Ganja

Ganja stands on the Ganja Çay, a tributary of the Kura, where the plain of Arran meets the southern Caucasus foothills, on the caravan roads that made it one of the main trading cities of the region. The poet Nizami Ganjavi lived and was buried here. An earthquake wrecked the city in 1139 and King Demetrius I of Georgia carried off its gates as a trophy; the Mongols raided it in 1231. Ilkhanid coins were still struck in Ganja after the Ilkhan Abu Said died in 1335.

In the 15th century Ganja belonged first to the Kara Koyunlu, who favoured trade and crafts, and then to the Aq Qoyunlu. After the Safavids came to power in 1501, Ganja became the seat of the governor of Karabakh. The Ottomans held it from 1578 to 1606, until Shah Abbas retook it after a siege, renamed it Abbasabad and built a new town 8 km to the southwest. The Ottomans returned in 1723 and Nader Shah drove them out in 1735. After his death in 1747 Ganja became the seat of a khanate ruled by a Qajar family, until Russian troops stormed its fortress on 3 January 1804.