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Asia Azerbaijan

Guide to Azerbaijan ancestry, family history and genealogy parish registers, transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Location
Azerbaijan is located in the Caucasus region, situated at the crossroads of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west and Iran to the south. As such, its history coincides with the history of the silk road, and consequently Azerbaijan has been the scene of many wars and disturbances.

History
Its history goes back many centuries prior to the time of Christ. The Turkic tribes are believed to have arrived as small bands of ghazis whose conquests led to the Turkification of the population as largely native Caucasian and Iranian tribes adopted the Turkic language of the Oghuz.

Religion
During the rule of the Medes and Persians,, many Caucasian Albanians adopted Zoroastrianism and later switched to Christianity. However when the Arabian Muslims arrived many converted to that Religion, and most of the country became Muslim with the arrival of the Muslim Turks.