page_title: Baku
section_title: Russo-Persian Wars and Iran's forced ceding
hierarchical_section_title: Baku / History / Russo-Persian Wars and Iran's forced ceding
caption_attribution_description: Baku embankment
context_page_description: Baku is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located 28 metres below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world and also the largest city in the world located below sea level. Baku lies on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, alongside the Bay of Baku. At the beginning of 2009, Baku's urban population was estimated at just over two million people. Officially, about 25% of all inhabitants of the country live in Baku's metropolitan area. Baku is the sole metropolis in Azerbaijan.
  Baku is divided into twelve administrative raions and 48 townships. Among these are the townships on the islands of the Baku Archipelago, and the town of Oil Rocks built on stilts in the Caspian Sea, 60 kilometres away from Baku. The Inner City of Baku, along with the Shirvanshah's Palace and Maiden Tower, were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000. According to the Lonely Planet's ranking, Baku is also among the world's top ten destinations for urban nightlife.
  The city is the scientific, cultural, and industrial centre of Azerbaijan.
context_section_description: From the late 18th century, Imperial Russia switched to a more aggressive geopolitical stance towards its two neighbours and rivals to the south, namely Iran and the Ottoman Empire. In the spring of 1796, by Catherine II’s order, General Valerian Zubov’s troops started a large campaign against Qajar Persia. Zubov had sent 13,000 men to capture Baku, and it was overrun subsequently without any resistance. On 13 June 1796, a Russian flotilla entered Baku Bay, and a garrison of Russian troops was placed inside the city. Later, however, Pavel I ordered the cessation of the campaign and the withdrawal of Russian forces following his predecessor, Catherine the Great's death. In March 1797, the tsarist troops left Baku and the city became part of Qajar Iran again.
  In 1813, following the Russo-Persian War of 1804–1813, Qajar Iran was forced to sign the Treaty of Gulistan with Russia, which provided for the irrevocable cession of Baku and most of Iran's territories in the North Caucasus and South Caucasus to Russia. During the next and final bout of hostilities between the two, the Russo-Persian War of 1826–1828, Baku was briefly recaptured by the Iranians. However, militarily superior, the Russians ended this war in a victory as well, and the resulting Treaty of Turkmenchay made its inclusion into the Russian Empire definite.
  When Baku was occupied by the Russian troops during the war of 1804–13, nearly the entire population of some 8,000 people was ethnic Tat.
caption: Painting of Baku's shoreline in 1861 by Alexey Bogolyubov.
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