Shaki (, ) is a city in northwestern Azerbaijan, surrounded by the district of the same name. It is located in the southern part of the Greater Caucasus mountain range, from Baku. As of 2020, it has a population of 68,400. The center of the city and the Palace of Shaki Khans were inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2019 because of their unique architecture and history as an important trading center along the Silk Road.
Etymology According to the Azerbaijani historians, the name of the town goes back to the ethnonym of the Sakas, who reached the territory of modern-day Azerbaijan in the 7th century B.C. and populated it for several centuries. In the medieval sources, the name of the town is found in various forms such as Sheke, Sheki, Shaka, Shakki, Shakne, Shaken, Shakkan, Shekin.
The city was known as Nukha (; ) until 1968.
History Antiquity There are traces of large-scale settlements in Shaki dating back to more than 2700 years ago. The Sakas were an Iranian people that wandered from the north side of the Black Sea through Derbend passage and to the South Caucasus and from there to Asia Minor in the 7th century B.C. They occupied a good deal of the fertile lands in South Caucasus in an area called Sakasena. The city of Shaki was one of the areas occupied by the Sakas. The original settlement dates back to the late Bronze Age.
Shaki was founded in the 8th century B.C. Shaki was one of the biggest cities of the Caucasian Albanian states in the 1st century. The kingdom of Shaki was divided into 11 administrative provinces. The main temple of the ancient Albanians was located there. The Albanians adopted Christianity early from the Armenians, and Armenian cultural and religious influence became strong in Shaki.
As a result of archaeological excavations conducted in 1902 in the village of Boyuk-Dakhna in the Shaki region, various ceramic products and a stone tombstone dating back to the 2nd century AD and containing inscriptions in Greek were discovered.
Shaki was one of the important political and economic cities before the Arab invasion. But as a result of the invasion in 654, Shaki was annexed to the third emirate of Arminiya. At the turn of the 9th century, when the Arab caliphate was weak, Shaki joined with Cambysene and was ruled by the Armenian Smbatean princes as part of the independent principality of Shaki or Hereti, a vassal of the Armenian Bagratid kingdom. The population was mostly of Armenian origin and Armenian-speaking. The first Armenian prince of Shaki was Sahl Smbatean, who ruled with relative autonomy from the Abbasid Caliphate. By the 10th century, the Arab geographer, Ibn Haukal mentions that Shaki was ruled by the Armenian prince Prince Ishkhanik. From 1038 to 1105, the Armenian Kiurikian dynasty ruled Shaki as part of the Kingdom of Kakheti-Hereti. In 1117, the region was captured by the army of the Georgian king David IV.
The city was also ruled by the Atabegs of Azerbaijan and the Khwarazmian Empire, before the Mongol invasion.
Feudal era
In the 13th and 14th centuries, the territory of the present Shaki district was a part of the state of Shirvanshahs. Management of Shaki was entrusted to the son of Rashid al-Din Hamadani – Jalat In the 30s of the 14th century, the local Oirat tribe took power. After the collapse of the Hulagu Khan's rule in the first half of the 14th century, Shaki gained independence under the rule of Sidi Ahmed Orlat."Shaki", in Historical Dictionary of Azerbaijan 1999, p. 117 In 1392, Emir Timur captured Shaki, and the ruler of Shaki, Seyid Ali, was killed. Seyid Ali's son, Seyid Ahmed, who came to power, along with Shirvanshah Ibrahim I Derbendi, accompanied Timur on his third campaign against Azerbaijan in 1399. In 1444, Shaki, then known as Nukhi, was ruled by a Muslim family of Armenian origin whose reign lasted till 1551. In the early 1500s, Safavid king Ismail I (r. 1501–1524) conquered the area, but the town continued to be governed by its hereditary rulers, under Safavid suzerainty.
Ismail's son and successor Shah Tahmasp (r. 1524–1576) put an end to this, and in 1551, he appointed the first Qizilbash governor to rule the town. The territory was annexed to the Safavid dynasty as the independent Sheki beylerbey reigned by Toygun-bey Qajar.
Safavid rule was twice briefly interrupted by the Ottomans between 1578 and 1603 and 1724–1735. In 1734-1735, there was a revolt of poor people against the policy of Nadir Shah in the village of Bilecik (Shaki)
In 1741, there was another uprising against the local ruler, Melik Najaf. Appointed by Nadir Shah, Haji Chelebi, who claimed descent from the hereditary Muslim-Armenian rulers of the province, announced the formation of an independent Sheki khanate in 1743. Upon learning of this, Nadir Shah Afshar sent his army to Shaki. Haji Chelebi took refuge in the fortress of Gelesen-Geresen. In 1746, Haji Celebi was forced to recognize the authority of Nadir Shah. However, new uprisings and the death of Nadir Shah allowed Haji Chelebi to re-declare himself Khan During the existence of Shaki khanate, the local population of the city was engaged in silkworm breeding, craft and trade. As a result of a flood in the river Kish, the city of Shaki was partially ruined and the population was resettled in the present day city.
In alliance with the Shamakhi Khan, in 1748 Haji Chelebi attempted to besiege the Bayat fortress. The defeat in the battle of Bayat, which lasted for a month, had been a serious setback for allies.
