Ganja, Azerbaijan

Infobox Settlement
official_name = Ganja
native_name = Gəncə
image_



mapsize = 150px
map_caption =
subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name = Azerbaijan
established_title =
established_date =
leader_title = Mayor
leader_name = Eldar Azizov
area_magnitude =
area_total_km2 = 110
area_land_km2 =
area_water_km2 =
population_as_of = 2008
population_footnotes =
population_total = 320348
population_metro =
population_density_km2 =
timezone = GMT+4
utc_offset = +4
timezone_DST = GMT+5
utc_offset_DST = +5
latd=40 |latm=40 |lats=58|latNS=N
longd=46 |longm=21 |longs=38|longEW=E
elevation_m = +408
website = [http://www.angelfire.com/ab3/qizilbash/index.html]
footnotes =

Ganja IPA2|ɟæn'ʤæ ( _az. Gəncə, _ru. Гянджа; also, "Elisavetpol, Elizavetpol’, Gandja, Gandza, Gandzha, Gandzhe, Gendzakh, Gyandzha, Kirovabad, Kirowabad, and Yelizavetpol’") is Azerbaijan's second-largest city. In Soviet times it was named Kirovabad (Russian: Кировабад).

Foundation of the city

According to medieval Arab sources, the city of Ganja was founded in 859-60 by Mohammad b. Khaled b. Yazid b. Mazyad, the Arab governor of the region in the reign of the caliph Al-Mutawakkil, and so-called because of a treasure unearthed there. According to the legend, the Arab governor had a dream where a voice told him that there was a treasure hidden under one of the three hills around the area where he camped. The voice told him to unearth it and use the money to found a city. He did so and informed the caliph about the money and the city. Caliph made Mohammad the hereditary governor of the city on a condition that he would give the money he found to the caliph. [ [http://www.vostlit.info/Texts/rus13/Sirvan_Derbend/primtext.phtml V.Minorsky. A History of Shirvan and Derbent.] ]

Foundation of the city by Arabs is confirmed by the medieval Armenian historian Movses Kagankatvatsi, who mentions that the city of Ganja was founded in 846-47 in the canton of Arshakashen by the son of Khazr Patgos, “a furious and merciless man”. [History of the Caucasian Albanians by Movses Dasxuranci, C.J.F. Dowsett trans. (London 1961), chapter 21.] Khazr is believed to be a corrupted form of the name of “Khaled”, while “Patgos” stands for Persian “patgospan”, i.e. governor. [C. J. F. Dowsett. A Neglected Passage in the "History of the Caucasian Albanians". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 19, No. 3. (1957), pp. 456-468.] Arshakashen (Armenian: Արշակաշեն, meaning "built by Arshak") was one of the cantons of the province of Utik, which was part of Armenia, before 387 AD, and of Caucasian Albania after the division of the Kingdom of Armenia between Persia and Byzantium.

However, modern historians believe that the Persian name Ganja (گنجه / "Ganjeh", "Ganja" derives from the New Persian "ganj" (گنج: "treasure, treasury")) suggests that the city existed in pre-Islamic times and was likely founded in the fifth century A.D. [ [http://www.iranica.com/articles/v10f3/v10f372.html Encyclopedia Iranica, "Ganja", C. Edmund Bosworth] ] . The area in which there was Ganja, during the 9th to 12th century named Arran; its urban population spoke mainly in the Persian language [ [http://www.kulichki.com/~gumilev/HE2/he2103.htm История Востока. В 6 т. Т. 2. Восток в средние века.] М., «Восточная литература», 2002. ISBN 5-02-017711-3 (History of the East. In 6 volumes. Volume 2. Moscow, publishing house of the Russian Academy of sciences «East literature»): The polyethnic population of Albania left-bank at this time is increasingly moving to the Persian language. Mainly this applies to cities of Aran and Shirvan, as begin from 9-10 centuries named two main areas in the territory of Azerbaijan. With regard to the rural population, it would seem, mostly retained for a long time, their old languages, related to modern Daghestanian family, especially Lezgin. (russian text: Пестрое в этническом плане население левобережнoй Албании в это время все больше переходит на персидский язык. Главным образом это относится к городам Арана и Ширвана, как стали в IX-Х вв. именоваться два главные области на территории Азербайджана. Что касается сельского населения, то оно, по-видимому, в основном сохраняло еще долгое время свои старые языки, родственные современным дагестанским, прежде всего лезгинскому. ] [ [http://uni-persona.srcc.msu.su/site/authors/djakonov/posl_gl.htm Дьяконов, Игорь Михайлович. Книга воспоминаний. Издательство "Европейский дом", Санкт-Петербург, 1995., 1995] . - ISBN 5-85733-042-4. cтр. 730-731 Igor Diakonov. The book of memoirs.] .

