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Azerbaijan | From the Sasanid period to the Safavid period | From the Sasanid period to the Safavid period
The Sasanian Empire turned Caucasian Albania into a vassal state in 252, while King Urnayr officially adopted Christianity as the state religion in the 4th century. Despite Sassanid rule, Caucasian Albania remained an entity in the region until the 9th century, while fully subordinate to Sassanid Iran, and retained its monarchy. Despite being one of the chief vassals of the Sasanian emperor, the Albanian king had only a semblance of authority, and the Sasanian marzban (military governor) held most civil, religious, and military authority.
In the first half of the 7th century, Caucasian Albania, as a vassal of the Sasanians, came under nominal Muslim rule with the Muslim conquest of Persia. The Umayyad Caliphate repulsed both the Sasanians and Byzantines from the South Caucasus and turned Caucasian Albania into a vassal state after Christian resistance led by King Juansher was suppressed in 667. The power vacuum left by the decline of the Abbasid Caliphate was filled by numerous local dynasties such as the Sallarids, Sajids, and Shaddadids. At the beginning of the 11th century, the territory was gradually seized by the waves of migrating Oghuz Turks from Central Asia, who adopted a Turkoman ethnonym at the time.Barthold, V.V. Sochineniya; p. 558: "Whatever the former significance of the Oghuz people in Eastern Asia, after the events of the 8th and 9th centuries, it focuses more and more on the West, on the border of the Pre-Asian cultural world, which was destined to be invaded by the Oghuz people in the 11th century, or, as they were called only in the west, by the Turkmen." The first of these Turkic dynasties established was the Seljuk Empire, which entered the area by 1067.
The pre-Turkic population spoke several Indo-European and Caucasian languages, among them ArmenianМоисей Хоренский. Армянская География VII в. Перевод Патканова К.П. СПб., 1877. стр. 40,17Hewsen, Robert H. "The Kingdom of Artsakh", in T. Samuelian & M. Stone, eds. Medieval Armenian Culture. Chico, CA, 1983 and an Iranian language, Old Azeri, which was gradually replaced by a Turkic language, the early precursor of the Azerbaijani language of today. Some linguists have also stated that the Tati dialects of Iranian Azerbaijan and the Republic of Azerbaijan, like those spoken by the Tats, are descended from Old Azeri.
Locally, the possessions of the subsequent Seljuk Empire were ruled by Eldiguzids, technically vassals of the Seljuk sultans, but sometimes de facto rulers themselves. Under the Seljuks, local poets such as Nizami Ganjavi and Khaqani gave rise to a blossoming of Persian literature in the region.
Shirvanshahs, the local dynasty of Arabic origin that was later Persianized, became a vassal state of Timurid Empire of Timur and assisted him in his war with the ruler of the Golden Horde Tokhtamysh. Following Timur's death, two independent and rival Turkoman states emerged: Qara Qoyunlu and Aq Qoyunlu. The Shirvanshahs returned, maintaining for numerous centuries to come a high degree of autonomy as local rulers and vassals as they had done since 861. In 1501, the Safavid dynasty of Iran subdued the Shirvanshahs and gained its possessions. In the course of the next century, the Safavids converted the formerly Sunni population to Shia Islam, as they did with the population in what is modern-day Iran. The Safavids allowed the Shirvanshahs to remain in power under Safavid suzerainty until 1538, when Safavid King Tahmasp I completely deposed them and made the area into the Safavid province of Shirvan. The Sunni Ottomans briefly managed to occupy present-day Azerbaijan as a result of the Ottoman–Safavid War of 1578–1590; by the early 17th century, they were ousted by Safavid Iranian ruler Abbas I. In the wake of the demise of the Safavid dynasty, Baku and its environs were briefly occupied by the Russians as a consequence of the Russo-Persian War of 1722–1723. Remainder of present Azerbaijan was occupied by the Ottomans from 1722 to 1736. Despite brief intermissions such as these by Safavid Iran's neighboring rivals, the land remained under Iranian rule from the earliest advent of the Safavids up to the course of the 19th century. |
Azerbaijan | Modern history | Modern history
300px|thumb|Political map of the eastern part of the South Caucasus between 1795 and 1801
After the Safavids, the area was ruled by the Iranian Afsharid dynasty. After the death of Nader Shah in 1747, many of his former subjects capitalized on the eruption of instability. Numerous khanates with various forms of autonomy emerged. The rulers of these khanates were directly related to the ruling dynasties of Iran and were vassals and subjects of the Iranian shah.Encyclopedia of Soviet law By Ferdinand Joseph Maria Feldbrugge, Gerard Pieter van den Berg, William B. Simons, Page 457 The khanates exercised control over their affairs via international trade routes between Central Asia and the West.
Thereafter, the area was under the successive rule of the Iranian Zands and Qajars. From the late 18th century, Imperial Russia switched to a more aggressive geo-political stance towards Iran and the Ottoman Empire.Gabor Agoston, Bruce Alan Masters. Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire Infobase Publishing, 1 January 2009 p. 125 Russia actively tried to gain possession of the Caucasus region which was, for the most part, in the hands of Iran. In 1804, the Russians invaded and sacked the Iranian town of Ganja, sparking the Russo-Persian War of 1804–1813. The militarily superior Russians ended the war with a victory. Following Qajar Iran's loss, it was forced to concede suzerainty over most of the khanates, along with Georgia and Dagestan to the Russian Empire, per the Treaty of Gulistan.Timothy C. Dowling (2014). Russia at War: From the Mongol Conquest to Afghanistan, Chechnya, and Beyond pp. 728–729 ABC-CLIO,
thumb|upright|The siege of Ganja Fortress in 1804 during the Russo-Persian War of 1804–1813The area to the north of the Aras River was Iranian territory until Russia occupied it in the 19th century. About a decade later, in violation of the Gulistan treaty, the Russians invaded Iran's Erivan Khanate. This sparked the final bout of hostilities between the two, the Russo-Persian War of 1826–1828. The resulting Treaty of Turkmenchay forced Qajar Iran to cede sovereignty over the Erivan Khanate, the Nakhchivan Khanate and the remainder of the Talysh Khanate. After the incorporation of all Caucasian territories from Iran into Russia, the border between the two was set at the Aras River.
Despite the Russian conquest, throughout the entire 19th century, preoccupation with Iranian culture, literature, and language remained widespread among Shia and Sunni intellectuals in the Russian-held cities of Baku, Ganja and Tiflis (Tbilisi, now Georgia). Within the same century, in post-Iranian Russian-held East Caucasia, an Azerbaijani national identity emerged at the end of the 19th century. As a result of the Russian conquest, the Azerbaijanis are nowadays parted between two nations: Iran and Azerbaijan.Swietochowski, Tadeusz. Eastern Europe, Russia, and Central Asia 2003 Taylor and Francis, 2003. p. 104
After the collapse of the Russian Empire during World War I, the short-lived Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic was declared, constituting the present-day republics of Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia. It was followed by the March Days massacres that took place between 30 March and 2 April 1918 in Baku and adjacent areas of the Baku Governorate. When the republic dissolved in May 1918, the leading Musavat party declared independence as the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR), adopting the name of "Azerbaijan", a name that prior to the proclamation of the ADR was solely used to refer to the adjacent northwestern region of contemporary Iran. The ADR was the first modern parliamentary republic in the Muslim world.Schulze, Reinhard. A Modern History of the Islamic World. I.B.Tauris, 2000. . Among the important accomplishments of the Parliament was the extension of suffrage to women, making ADR the first Muslim nation to grant women equal political rights with men. Baku State University, first modern university founded in the Muslim East, was established during this period.
thumb|left|upright=1.3|Map presented by the delegation of Azerbaijan in the 1919 Paris Peace Conference
Independent Azerbaijan lasted only 23 months until the Bolshevik 11th Soviet Red Army invaded it, establishing the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic on 28 April 1920. Although the bulk of the newly formed Azerbaijani army was engaged in putting down an Armenian revolt that had broken out in Karabakh, Azerbaijanis did not surrender their brief independence of 1918–20 quickly or easily. As many as 20,000 Azerbaijani soldiers died resisting what was effectively a Russian reconquest. Within the ensuing early Soviet period, the Azerbaijani national identity was forged.
On 13 October 1921, the Soviet republics of Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia signed an agreement with Turkey known as the Treaty of Kars. The previously independent Republic of Aras would also become the Nakhchivan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic within the Azerbaijan SSR by the treaty of Kars. On the other hand, Armenia was awarded the region of Zangezur and Turkey agreed to return Gyumri (then known as Alexandropol).
During World War II, Azerbaijan played a crucial role in the strategic energy policy of the Soviet Union, with 80 percent of the Soviet Union's oil on the Eastern Front being supplied by Baku. By decree of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union in February 1942, the commitment of more than 500 workers and employees of the oil industry of Azerbaijan were awarded orders and medals. Operation Edelweiss carried out by the German Wehrmacht targeted Baku because of its importance as the energy (petroleum) dynamo of the USSR. A fifth of all Azerbaijanis fought in the Second World War from 1941 to 1945. Approximately 681,000 people (with over 100,000 women) went to the front, while the total population of Azerbaijan was 3.4 million at the time. Some 250,000 people from Azerbaijan were killed on the front. More than 130 Azerbaijanis were named heroes of the Soviet Union. Azerbaijani Major-General Azi Aslanov was twice awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union. |
Azerbaijan | Independence | Independence
thumb|Soviet Army paratroopers during the Black January tragedy in 1990
Following the politics of glasnost initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev, civil unrest and ethnic strife grew in various regions of the Soviet Union, including Nagorno-Karabakh, an autonomous region of the Azerbaijan SSR. The disturbances in Azerbaijan, in response to Moscow's indifference to an already heated conflict, resulted in calls for independence and secession, which culminated in the Black January events in Baku. Later in 1990, the Supreme Council of the Azerbaijan SSR dropped the words "Soviet Socialist" from the title, adopted the "Declaration of Sovereignty of the Azerbaijan Republic" and restored the flag of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic as the state flag. As a consequence of the failed 1991 Soviet coup attempt in Moscow, the Supreme Council of Azerbaijan adopted a Declaration of Independence on 18 October 1991 which was affirmed by a nationwide referendum in December, while the Soviet Union officially ceased to exist on 26 December. The country celebrates its Day of Restoration of Independence on 18 October.