The Jaro-Balakan Jamaat, Qabala and Ares sultanates were dependent on the Shaki khanate
In 1751, Haji Chelebi defeated the army of the Kakheti king Heraclius II. At the initiative of Heraclius II, a political conspiracy of the Kakheti Kingdom, the Karabakh, Ganja, Irevan, Nakhichevan, and Karadag khanates against the Shaki khan was arranged. In 1752, in the area of Kyzylgaya, Georgian troops unexpectedly attacked the khans: they were captured. Haji Celebi himself defeated the Georgians in the battle near Ganja and came to the aid of the khans. The army of Shaki khan captured Gazakh and Borchali.
In 1767, the Western part of the Shamakhi khanate was annexed to the Shaki khanate.
In 1785, the Shaki khanate became dependent on the Guba khanate. However, this did not last long: after the death of Fatali khan of Guba, the Shaki khanate regained its independence.
During the reign of Selim khan, the territory of the khanate was conditionally divided into 8 magals, which were ruled by naibs directly appointed by the khan himself.
On May 21, 1805, the treaty of Kyurekchay was signed between Russia and the Shaki khanate, the main condition of which was the annexation of the Shaki khanate to Russia. In 1806, the Russian army moved to Shaki. Selim khan was removed from positions of power. A temporary Board of Pro-Russian beks was created.
Modern era The area was fully annexed by Russia by the Treaty of Gulistan in 1813 and the khanate was abolished in 1819 and the Shaki province was established in its place. Shaki province was merged with provinces of Shemakha, Baku, Susha, Lankaran, Derbent and Kuban in 1840 and Caspian Oblast was created. At the same time Shaki was renamed as Nuha. The oblast was dissolved in 1846 and it was raion center of Shemakha Governorate. After the earthquake in Shemakha in 1859, the governorate was renamed as Baku Governorate. On 19 February 1868, raion of Nukha was passed to the newly created Elizavetpol Governorate as the Nukha uezd. After founding of USSR, it was the center of Nukha raion. Its one was abolished on 4 January 1963 and was bounded to one of Vartashen. Nukha one was founded again in 1965 and finally, city and raion regained traditional name in 1968.
During its history, the town saw devastation many times and because of that, the oldest historic and architectural monuments currently preserved are dated to only the 16th–19th centuries. For many centuries, Shaki had a large Armenian community and has been famous for being the center of silkworm-breeding and local silk production. Originally located on the left bank of the river Kish, the town sat lower down the hill, however Shaki was moved to its present location after a devastating flood in 1772 and became the capital of Shaki Khanate. As the new location was near the village of Nukha, the city also became known as Nukha, until 1968 when it reverted to the name Shaki.
In 1829, the Khanabad factory was opened in Shaki. The products of the Nukha silk-winding factory, which opened in 1861, were awarded a medal in London in 1862. The Shaki uprising of 1838 had an impact on the administrative, judicial, and agrarian reforms of the 1840s.
In 1917, Soviets of Workers' deputies were formed in a number of cities of Azerbaijan, including Shaki.
In May 1920, Soviet power was established in Shaki, as well as in other cities of Azerbaijan.
In 1930, an uprising against the policy of collectivization in the Azerbaijan SSR broke out in the village of Bash Goynyuk in the Shaki district. The Soviet regime was abolished. Soon, Red Army units moved into the city. The rebels were subject to execution.
Republic era
A letter from the Chairman of the Kyoto City Council, Daisaku Kadokawa, on 8 December 2008, said that Sheki was a member of the World Historical Cities League. Sheki became a member after the meeting of the Board of the World Cities League in October 2008.
Works to be done in the field of renovation and construction in 2012 were identified: Together with Sheki City Executive Authority and Architectural Urbanization Committee, Shaki City General Plan was prepared. According to the General Plan, it was planned to implement a number of infrastructure projects, as well as the expansion of the city to the west, inclusion of city of Oxud, İncə, Shaki, Kish, and Qoxmuq villages to Shaki. General Plan of Shaki City
Geography Shaki is surrounded by snowy peaks of the Greater Caucasus, which in some places reaches 3000–3600 m. Shaki's climate includes a range of cyclones and anticyclones, air masses and local winds. The average annual temperature in Shaki is 12 °C. In June and August, the average temperature varies between 20 and 25 °C.
The mountain forests around the area prevent the city from floods and overheating of the area during summer. The main rivers of the city are the Kish and Gurjhana. During the Soviet rule of Azerbaijan, many ascended to Shaki to bathe in its prestigious mineral springs.
Climate Shaki's climate is humid temperate, classified as Cfa in Köppen climate classification and Do in Trewartha climate classification.
Demographics According to the 1917 publication of the Caucasian Calendar, Shaki, then known as Nukha, had a population of 52,243 in 1916, including 33,813 Sunni Muslims (64.7%), 9,588 Shia Muslims (18.4%), and 8,009 Armenians (15.3%).
The number of Shaki population is 174.1 thousand people. The rural population is 105.7 thousand people, while the urban population is 66.9 thousand people. Population density is 72 people per square kilometer. Of the total population, 86.4 thousand, or 49.6%, are men and 87.7 thousand, or 50.4%, are women, with 38.4 percent of the population living in the city and 61.6 percent living in the village.belediyye.io.ua General information about Shaki
Religion
A home to ancient Caucasian Albanian churches, religion is highly important to the people of Shaki due to its historical religious diversity. There are many churches and mosques in the city. Some churches such as the Church of Kish in the vicinity of Shaki are thought to be approximately 1,500 years old. The Khan's Mosque, Omar Efendi Mosque and Gileili Minaret are considered important places of worship in the city.
Economy During 1850–70, Shaki became international silk production centre. More than 200 European companies opened offices in the city, while silkworms to the tune of 3 million roubles were sold to them in a year.