Etymology

Most experts believe that the best the etymology of "Ganja", ( _fa. گنجه, _az. گنجه Ganja / Ganjeh) that it refers to the Persian word of "ganj" گنج which means treasure, or treasury. There are several other places in Iran and the wider region wich has a similar name as Ganja. [ [http://nona.net/features/map/?loc_place=ganje&loc_country=-1 World City Name Database (search for names and maps) - nona.net ] ]

History

Historically an important city of the South Caucasus, Ganja has been part of Sassanid empire, Great Seljuk Empire, Atabegs of Azerbaijan, Khwarezmid Empire, Il-Khans [ [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-32174/Iran Iran. (2007). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved March 17 2007] ] , Timurids [ [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9072546/Timurid-Dynasty Timurid Dynasty. (2007). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved March 16 2007] ] , Jalayirids [ [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9043275/Jalayirid#46192.hook Jalayirid. (2007). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved March 17 2007] ] , Qara Qoyunlu [ [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9044666/Kara-Koyunlu#87928.hook Kara Koyunlu. (2007). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved March 15 2007] ] , Ak Koyunlu [ [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9005255/Ak-Koyunlu#209750.hook Ak Koyunlu. (2007). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved March 17 2007] ] [http://azerbaijan.aznet.org/azerbaijan/ganja.html] , and the Ganja Khanate. Ganja is also the birthplace of the famous poet Nizami. The people of Ganja experienced a temporary cultural decline after an earthquake in 1139 and again after the Mongol invasion in 1231. The city was revived after the Safavids came to power. She was also managed by Ottomans between 1578-1603 and 1724-1735. For a short period, Ganja was renamed Abbasabad by Shah Abbas after war against the Ottomans.He build a new city 8 km to the southwest of the old one , but the name changed back to Ganja during the time [cite web |url=http://www.gitc.aznet.org/GenceDovletQorugu/knanates.htm |title=The Monuments of Ganja Khanate of the Period form 1606 - 1804 |accessdate = 2007-02-16 |author=Seyyaf Sednik oqli Pashayev] During the Safavid rule, it was the capital of the Karabakh (Ganja) beylerbey [ [http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/HistSciTech/HistSciTech-idx?type=div&did=HISTSCITECH.0009.0024.0018&isize=text "Beglerbeg" in Cyclopædia dictionary, (ed. Ephraim Chambers), First Volume, London: Printed for J. and J. Knapton (and 18 others), 1728, p. 95 (accessed March 17 2007)] ] , one of the four such administrative units and principalities. [I.Petrushevskiy. Ocherki po istorii feodal'nikh otnosheniy d Azerbaijane i Armenii v XVI - nach. XIX vv., Leningrad, 1949, p. 122, in Russian] In 1747, Ganja became the center of the Ganja Khanate.

According to the October 1813 Gulistan Treaty, the Ganja Khanate, together with most of Azerbaijan and Georgia, was recognized as part of Russian Empire after Persia's defeat in the Persia-Russia wars. [John F. Baddeley, "The Russian conquest of the Caucasus", London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1908, p. 67, citing "Tsitsianoff's report to the Emperor: Akti, ix (supplement), p. 920".] It was renamed Elizavetpol (Russian: Елизаветполь) after the wife of Alexander I of Russia, Elizabeth, and in 1868 became the capital of Elizavetpol Governorate. [ [http://brocgaus.ru/text/039/010.htm Елизаветпольская губерния] (Elizavetpol Governorate) in Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary ru icon] . Elizavetpol was a uyezd of Tiflis Governorate before 1868.