The early years of independence were overshadowed by the First Nagorno-Karabakh war with the ethnic Armenian majority of Nagorno-Karabakh backed by Armenia. By the end of the hostilities in 1994, Armenians controlled 14–16 percent of Azerbaijani territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh.De Waal, Thomas (2013). Black Garden: Armenia And Azerbaijan Through Peace and War. New York: New York University Press, p. 286. . During the war many atrocities and pogroms by both sides were committed including the massacres at Malibeyli, Gushchular and Garadaghly and the Khojaly massacre, along with the Baku pogrom, the Maraga massacre and the Kirovabad pogrom. Furthermore, an estimated 30,000 people were killed and more than a million people were displaced (more than 800,000 Azerbaijanis and 300,000 Armenians).A Conflict That Can Be Resolved in Time: Nagorno-Karabakh . International Herald Tribune. 29 November 2003. Four United Nations Security Council resolutions (822, 853, 874, and 884) demand for "the immediate withdrawal of all Armenian forces from all occupied territories of Azerbaijan." Many Russians and Armenians fled Azerbaijan as refugees during the 1990s.Southern Caucasus: Facing Integration Problems, Ethnic Russians Long For Better Life . EurasiaNet.org. 30 August 2003. According to the 1970 census, there were 510,000 ethnic Russians and 484,000 Armenians in Azerbaijan."Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic ". The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). |
Azerbaijan | Aliyev family rule, 1993–present | Aliyev family rule, 1993–present
thumb|right|upright=1.5|Military situation in the Nagorno-Karabakh region prior to the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War
In 1993, democratically elected President Abulfaz Elchibey was overthrown by a military insurrection led by Colonel Surat Huseynov, which resulted in the rise to power of the former leader of Soviet Azerbaijan, Heydar Aliyev. In 1994, Huseynov, by that time the prime minister, attempted another military coup against Heydar Aliyev, but he was arrested and charged with treason. In 1995 another coup was attempted against Aliyev, this time by the commander of the Russian OMON special police unit, Rovshan Javadov. The coup was averted, resulting in the death of Javadov and disbanding of Azerbaijan's OMON units. At the same time, the country was tainted by rampant corruption in the governing bureaucracy. In October 1998, Aliyev was re-elected for a second term.
Ilham Aliyev, Heydar Aliyev's son, became chairman of the New Azerbaijan Party as well as President of Azerbaijan when his father died in 2003. He was re-elected to a third term as president in October 2013. In April 2018, Aliyev secured his fourth consecutive term in the election that was boycotted by the main opposition parties as fraudulent. On 27 September 2020, clashes in the unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resumed along the Nagorno-Karabakh Line of Contact. Both the armed forces of Azerbaijan and Armenia reported military and civilian casualties. The Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire agreement and the end of the six-week war between Azerbaijan and Armenia was widely celebrated in Azerbaijan, as they made significant territorial gains. Despite the much improved economy, particularly with the exploitation of the Azeri–Chirag–Guneshli oil field and Shah Deniz gas field, the Aliyev family rule has been criticized with election fraud, high levels of economic inequality and domestic corruption. In September 2023, Azerbaijan launched an offensive against the breakaway Republic of Artsakh in Nagorno-Karabakh that resulted in the dissolution and reintegration of Artsakh on 1 January 2024 and the flight of nearly all ethnic Armenians from the region. |
Azerbaijan | Geography | Geography
thumb|upright=1.5|Köppen-Geiger climate classification map for Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan is located in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia, straddling West Asia and Eastern Europe. It lies between latitudes 38° and 42° N, and longitudes 44° and 51° E. The perimeter of Azerbaijan's land borders is , of which are with Armenia, with Iran, 480 kilometers with Georgia, with Russia and with Turkey. The coastline stretches for , and the length of the widest area of the Azerbaijani section of the Caspian Sea is . The country has a landlocked exclave, the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.
thumb|left|Caucasus Mountains in northern Azerbaijan
Three physical features dominate Azerbaijan: the Caspian Sea, whose shoreline forms a natural boundary to the east; the Greater Caucasus mountain range to the north; and the extensive flatlands at the country's center. There are three mountain ranges: the Greater and Lesser Caucasus, and the Talysh Mountains, together covering approximately 40% of the country. The highest peak is Mount Bazardüzü , while the lowest point lies in the Caspian Sea . Nearly half of all the mud volcanoes on Earth are concentrated in Azerbaijan, these volcanoes were among nominees for the New 7 Wonders of Nature.
The main water sources are surface waters. Only 24 of the 8,350 stream are greater than in length. All the streams drain into the Caspian Sea. The largest lake is Sarysu at , and the longest river is Kur at , which is transboundary with Armenia. Azerbaijan has several islands along the Caspian sea, mostly located in the Baku Archipelago.
Since independence in 1991, the government has taken measures to preserve the environment of Azerbaijan. National protection of the environment accelerated after 2001 when the state budget increased through revenues provided by the Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan pipeline. Within four years, protected areas doubled and now make up eight percent of the country's territory. Since 2001 the government has set up seven large reserves and almost doubled the sector of the budget earmarked for environmental protection. |
Azerbaijan | Landscape | Landscape
thumb|Mount Bazarduzu, the highest peak of Azerbaijan, as seen from Mount Shahdagh
thumb|The landscape of Khinalug valley
Azerbaijan is home to a wide variety of landscapes. Over half of the land consists of mountain ridges, crests, highlands, and plateaus which rise up to levels of 400–1,000 meters (including the middle and lower lowlands), in some places (Talis, Jeyranchol-Ajinohur and Langabiz-Alat foreranges) up to 100–120 meters, and others from 0–50 meters and up (Qobustan, Absheron). The rest of Azerbaijan's terrain consists of plains and lowlands. Elevations within the Caucasus region vary from about −28 meters at the Caspian Sea shoreline up to 4,466 meters (Bazardüzü peak).
The climate is influenced by cold arctic air masses of Scandinavian anticyclone, temperate air masses of Siberian anticyclone, and Central Asian anticyclone. Azerbaijan's landscape affects the ways air masses enter the country. The Greater Caucasus protects the country from direct influences of cold air masses coming from the north. That leads to the formation of subtropical climate on most foothills and plains of the country. Meanwhile, plains and foothills are characterized by high solar radiation rates.
Nine out of eleven existing climate zones are present in Azerbaijan. Both the absolute minimum temperatures ( ) and the absolute maximum temperatures were observed in Julfa and Ordubad—regions of Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic. The maximum annual precipitation falls in Lankaran () and the minimum in Absheron ().
thumb|left|Murovdag is the highest mountain range in the Lesser Caucasus.
Rivers and lakes form the principal part of the water systems of Azerbaijan, they were formed over a long geological timeframe and changed significantly throughout that period. This is evidenced by remnants of ancient rivers found throughout the country. The water systems are continually changing under the influence of natural forces and human-introduced industrial activities. Canals and ponds are a part of Azerbaijan's water systems. In terms of water supply, Azerbaijan is below the average in the world with approximately per year of water per square kilometer. All big water reservoirs are built on Kur. The hydrography of Azerbaijan belongs to the Caspian Sea basin.
The Kura and Aras are the major rivers in Azerbaijan. They run through the Kura-Aras lowland. The rivers that directly flow into the Caspian Sea originate mainly from the north-eastern slope of the Major Caucasus and Talysh Mountains and run along the Samur–Devechi and Lankaran lowlands.FAO. 2009. AQUASTAT Transboundary River Basins – Kura Araks River Basin. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Rome, Italy
https://openknowledge.fao.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/76c1f173-ef42-40a2-a519-71c273f6db2e/content
Yanar Dag, translated as "burning mountain", is a natural gas fire which blazes continuously on a hillside on the Absheron Peninsula on the Caspian Sea near Baku, which itself is known as the "land of fire." Flames jet out into the air from a thin, porous sandstone layer. It is a tourist attraction to visitors to the Baku area. |
Azerbaijan | Biodiversity | Biodiversity
thumb|The Karabakh horse is the national animal of Azerbaijan.
The first reports on the richness and diversity of animal life in Azerbaijan can be found in travel notes of Eastern travelers. Animal carvings on architectural monuments, ancient rocks, and stones survived up to the present times. The first information on flora and fauna of Azerbaijan was collected during the visits of naturalists to Azerbaijan in the 17th century.
There are 106 species of mammals, 97 species of fish, 363 species of birds, 10 species of amphibians, and 52 species of reptiles which have been recorded and classified in Azerbaijan. The national animal of Azerbaijan is the Karabakh horse, a mountain-steppe racing and riding horse endemic to Azerbaijan. The Karabakh horse has a reputation for its good temper, speed, elegance, and intelligence. It is one of the oldest breeds, with ancestry dating to the ancient world, but today the horse is an endangered species.
Azerbaijan's flora consists of more than 4,500 species of higher plants. Due to the unique climate in Azerbaijan, the flora is much richer in the number of species than the flora of the other republics of the South Caucasus. Sixty-six percent of the species growing in the whole Caucasus can be found in Azerbaijan. The country lies within four ecoregions: Caspian Hyrcanian mixed forests, Caucasus mixed forests, Eastern Anatolian montane steppe, and Azerbaijan shrub desert and steppe.
Azerbaijan had a 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 6.55/10, ranking it 72nd globally out of 172 countries. Forest cover is around 14.% of the total land area, equivalent to 1,131,770 hectares (ha) of forest in 2020, up from 944,740 hectares (ha) in 1990. In 2020, naturally regenerating forest covered 826,200 hectares (ha) and planted forest covered 305,570 hectares (ha). Of the naturally regenerating forest 0% was reported to be primary forest (consisting of native tree species with no clearly visible indications of human activity) and around 33% of the forest area was found within protected areas. In 2015, 100% of the forest area was reported to be under public ownership, 0% private ownership and 0% with ownership listed as other or unknown. |
Azerbaijan | Government and politics | Government and politics
thumb|right|280px|Government building in Baku
Azerbaijan's government functions as an authoritarian regime in practice; although it regularly holds elections, these are marred by electoral fraud and other unfair election practices. The government has been ruled by the Aliyev political family and the New Azerbaijan Party (Yeni Azərbaycan Partiyası, YAP) established by Heydar Aliyev continuously since 1993. It is categorised as "not free" by Freedom House, who ranked it 7/100 on Global Freedom Score in 2024, calling its regime authoritarian.
The structural formation of the political system was completed by the adoption of the constitution on 12 November 1995. According to Article 23 of the constitution, the state symbols are the flag, the coat of arms, and the national anthem. The state power is limited only by law for internal issues, but international affairs are also limited by international agreements' provisions.
The Constitution of Azerbaijan states that it is a presidential republic with three branches of power – executive, legislative, and judicial. The legislative power is held by the unicameral National Assembly and the Supreme National Assembly in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic. The Parliament of Azerbaijan, called Milli Majlis, consists of 125 deputies elected based on majority vote, with a term of five years for each elected member. The elections are held every five years, on the first Sunday of November. The Parliament is not responsible for the formation of the government, but the constitution requires the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers by Milli Majlis.(Constitution of Azerbaijan Republic, Articles 104–107) The New Azerbaijan Party, and independents loyal to the ruling government, currently hold almost all of the Parliament's 125 seats. During the 2010 Parliamentary election, the opposition parties, Musavat and Azerbaijani Popular Front Party, failed to win a single seat. European observers found numerous irregularities in the run-up to the election and on election day.
upright|thumb|Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijan's fourth and current President, succeeded his father Heydar Aliyev in 2003.
The executive power is held by the president, who is elected for a seven-year term by direct elections, and the prime minister. The president is authorized to form the Cabinet, a collective executive body accountable to both the president and the National Assembly. The Cabinet consists primarily of the prime minister, his deputies, and ministers. The 8th Government of Azerbaijan is the administration in its current formation. The president does not have the right to dissolve the National Assembly but has the right to veto its decisions. To override the presidential veto, the parliament must have a majority of 95 votes. The judicial power is vested in the Constitutional Court, Supreme Court, and the Economic Court. The president nominates the judges in these courts.
