What is History of Azerbaijan?
[[File:LocationAzerbaijan.svg|thumb|300px|Location of [[Azerbaijan]].]] The '''[[history]]''' of '''[[Azerbaijan]]''' goes back centuries before the USSR was formed. The population of Azerbaijan is a native to the Caucasus area, which are of turk descent. == Middle Ages and the coming of Islam == [[Image:Azerbaigian-baku2.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Turbe ([[Mausoleum]]) of the Shirvanshahs in [[Baku]] ([[15th century]]).]] In the [[7th century]], [[Islam]] was introduced with the [[Arab]] [[conquest]], which was important in the formation of a single [[nation]] and [[language]] in Azerbaijan, when the [[population]] became [[Muslim]]. A common [[religion]] for both [[Turkic people|Turkic]] and non-Turkic [[ethnic group]]s brought about the formation of common [[tradition]]s, and the [[integration]] between the different ethnic groups living on the territory of Azerbaijan. By the middle of the [[9th century]], the Turkic ethnic group, the [[Azerbaijani people]] became the major ethnic group. == Russian and Soviet rule == Azerbaijan came under [[Russia]]n rule after the Persian-Russian wars of [[1804]]-[[1813]]. The country gained [[independence]] for a short period, however, towards the end of the [[First World War]]. After the collapse of the [[Russian Empire]] in [[1917]], Azerbaijan, together with Armenia and Georgia formed the short-lived [[Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic]]. When this republic ended in [[May]] [[1918]], Azerbaijan declared independence as the [[Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan]] on [[May 28]], 1918, as the first modern and [[secular]] [[Parliamentary system|parliamentary]] [[republic]] in the [[Muslim World]]. However, the [[Red Army]] occupied the territory and annexed it to the newly formed [[Soviet Union]] and the [[Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic]] was founded on [[April 28]], [[1920]]. During the [[Second World War]] and after, the Azerbaijan SSR, as a [[petroleum]] producer, was important in the [[energy policy]] of the Soviet Union. Following the politics of [