Javad

Javad stood near the confluence of the Kura and Aras, where a crossing joined the roads of Shirvan to those leading south into Iran. Travelers described a settlement with gardens, houses of brick and reeds, and craftsmen producing carpets and silk fabrics. A bridge of boats chained together carried traffic across the river; the English merchant Anthony Jenkinson visited the palace of Shirvan's governor here in the sixteenth century.

Javad remained a substantial settlement in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and became the center of a small khanate. Its position at the crossing also exposed it to war. In 1778 Hidayat Khan of Gilan attacked Javad, captured its ruler Hasan Khan and carried inhabitants away towards Rasht. The town was devastated and did not recover its former standing.