Azerbaijan's system of governance nominally can be called two-tiered. The top or highest tier of the government is the executive power headed by president. The local executive authority is merely a continuation of executive power. The provision determines the legal status of local state administration on local executive authority (Yerli Icra Hakimiyati), adopted 16 June 1999. In June 2012, the president approved a regulation which granted additional powers to local executive authorities, strengthening their dominant position in local affairs The Security Council is the deliberative body under the president, and he organizes it according to the constitution. It was established on 10 April 1997. The administrative department is not a part of the president's office but manages the financial, technical and pecuniary activities of both the president and his office. |
Azerbaijan | Foreign relations | Foreign relations
thumb|President İlham Aliyev receiving the Supreme Order of the Turkic World from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during the 8th summit of the Organization of Turkic States in Istanbul, Turkey, November 12, 2021
The short-lived Azerbaijan Democratic Republic succeeded in establishing diplomatic relations with six countries, sending diplomatic representatives to Germany and Finland. The process of international recognition of Azerbaijan's independence from the collapsing Soviet Union lasted roughly one year. The most recent country to recognize Azerbaijan was Bahrain, on 6 November 1996. Full diplomatic relations, including mutual exchanges of missions, were first established with Turkey, Pakistan, the United States, Iran and Israel. Azerbaijan has placed a particular emphasis on its "special relationship" with Turkey.
Azerbaijan has diplomatic relations with 158 countries so far and holds membership in 38 international organizations. It holds observer status in the Non-Aligned Movement and World Trade Organization and is a correspondent at the International Telecommunication Union. On 9 May 2006 Azerbaijan was elected to membership in the newly established Human Rights Council by the United Nations General Assembly. The term of office began on 19 June 2006. Azerbaijan was first elected as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in 2011 with the support of 155 countries.
thumb|left|President Ilham Aliyev and other heads of state hosted by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev at the Caspian Summit in Aktau, Kazakhstan, August 12, 2018
Foreign policy priorities include, first of all, the restoration of its territorial integrity; elimination of the consequences of occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and seven other regions of Azerbaijan surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh; integration into European and Euro-Atlantic structure; contribution to international security; cooperation with international organizations; regional cooperation and bilateral relations; strengthening of defense capability; promotion of security by domestic policy means; strengthening of democracy; preservation of ethnic and religious tolerance; scientific, educational, and cultural policy and preservation of moral values; economic and social development; enhancing internal and border security; and migration, energy, and transportation security policy.
Azerbaijan is an active member of international coalitions fighting international terrorism, and was one of the first countries to offer support after the September 11 attacks. The country is an active member of NATO's Partnership for Peace program, contributing to peacekeeping efforts in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq. Azerbaijan is also a member of the Council of Europe since 2001 and maintains good relations with the European Union. The country may eventually apply for EU membership.
thumb|President Ilham Aliyev and President of the European Council Charles Michel in Brussels, Belgium, April 6, 2022
On 1 July 2021, the US Congress advanced legislation that will have an impact on the military aid that Washington has sent to Azerbaijan since 2012. This was because the packages to Armenia, instead, are significantly smaller.
Azerbaijan has been harshly criticized for bribing foreign officials and diplomats to promote its causes abroad and legitimize its elections at home, a practice termed caviar diplomacy. The Azerbaijani laundromat money laundering operation involved the bribery of foreign politicians and journalists to serve the Azerbaijani government's public relations interests. |
Azerbaijan | Military | Military
right|thumb|250px|Azerbaijani Navy ships during the 2022 Teknofest Azerbaijan festival in Baku
The National Army of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was created on 26 June 1918.Azerbaijan: Short History of Statehood , Embassy of Republic of Azerbaijan in Pakistan, 2005, Chapter 3.Creation of National Army in 1918 . When Azerbaijan gained independence after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Armed Forces of the Republic of Azerbaijan were created according to the law on the armed forces of 9 October 1991.Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan on Armed Forces , No. 210-XII, 9 October 1991 . The original date of the establishment of the short-lived National Army is celebrated as Army Day (26 June). As of 2021, Azerbaijan had 126,000 active personnel in its armed forces. There are also 17,000 paramilitary troops and 330,00 reserve personnel.C. W. Blandy Azerbaijan: Is War Over Nagornyy Karabakh a Realistic Option? Advanced Research and Assessment Group. Caucasus Series 08/17. – Defense Academy of the United Kingdom, 2008, p. 12 The armed forces have three branches: the Land Forces, the Air Forces and the Navy. Additionally the armed forces embrace several military sub-groups that can be involved in state defense when needed. These are the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the State Border Service, which includes the Coast Guard as well. The Azerbaijani National Guard is a paramilitary force that operates as a semi-independent entity of the Special State Protection Service, an agency subordinate to the president.
thumb|Members of the Special Forces of Azerbaijan during the Baku Victory Parade of 2020
Azerbaijan adheres to the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe and has signed all major international arms and weapons treaties. Azerbaijan closely cooperates with NATO in programs such as Partnership for Peace and Individual Partnership Action Plan/pfp and ipa. Azerbaijan has deployed 151 of its peacekeeping forces in Iraq and another 184 in Afghanistan.
Azerbaijan spent $2.24 billion on its defence budget , which amounted to 5.4% of its total GDP, and some 12.7% of general government expenditure. Azerbaijani defense industry manufactures small arms, artillery systems, tanks, armors and night vision devices, aviation bombs, UAVs/unmanned aerial vehicle, various military vehicles and military planes and helicopters. |
Azerbaijan | Human rights and freedom | Human rights and freedom
thumb|Rashadat Akhundov, the co-founder of Nida Civic Movement, was sentenced to eight years of imprisonment on 6 May 2014.
The constitution claims to guarantee freedom of speech, but this is denied in practice. After several years of decline in press and media freedom, in 2014, the media environment deteriorated rapidly under a governmental campaign to silence any opposition and criticism, even while the country led the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (May–November 2014). Spurious legal charges and impunity in violence against journalists have remained the norm.Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, The Protection of media freedom in Europe .Background report prepared by Mr William Horsley, special representative for media freedom of the Association of European Journalists All foreign broadcasts are banned in the country.Freedom House, Azerbaijan 2015 Press Freedom report According to the 2013 Freedom House Freedom of the Press report, Azerbaijan's press freedom status is "not free", and Azerbaijan ranks 177th out of 196 countries. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Voice of America are banned in Azerbaijan. Discrimination against LGBT people in Azerbaijan is widespread.
Christianity is officially recognized. All religious communities are required to register to be allowed to meet, under the risk of imprisonment. This registration is often denied. "Racial discrimination contributes to the country's lack of religious freedom, since many of the Christians are ethnic Armenian or Russian, rather than Azeri Muslim".
During the last few years, three journalists were killed and several prosecuted in trials described as unfair by international human rights organizations. Azerbaijan had the largest number of journalists imprisoned in Europe in 2015, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, and is the 5th most censored country in the world, ahead of Iran and China. Some critical journalists have been arrested for their coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic in Azerbaijan.
A report by an Amnesty International researcher in October 2015 points to "...the severe deterioration of human rights in Azerbaijan over the past few years. Sadly Azerbaijan has been allowed to get away with unprecedented levels of repression and in the process almost wipe out its civil society." Amnesty's 2015/16 annual report on the country stated "... persecution of political dissent continued. Human rights organizations remained unable to resume their work. At least 18 prisoners of conscience remained in detention at the end of the year. Reprisals against independent journalists and activists persisted both in the country and abroad, while their family members also faced harassment and arrests. International human rights monitors were barred and expelled from the country. Reports of torture and other ill-treatment persisted."
The Guardian reported in April 2017 that "Azerbaijan's ruling elite operated a secret $2.9bn (£2.2bn) scheme to pay prominent Europeans, buy luxury goods and launder money through a network of opaque British companies .... Leaked data shows that the Azerbaijani leadership, accused of serial human rights abuses, systemic corruption and rigging elections, made more than 16,000 covert payments from 2012 to 2014. Some of this money went to politicians and journalists, as part of an international lobbying operation to deflect criticism of Azerbaijan's president, Ilham Aliyev, and to promote a positive image of his oil-rich country." There was no suggestion that all recipients were aware of the source of the money as it arrived via a disguised route. |
Azerbaijan | Administrative divisions | Administrative divisions
thumb|upright=1.8| Azerbaijan is divided into 14 economic regions.
There are 14 economic regions; 66 rayons (, singular ) and 11 cities (, singular ) under the direct authority of the republic. Moreover, Azerbaijan includes the Autonomous Republic () of Nakhchivan. The President of Azerbaijan appoints the governors of these units, while the government of Nakhchivan is elected and approved by the parliament of Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic. |
Azerbaijan | Economy | Economy
thumb|right|Change in per capita GDP of Azerbaijan since 1973. Figures are inflation-adjusted to 2011 International dollars.
After gaining independence in 1991, Azerbaijan became a member of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Islamic Development Bank, and the Asian Development Bank. The banking system consists of the Central Bank of Azerbaijan, commercial banks, and non-banking credit organizations. The National (now Central) Bank was created in 1992 based on the Azerbaijan State Savings Bank, an affiliate of the former State Savings Bank of the USSR. The Central Bank serves as Azerbaijan's central bank, empowered to issue the national currency, the Azerbaijani manat, and to supervise all commercial banks. Two major commercial banks are UniBank and the state-owned International Bank of Azerbaijan, run by Abbas Ibrahimov.
Pushed up by spending and demand growth, the 2007 Q1 inflation rate reached 16.6%. Nominal incomes and monthly wages climbed 29% and 25% respectively against this figure, but price increases in the non-oil industry encouraged inflation. Azerbaijan shows some signs of the so-called "Dutch disease" because of its fast-growing energy sector, which causes inflation and makes non-energy exports more expensive.
In the early 2000s, chronically high inflation was brought under control. This led to the launch of a new currency, the new Azerbaijani manat, on 1 January 2006, to cement the economic reforms and erase the vestiges of an unstable economy.
Azerbaijan is also ranked 57th in the Global Competitiveness Report for 2010–2011, above other CIS countries. By 2012 the GDP of Azerbaijan had increased 20-fold from its 1995 level. |
Azerbaijan | Energy and natural resources | Energy and natural resources
thumb|left|Oil Rocks (Neft Daşları) near Baku
Two-thirds of Azerbaijan is rich in oil and natural gas. The oil industry dates back to the ancient period. Arabian historian and traveler Ahmad Al-Baladhuri discusses the economy of the Absheron Peninsula in antiquity, mentioning its oil in particular. There are many pipelines in Azerbaijan. The goal of the Southern Gas Corridor, which connects the giant Shah Deniz gas field in Azerbaijan to Europe, is to reduce European Union's dependency on Russian gas.
The region of the Lesser Caucasus accounts for most of the country's gold, silver, iron, copper, titanium, chromium, manganese, cobalt, molybdenum, complex ore and antimony. In September 1994, a 30-year contract was signed between the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) and 13 oil companies, among them Amoco, BP, ExxonMobil, Lukoil and Equinor. Western oil companies have been able to tap deepwater oilfields untouched by the Soviet exploitation. International academics consider Azerbaijan as one of the most important oil exploration and development regions. The State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan was established as an extra-budgetary fund to ensure macroeconomic stability, transparency in the management of oil revenue, and safeguarding of resources for future generations.
thumb|upright=1.35|The South Caucasus Pipeline bringing natural gas through Turkey to Europe.
