Samukh District

Samukh (Azerbaijani: Samux) is a rayon of Azerbaijan. The administrative centre, also Samux, was formerly called Nəbiağalı and before that Safaraliyev.

History

The term Samukh comes from a Caucasian Albanian word for 'Forest Hunting Place'. A related term, Samonis, is used to mark this area on Ptolemy's 2nd-century BC map of the Caucasus. There are Bronze Age burial mounds around Samux Town.

As an administrative unit, an entity known as Samukh Rayon was formed in 1930, centred on Garachayly settlement. However, in 1954, the construction of Mingechevir Hydro Power Plant rendered the region impractical as an administrative unit and Samukh Rayon was abolished, its territory thereafter falling within an expanded Safaraliyev Rayon. Safaraliyev Rayon had itself been detached from the Ganjabasar on January 24, 1940 by Decree №11 of the Supreme Soviet of the Azerbaijan SSR. In 1959, Safaraliyev Rayon was itself abolished. However, after Azerbaijan's independence, the entity was recreated albeit under the name Samukh Rayon according to Decree №72 of National Soviet of the Supreme Soviet of Azerbaijan on February 18, 1992. Its administrative center, Safaraliyev settlement, was renamed Nəbiağalı on December 31, 1992, then renamed again as Samux during 2008.