The Azerbaijanis (/ˌæzərbaɪˈdʒɑːni/; Azerbaijani: Azərbaycanlılar, آذربایجانلیلار) or Azeris are a Turkic-speaking ethnic group living mainly in Azerbaijan Republic and Iranian Azerbaijan. Also referred to as "Azerbaijani Turks" (Azərbaycan Türkləri), they live in a wider area, extending from the Caucasus to the Iranian Plateau. The Azeris are predominantly Shi'i Muslims, and have a mixed cultural heritage, including Iranian, Turkic and Caucasian elements. They comprise the largest ethnic group in the Azerbaijan Republic and by far the second-largest ethnic group in neighbouring Iran. The worlds largest number of ethnic Azerbaijanis furthermore live in Iran followed by the Azerbaijan Republic. Following the Russo-Persian Wars of 1804–13 and 1826–28, the territories of the Iranian Qajar dynasty in the Caucasus were forcefully ceded to the Russian Empire and the Treaty of Gulistan in 1813 and the Treaty of Turkmenchay in 1828 finalized the borders between the Russian Empire and Qajar Iran. The areas to the north of the river Aras, including the territory of the contemporary Republic of Azerbaijan, were Iranian territory until they were occupied by Russia over the course of the 19th century. The Russo-Persian Wars of the 19th century settled the modern-day boundary of Iran, stripping it of all its Caucasian territories and incorporating them into the Russian Empire. The eventual formation of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in 1918 established the territory of modern Azerbaijan. As a direct result of Qajar Iran's forced ceding to Russia, the Azerbaijanis are nowadays parted between two nations: Iran and Azerbaijan. Despite living on two sides of an international border, the Azeris form a single ethnic group. However, northerners and southerners differ due to nearly two centuries of separate social evolution of Iranian Azerbaijanis and those in the Russian/Soviet-influenced Azerbaijan SSR. The Azerbaijani language unifies Azeris and is mutually intelligible with Turkmen, Qashqai, Gagauz, Turkish, and the dialects spoken by Iraqi Turkmens, all of which are Oghuz languages belonging to the Turkic family Azerbaijan is believed to be named after Atropates, a Persian satrap (governor) who ruled in Atropatene (modern Iranian Azerbaijan). The name Atropates means "protected by fire". An alternative theory is that Azerbaijan is the combination of two Persian words, "Āzar" meaning "(holy) fire" and "pāygān" meaning "the place of". Ancient residents of the area spoke the Ancient Azari language, which belonged to the Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. In the 11th century A.D. with Seljukid conquests, Oghuz Turkic tribes started moving across the Iranian plateau into the Caucasus and Anatolia. The influx of the Oghuz and other Turkmen tribes was further accentuated by the Mongol invasion. Here, the Oghuz tribes divided into various smaller groups, some of whom – mostly Sunni – moved to Anatolia (i.e., the later Ottomans) and became settled, while others remained in the Caucasus region and later – due to the influence of the Safaviyya – eventually converted to the Shia branch of Islam. The latter were to keep the name "Turkmen" or "Turcoman" for a long time: from the 13th century onwards they gradually Turkified the Iranian-speaking populations of Azerbaijan, both the contemporary Republic and Iranian Azerbaijan, thus creating a new identity based on Shia and the use of Oghuz Turkic. Today, this Turkic-speaking population is known as Azerbaijani. Ancient period Caucasian-speaking Albanian tribes are believed to be the earliest inhabitants of the region where the modern-day Republic of Azerbaijan is located. Early Iranian settlements included the Scythians in the ninth century BC. Following the Scythians, the Medes came to dominate the area to the south of the Aras River. Ancient Iranian people of the Medes forged a vast empire between 900 and 700 BC, which the Achaemenids integrated into their own empire around 550 BC. During this period, Zoroastrianism spread in the Caucasus and in Atropatene. Alexander the Great defeated the Achaemenids in 330 BC, but allowed the Median satrap Atropates to remain in power. Following the decline of the Seleucids in Persia in 247 BC, an Armenian Kingdom exercised control over parts of Caucasian Albania. Caucasian Albanians established a kingdom in the first century BC and largely remained independent until the Persian Sassanids made their kingdom a vassal state in 252 AD. Caucasian Albania's ruler, King Urnayr, went to Armenia and then officially adopted Christianity as the state religion in the fourth century AD, and Albania remained a Christian state until the 8th century. Sassanid control ended with their defeat by Muslim Arabs in 642 AD, through the Muslim conquest of Persia.

• published: 07 Sep 2015
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