Access to biocapacity is less than world average. In 2016, Azerbaijan had 0.8 global hectares of biocapacity per person within its territory, half the world average of 1.6 global hectares per person. In 2016 Azerbaijan used 2.1 global hectares of biocapacity per person – their ecological footprint of consumption. This means they use more biocapacity than Azerbaijan contains. As a result, Azerbaijan is running a biocapacity deficit.
Azeriqaz, a sub-company of SOCAR, intends to ensure full gasification of the country by 2021.
Azerbaijan was one of the sponsors of the east–west and north–south energy transport corridors. Baku–Tbilisi–Kars railway line connects the Caspian region with Turkey. The Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline and Trans Adriatic Pipeline deliver natural gas from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz gas to Turkey and Europe. Azerbaijan extended the agreement on development of ACG until 2050 according to the amended PSA signed on 14 September 2017 by SOCAR and co-ventures (BP, Chevron, Inpex, Equinor, ExxonMobil, TP, ITOCHU and ONGC Videsh). |
Azerbaijan | Agriculture | Agriculture
Azerbaijan has the largest agricultural basin in the region. About 54.9 percent of Azerbaijan is agricultural land. At the beginning of 2007 there were 4,755,100 hectares of used agricultural area. In the same year the total wood resources counted 136 million m3. Agricultural scientific research institutes are focused on meadows and pastures, horticulture and subtropical crops, green vegetables, viticulture and wine-making, cotton growing and medicinal plants. In some areas it is profitable to grow grain, potatoes, sugar beets, cotton and tobacco. Livestock, dairy products, and wine and spirits are also important farm products. The Caspian fishing industry concentrates on the dwindling stocks of sturgeon and beluga. In 2002 the Azerbaijani merchant marine had 54 ships.
Some products previously imported from abroad have begun to be produced locally. Among them are Coca-Cola by Coca-Cola Bottlers LTD., beer by Baki-Kastel, parquet by Nehir and oil pipes by EUPEC Pipe Coating Azerbaijan. |
Azerbaijan | Tourism | Tourism
thumb|left|Shahdag Mountain Resort is the country's largest winter resort.
The country was a well-known tourist spot in the 1980s. The fall of the Soviet Union and the First Nagorno-Karabakh War during the 1990s damaged the tourist industry and the image of Azerbaijan as a tourist destination. It was not until the 2000s that the tourism industry began to recover, and the country has since experienced a high rate of growth in the number of tourist visits and overnight stays. In recent years, Azerbaijan has also become a popular destination for religious, spa, and health care tourism. During winter, the Shahdag Mountain Resort offers skiing with state of the art facilities.
The government has set development as an elite tourist destination as a top priority. It is a national strategy to make tourism a major, if not the single largest, contributor to the Azerbaijani economy. These activities are regulated by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Azerbaijan. There are 63 countries which have a visa-free score.Global Passport Power Rank | Passport Index 2017 . Passportindex.org. Retrieved 1 July 2017.
E-visaHome Page | The Electronic Visa System of Azerbaijan Republic . Evisa.gov.az. Retrieved 1 July 2017. – for a visit of foreigners of visa-required countries to the Republic of Azerbaijan. According to the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2015 of the World Economic Forum, Azerbaijan holds 84th place.Crotti, Robert and Misrahi, Tiffany(2015) Chapter 1.1 "The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index 2015: T&T as a Resilient Contribution to National Development" in The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index 2015. World Economic Forum
According to a report by the World Travel and Tourism Council, Azerbaijan was among the top ten countries showing the strongest growth in visitor exports between 2010 and 2016, In addition, Azerbaijan placed first (46.1%) among countries with the fastest-developing travel and tourism economies, with strong indicators for inbound international visitor spending in 2016. |
Azerbaijan | Transportation | Transportation
The convenient location of Azerbaijan on the crossroad of major international traffic arteries, such as the Silk Road and the south–north corridor, highlights the strategic importance of the transportation sector for the country's economy. The transport sector includes roads, railways, aviation, and maritime transport. It is also an important economic hub in the transportation of raw materials. The Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan pipeline (BTC) became operational in May 2006 and extends more than through the territories of Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey. The BTC is designed to transport up to 50 million tons of crude oil annually and carries oil from the Caspian Sea oilfields to global markets. The South Caucasus Pipeline, also stretching through the territory of Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey, became operational at the end of 2006 and offers additional gas supplies to the European market from the Shah Deniz gas field. Shah Deniz is expected to produce up to 296 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year. Azerbaijan also plays a major role in the EU-sponsored Silk Road Project.
In 2002, the government established the Ministry of Transport with a broad range of policy and regulatory functions. In the same year, the country became a member of the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic. Priorities are upgrading the transport network and improving transportation services to better facilitate the development of other sectors of the economy. The 2012 construction of Kars–Tbilisi–Baku railway was meant to improve transportation between Asia and Europe by connecting the railways of China and Kazakhstan in the east to the European railway system in the west via Turkey. In 2010 Broad-gauge railways and electrified railways stretched for and respectively. By 2010, there were 35 airports and one heliport. |
Azerbaijan | Science and technology | Science and technology
thumb|Shamakhi Astrophysical Observatory
In the 21st century, a new oil and gas boom helped improve the situation in the science and technology sectors. The government launched a campaign aimed at modernization and innovation. The government estimates that profits from the information technology and communication industry will grow and become comparable to those from oil production. Azerbaijan has a large and steadily growing Internet sector. In 2012, rapid growth was forecast for at least five more years. Azerbaijan was ranked 95th in the Global Innovation Index in 2024.
The country has been making progress in developing its telecoms sector. The Ministry of Communications & Information Technologies and an operator through its role in Aztelekom are both policy-makers and regulators. Public payphones are available for local calls and require the purchase of a token from the telephone exchange or some shops and kiosks. Tokens allow a call of indefinite duration. , there were 1,397,000 main telephone linesCIA.gov , CIA World Factbook Telephones – main lines in use, Azerbaijan 1,397,000 main lines and 1,485,000 internet users.CIA.gov , CIA World Factbook Internet users, Azerbaijan Internet users: 1,485,000. There are four GSM providers: Azercell, Bakcell, Azerfon (Nar Mobile), Nakhtel mobile network operators and one CDMA.
In the 21st century several prominent Azerbaijani geodynamics and geotectonics scientists, inspired by the fundamental works of Elchin Khalilov and others, designed hundreds of earthquake prediction stations and earthquake-resistant buildings that now constitute the bulk of The Republican Center of Seismic Service. The Azerbaijan National Aerospace Agency launched its first satellite AzerSat 1 into orbit on 7 February 2013 from Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana at orbital positions 46° East. The satellite covers Europe and a significant part of Asia and Africa and serves the transmission of TV and radio broadcasting as well as the Internet. The launching of a satellite into orbit is Azerbaijan's first step in realizing its goal of becoming a nation with its own space industry, capable of successfully implementing more projects in the future. |
Azerbaijan | Demographics | Demographics
thumb|Population pyramid
As of March 2022, 52.9% of the population of 10,164,464 is urban, with the remaining 47.1% being rural. In January 2019, the 50.1% of the total population was female. The sex ratio in the same year was 0.99 males per female. The 2011 population growth-rate was 0.85%, compared to 1.09% worldwide. A significant factor restricting population growth is a high level of migration. In 2011 Azerbaijan saw a migration of −1.14/1,000 people.
The Azerbaijani diaspora is found in 42 countries and in turn there are many centers for ethnic minorities inside Azerbaijan, including the German cultural society "Karelhaus", Slavic cultural center, Azerbaijani-Israeli community, Kurdish cultural center, International Talysh Association, Lezgin national center "Samur", Azerbaijani-Tatar community, Crimean Tatars society, etc.
In total, Azerbaijan has 78 cities, 63 city districts, and one special legal status city. 261 urban-type settlements and 4248 villages follow these.Azərbaycanın əhalisi | Azərbaycan Respublikasının Dövlət Statistika Komitəsi . Stat.gov.az. Retrieved 1 July 2017. |
Azerbaijan | Ethnicity | Ethnicity
The ethnic composition of the population according to the 2009 population census: 91.6% Azerbaijanis, 2.0% Lezgins, 1.4% Armenians (almost all Armenians live in the break-away region of Nagorno-Karabakh), 1.3% Russians, 1.3% Talysh, 0.6% Avars, 0.4% Turkish people, 0.3% Tatars, 0.3% Tats, 0.2% Ukrainians, 0.1% Tsakhurs, 0.1% Georgians, 0.1% Jews, 0.1% Kurds, other 0.2%. |
Azerbaijan | Languages | Languages
The official language is Azerbaijani, a Turkic language. Approximately 92% of the national population speak it as their mother tongue.Population by language, sex and urban/rural residence , UN Data. Retrieved 27 August 2016. Russian and Armenian (only in Nagorno-Karabakh) are still spoken in Azerbaijan. Each is the mother tongue of around 1.5% of the national population. In 1989, Armenian was the majority language in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, spoken by about 76% of the regional population. After the first Nagorno-Karabakh war, native speakers of Armenian composed around 95% of the regional population.
A dozen other minority languages are spoken natively, including Avar, Budukh, Georgian, Juhuri, Khinalug, Kryts, Lezgin, Rutul, Talysh, Tat, Tsakhur, and Udi. All these are spoken only by small minority populations, some of which are tiny and decreasing.Clifton, John M., editor. 2002 (vol. 1), 2003 (vol. 2). Studies in languages of Azerbaijan. Baku, Azerbaijan and Saint Petersburg, Russia: Institute of International Relations, Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan and North Eurasian Group, SIL International. |
Azerbaijan | Religion | Religion
thumb|left|The Bibi-Heybat Mosque in Baku. The mosque is built over the tomb of a descendant of Muhammad
Azerbaijan is considered the most secular Muslim-majority country. Around 97% of the population are Muslims. Around 55–65% of Muslims are estimated to be Shia, while 35–45% of Muslims are Sunnis.Sources:
Other faiths are practised by the country's various ethnic groups. Under article 48 of its constitution, Azerbaijan is a secular state and ensures religious freedom. In a 2006–2008 Gallup poll, only 21% of respondents from Azerbaijan stated that religion is an important part of their daily lives.
Of the nation's religious minorities, the estimated 280,000 Christians (3.1%) are mostly Russian and Georgian Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic (almost all Armenians live in the break-away region of Nagorno-Karabakh). In 2003, there were 250 Roman Catholics. Other Christian denominations as of 2002 include Lutherans, Baptists and Molokans. There is also a small Protestant community. Azerbaijan also has an ancient Jewish population with a 2,000-year history; Jewish organizations estimate that 12,000 Jews remain in Azerbaijan, which is home to the only Jewish-majority town outside of Israel and the United States. Azerbaijan also is home to members of the Baháʼí, Hare Krishna and Jehovah's Witnesses communities, as well as adherents of the other religious communities. Some religious communities have been unofficially restricted from religious freedom. A U.S. State Department report on the matter mentions detention of members of certain Muslim and Christian groups, and many groups have difficulty registering with the agency who regulates religion, The State Committee on Religious Associations of the Republic of Azerbaijan.Azerbaijan . state.gov |
Azerbaijan | Education | Education
thumb|right|Classroom in Dunya School
A relatively high percentage of Azerbaijanis have obtained some form of higher education, most notably in scientific and technical subjects. In the Soviet era, literacy and average education levels rose dramatically from their very low starting point, despite two changes in the standard alphabet, from Perso-Arabic script to Latin in the 1920s and from Roman to Cyrillic in the 1930s. According to Soviet data, 100 percent of males and females (ages nine to forty-nine) were literate in 1970. According to the United Nations Development Program Report 2009, the literacy rate is 99.5 percent.
