Maku ( Persian ماکو , Azeri. Maku , Kurd. Mako , arm. Մակու ) is a city in the northwestern part of the western part of Western Azerbaijan , in Iran . It is located 22 km from the border with Turkey in a mountain gorge at an altitude of 1634 m above sea level. The Zangmar River flows.
| City | |
| Maku | |
|---|---|
| Persian. ماکو | |
 Panorama of maku | |
| A country |  Iran |
| History and Geography | |
| Center height | 1634 m |
| Timezone | UTC + 3: 30 |
| Population | |
| Population | 41 865 people ( 2006 ) |
| Nationalities | Azerbaijanis, Kurds |
According to the 2006 census , the population of the city is 41,865 people. The main population of the city is Azerbaijanis , Kurds also live.
History
In ancient times, the Maku region was part of the Nairi civilization. , then belonged to the kingdom of Biainili ( Arartu ), after the fall of Arartu (Urartu ) Maku (Arthaz) became part of the kingdom of Matiena , later became part of the Medes (the so-called Small), where it was the central part of satrapia Armenia , then it was part of the Armenian kingdom . The city of Maku, called Shavarshan, for centuries belonged to the Armenian dynastic family Amatuni [1] .
There are two versions of the origin of the name of the city: from Persian Madkuh , meaning Median mountain or from Armenian Maki .
A 15th-century Spanish historian Rui González de Clavijo , who visited this city while traveling to Samarkand, said:
| On Sunday, the first of June, at Vespers, [messengers] approached the castle called Mack ... all its inhabitants were also Catholic Catholics, although they were Armenian by origin and their language was Armenian . In the same area was the monastery of the brothers of St. Domenik. This castle was, as it were, in the corner of the valley, at the foot of a very high cliff. The rock, where these buildings stood, went far up ... a canopy protrudes from it, covering the castle, the fence and the houses, forming a kind of dome above them. If it rains, water from the sky does not fall on the castle, since the [ledge] of the rock completely covers it. Thus, the castle is located so that it can not be attacked either from the earth or from the sky. Inside, there is a key that supplies water to the whole city and irrigates many gardens. And at the foot of the castle lies a beautiful valley along which the river flows. [There] are many vineyards and wheat-sown fields. [2] |
Maku was the capital of the Kengerlin Khanate [3] , one of the many semi-independent khanates that appeared after the collapse of the Safavid state in the 17th century .
The city is well known in the history of one of the young religions, Bahai . In the middle of the 19th century , the founder of this religion, Bab .
There are a lot of picturesque places on the territory of the city, and almost all of them are connected with a mountain standing nearby. Also, quite a lot of tourists come to Maku, most of them are representatives of the same relatively young religion. All these people want to see where its founder lived and served his sentence.
The city of Maku is built on a valley in the middle of which the Zangmar River flows . The presence of giant stone cliffs above the city of Maku gives it a special look, so that any visitor at the first glance at the city immediately remembers the strong military castles of ancient times.
The historical monuments available in the city of Maku also proclaim the antiquity of the city. Among them one can distinguish the “Stone Crypt Farhad”, located 7 km south of Maku.
Notes
- ↑ Amatuni - article from Encyclopædia Iranica . C. Toumanoff
- ↑ Rui Gonzalez De Clavijo “Travel Diary in Samarkand to Timur’s Court”, part 2
- ↑ Iran (English)