Baku is Azerbaijan’s capital and the largest city. It is the largest city in the Caucasus and the Caspian Sea regions. Baku lies 28m (92ft) below sea level. This makes it the world’s lowest-lying national capital and the largest city below sea level. Baku is located on the Absheron Peninsula’s southern shore, near the Bay of Baku. Baku’s urban population was just over 2 million at the start of 2009. Baku’s metropolitan region is home to 25% of all the country’s inhabitants. Baku is Azerbaijan’s isolated metropolitan area.

Ganja, Azerbaijan’s third-largest city, has a population of approximately 335,600.

It has been a cultural and historic center for most of its existence. It was the capital of Ganja Khanate until 1804 when Qajar Iran gave it to the Russian Empire. Following the Treaty of Gulistan of1813, it became part of the Georgia Governorate and Georgia-Imeretia Governorate. Tiflis Governorate and Elisabethpol Governorate administrative subdivisions. It was annexed to the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic after the collapse of the Russian Empire.

Sumgait, located close to the Caspian Sea and about 31 km (19 miles) from Baku, is the second-largest Azerbaijan city. Sumgait is home to 345,300 people, making it the second-largest city in Azerbaijan after Baku.

It covers an area of 83 km2 (32 sq mi). It was established on November 22, 1949. There are two settlements within the city administration, Jorat, and Haji Zeynalabdin. The latter is named after Haji Zeynalabdin Taghiyev, an oil businessman and philanthropist. Sumqayit State University is located here.

Mingachevir, with a population of around 106,000, is Azerbaijan’s fourth largest city. Because of the Kur River, the hydroelectric power station is often called “the city of lights.”

The current city was established in 1948. Mingachevir Polytechnic Institute is also located in Mingechevir. It is part of Azerbaijan’s administrative division. It is situated 323km from Baku and 17km from Baku-Tbilisi Railway. The region is located in the middle of the republic, on the Kura River.

The Republic of Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, a landlocked exclave, is called this. It covers 5,502.75km (2,124.62 sq mi), and has a population of 459,000. It borders Armenia to the east, Iran to the south, and Turkey to the northwest.

The Republic, particularly the capital Nakhchivan (Nakhichevan), dates back to approximately 1500 BCE. The region was contested historically by the Turks, Armenians, and Mongols. In the 16th century, Nakhchivan was annexed to Safavid Iran. After the Treaty of Turkmenchay and the Russo-Persian War, 1828 saw the Nakhchivan Khanate become an Imperial Russian possession.