Since independence, one of the first laws that Parliament passed to disassociate itself from the Soviet Union was to adopt a modified-Latin alphabet to replace Cyrillic. Other than that the Azerbaijani system has undergone little structural change. Initial alterations have included the reestablishment of religious education (banned during the Soviet period) and curriculum changes that have reemphasized the use of the Azerbaijani language and have eliminated ideological content. In addition to elementary schools, the education institutions include thousands of preschools, general secondary schools, and vocational schools, including specialized secondary schools and technical schools. Education through the ninth grade is compulsory. |
Azerbaijan | Culture | Culture
The culture of Azerbaijan has developed as a result of many influences; that is why Azerbaijanis are, in many ways, bi-cultural. National traditions are preserved despite Western influences, including globalized consumer culture. For example, Novruz Bayram is a family holiday derived from the traditional celebration of the New Year in Zoroastrianism.
Azerbaijani national and traditional dresses are the chokha and papakhi. There are radio broadcasts in Russian, Georgian, Kurdish, Lezgian and Talysh languages, which are financed from the state budget. Some local radio stations in Balakan and Khachmaz organize broadcasts in Avar and Tat. In Baku several newspapers are published in Russian, Kurdish (Dengi Kurd), Lezgian (Samur) and Talysh languages. Jewish society "Sokhnut" publishes the newspaper Aziz. |
Azerbaijan | Architecture | Architecture
thumb|right|Baku White City in Baku, was opened in 2011 and completed in 2022
Azerbaijani architecture typically combines elements of East and West, with heavy influences from Persian architecture. Many ancient architectural treasures are preserved, such as the Maiden Tower and Palace of the Shirvanshahs in the Walled City of Baku. Entries on the UNESCO World Heritage tentative list include the Ateshgah of Baku, Momine Khatun Mausoleum, Hirkan National Park, Binagadi asphalt lake, Lökbatan Mud Volcano, Shusha State Historical and Architectural Reserve, Baku Stage Mountain, Caspian Shore Defensive Constructions, Ordubad National Reserve and the Palace of Shaki Khans.
Among other architectural treasures are Quadrangular Castle in Mardakan, Parigala in Yukhary Chardaglar, several bridges spanning the Aras River, and several mausoleums. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, little monumental architecture was created, but distinctive residences were built in Baku and elsewhere. Among the most recent architectural monuments, the Baku subways are noted for their lavish decor.
The task for modern Azerbaijani architecture is diverse application of modern aesthetics, the search for an architect's own artistic style and inclusion of the existing historico-cultural environment. Major projects such as Heydar Aliyev Cultural Center, Flame Towers, Baku Crystal Hall, Baku White City and SOCAR Tower have transformed the country's skyline and promotes its contemporary identity. |
Azerbaijan | Music and dance | Music and dance
thumb|left|upright|Uzeyir Hajibeyov merged traditional Azerbaijani music with Western styles in the early 20th century.
Music of Azerbaijan builds on folk traditions that reach back nearly a thousand years,David C. King. Azerbaijan, Marshall Cavendish, 2006, p. 94 evolving around the badge of monody, producing rhythmically diverse melodies.Энциклопедический музыкальный словарь, 2-е изд., Москва, 1966 (Encyclopedical Music Dictionary (1966), 2nd ed., Moscow) The music has a branchy mode system, where chromatization of major and minor scales is of great importance. Among national musical instruments there are 14 string instruments, eight percussion instruments and six wind instruments. According to The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "in terms of ethnicity, culture and religion the Azerbaijani are musically much closer to Iran than Turkey."
thumb|Alim Qasimov performs mugham at Eurovision Song Contest 2012. The Azerbaijani Mugham was inscribed in 2008 as a UNESCO Masterpiece of Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
Mugham is usually a suite with poetry and instrumental interludes. When performing mugham, the singers have to transform their emotions into singing and music. In contrast to the mugham traditions of Central Asian countries, Azerbaijani mugham is more free-form and less rigid; it is often compared to the improvised field of jazz. UNESCO proclaimed the Azerbaijani mugham tradition a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. Meykhana is a kind of traditional Azerbaijani distinctive folk unaccompanied song, usually performed by several people improvising on a particular subject.
Ashiq combines poetry, storytelling, dance, and vocal and instrumental music into a traditional performance art that stands as a symbol of Azerbaijani culture. It is a mystic troubadour or traveling bard who sings and plays the saz. This tradition has its origin in the shamanistic beliefs of ancient Turkic peoples."ashik, shaman" – European University Institute, Florence, Italy (retrieved 10 August 2006). Ashiqs' songs are semi-improvised around common bases. Azerbaijan's ashiq art was included in the list of Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO in 2009.
Since the mid-1960s, Western-influenced Azerbaijani pop music, in its various forms, that has been growing in popularity in Azerbaijan, while genres such as rock and hip hop are widely produced and enjoyed. Azerbaijani pop and Azerbaijani folk music arose with the international popularity of performers like Alim Qasimov, Rashid Behbudov, Vagif Mustafazadeh, Muslim Magomayev, Shovkat Alakbarova and Rubaba Muradova. Azerbaijan is an enthusiastic participant in the Eurovision Song Contest. Azerbaijan made its debut appearance at the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest. The country's entry gained third place in 2009 and fifth the following year. Ell and Nikki won the first place at the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 with the song "Running Scared", entitling Azerbaijan to host the contest in 2012, in Baku. They have qualified for every Grand Final up until the 2018 edition of the contest, entering with X My Heart by singer Aisel.
There are dozens of Azerbaijani folk dances. They are performed at formal celebrations and the dancers wear national clothes like the chokha, which is well-preserved within the national dances. Most dances have a very fast rhythm. |
Azerbaijan | Art | Art
thumb|right|upright|Traditional Azerbaijani clothing and musical instruments
Azerbaijani art is represented by a wide range of handicrafts, such as chasing, jeweling, engraving in metal, carving in wood, stone, or bone, carpet-making, lasing, pattern weaving and printing, and knitting and embroidery. Each of these types of decorative art, evidence of the endowments of the Azerbaijan nation, is very much in favor here. Many interesting facts pertaining to the development of arts and crafts in Azerbaijan were reported by numerous merchants, travelers, and diplomats who had visited these places at different times.
The Azerbaijani carpet is a traditional handmade textile of various sizes, with a dense texture and a pile or pile-less surface, whose patterns are characteristic of Azerbaijan's many carpet-making regions. In November 2010 the Azerbaijani carpet was proclaimed a Masterpiece of Intangible Heritage by UNESCO. Azerbaijani carpets can be categorized under several large groups and a multitude of subgroups. Scientific research of the Azerbaijani carpet is connected with the name of Latif Karimov, a prominent Soviet-era scientist and artist.
thumb|left|Handwork coppery in Lahij
Azerbaijan has been since ancient times known as a center of a large variety of crafts. Archeology testifies to the well-developed agriculture, stock raising, metalworking, pottery, ceramics, and carpet-weaving that date as far back as to the 2nd millennium BC. Archeological sites in Dashbulaq, Hasansu, Zayamchai, and Tovuzchai uncovered from the BTC pipeline have revealed early Iron Age artifacts.
thumb|upright=1.8|A miniature painting of a battle scene on the walls of the Palace of Shaki Khans, 18th century, city of Shaki
The Gamigaya Petroglyphs, which date back to the 1st to 4th millennium BC, are located in Azerbaijan's Ordubad District. They consist of some 1,500 dislodged and carved rock paintings with images of deer, goats, bulls, dogs, snakes, birds, fantastic beings, and people, carriages, and various symbols were found on basalt rocks.Наскальные рисунки Гямигая. irs-az.com. Norwegian ethnographer and adventurer Thor Heyerdahl was convinced that people from the area went to Scandinavia in about 100 AD, took their boatbuilding skills with them, and transmuted them into the Viking boats in northern Europe.
Over the centuries, Azerbaijani art has gone through many stylistic changes. Painting is traditionally characterized by a warmth of colour and light, as exemplified in the works of Azim Azimzade and Bahruz Kangarli, and a preoccupation with religious figures and cultural motifs. Azerbaijani painting enjoyed preeminence in Caucasus for hundreds of years, from the Romanesque and Ottoman periods, and through the Soviet and Baroque periods, the latter two of which saw fruition in Azerbaijan. Notable artists include Sattar Bahlulzade, Togrul Narimanbekov, Tahir Salahov, Alakbar Rezaguliyev, Mirza Gadim Iravani, Mikayil Abdullayev and Boyukagha Mirzazade. |
Azerbaijan | Literature | Literature
The earliest known figure in written Azerbaijani literature was Izzeddin Hasanoghlu, who composed a divan consisting of Persian and Azerbaijani ghazals.A.Caferoglu, "Adhari(azeri)", in Encyclopedia of Islam, (new edition), Vol. 1, (Leiden, 1986) In Persian ghazals he used a pen-name, while his Azerbaijani ghazals were composed under his own name of Hasanoghlu. Among the medieval authors was Persian poet and philosopher Nizami, called Ganjavi after his place of birth, Ganja, who was the author of the Khamsa ("The Quintuplet"), composed of five romantic poems, including "The Treasure of Mysteries", "Khosrow and Shīrīn", and "Leyli and Mejnūn".Azerbaijan. Cultural life. Encyclopædia Britannica.
Classical literature was formed in the 14th century based on the various Early Middle Ages dialects of Tabriz and Shirvan. Among the poets of this period were Gazi Burhanaddin, Haqiqi (pen-name of Jahan Shah Qara Qoyunlu), and Habibi. The end of the 14th century was the start of literary activity of Imadaddin Nasimi, one of the greatest Azerbaijani Hurufi mystical poets of the late 14th and early 15th centuries and one of the most prominent early divan masters in Turkic literary history, who also composed poetry in Persian and Arabic. The divan and ghazal styles were further developed by poets Qasem-e Anvar, Fuzuli and Safavid Shah Ismail I who wrote under the pen name "Khata'i".
