Capital Baku
Largest city Baku
Official language(s) Azerbaijani
Population
2005 est. 8,411,000
Currency Manat
Calling code +994

There are various hypotheses regarding the roots of the name "Azerbaijan." The to the highest degree common theory is that Azerbaijan was eponymously named after Atropates, an Iranian Median satrap (governor), who dominated a region found in modern Iranian Azarbaijan called Atropatene. Atropates name is believed to be derived from the Old Persian origins substance "protected by fire."

The earliest known people of what is today Azerbaijan were the Caucasian Albanians, a Caucasian-speaking people who pop up to have been in the region prior to the carrier of peoples who would eventually invade the Caucasus. Historically Azerbaijan has been inhabited and inhabited by a variety of peoples, including Persians, Greeks, Romans, Armenians, Arabs, Turks, Mongols and Russians.

The first kingdom to emerge in the province of present-day Republic of Azerbaijan was Mannae in the 9th century BC, lasting till 616 BC when it became part of the Median Empire, which later became part of the Persian Empire in 549 BC. The satrapies of Atropatene and Caucasian Albania were founded in the 4th century BC and included the approximate territories of the present-day Azerbaijan nation-state and southern parts of Dagestan.