Karabakh

All you want to know about Karabakh

For other uses of "Karabakh", see Karabakh (disambiguation).
This article is part of the series on:
History of Nagorno-Karabakh
Early History
Artsakh
Middle Ages
Principality of Khachen
Melikdoms of Karabakh
Foreign rule
Persian Rule
Karabakh Khanate
Imperial Russian Rule
Early 20th Century
History (1915-1921)
Sovietization
Soviet Rule
Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast
Independence
Nagorno-Karabakh War
Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh

Karabakh (Azerbaijani: Qarabağ, Armenian: Ղարաբաղ) is a geographic and historic region in western Azerbaijan and southern 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, Lowland Karabakh (the southern Kura-steppes) and Syunik[1][2][3][4], the latter is the part of this region that is located in Armenia.

Geographically the Karabakh region lies in the easternmost part of the Armenian Plateau [5].

Karabakh region. Old Russian map from ESBE.

Contents

Origins of the name

The word "Karabakh" originates from Turkic and Persian, literally meaning "black garden".[6] The placename for the first time is mentioned in the Georgian chronicle of "Kartlis Tshovreba" ("Life of Georgians"), as well in Persian sources in the 13th and 14th centuries.[7] The name bacame common after the 1230's, when the region was conquered by the Mongols[8]. Karabakh comprised the ancient Armenian province of Artsakh with a part of Syunik and Utik, and had Shusha as its chief town [4].

History

In the 15th century the German traveler Johann Schiltberger toured the lowland part of Karabakh and described it as a large plain in Armenia. He wrote "although this plain lies in Armenia, nevertheless it belongs to the heathens, whom Armenian settlements are compelled to pay tribute. Armenians always treated me well...". [9]

Highland Karabakh or Artsakh, today known as Nagorno-Karabakh, was from 821 till the early 19th century ruled by the Armenian House of Khachen and its several lines, the latter Melikdoms of Karabakh [10]. In 1923 Nagorno-Karabakh was established as a autonomous oblast within Azerbaijan SSR, including only a part of Highland Karabakh [4][10]. 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 [11].

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].

References

  1. ^ Arakel Babakhanian, Collection of Works, volume 3, History of Armena. Book 2. "Hayastan" publishing, Yerevan 1973, p. 9.
  2. ^ Bagrat Ulubabyan, Survival struggle of Artsakh, Yerevan 1993, p. 3. ISBN 5-8079-0869-4.
  3. ^ Mirza Jamal Javanshir Karabagi. The History of Karabakh. Chapter 2: About the borders, old cities, population aggregates and rivers of the Karabakh region.
  4. ^ a b c Robert H. Hewsen, Russian-Armenian relations, 1700-1828. Society of Armenian Studies, N4, Cambridege, Massachusetts, 1984, p 37.
  5. ^ a b Robert H. Hewsen. The Meliks of Eastern Armenia: A Preliminary Study. Revue des etudes Arméniennes. NS: IX, 1972, pp. 289.
  6. ^ BBC News — Regions and territories: Nagorno-Karabakh
  7. ^ (Armenian) Soviet Armenian Encyclopedia, The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, Vol. 7, Yerevan 1981. p. 26
  8. ^ Great Soviet Encyclopedia, "NKAO, Historial Survey", 3rd edition, translated into English, New York: Macmillan Inc., 1973
  9. ^ Johannes Schiltberger, Als Sklave im Osmanischen Reich und bei den Tataren: 1394—1427. Stuttgart: Thienemann Press, 1983, p. 209.
  10. ^ a b Robert H. Hewsen, Armenia: A Historical Atlas. The University of Chicago Press, 2001, pp. 119, 155, 163, 264-265.
  11. ^ US State Department - 1993 UN Security Council Resolutions on Nagorno-Karabakh
Map of Azerbaijan  This Azerbaijan location article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Map of Armenia  This Armenia location article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

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