Ağsu

Ağsu lies on the river of the same name southwest of Shamakhi, in the foothills of Shirvan. The settlement was known by the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; the Ottoman traveler Evliya Çelebi described it as prosperous. Its history changed dramatically when Nader captured Shamakhi and ordered its inhabitants moved to Ağsu in 1735.

The rebuilt town became a seat of government and was known to many Russian and European merchants as New Shamakhi, distinguishing it from the older city. Walls, towers and a ditch protected it, while its population and commerce grew. Ağsu remained a center of power for much of the later eighteenth century, though the inhabitants faced further conflict among the regional khans. The ruins of the old town preserve the memory of this short-lived rival to Shamakhi.