The Book of Dede Korkut consists of two manuscripts copied in the 16th century,Michael E. Meeker, "The Dede Korkut Ethic", International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 24, No. 3 (Aug. 1992), 395–417. excerpt: The Book of Dede Korkut is an early record of oral Turkic folktales in Anatolia, and as such, one of the mythic charters of Turkish nationalist ideology. The oldest versions of the Book of Dede Korkut consist of two manuscripts copied in the 16th century. The twelve stories that are recorded in these manuscripts are believed to be derived from a cycle of stories and songs circulating among Turkic peoples living in northeastern Anatolia and northwestern Azerbaijan. According to Lewis (1974), an older substratum of these oral traditions dates to conflicts between the ancient Oghuz and their Turkish rivals in Central Asia (the Pecheneks and the Kipchaks), but this substratum has been clothed in references to the 14th-century campaigns of the Akkoyunlu Confederation of Turkic tribes against the Georgians, the Abkhaz, and the Greeks in Trebizond. Such stories and songs would have emerged no earlier than the beginning of the 13th century, and the written versions that have reached us would have been composed no later than the beginning of the 15th century. By this time, the Turkic peoples in question had been in touch with Islamic civilization for several centuries, had come to call themselves "Turcoman" rather than "Oghuz," had close associations with sedentary and urbanized societies, and were participating in Islamized regimes that included nomads, farmers, and townsmen. Some had abandoned their nomadic way of life altogether. and was not written earlier than the 15th century.Cemal Kafadar(1995), "in Between Two Worlds: Construction of the Ottoman states", University of California Press, 1995. Excerpt: "It was not earlier than the fifteenth century. Based on the fact that the author is buttering up both the Akkoyunlu and Ottoman rulers, it has been suggested that the composition belongs to someone living in the undefined border region lands between the two states during the reign of Uzun Hassan (1466–78). G. Lewis, on the other hand, dates the composition "fairly early in the 15th century at least."İlker Evrım Bınbaş, Encyclopædia Iranica, "Oguz Khan Narratives" Encyclopædia Iranica | Articles. Retrieved October 2010. "The Ketāb-e Dede Qorqut, which is a collection of twelve stories reflecting the oral traditions of the Turkmens in the 15th-century eastern Anatolia, is also called Oḡuz-nāma" It is a collection of 12 stories reflecting the oral tradition of Oghuz nomads. The 16th-century poet Fuzuli produced his timeless philosophical and lyrical Qazals in Arabic, Persian, and Azerbaijani. Benefiting immensely from the fine literary traditions of his environment, and building upon the legacy of his predecessors, Fuzuli was destined to become the leading literary figure of his society. His major works include The Divan of Ghazals and The Qasidas. In the same century, Azerbaijani literature further flourished with the development of ashik () poetic genre of bards. During the same period, under the pen-name of Khatāī ( for sinner) Shah Ismail I wrote about 1,400 verses in Azerbaijani, which were later published as his Divan. A unique literary style known as qoshma ( for improvisation) was introduced in this period and developed by Shah Ismail and later by his son and successor, Shah Tahmasp I.V. Minorsky, "The Poetry of Shah Ismail I," Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 10/4 (1942): 1006–53.
In the span of the 17th and 18th centuries, Fuzuli's unique genres as well ashik poetry were taken up by prominent poets and writers such as Qovsi of Tabriz, Shah Abbas Sani, , Nishat, Molla Vali Vidadi, Molla Panah Vagif, Amani, Zafar and others. Along with Turks, Turkmens and Uzbeks, Azerbaijanis celebrate the Epic of Koroglu (from for blind man's son), a legendary folk hero. Several documented versions of Koroglu epic remain at the Institute for Manuscripts of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan. |
Azerbaijan | Media | Media
The first newspaper in Azerbaijani, Akinchi was published in 1875. There are three state-owned television channels: AzTV, Idman TV and Medeniyyet TV. There is one public channel and 6 private channels: İctimai Television, Space TV, Lider TV, Azad Azerbaijan TV, Xazar TV, and ARB. |
Azerbaijan | Cinema | Cinema
thumb|left|Scene from the Azerbaijani film In the Kingdom of Oil and Millions, 1916
The film industry in Azerbaijan dates back to 1898. Azerbaijan was among the first countries involved in cinematography, with the apparatus first showing up in Baku.Celebrating 100 Years in Film, not 80 by Aydin Kazimzade. Azerbaijan International, Autumn 1997 In 1919 a documentary The Celebration of the Anniversary of Azerbaijani Independence was filmed on the first anniversary of Azerbaijan's independence from Russia, 27 May, and premiered in June 1919 at several theatres in Baku. After the Soviet power was established in 1920, Nariman Narimanov, chairman of the Revolutionary Committee of Azerbaijan, signed a decree nationalizing Azerbaijan's cinema. This also influenced the creation of Azerbaijani animation.
In 1991, after Azerbaijan gained its independence from the Soviet Union, the first Baku International Film Festival East-West was held in Baku. In December 2000, former President Heydar Aliyev signed a decree proclaiming 2 August to be the professional holiday of filmmakers of Azerbaijan. Today Azerbaijani filmmakers are again dealing with issues similar to those faced by cinematographers prior to the establishment of the Soviet Union in 1920. Once again, both choices of content and sponsorship of films are largely left up to the initiative of the filmmaker. |
Azerbaijan | Cuisine | Cuisine
thumb|right|240px|Dolma, a traditional Azerbaijani meal
Azerbaijani cuisine uses an abundance of seasonal vegetables and greens. Fresh herbs, including mint, cilantro (coriander), dill, basil, parsley, tarragon, leeks, chives, thyme, marjoram, green onion, and watercress, are popular and often accompany main dishes on the table. Climatic diversity and fertility of the land are reflected in the national dishes, which are based on fish from the Caspian Sea, local meat (mainly mutton and beef), and seasonal vegetables and greens.
Saffron-rice plov is the flagship food in Azerbaijan, and black tea is the national beverage. Azerbaijanis often use traditional armudu (pear-shaped) glass as they have very strong tea culture. Popular traditional dishes include bozbash (lamb soup that exists in several regional varieties with the addition of different vegetables), qutab (fried turnover with a filling of greens or minced meat) and dushbara (dumplings filled with ground meat and spices). |
Azerbaijan | Sport | Sport
Freestyle wrestling has been traditionally regarded as Azerbaijan's national sport, in which Azerbaijan has won fourteen medals, including four golds, since joining the International Olympic Committee. The most popular sports are football and wrestling.
The Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan, with 9,122 registered players, is the largest sporting association in the country. The national football team demonstrates relatively low performance in the international arena compared to the nation football clubs. The most successful clubs are Neftçi, Qarabağ, and Gabala. In 2012, Neftchi Baku became the first Azerbaijani team to advance to the group stage of a European competition. In 2014, Qarabağ became the second Azerbaijani club advancing to the group stage of UEFA Europa League. In 2017, after beating Copenhagen 2–2 (a) in the play-off round of the UEFA Champions League, Qarabağ became the first Azerbaijani club to reach the group stage.
Futsal is another popular sport in Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijan national futsal team reached fourth place in the 2010 UEFA Futsal Championship, while domestic club Araz Naxçivan clinched bronze medals at the 2009–10 UEFA Futsal Cup and 2013–14 UEFA Futsal Cup. Azerbaijan was the main sponsor of Spanish football club Atlético de Madrid during seasons 2013/2014 and 2014/2015, a partnership that the club described should 'promote the image of Azerbaijan in the world'.
Azerbaijan is one of the traditional powerhouses of world chess, having hosted many international chess tournaments and competitions and became European Team Chess Championship winners in 2009, 2013 and 2017. Notable chess players include Teimour Radjabov, Shahriyar Mammadyarov, Vladimir Makogonov, Vugar Gashimov and former World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov. , country's home of Shamkir Chess a category 22 event and one of the highest rated tournaments of all time. Backgammon also plays a major role in Azerbaijani culture. The game is very popular in Azerbaijan and is widely played among the local public. There are also different variations of backgammon developed and analyzed by Azerbaijani experts.
thumb|left|240px|Baku National Stadium was used for the first European Games in June 2015
Azerbaijan Women's Volleyball Super League placed fourth at the 2005 European Championship. Over the last years, clubs like Rabita Baku and Azerrail Baku achieved great success at European cups. Azerbaijani volleyball players include likes of Valeriya Korotenko, Oksana Parkhomenko, Inessa Korkmaz, Natalya Mammadova, and Alla Hasanova.
Other Azerbaijani athletes are Namig Abdullayev, Toghrul Asgarov, Rovshan Bayramov, Sharif Sharifov, Mariya Stadnik and Farid Mansurov in wrestling, Nazim Huseynov, Elnur Mammadli, Elkhan Mammadov and Rustam Orujov in judo, Rafael Aghayev in karate, Magomedrasul Majidov and Aghasi Mammadov in boxing, Nizami Pashayev in Olympic weightlifting, Azad Asgarov in pankration, Eduard Mammadov in kickboxing, and K-1 fighter Zabit Samedov.
Azerbaijan has a Formula One racetrack, constructed in 2012, and the country hosted its first Formula One Grand Prix in 2016 and the Azerbaijan Grand Prix since 2017. Other annual sporting events held in the country are the Baku Cup tennis tournament and the Tour d'Azerbaïdjan cycling race.
Azerbaijan hosted several major sport competitions since the late 2000s, including the 2013 F1 Powerboat World Championship, 2012 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, 2011 AIBA World Boxing Championships, 2010 European Wrestling Championships, 2009 Rhythmic Gymnastics European Championships, 2014 European Taekwondo Championships, 2014 Rhythmic Gymnastics European Championships, and 2016 World Chess Olympiad. Baku was selected to host the 2015 European Games. Baku hosted the fourth Islamic Solidarity Games in 2017 and the 2019 European Youth Summer Olympic Festival, and was a host of UEFA Euro 2020. |
Azerbaijan | See also | See also
Outline of Azerbaijan
Index of Azerbaijan-related articles
List of World Heritage Sites in Azerbaijan
The Defense & Foreign Affairs Handbook on Azerbaijan (2006) |
Azerbaijan | Notes | Notes |
Azerbaijan | References | References |
Azerbaijan | Further reading | Further reading
Altstadt, Audrey. Frustrated Democracy in Post-Soviet Azerbaijan (2018)
Broers, Broers Laurence. Armenia and Azerbaijan: Anatomy of a rivalry (Edinburgh University Press, 2019).
Cornell, Svante E. Azerbaijan since independence (Routledge, 2015).
Dragadze, Tamara. "Islam in Azerbaijan: The Position of Women" in Muslim Women's Choices (Routledge, 2020) pp. 152–163.
Elliott, Mark. Azerbaijan with Georgia (Trailblazers Publications, 1999).
Ergun, Ayça. "Citizenship, National Identity, and Nation-Building in Azerbaijan: Between the Legacy of the Past and the Spirit of Independence." Nationalities Papers (2021): 1–18. online
Goltz, Thomas. Azerbaijan Diary : A Rogue Reporter's Adventures in an Oil-Rich, War-Torn, Post-Soviet Republic. M E Sharpe (1998).
Habibov, Nazim, Betty Jo Barrett, and Elena Chernyak. "Understanding women's empowerment and its determinants in post-communist countries: Results of Azerbaijan national survey." Women's Studies International Forum. Vol. 62. Pergamon, 2017.
Olukbasi, Suha. Azerbaijan: A Political History. I.B. Tauris (2011). Focus on post-Soviet era. |
Azerbaijan | External links | External links |
Azerbaijan | General information | General information
Azerbaijan International
Heydar Aliyev Foundation
Azerbaijan. The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency.
