Doing Business in Azerbaijan 2009 - Azerbaijan Export ...

Anyhow, the country bore the name “Atropatan” and later “Aderbagan”
for many centuries to come. The name was used to describe
territories that include the present Republic of Azerbaijan and the
province of the same name within the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The first recorded states on the territory that is now known as
Azerbaijan date back to 9th Century B.C. A few states such as
Manna, Maday and Albania with their own unique traditions
succeeded one another in the period to follow.
In the 4th century A.C. Christianity spread to the northern part of
the country while the South remained largely Zoroastrian. In the
8th Century the Arabic conquest of Azerbaijan commenced. The
Khalifat had long competed with the Turkic Khazar Kaganat
(Judaism was the official religious tradition there) for domination
over the north. Eventually Arabs prevailed and Azerbaijan remained
under Islamic rule for circa three hundred years with the short
period of twenty years when a large scale Hurammi freedom
movement led by popular leader Babek overthrew the Arabs in
Azerbaijan and parts of Iran.
From the period of Arabian conquest onwards, Azerbaijan became
an integral part of the Islamic cultural tradition. Nizami, Nasimi,
Tusi and other Azerbaijani poets and scholars now regarded the
patriarchs of this civilization, contributed extensively to the Islamic
Renaissance of the 9th to the 13th century.
The Middle Ages was a period of several large regional empires,
predominantly Turkic. Some of the mightiest dynasties were of
Azerbaijani origin, including the Karakoyunlu, Agkoyunlu and
Safavids. Despite the dominance of large states on the regional
political arena, northern Azerbaijan (Shirvan) managed to sustain
independent or at least semi-independent status throughout the
COUNTRY INFORMATION
Shah Ismail I (Khatai), the
founder of Safavid Dynasty
pictured at battle against
Abu al-Khayr Khan in a
scene from the Tarikh-i
Alam-Aray-i.
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