Karabakh
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Karabakh (Azerbaijani: Qarabağ, Armenian: Ղարաբաղ) is a geographic region in present-day southwestern Azerbaijan and eastern Armenia, extending from the highlands of the Lesser Caucasus down to the lowlands between the rivers Kura and Aras. It includes three regions: Highland Karabakh (the ancient Armenian province of Artsakh, present-day Nagorno-Karabakh), Lowland Karabakh (the southern Kura-steppes) and a part of Syunik[1][2][3][4]. Geographically the Karabakh region lies in the easternmost part of the Armenian Plateau [5].
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[edit] Origins of the name
The word "Karabakh" is generally held to originate from Turkic and Persian, and literally means "black garden".[6] In an alternative theory, the name has a Turko-Armenian origin, meaning "Greater Baghk", a reference to the kingdom of Ktish-Baghk, one of the principalities of Artsakh. [7].
The placename is first mentioned in the Georgian Chronicles (Kartlis Tskhovreba, "Life of the Georgians"), as well in Persian sources from the 13th and 14th centuries.[8] The name became common after the 1230s, when the region was conquered by the Mongols[9].
[edit] History
| History of Nagorno-Karabakh | |
 This article is part of a series |
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| Ancient History | |
|---|---|
| Artsakh | |
| Middle Ages | |
| Principality of Khachen | |
| Kingdom of Artsakh | |
| Melikdoms of Karabakh | |
| Foreign Rule | |
| Persian Karabakh | |
| Karabakh Khanate | |
| Russian Karabakh | |
| Early 20th Century | |
| History (1918-1923) | |
| Sovietization | |
| Soviet Rule | |
| Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast | |
| Independence | |
| Nagorno-Karabakh War | |
| Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh | |
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Nagorno-Karabakh Portal |
In the 15th century the German traveler Johann Schiltberger toured Lowland Karabakh and described it as a large and beautiful plain in Armenia.[10]
Highland Karabakh (Russian: Nagorno-Karabakh) or Artsakh was from 821 till the early 19th century ruled by the Armenian House of Khachen and its several lines, the latter Melikdoms of Karabakh [11]. In 1747 Panah Javanshir, a local Turkoman chieftain, seized control of the region after the death of Nadir Shah, and both Lower Karabakh and Highland Karabakh comprised the new Karabakh khanate [11]. Nevertheless Highland Karabakh was still ruled by its own hereditary princes known as meliks until the Russian annexation of the region in 1805 [11].
Under Russian rule Karabakh (Lowland and Highland) was a region with an area of 13,600 km2 (5,250 sq mi), and Shusha was its capital city [12]. Its population consisted of Armenians and Azeris[13] in nearly equal numbers: Highland Karabakh was almost wholly Armenian in population and Lowland Karabakh was almost entirely Azeri[13] [11].
In 1923 part of Highland Karabakh was established as an Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast within Azerbaijan SSR[5][11]. The local government of Nagorno-Karabakh and that of Shahumian declared its independence from the Azerbaijan SSR in 1991 as the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, which remains unrecognized worldwide. Portions of the lowland Karabakh have been controlled by Armenian forces since the Nagorno-Karabakh War ended in 1994 [14].
[edit] Karabakh dialect
The Armenian population of the region speaks the Karabakh dialect, the most extensively spoken of all Armenian dialects until the Soviet period when the dialect of Yerevan became the official tongue of the Armenian SSR [5].
[edit] References
- ^ Arakel Babakhanian, Collection of Works, volume 3, History of Armena. Book 2. "Hayastan" publishing, Yerevan 1973, p. 9.
- ^ Bagrat Ulubabyan, Survival struggle of Artsakh, Yerevan 1993, p. 3. ISBN 5-8079-0869-4.
- ^ Mirza Jamal Javanshir Karabagi. The History of Karabakh. Chapter 2: About the borders, old cities, population aggregates and rivers of the Karabakh region.
- ^ Robert H. Hewsen, Russian-Armenian relations, 1700-1828. Society of Armenian Studies, N4, Cambridege, Massachusetts, 1984, p 37.
- ^ a b c Robert H. Hewsen. The Meliks of Eastern Armenia: A Preliminary Study. Revue des etudes Arméniennes. NS: IX, 1972, pp. 289.
- ^ BBC News — Regions and territories: Nagorno-Karabakh
- ^ Robert H. Hewsen, Armenia: a Historical Atlas. University of Chicago Press, 2001, pp. 119-120.
- ^ (Armenian) Soviet Armenian Encyclopedia, The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, Vol. 7, Yerevan 1981. p. 26
- ^ Great Soviet Encyclopedia, "NKAO, Historical Survey", 3rd edition, translated into English, New York: Macmillan Inc., 1973
- ^ Johannes Schiltberger. Bondage and Travels of Johann Schiltberger. Translated by J. Buchan Telfer. Ayer Publishing, 1966, p. 86. ISBN 083373489X.
- ^ a b c d e Robert H. Hewsen, Armenia: A Historical Atlas. The University of Chicago Press, 2001, pp. 119, 155, 163, 264-265.
- ^ Royal Geographical Society (Great Britain). A Gazetteer of the World. A. Fullarton, 1856, p. 450.
- ^ a b Rywkin, Michael (1994). Moscow's Lost Empire. M. E. Sharpe. p. 85. ISBN 1563242370, ISBN 9781563242373. http://books.google.com/books?id=k8oPc9BCz_4C&pg=PA85. "historically part of the Azeri Khanate of Karabakh, but demographically predominantly Armenian..."
- ^ US State Department - 1993 UN Security Council Resolutions on Nagorno-Karabakh
