BAKU, chief city of the Azerbaijan S.S.R., on the west coast of the Caspian sea, south of the Apsheron peninsula, 40° 2 2' N., 50' E. Av. rainfall 9.5 inches. Av. temp. Jan. 38.1° F, July 78.8° F. A violent north-north-west wind blows in winter. It is the centre of the Baku region, area 4,970sq.km. Pop. (1926) 520,936, only 73,564 rural, the remaining 446,832 being concen trated in Baku city, the number of men being much in excess of that of women. The town has a larger proportion of Russians than the rest of Azerbaijan. It is chiefly famous for its naphtha, the output 1926-27 being 6,400,000 tons, about of which was from natural fountains and the rest from drill-wells. A hydro electric power plant to supply the oil refineries was completed in 1927. Recently constructed pipe lines completed in 1928 con vey oil to Batum and Poti. Baku has a good harbour and is served by a fleet, mainly for oil, consisting in 1925 of 81 motor driven vessels (tonnage 112,049), 162 oil barges (tonnage 246, 000), 75 dry cargo steamers and 63 line steamers and tugs. The oil transport facilities are good, but the dry cargo vessels (mainly for Persian and Trans-Caspian products, raw cotton, silk, rice, wine, fish, dried fruit and timber) are antiquated and inadequate. The silting up of the Volga delta seriously interferes with up-river transport to Moscow, and dredging would improve trade. Baku has good rail connections with the Black sea, in the north via Vladikavkaz, and in the south via Tiflis to Batum. The new town is creeping up the hill, and has petroleum refineries and factories for oil fuel, flour milling, sulphuric acid and tobacco. Near the harbour are engineering works, dry docks, barracks, stores, etc. A fair (May and June) serves for exchange between the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics and Persia, the latter providing cotton, wool, carpets, rice and dried fruits in exchange for Russian sugar. Transactions in 1926, when a special building for the fair was opened, amounted to Io,000,000 roubles. Baku has a university, a polytechnic institute, and other centres for education, drama, art and music.
The old town lies west and has ancient walls, with traces of 9th century and loth century Arab architecture, the mosque of the Persian shahs built in 1078 (now an arsenal), the ruins of the 16th century palace of the native khans and, nearer the sea, the "Maiden's Tower," now a lighthouse. Baku was mentioned by the loth century Arab geographer, Masudi. From 1509 to 1723 it was under Persian rule; it was then captured by the Russians but restored 1735, and finally incorporated in the Russian empire in 1806. It suffered severely in the anarchy of 1904-05, when many oilworks were burned, and again in 1914-21. On the Apsheron pen insula, 3om. from Baku, is the village of Nardoron, with 13th cen tury relics : a recent shifting of the sand has revealed an ancient mausoleum of Sheikh Said-Yusif-Caliph, 8th century.