DID YOU KNOW THAT?

WELCOME!

We are greeting you with typical Azeri hospitality. 

We come from an extraordinary country called Azerbaijan. Some people say it is in Europe, others say it is in Asia. Well, both are right as one fourth of this little country falls into Europe and the rest into Asia. The country borders Turkey and Armenia in the west, Georgia and Russia in the north, Iran in the south and the Caspian Sea in the east. The sea is also extraordinary. It is called a "sea", but in reality it is the biggest lake in the WORLD.

You are going to find a lot of interesting facts about Baku and Azerbaijan here! Why read pages of boring stuff, you can learn much more in a few minutes! 

It is time to brief you on the wonderland Azerbaijan. 

• Did you know that Azerbaijan has 9 of the 13 climatic zones known in the world? 
• Did you know it has the largest number of mud volcanoes in the world? 
• Did you know that Azerbaijan is one of the first human settlements in the world? 
• Did you know the root of the word "Caucasian"? It originates from where Azerbaijan is located. The Caucasus is the historical habitat of blond and blue-eyed people. 
• Did you know that there are 47 million Azeris around the world and only 8 million of them live in Azerbaijan? 
• Did you know that in the 16th century A.D. Azerbaijan was 30 times larger than it is today? If the same territory was retained Azerbaijan would be the 10th largest country in the world. 
• Do you know that the Noah's Ark landed on Ilandagh ("Snake mountain")in the Nakhichevan region of Azerbaijan? The name of the region is derived from this event, Nakhichevan (Nuh chikhan) means "the place where Noah had come out" ? 
• Did you know that the record longetivity among homosapiens was registered in the Lerik region of Azerbaijan? A resident of this region Shirali Muslimov was 168 years old when he died and was the longest living man on Earth since the times of the Old Testament.

What do you know about Baku? 

• Did you know that the world's #1 chess player Garry Kasparov was born in Baku and went to a chess school here? He moved out when he was a three time world champion. Did you know that Teymur Rajabov, the 14-year-old chess player, the youngest International Grand Master EVER lives in Azerbaijan? 
• Did you know that famous Nobel brothers made their fortune in Baku drilling oil from local oil fields? Their company was called "Nobel Brothers Partnership". There is still a Nobel avenue and a Nobel park in Baku. 
• Did you know that Landau, who won the Nobel Prize in physics for discovering the liquid helium, was born in Baku? There is a street named after him in the downtown Baku. 
• Did you know that Alexandre Dumas and Claude Monet visited Baku in 1858 and wrote about their travel in the book titled Caucasian Journey? 
• Did you know that General Charles de Gaulle of France lived in Baku in November-December 1944 and stayed in the famous building downtown Baku next to the Maiden Tower? This building was severely damaged during the recent earthquake and is under reconstruction. 
• Did you know that Hitler wanted to create an empire connecting BBB - Berlin-Baku-Bombay? 
• Did you know that the oil from Baku wells was one of the main reasons of Hitler's defeat. All Soviet airplanes and tanks were loaded with it. in 1941, Azeri oil made up 71% of the total output of the USSR. 
• Did you know that the great prophet of Zoroastrianism - Zarathustra spent a considerable part of his life in Baku?

OIL RELATED RECORDS

• Did you know that the first oil refining plant in the world was built by a Baku resident, Javad Malikov, in 1863 in Baku? 
• Did you know that the Nobel family of Norway, which created the Nobel Prices made much of its fortune in the Azerbaijan oil industry in the 19th century?
• Did you know that the oil-well drilling was started in Azerbaijan in 1844, 11 years earlier than in Pennsylvania, USA? The production of lubricating oils was also started first in Baku in 1875. In 1877, the first oil loading ship with a steel hull was built on the order of Ludwig Nobel and put into operation to transport kerosene. 
• Did you know that Azerbaijan was the first in the world in the total amount of oil produced from 1899 to 1901, extracting 100.9 million tons per year, which made up more than 50% of the world production? Oil production in USA. at that time amounted to only 9.1 million tons per year. In 1924, for the first time in the world, oil was produced from a marine well and offshore oil production was introduced to the world in Baku. In 1943, for the first time in the world, a unique offshore field was constructed on piles in the open sea. In 1968, a self-jackup drilling rig was used for the first time in the world. In 1977, at the depth of 84 meters, a deep-sea fixed drilling rig was constructed for the first time ever.