Azerbaijan at University of Colorado at Boulder
Country profile from BBC
Key Development Forecasts for Azerbaijan from International Futures
Visions of Azerbaijan Journal of The European Azerbaijan Society
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Azerbaijan | Major government resources | Major government resources
President of Azerbaijan website
Azerbaijan State Statistical Committee
United Nations Office in Azerbaijan |
Azerbaijan | Major news media | Major news media
Network NEWS Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan Today
Trend News Agency
News.Az |
Azerbaijan | Tourism | Tourism
Azerbaijan Tourism Portal
Travel in Azerbaijan in Visions of Azerbaijan Journal
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Category:West Asian countries
Category:Landlocked countries
Category:South Caucasus
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Category:Member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States
Category:Member states of the Council of Europe
Category:Member states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
Category:Member states of the United Nations
Category:States and territories established in 1991
Category:1991 establishments in Asia
Category:1991 establishments in Europe
Category:Countries and territories where Azerbaijani is an official language
Category:Members of the International Organization of Turkic Culture
Category:Member states of the Organization of Turkic States
Category:Developing 8 Countries member states |
Azerbaijan | Table of Content | Short description, Etymology, History, Antiquity, From the Sasanid period to the Safavid period, Modern history, Independence, Aliyev family rule, 1993–present, Geography, Landscape, Biodiversity, Government and politics, Foreign relations, Military, Human rights and freedom, Administrative divisions, Economy, Energy and natural resources, Agriculture, Tourism, Transportation, Science and technology, Demographics, Ethnicity, Languages, Religion, Education, Culture, Architecture, Music and dance, Art, Literature, Media, Cinema, Cuisine, Sport, See also, Notes, References, Further reading, External links, General information, Major government resources, Major news media, Tourism |
Amateur astronomy | Short description | thumb|right|250px|Amateur astronomers watch the night sky during the Perseid meteor shower.
Amateur astronomy is a hobby where participants enjoy observing or imaging celestial objects in the sky using the unaided eye, binoculars, or telescopes. Even though scientific research may not be their primary goal, some amateur astronomers make contributions in doing citizen science, such as by monitoring variable stars, double stars, sunspots, or occultations of stars by the Moon or asteroids, or by discovering transient astronomical events, such as comets, galactic novae or supernovae in other galaxies.
Amateur astronomers do not use the field of astronomy as their primary source of income or support, and usually have no professional degree in astrophysics or advanced academic training in the subject. Most amateurs are hobbyists, while others have a high degree of experience in astronomy and may often assist and work alongside professional astronomers. Many astronomers have studied the sky throughout history in an amateur framework; however, since the beginning of the twentieth century, professional astronomy has become an activity clearly distinguished from amateur astronomy and associated activities.
Amateur astronomers typically view the sky at night, when most celestial objects and astronomical events are visible, but others observe during the daytime by viewing the Sun and solar eclipses. Some just look at the sky using nothing more than their eyes or binoculars, but more dedicated amateurs often use portable telescopes or telescopes situated in their private or club observatories. Amateurs also join amateur astronomical societies, which can advise, educate or guide them towards ways of finding and observing celestial objects. They also promote the science of astronomy among the general public. |
Amateur astronomy | Objectives | Objectives
thumb|Amateur astronomer recording observations of the sun.
Collectively, amateur astronomers observe a variety of celestial objects and phenomena. Common targets of amateur astronomers include the Sun, the Moon, planets, stars, comets, meteor showers, and a variety of deep sky objects such as star clusters, galaxies, and nebulae. Many amateurs like to specialise in observing particular objects, types of objects, or types of events which interest them. One branch of amateur astronomy, amateur astrophotography, involves the taking of photos of the night sky. Astrophotography has become more popular with the introduction of far easier to use equipment including, digital cameras, DSLR cameras and relatively sophisticated purpose built high quality CCD cameras and CMOS cameras.
Most amateur astronomers work at visible wavelengths, but a small minority experiment with wavelengths outside the visible spectrum. An early pioneer of radio astronomy was Grote Reber, an amateur astronomer who constructed the first purpose-built radio telescope in the late 1930s to follow up on the discovery of radio wavelength emissions from space by Karl Jansky. Non-visual amateur astronomy includes the use of infrared filters on conventional telescopes, and also the use of radio telescopes. Some amateur astronomers use home-made radio telescopes, while others use radio telescopes that were originally built for astronomical research but have since been made available for use by amateurs. The One-Mile Telescope is one such example. |
Amateur astronomy | Common tools | Common tools
thumb|Places like Paranal Observatory offer crystal clear skies for observing astronomical objects with or without instruments.
Amateur astronomers use a range of instruments to study the sky, depending on a combination of their interests and resources. Methods include simply looking at the night sky with the naked eye, using binoculars, and using a variety of optical telescopes of varying power and quality, as well as additional sophisticated equipment, such as cameras, to study light from the sky in both the visual and non-visual parts of the spectrum. To further improve studying the visual and non-visual part of the spectrum, amateur astronomers go to rural areas to get away from light pollution. Commercial telescopes are available, new and used, but it is also common for amateur astronomers to build (or commission the building of) their own custom telescopes. Some people even focus on amateur telescope making as their primary interest within the hobby of amateur astronomy.
Although specialized and experienced amateur astronomers tend to acquire more specialized and more powerful equipment over time, relatively simple equipment is often preferred for certain tasks. Binoculars, for instance, although generally of lower power than the majority of telescopes, also tend to provide a wider field of view, which is preferable for looking at some objects in the night sky. Recent models of iPhones have introduced a "night modeOdenwald, Sten. “A Guide to Smartphone Astrophotography – NASA Ebook." Stargazers Lounge, 3 Dec. 2020. Retrieved December 1, 2022." option when taking pictures as well, that allows you to increase exposure, which is a period of time the picture is being taken for. This optimizes focus on light in the frame which is why it is used primarily at night.
Amateur astronomers also use star charts that, depending on experience and intentions, may range from simple planispheres through to star atlases with detailed charts of the entire night sky. A range of astronomy software is also available and used by amateur astronomers, including software that generates maps of the sky, software to assist with astrophotography, observation scheduling software, and software to perform various calculations pertaining to astronomical phenomena.
Amateur astronomers often like to keep records of their observations, which usually takes the form of an observing log. Observing logs typically record details about which objects were observed and when, as well as describing the details that were seen. Sketching is sometimes used within logs, and photographic records of observations have also been used in recent times. The information gathered is used to help studies and interactions between amateur astronomers in yearly gatherings. Although not professional information or credible, it is a way for the hobby lovers to share their new sightings and experiences.
The popularity of imaging among amateurs has led to large numbers of web sites being written by individuals about their images and equipment. Much of the social interaction of amateur astronomy occurs on mailing lists or discussion groups. Discussion group servers host numerous astronomy lists. A great deal of the commerce of amateur astronomy, the buying and selling of equipment, occurs online. Many amateurs use online tools to plan their nightly observing sessions, using tools such as the Clear Sky Chart. |
Amateur astronomy | Common techniques | Common techniques
While a number of interesting celestial objects are readily identified by the naked eye, sometimes with the aid of a star chart, many others are so faint or inconspicuous that technical means are necessary to locate them. Although many methods are used in amateur astronomy, most are variations of a few specific techniques. |
Amateur astronomy | Star hopping | Star hopping
Star hopping is a method often used by amateur astronomers with low-tech equipment such as binoculars or a manually driven telescope. It involves the use of maps (or memory) to locate known landmark stars, and "hopping" between them, often with the aid of a finderscope. Because of its simplicity, star hopping is a very common method for finding objects that are close to naked-eye stars.
More advanced methods of locating objects in the sky include telescope mounts with setting circles, which allow pointing to targets in the sky using celestial coordinates, and GOTO telescopes, which are fully automated telescopes that are capable of locating objects on demand (having first been calibrated). |
Amateur astronomy | Mobile apps | Mobile apps
The advent of mobile applications for use in smartphones has led to the creation of many dedicated apps. These apps allow any user to easily locate celestial objects of interest by simply pointing the smartphone device in that direction in the sky. These apps make use of the inbuilt hardware in the phone, such as GPS location and gyroscope. Useful information about the pointed object like celestial coordinates, the name of the object, its constellation, etc. are provided for a quick reference. Some paid versions give more information. These apps are gradually getting into regular use during observing, for the alignment process of telescopes. |
Amateur astronomy | Setting circles | Setting circles
Setting circles are angular measurement scales that can be placed on the two main rotation axes of some telescopes. Since the widespread adoption of digital setting circles, any classical engraved setting circle is now specifically identified as an "analog setting circle" (ASC). By knowing the coordinates of an object (usually given in equatorial coordinates), the telescope user can use the setting circle to align (i.e., point) the telescope in the appropriate direction before looking through its eyepiece. A computerized setting circle is called a "digital setting circle" (DSC). Although digital setting circles can be used to display a telescope's RA and Dec coordinates, they are not simply a digital read-out of what can be seen on the telescope's analog setting circles. As with go-to telescopes, digital setting circle computers (commercial names include Argo Navis, Sky Commander, and NGC Max) contain databases of tens of thousands of celestial objects and projections of planet positions.
To find a celestial object in a telescope equipped with a DSC computer, one does not need to look up the specific RA and Dec coordinates in a book or other resource, and then adjust the telescope to those numerical readings. Rather, the object is chosen from the electronic database, which causes distance values and arrow markers to appear in the display that indicate the distance and direction to move the telescope. The telescope is moved until the two angular distance values reach zero, indicating that the telescope is properly aligned. When both the RA and Dec axes are thus "zeroed out", the object should be in the eyepiece. Many DSCs, like go-to systems, can also work in conjunction with laptop sky programs.
Computerized systems provide the further advantage of computing coordinate precession. Traditional printed sources are subtitled by the epoch year, which refers to the positions of celestial objects at a given time to the nearest year (e.g., J2005, J2007). Most such printed sources have been updated for intervals of only about every fifty years (e.g., J1900, J1950, J2000). Computerized sources, on the other hand, are able to calculate the right ascension and declination of the "epoch of date" to the exact instant of observation. |
Amateur astronomy | GoTo telescopes | GoTo telescopes
GOTO telescopes have become more popular since the 1980s as technology has improved and prices have been reduced. With these computer-driven telescopes, the user typically enters the name of the item of interest and the mechanics of the telescope point the telescope towards that item automatically. They have several notable advantages for amateur astronomers intent on research. For example, GOTO telescopes tend to be faster for locating items of interest than star hopping, allowing more time for studying of the object. GOTO also allows manufacturers to add equatorial tracking to mechanically simpler alt-azimuth telescope mounts, allowing them to produce an overall less expensive product. GOTO telescopes usually have to be calibrated using alignment stars to provide accurate tracking and positioning. However, several telescope manufacturers have recently developed telescope systems that are calibrated with the use of built-in GPS, decreasing the time it takes to set up a telescope at the start of an observing session. |
Amateur astronomy | {{anchor | Remote-controlled telescopes
With the development of fast internet in the last part of the 20th century along with advances in computer controlled telescope mounts and CCD cameras, "remote telescope" astronomy is now a viable means for amateur astronomers not aligned with major telescope facilities to partake in research and deep sky imaging. This enables anyone to control a telescope a great distance away in a dark location. The observer can image through the telescope using CCD cameras. The digital data collected by the telescope is then transmitted and displayed to the user by means of the Internet. An example of a digital remote telescope operation for public use via the Internet is the Bareket observatory, and there are telescope farms in New Mexico, Australia and Atacama in Chile. |
Amateur astronomy | Imaging techniques | Imaging techniques
thumb|An image of the Cat's Paw Nebula created combining the work of professional and amateur astronomers. The image is the combination of the 2.2-metre MPG/ESO telescope of the La Silla Observatory in Chile and a 0.4-meter amateur telescope.
