Julfa, Azerbaijan (city): Difference between revisions

Revision as of 15:33, 13 October 2006

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Jugha was a village in the early Middle Ages but grew into a town between the 10th and 13th centuries. Its population was almost entirely Armenian. For a time Jugha was one of the most important settlements in historical Armenia. It became extremely prosperous from the 15th to the 17th century because of the role its Armenian merchants played in international trade. The caravans of those merchants travelled the ancient trade routes from Persia, India, South-East Asia, and the Middle-East, to Russia, the Mediterranean, and North-Western Europe.

In 1605, Shah Abbas I of Persia realised that he was unable to defend the territory along the Arax river from incursions by the Ottoman empire, and decided to evacuate the region and undertake a "scorched earth policy" so that the region's wealth and population would not fall into Turkish hands. In October 1605 Shah Abbas issued an edict saying that the entire population of Jugha had to leave their homes and move deep into the Persian Empire. They were given three days to leave, with the threat of massacre if they did not (according to the chronicler Arakel Davrizhetzi, an eyewitness to the event). Another eyewitness, Augustus Badjetsi, bishop of Nakhchivan, wrote about the forced migrations, saying that the Persians entered the Armenian villages ''"like thunder from the sky". "We left houses full of goods, the herds in the fields ... the entire population was turned out of their land ... how many were pushed out at the point of swords and spears ... their moans and groans reaching the skies"''.{{fact}} About three thousand families were deported from Jugha, and it is recorded that many drowned while crossing the Arax river. After the deportation was completed the town was destroyed by fire to prevent it from falling into the hands of theanyone Ottomansreturning. In 1606, a second deportation was made of the surviving population that had managed to escape the first deportation. The deported inhabitants were taken to an area near [[Isfahan (city)|Isfahan]], where they built a new town was built for them, [[New Julfa]] or New Jugha. Today New Julfa is a quarter in [[Isfahan (city)|Isfahan]], [[Iran]]. The sudden and dramatic downfall of Jugha made a deep and lasting impression within Armenian society.

In the 17th and 18th century a small settlement still existed amid the ruins of the destroyed town. At the start of the 19th century this settlement moved to a new ___location a little to the east of the historical town, at the point where the Yernjak River flows into the Arax river. After the 1826 Treaty of Turkmenchai, the village of Jugha became the official border-crossing between Persia and Russia. When state customs services, a garrison, a post office, etc., were erected three kilometres east of Jugha, a new settlement arose on that new site which developed into the present-day town of Julfa (Culfa).