in the Muslim world. In 1920 the Red Army invaded, and the country became the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. From 1922 to 1936 it was part of the Transcaucasian SFSR. Azerbaijan declared that it was restoring its independence on 30 August 1991, shortly before the Soviet Union dissolved.

From 1988 to 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia fought the First Nagorno-Karabakh War over the Nagorno-Karabakh region and the districts around it. A ceasefire signed in 1994 left these areas under the control of ethnic Armenian forces. In the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War in 2020, Azerbaijan regained a large part of this territory. After a military offensive in September 2023, it took full control of the region. Most of the ethnic Armenian population then left, and the unrecognized Republic of Artsakh was formally dissolved on 1 January 2024. In August 2025, the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia initialed the text of a peace agreement at a meeting in Washington, D.C.

Azerbaijan is a unitary semi-presidential republic. Ilham Aliyev has been president since 2003, when he succeeded his father, Heydar Aliyev. The legislature is the unicameral National Assembly (Milli Majlis), which has 125 members. Azerbaijan is a member of the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the OSCE, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the Organization of Turkic States and the Non-Aligned Movement.

The economy depends heavily on oil and natural gas. Industrial oil production around Baku began in the 19th century, and by the early 20th century the region produced about half of the world's oil. Major export routes today include the Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan pipeline, which opened in 2006, and the Southern Gas Corridor, which carries gas to Europe.

The terrain includes the Greater Caucasus mountains in the north, the Lesser Caucasus in the west and the Kura–Aras Lowland in the centre. The highest point is Mount Bazardüzü at 4,466 metres. Azerbaijan has about 400 mud volcanoes, close to half of all those known in the world.

The official language is Azerbaijani, a Turkic language. Most of the population is Muslim, and the majority of Muslims are Shia. The national currency is the Azerbaijani manat. UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the country include the Walled City of Baku, with the Palace of the Shirvanshahs and the Maiden Tower; the Gobustan Rock Art Cultural Landscape; and the Historic Centre of Sheki with the Khan's Palace. UNESCO also recognizes Azerbaijani mugham as intangible cultural heritage.

Azerbaijan has hosted several major international events: the Eurovision Song Contest in 2012, the first European Games in 2015, the Formula One Azerbaijan Grand Prix since 2016, and the UN Climate Change Conference (COP29) in 2024.