In 1918, Ganja became the temporary capital of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, at which point it was renamed Ganja again, until Baku was recaptured from the British backed Centrocaspian Dictatorship. In April 1920, the Red Army occupied Azerbaijan. In May 1920, Ganja was the scene of an abortive anti-Soviet rebellion during which the town was heavily damaged by fighting between the insurgents and the Red Army. [Leeuw, Charles Van Der (2000), "Azerbaijan: A Quest For Identity", p. 124. St. Martin's Press, ISBN 0312219032.] In 1935, Joseph Stalin renamed the city Kirovabad after Sergei Kirov. In 1991, Azerbaijan re-established its independence, and the ancient name of the city was given back.

Today Ganja is the second largest city in Azerbaijan. [http://www.ganca.az/ganja_today.html] According to the official government data, at the beginning of 2006, the population of Ganja was 305,600. [ [http://www.azstat.org/statinfo/demoqraphic/en/013.shtml#s13 The State Statistical Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan, "Population by economic regions at the beginning of the 2006"] ] [ [http://www.xist.org/cntry/azerbaijan.aspx Census table for Azerbaijani cities] ] It has an international airport, and is home to the Nizami Mausoleum, re-built in 1991.

Historic Armenian community

In addition to Persian- and Turkic-speaking Muslims, the city has had a numerically, economically and, culturally significant Armenian community [Soviet Census in 1926-1979, Newspaper Pravda Press, Moscow, 1983] [According to the 1892 official data, 10524 of 25758 inhabitants of the city were Armenians, there were 6 Armenian Apostolic (Gregorian) churches", [http://gatchina3000.ru/brockhaus-and-efron-encyclopedic-dictionary/039/39112.htm "Elizavetpol" article, Brockauz and Efron Encyclopedia (in Russian)] ] . Among the Armenians, the city is known as Gandzak (Գանձակ) [ [http://slovari.yandex.ru/dict/bse/article/00004/37600.htm?text=%D0%B3%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B4%D0%B7%D0%B0%D0%BA "the union of Georgian and Armenian armies near Gandzak", Great Soviet Encyclopedia (BSE)] ] [ [http://slovari.yandex.ru/dict/bse/article/00050/62400.htm?text=%D0%B3%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B4%D0%B7%D0%B0%D0%BA "Mkhitar Gosh was born in Gandzak", Mkhitar Gosh article, (BSE)] ] [Рыжов К.В. Все монархи мира. Древняя Греция. Древний Рим. Византия - М.: 2002. - 576 с. "Irakly with his army.... took Karin (Erzeroum), Dvin, Nakhichevan and Gandzak (Ganja)" [http://slovari.yandex.ru/dict/monarchs_antiquity/article/rim/rim-185.htm?text=%D0%B3%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B4%D0%B7%D0%B0%D0%BA] ] ["Gandzak (Ganja)" [jss.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/6/2/145.pdf THE DEATH OF THE LAST 'ABBASID CALIPH: A CONTEMPORARY MUSLIM ACCOUNT, by BOYLE J. // Semitic Studies.1961; 6: 145-161] . The word Gandzak is likewise associated with the concept of treasure or riches - gandz (Arm. - գանձ) [ [http://dictionary.hayastan.com/index.php?a=print&d=1&t=1789 Dictionary.Hayastan.com] ] . According to the "U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Citizenship and Immigration Services Country Reports", pogroms directed against the Armenian population have taken place in Ganja (Kirovabad) in November, 1988 following the expulsion of Azeris from Armenia [ [http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/home/opendoc.htm?tbl=RSDCOI&page=research&id=3ae6a6073 U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Citizenship and Immigration Services Country Reports Azerbaijan.] The Status of Armenians, Russians, Jews and Other Minorities ] (see Kirovabad pogrom). The city’s Armenian population (about 1/3 of the whole population) left in 1989, in the process of forced population exchanges that defined the Karabakh conflict ["During the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict (1989) all Armenians (about 1/3 of its population) left Ganja", [http://slovari.yandex.ru/dict/geography/article/geo/geo1/geo-1290.htm?text=%D0%BA%D0%B8%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%B1%D0%B0%D0%B4 Словарь современных географических названий / Под общ. ред. акад. В. М. Котлякова. - Электронное издание. - Екатеринбург: У-Фактория, 2006 (in Russian)] ] .

