Dzhulfa

Dzhul’fa 

a city, center of Dzhul’fa Raion, Nakhichevan’ ASSR, Azerbaijan SSR. Situated on the left bank of the Araks River. Railroad station on the Baku-Yerevan line, from which originate a highway and railroad line to the Iranian city of Tabriz. Population, 5,000 (1970).

Dzhul’fa is one of the most ancient habitations. Beginning in the 16th century, it was a center of the international silk trade. Its merchants traded with Venice, Genoa, Amsterdam, and other cities of Western Europe. By the beginning of the 17th century, Dzhul’fa had a population of 20,000. In 1605, Shah Abbas I, striving to transfer the center of the silk trade to Iran, moved the population engaged in trade and handicrafts from Dzhul’fa to the environs of the capital Isfahan and burned the city down. In time, a city of the same name arose and developed near the site of the destroyed city. The city became part of Russia according to the 1828 treaty of Turkmanchai.

Dzhul’fa contains enterprises of railway transport. Freight traveling between the USSR and Iran passes through the city.