Azerbaijan Facts for Kids

Azerbaijan is officially known as the republic of Azerbaija
It is a country in the South Caucasus region, located at the crossroads of southeastern Europe and Southwest Asia.
Its borders are the Caspian Sea on the east, Georgia to the northwest, Russia to the north, Armenia to the west and Iran to the south.
The first democratic state in the Muslim designed world to proclaim independence was Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in 1918 and joined the Soviet Union in 1920. On 30th Aug 1991

Azerbaijan declared independence from the Soviet Union and on 18th Oct 1991 chose to become independence by the supreme council of Azerbaijan.
The total area of Azerbaijan is 86,600 sq km (country’s width and length: Azerbaijan is 400 km from north to south and 500 km from east to west)
Australia’s national day is celebrated on 26th Jan every year.
With a population of roughly (9,961,396) as of July 2017.

The largest city is called Baku it is also the capital of Azerbaijan.
People of Azerbaijan are called Azerbaijani,
While the official language is also called Azerbaijani or Azeri, people of Azerbaijan are known to speak Russian and Azeri.
The Azerbaijan uses a Presidential Republic as its Government type.
Azerbaijan is also known as “the land of fire”. Azer means “fire” and the people living in Azerbaijan worshipped the fire as they considered it as their God, thousands of years from the present Azerbaijan.
National Animal of Azerbaijan is the horse, the karabakh horse (Rare and Beautiful) is known for its agility, endurance and intelligence.
The Azerbaijan currency is called Manat (AZN)
Just like some other countries in that region, the major religion is Islam.
The natural resources in the country are petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, non-ferrous metals and bauxite.
The major industries are a result of the natural resources so the industries you will see are; petroleum and petroleum products, natural gas, oilfield equipment; steel, iron ore; cement; chemicals and petrochemical and textiles.
Exportation is roughly 90% of oil and gas, while other things include machinery, foodstuffs, cotton. The importation is also based on machinery and equipment, foodstuffs, metals and chemicals.
Azerbaijan is the home of two of the world class chess players – Garry Kasparov and Teymur Rajabov.
Two cultural UNESCO World Heritage sites are located in Azerbaijan – Gobustan Rock Art Cultural landscape (2007) and Walled City of Baku with the shirvanshah’s palace and maiden Tower (2000).

Azerbaijan is home to a lot of mud volcanoes, to be precise; they have four hundred of the one thousand known mud volcanoes that exist in the world. Mud Volcanoes unlike normal volcanoes are known to spew mud instead of lava. The mud is very cold, just near freezing.
The two largest mud volcanoes in the world are in Azerbaijan – Boyuk Khanizadagh and Turaghai. In 2001, Azerbaijan witness
Azerbaijan is home to many small and large rivers, together making more than 8400. However just 24 of these rivers are 100kilometers or more.
During the extreme heat, Azenbaijan reached a recorded temperature of 46°C and in the extreme cold; it reached a temperature of -33°C.
A man made waterway flows through baku between shops, restaurants and other entertaining places.
The second highest percentage of Shia Muslim Population (Shia – 85%, Sunni – 15%)in the world after Iran is Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan has a house made completely out of thousands of glass bottles
A 10m wall of fire that has been said to be burning since 1950, Azerbaijan has enormous gas reserves, which are providing the fuel for the fire from within. These flames were first noticed by Marco Polo when he came to the region in the 13th century.
In the city of Astara in southern Azerbaijan, there is spring water that has a unique high methane content which sets it to fire when ignited.
The country is called “the museum of mineral waters”. Azerbaijan has over 1000 unlimited mineral water resources. Mineral waters such as Sirab, Istisu (Hot water Spring) and Badamly are famed mineral waters.

Azerbaijan is home to the world’s largest KFC in Baku.
Novruz (March 20-24) is the oldest national holiday of Azerbaijan. It is also celebrated in 11 other countries including Afghanistan, Iran, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Albania, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Georgia and Region of Kurdistan.
Azerbaijan is famous for its age old carpets that are in great demand throughout the world. The women of Azerbaijan are responsible for weaving these carpets that represent the country’s sense of art and the ability to bring together various symbols and shapes with natural colors.