9
Since its very inception, the fortified town of Guba, as well as
eponymous district was a part of the State of Shirvanshah, one of
the powerful mediaeval Azerbaijani states embracing vast territories
known as Shirvan. Medieval sources refer to Shirvan (Sharvan) as an
area on the Western coast of the Caspian Sea, east of the Kura River,
encompassing part of ancient Caucasian Albania and early medieval
Arran. Due to various political events in the Middle Ages, frontiers of
Shirvan changed over time. Also, they could be altered due to politi-
cal developments and alterations in administrative subdivision resulting
from conquests. In certain periods, parts of Shirvan were incorpo-
rated into Atropatena, whereas in some other times northern borders
of Shirvan could stretch all the way to towns and settlements in South
Dagestan. (6)
As far as local population is concerned, it is well known that for
centuries, Shirvan had been an arena for diverse contacts among a
variety of tribes of Caucasian, Iranian and Turkic origin. This process of
intermingling is traced in written sources, archaeological finds and to-
ponymical (place name) data. Besides the earliest Shirvan inhabitants
of the diverse origins mentioned above, the Arabs were among the
local residents as of the 7-9th centuries A.D. onwards. Another visible
element in Azerbaijan’s ethnic mosaic as of the 16-18th centuries were
new Kurdish tribes moving to Azerbaijan from Turkey accompanied
by domestic migration of other tribes of Kurdish origin from South
Azerbaijan to the north. (7)
Meanwhile, in certain periods both urban and rural areas of Shir-
van faced devastating effects of frequent warfare between the Safavi
Iran and Ottoman Turkey. E.g. in the 16th century after the 6th war bet-
ween the Ottomans and the Safavis, the Turks succeeded in getting
control over Shirvan (1578) dividing the area into two provinces, i.e.
the Greater Shirvan and the Lesser Shirvan. At that time, Guba as the
3rd administrative district (sanjag) was a part of Lesser Shirvan with
Derbend as the capital city. (8)
The year of 1638 brought about the treaty between Turkey and
Iran that established peace between the two countries for over 80
years to come (1639-1723). And even though throughout this period
Azerbaijan remained under the Iranian control as the north-western
outskirt, it managed to retain its administrative integrity spreading
from the Kyzyluzen River all the way to the Greater Caucasus in the
Events of 1918 in Guba in the Context of Plans for Mass Extermination
of Azerbaijan’s Muslim Population