The city's historically important Christian figures include Kirakos Gandzaketsi (Կիրակոս Գանձակեցի, 1201-1271, author of the History of the Armenians [Kirakos, Gandzaketsi, History of the Armenians, New York: Sources of the Armenian Tradition, 1986.] ), Armenian [ [http://slovari.yandex.ru/dict/bse/article/00050/62400.htm?text=%D0%B3%D0%BE%D1%88 "Armenian philosopher, literary and public activist", Mkhitar Gosh at BSE] ] philosopher Mkhitar Gosh (Մխիթար Գոշ, c. 1130–1213) [ [http://slovari.yandex.ru/dict/bse/article/00050/62400.htm?text=%D0%B3%D0%BE%D1%88 Mkhitar Gosh at BSE] ] author of the Code of Laws that was used in Armenia, Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia and Armenian diasporan groups in Europe ["Despite the code of Gosh hadnt official character, it used in Armenia, as in the foreign countries, where there were Armenian population". [http://slovari.yandex.ru/dict/bse/article/00050/62500.htm?text=%D0%B3%D0%BE%D1%88 Code of Laws by Gosh at Great Soviet Encyclopedia (BSE)] ] , and Grigor Paron-Ter (Գրիգոր Պարոն Տեր, 1560-1645) - Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem. Among the modern time's prominent Armenian person's of the city were Russian-Armenian architect Karo Halabyan [ [http://slovari.yandex.ru/dict/bse/article/00001/75400.htm?text=%D0%BA%D0%B8%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%B1%D0%B0%D0%B4 Alabyan at BSE] ] , secretary of Armenian SSR communist party, President Askanaz Mravyan [ [http://slovari.yandex.ru/dict/bse/article/00001/75400.htm?text=%D0%BA%D0%B8%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%B1%D0%B0%D0%B4 Mravyan at BSE] ] , Marshall Hovhannes Baghramyan [ [http://slovari.yandex.ru/dict/bse/article/00005/80600.htm?text=%D0%BA%D0%B8%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%B1%D0%B0%D0%B4 Baghramyan at BSE] ] , Chief Marshal Hamazasp Babadzhanian and the Olympic champion Albert Azaryan [ [http://slovari.yandex.ru/dict/olympic/article/olymp/ol11/ol1-0057.htm?text=%D0%BA%D0%B8%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%B1%D0%B0%D0%B4 Azarian at BSE] ] .

Administrative organization

Ganja is divided into:
* Kəpəz Rayon, with about 160,000 people
* Nizami Rayon, with about 140,000 people
* Hacıkənd village, with about 500 people [TCSC|20]

Education

Ganja is home to four major institutes for post-secondary education.
*Ganja State University
*Azerbaijan State Agricultural Academy
*Azerbaijan Technological University
*Azerbaijan Teachers Institute, Ganja Branch

Famous people

Ganja is known for its famous people:
*Nizami Ganjavi
*Mahsati Ganjavi
*Javad Khan
*Mirza Shafi Vazeh
*Mirza Topchubashov
*Israfil Mammadov
*Fikrat Amirov
*Nigar Rafibeyli

Languages

About 99% of the population of Ganja speak Azerbaijani, only 1% of the population speak in other languages.Fact|date=June 2008

ister cities

* Derbent, Russian Federation
* Izmir, Turkey
* Moscow, Russian Federation
* Newark, New Jersey, U.S.
* Rustavi, Republic of Georgia

Pictures of Ganja

References

*GEOnet Names Server
* [http://world-gazetteer.com/wg.php?x=&men=gcis&lng=en&des=wg&geo=-26&srt=npan&col=abcdefghinoq&msz=1500&pt=c&va=x World Gazetteer: Azerbaijan] – World-Gazetteer.com

External links

* [http://www.ganca.net Ganja - The memories of stones]
* [http://www.ganjaauto.az Ganja Automobile Factory]
* [http://www.gateway.az/cgi-bin/cl2_gw/browse.cgi?lang=en&topic=000e01 Ganja] at the [http://www.gateway.az/ Azerbaijan Development Gateway]
* [http://oldganja.aznet.org Historical Monuments of Ganja]
* [http://muzey.iatp.az/tarix_en.html Nizami Ganjavi Museum of History and Ethnography of Ganja]