page_title: Black City (Baku)
section_title: Foundation and growth
hierarchical_section_title: Black City (Baku) / History / Foundation and growth
caption_attribution_description: Русский: Нефтепровод на окраине Черного Города. Фото К.Буллы 1905г.
context_page_description: Black City is the general name for the southeastern neighbourhoods of Baku, which once formed its suburbs. In the late 19th and early 20th century it became the main location for Azerbaijan's oil industry.
context_section_description: By 1874 there were 123 refineries in what would become known as "Black City".
  The refinery district was about 8 miles (13 km) from the shipping ports.
  An industrial area plan was completed in 1876. Some of the farms and pastures of the neighbouring village of Keshla were zoned to accommodate replacements for factories that had been dismantled in the city. The new industrial zone was 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) from residential areas. To prevent further pollution, the new zoning law prohibited oil refineries from being built within the residential area.
  By 1880, there were 118 industrial businesses functioning in the Black City area.
  Most of the Baku oil workers lived in the area. The suburb also accommodated oil companies offices, workshops and housing for the associated labourers. Living conditions were very bad in contrast to conditions in Baku proper. Wealthy residents chose to settle in the city centre, where oil extraction and refinery were forbidden.
  The area came to be known as Black City (Russian: Чёрный город) because of the black smoke and soot coming from the factories and oil refineries. A Turkish traveller who visited Black City in 1890 described it as follows:
  "Everything is black; the walls, the earth, the air, and the sky. You can feel the oil and inhale the fumes, and reek chokes you. You walk among clouds of smoke which cover up the sky."
  In 1878, the Nobel Brothers built the first oil pipeline in the Russian Empire.
  It was 5.6 miles (9.0 km) long and 2 inches (51 mm) in diameter, and could deliver almost 10,000 barrels per day. 
  Crude was pumped from the oil wells to central storage tanks at Balakhani, and from there to the refineries.
  The cost of construction was recovered in the first year of operation.
  Other companies soon followed the Nobels' lead.
  The older Nobel brothers founded the Nobel Brothers Oil Extraction Partnership in 1879, and were soon in control of 75% of the oil industry in Baku.
  As of October 1885, most of the Baku refineries were in Black City. The oil was moved by pipes 4 to 6 inches (100 to 150 mm) in diameter resting on the ground and conforming to its curvature. There were twelve reservoirs in all, two owned by the Nobels. The smaller refiners had to make use of the reservoirs owned by the larger firms.
caption: Oil pipeline outside Black City, 1905
exif: {}