Sumbatzade, Ali Soibat Sumbat oglu

Ali Soibat Sumbatzadeh was born on January 21, 1907 in the village of Amirajan near Baku (now within the Surakhansky district of Baku ) in the family of a drilling oil master ^[4] . By nationality Tat ^[6] . In 1921, Sumbatzade entered the Baku Teachers' Seminary. After graduating, he worked as a teacher at school for several years. At the same time, continuing his studies at the Oriental faculty of Azerbaijan State University ^[4] .

In 1929, he prematurely ^[4] graduated from the university ^[3] . In the early 30s, Sumbatzade entered the graduate school at the Azerbaijan State Research Institute at the philosophical department. In May 1931, after graduating from graduate school ahead of schedule, Sumbatzadeh was conducting pedagogical work in higher educational institutions of the republic. During the 40s -50s , Ali Soibat Sumbatzade headed the departments of ancient and medieval history of the Teacher Institute named after M.F. Akhundov , the universal history of the Pedagogical Institute. V.I. Lenin , led the historical faculty of the Azerbaijan State Correspondence Pedagogical Institute, the Department of General History of ASU named after S. M. Kirov ^[4] .

Sumbatzadeh devoted his first research work to the study of the history of the Cuban uprising of 1837 - the largest peasant uprising in Azerbaijan in the 19th century. For this work, performed by the author in the early 40s as a candidate dissertation, the academic council of Azerbaijan State University in 1942 Sumbatzade was awarded the academic degree of candidate of historical sciences ^[1] .

Sumbatzadeh was widely known in Azerbaijan as a major researcher, competent and recognized specialist in the economic history of Azerbaijan of the 19th century ^[1] . The first generalizations in this direction were embodied in his doctoral dissertation “The Experience of Building the Economic History of Azerbaijan in the 19th Century” (1800-1870), which was successfully defended in 1948 at the Institute of History of the USSR Academy of Sciences . In 1954, Sumbatzadeh was awarded the title of professor, in 1955 he was elected a corresponding member , and in 1958 he became an academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Azerbaijan SSR ^{[1] [3]} .

Since 1956, Sumbatzadeh was a member of the CPSU ^[3] .

Sumbatzade is one of the authors of “History of Azerbaijan”, published in 1960 in Azerbaijani and Russian languages, representing the first attempt to create a textbook for a secondary school on the history of Azerbaijan from ancient times to the present day ^[1] . All chapters of the textbook devoted to history until the end of the 19th century were written by Sumbatzade ^[7] .

In 1963, he became director of the Institute of the Middle and Near East Peoples Academy of Sciences of the Azerbaijan SSR ^[3] .

The main works of Ali Soybat Sumbatzade are devoted to the socio-economic history of Azerbaijan in the 19th-20th centuries ^[3]

• Azerbaijan’s accession to Russia and its progressive consequences in the field of economy and culture (XIX - beginning of XX century). - Baku, 1955;
• Cuban Uprising 1837. - Baku, 1961;
• Industry of Azerbaijan in the 19th century - Baku, 1964;
• Socio-economic prerequisites for the victory of Soviet power in Azerbaijan. - M., 1972.
• The origins of the history of Azerbaijan // News of the Academy of Sciences of the Azerbaijan SSR. History, philosophy and law. 1979. Issue 1. P. 62-80.
• Azerbaijani historiography of the 19th — 20th centuries - Baku: Elm, 1987.
• Azerbaijanis are ethnogenesis and formation of the people. - Baku: Elm, 1990.

Azerbaijani authors A. A. Makhmudov, A. S. Nadirov and G. Ya. Abdulsalimzade consider such fundamental monographic studies by Ali Soybat Sumbatzade as “Agriculture of Azerbaijan in the XIX century” (1958) and “Industry of Azerbaijan in the XIX century” (1964) "An invaluable contribution to the development of the socio-economic history of pre-revolutionary Azerbaijan" ^[8] .

A number of Azerbaijani academics characterize Sumbatzade as “an outstanding specialist and researcher of the socio-economic history of the 19th century” ^[9] . According to the director of the Institute of Economics of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan, corresponding member of the academy Shahbaz Muradov, the legacy left by Sumbatzade in the fields of history, economics, ethnography, philosophy, oriental studies, ethnogenesis is “hard to overestimate” ^[9] .

Russian historian Viktor Shnirelman notes that, not without authorization from the Azerbaijani authorities, Sumbatzade tried to prove the origin of Azerbaijanis from the sedentary population of the ancient state of Midia ^[10] . According to Schnirelman, in the works of Sumbatzade “Azerbaijan acquired the features of eternity”, he wrote about the existence of “statehood of Azerbaijan” already at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC, moreover, the historian calls this territory “Azerbaijan” for all stages of history ^[11] . Breeding the concepts of ethnicity, culture and language, Sumbatzadeh believed that the Azerbaijani people had developed in the process of mixing the local autochthonous population (Kuti-Lullubey tribes, Manneeans, Atropatens and Albans) with newcomer Türkic-speaking tribes, whose language prevailed in this process ^[12] . Sumbatzade, being the author of a 1960 school textbook, showed a tendency to link early Azerbaijani statehood with the kingdom of Mann and Atropatena . Despite the generally accepted concept in science that the right bank of the Kura only at the end of the 4th century became part of Caucasian Albania , Sumbatzade placed Albania on both banks of the Kura River, Mashtots’s personality was completely ignored in the textbook ^[7] , also denying the generally accepted Armenization of the Albanian population on the right bank of the river Kura ^[13] . According to Shnirelman, in his studies, Sumbatzadeh claimed several language changes by the ancestors of Azerbaijanis, thereby portraying them as the original inhabitants of Azerbaijan ^[12] . But the deliberate distancing of South Azerbaijan from the Persian world, which, according to Shnirelman, was characteristic of Sumbatzadeh’s works, was in the author’s opinion “closely connected with the current political moment ” ^[13] .

• The name of Sumbatzade is one of the streets of the village of Amirjan, where the historian was born.
• On the wall of the house in Baku (Samed Vurgun street, 85), in which Sumbatzade lived from 1957 to 1992, a memorial plaque was installed.
• In April 2007, a scientific conference dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Sumbatzadeh was held at the Institute of Economics of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan ^[9] .

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  A plaque on the wall of a house in Baku, in which Sumbatzade lived from 1957 to 1992.

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  Ali Soybat Sumbatzade Street in Amirjani

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  Tomb of Sumbatzadeh on the II Alley of Honor in Baku

• Makhmudov A. A., Nadirov A. S., Abdulsalimzade G. Ya. Prominent scientist and skilled organizer of science (on the 70th birthday of Academician A. S. Sumbatzade) // News of the Academy of Sciences of the Azerbaijan SSR. - 1976.
• Shnirelman V. A. War of memory: myths, identity and politics in the Transcaucasus / Reviewer: L. B. Alaev . - M .: Academic book, 2003 .-- 592 p. - 2000 copies - ISBN 5-94628-118-6 .