Amateur astronomers engage in many imaging techniques including film, DSLR, LRGB, and CCD astrophotography. Because CCD imagers are linear, image processing may be used to subtract away the effects of light pollution, which has increased the popularity of astrophotography in urban areas. Narrowband filters may also be used to minimize light pollution. |
Amateur astronomy | Scientific research | Scientific research
Scientific research is most often not the main goal for many amateur astronomers, unlike professional astronomers. Work of scientific merit is possible, however, and many amateurs successfully contribute to the knowledge base of professional astronomers. Astronomy is sometimes promoted as one of the few remaining sciences for which amateurs can still contribute useful data. To recognize this, the Astronomical Society of the Pacific annually gives Amateur Achievement Awards for significant contributions to astronomy by amateurs.
The majority of scientific contributions by amateur astronomers are in the area of data collection. In particular, this applies where large numbers of amateur astronomers with small telescopes are more effective than the relatively small number of large telescopes that are available to professional astronomers. Several organizations, such as the American Association of Variable Star Observers and the British Astronomical Association, exist to help coordinate these contributions.
Amateur astronomers often contribute toward activities such as monitoring the changes in brightness of variable stars and supernovae, helping to track asteroids, and observing occultations to determine both the shape of asteroids and the shape of the terrain on the apparent edge of the Moon as seen from Earth. With more advanced equipment, but still cheap in comparison to professional setups, amateur astronomers can measure the light spectrum emitted from astronomical objects, which can yield high-quality scientific data if the measurements are performed with due care. A relatively recent role for amateur astronomers is searching for overlooked phenomena (e.g., Kreutz Sungrazers) in the vast libraries of digital images and other data captured by Earth and space based observatories, much of which is available over the Internet.
In the past and present, amateur astronomers have played a major role in discovering new comets. Recently however, funding of projects such as the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research and Near Earth Asteroid Tracking projects has meant that most comets are now discovered by automated systems long before it is possible for amateurs to see them. |
Amateur astronomy | Societies | Societies
thumb|Amateur astronomy groups are often involved in outreach to introduce astronomy to the general public
There are a large number of amateur astronomical societies around the world, that serve as a meeting point for those interested in amateur astronomy. Members range from active observers with their own equipment to "armchair astronomers" who are simply interested in the topic. Societies range widely in their goals and activities, which may depend on a variety of factors such as geographic spread, local circumstances, size, and membership. For example, a small local society located in dark countryside may focus on practical observing and star parties, whereas a large one based in a major city might have numerous members but be limited by light pollution and thus hold regular indoor meetings with guest speakers instead. Major national or international societies generally publish their own academic journal or newsletter, and some hold large multi-day meetings akin to a scientific conference or convention. They may also have sections devoted to particular topics, such as lunar observation or amateur telescope making. |
Amateur astronomy | Notable contributions by amateur astronomers | Notable contributions by amateur astronomers
upright|thumb|Sir Patrick Moore was one of the world's leading popularisers of astronomy.
There have been many significant scientific, technological, and cultural contributions made by amateur astronomers:
George Alcock, one of the most successful visual discoverers of comets and novae.
John E. Bortle, authored '"Comet Digest" in Sky and Telescope magazine and the monthly AAVSO circular for the American Association of Variable Star Observers. Created the Bortle scale to quantify the darkness of the night sky.
Robert Burnham Jr. (1931–1993), author of the Celestial Handbook.
Andrew Ainslie Common (1841–1903), built his own very large reflecting telescopes and demonstrated that photography could record astronomical features invisible to the human eye.
Robert E. Cox (1917–1989) who conducted the "Gleanings for ATMs" column in Sky & Telescope magazine for 21 years.
John Dobson (1915–2014), promoter of astronomy whose name is associated with the Dobsonian telescope.
Robert Owen Evans (1937–2022) was an amateur astronomer who currently holds the all-time record for visual discoveries of supernovae.
Giuseppe Donatiello, discovered eleven nearby dwarf galaxies in the Local Volume including the first galaxy to be named after its non-professional discoverer. .
Will Hay, the famous comedian and actor, who discovered a white spot on Saturn.
Walter Scott Houston (1912–1993) who wrote the "Deep-Sky Wonders" column in Sky & Telescope magazine for almost 50 years.
Albert G. Ingalls (1888–1958), editor of Amateur Telescope Making, Vols. 1–3 and "The Amateur Scientist".
David H. Levy discovered or co-discovered 22 comets including Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, the most for any individual.
Sir Patrick Moore (1923–2012), presenter of the BBC's long-running The Sky at Night and author of many books on astronomy.
Russell W. Porter (1871–1949) founded Stellafane and has been referred to as a "founder" of amateur telescope making.
Grote Reber (1911–2002), pioneer of radio astronomy constructing the first purpose-built radio telescope and conducted the first sky survey in the radio frequency. |
Amateur astronomy | Citizen science projects | Citizen science projects
Amateur astronomers and other non-professionals make contributions through ongoing citizen science projects:
XO Project, an international team of amateur and professional astronomers tasked with identifying extrasolar planets.
Many amateur astronomers contribute to scientific discoveries as part of the citizen science Zooniverse project. |
Amateur astronomy | Prizes recognizing amateur astronomers | Prizes recognizing amateur astronomers
Amateur Achievement Award of Astronomical Society of the Pacific
Chambliss Amateur Achievement Award |
Amateur astronomy | See also | See also
Astronomical object
Caldwell catalogue – A list of astronomical objects for observation by amateur astronomers compiled by Sir Patrick Caldwell-Moore.
Clear Sky Chart – Weather forecasts designed for amateur astronomers.
List of astronomical societies
List of telescope parts and construction
Messier catalogue – A set of astronomical objects catalogued by the French astronomer Charles Messier in 1771, which is still used by many amateurs as an observing list.
Observation
Observational astronomy
School Astronomical Olympiad by Correspondence
Sidewalk astronomy
Skygazing
Star party |
Amateur astronomy | References | References |
Amateur astronomy | Further reading | Further reading
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Amateur astronomy | External links | External links
Amateur Astronomy Magazine
Category:Articles containing video clips
Category:Citizen science |
Amateur astronomy | Table of Content | Short description, Objectives, Common tools, Common techniques, Star hopping, Mobile apps, Setting circles, GoTo telescopes, {{anchor, Imaging techniques, Scientific research, Societies, Notable contributions by amateur astronomers, Citizen science projects, Prizes recognizing amateur astronomers, See also, References, Further reading, External links |
Aikido | short description | Aikido ( , , , ) is a modern Japanese martial art which is split into many different styles including Iwama Ryu, Iwama Shin Shin Aiki Shuren Kai, Shodokan Aikido, Yoshinkan, Renshinkai, Aikikai, and Ki Aikido. Aikido is now practiced in around 140 countries.
It was originally developed by Morihei Ueshiba, as a synthesis of his martial studies, philosophy and religious beliefs. Ueshiba's goal was to create an art which practitioners could use to defend themselves while also protecting their attackers from injury. Aikido is often translated as "the way of unifying (with) life energy" or as "the way of harmonious spirit". According to the founder's philosophy, the primary goal in the practice of aikido is to overcome oneself instead of cultivating violence or aggressiveness. Morihei Ueshiba used the phrase to refer to this principle.
thumb|Mitsuteru Ueshiba at the 55th All Japan Aikido Demonstration held at the Nippon Budokan (May 2017)
Aikido's fundamental principles include: (entering), , (breathing control), (triangular principle), and (turning) movements which redirect the opponent's attack momentum. Its curriculum comprises various techniques, primarily throws and joint locks. It includes a weapons system encompassing the , , and . Aikido derives mainly from the martial art of Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu, but began to diverge from it in the late 1920s, partly due to Ueshiba's involvement with the Ōmoto-kyō religion. Ueshiba's early students' documents bear the term .
Ueshiba's senior students have different approaches to aikido, depending partly on when they studied with him. Today, aikido is found all over the world in a number of styles, with broad ranges of interpretation and emphasis. However they all share techniques formulated by Ueshiba and most have concern for the well-being of the attacker. |
Aikido | Etymology and basic philosophy | Etymology and basic philosophy
thumb|80px|"Aikidō" written with "ki" in its old character form
The word "aikido" is formed of three kanji:
– – harmony, unifying
– – energy, spirit
– – way, path
The term does not readily appear in the Japanese language outside the scope of budō. This has led to many possible interpretations of the word. () is mainly used in compounds to mean 'combine, unite, join, meet', examples being (combined/united), (composition), (unite/combine/join), (union/alliance/association), (combine/unify), and (mutual agreement). There is an idea of reciprocity, (to get to know one another), (talk/discussion/negotiation), and (meet by appointment).
() is often used to describe a feeling or emotive action, as in ('I feel X', as in terms of thinking but with less cognitive reasoning), and (feeling/sensation); it is used to mean energy or force, as in (electricity) and (magnetism); it can also refer to qualities or aspects of people or things, as in (spirit/trait/temperament).
The term in Aikido is found in many other Japanese martial arts such as, judo and kendo, and in various non-martial arts, such as Japanese calligraphy (), flower arranging () and tea ceremony ( or ). Therefore, from a purely literal interpretation, aikido is the "Way of combining forces" or "Way of unifying energy", in which the term refers to the martial arts principle or tactic of blending with an attacker's movements for the purpose of controlling their actions with minimal effort. One applies by understanding the rhythm and intent of the attacker to find the optimal position and timing to apply a counter-technique. |
Aikido | History | History
thumb|upright=0.5|left|alt=A middle-aged, mustachioed man in a kimono|Ueshiba in Tokyo in 1939
Aikido was created by (1883–1969), referred to by some aikido practitioners as (Great Teacher). The term aikido was coined in the 20th century. Ueshiba envisioned aikido not only as the synthesis of his martial training, but as an expression of his personal philosophy of universal peace and reconciliation. During Ueshiba's lifetime and continuing today, aikido has evolved from the that Ueshiba studied into a variety of expressions by martial artists throughout the world. |
Aikido | Initial development | Initial development
thumb|upright=0.7|Takeda Sōkaku
Ueshiba developed aikido primarily during the late 1920s through the 1930s through the synthesis of the older martial arts that he had studied. The core martial art from which aikido derives is Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu, which Ueshiba studied directly with Takeda Sōkaku, the reviver of that art. Additionally, Ueshiba is known to have studied Tenjin Shin'yō-ryū with Tozawa Tokusaburō in Tokyo in 1901, Gotōha Yagyū Shingan-ryū under Nakai Masakatsu in Sakai from 1903 to 1908, and judo with (1894–1972) in Tanabe in 1911.
The art of is the primary technical influence on aikido. Along with empty-handed throwing and joint-locking techniques, Ueshiba incorporated training movements with weapons, such as those for the spear (), short staff (), and possibly the . Aikido also derives much of its technical structure from the art of swordsmanship (). Ueshiba moved to Hokkaido in 1912, and began studying under Takeda Sokaku in 1915; His official association with Daitō-ryū continued until 1937. However, during the latter part of that period, Ueshiba had already begun to distance himself from Takeda and the . At that time Ueshiba referred to his martial art as "Aiki Budō". It is unclear exactly when Ueshiba began using the name "aikido", but it became the official name of the art in 1942 when the Greater Japan Martial Virtue Society () was engaged in a government sponsored reorganization and centralization of Japanese martial arts. |
Aikido | Religious influences | Religious influences
thumb|upright=0.7|Onisaburo Deguchi
After Ueshiba left Hokkaido in 1919, he met and was profoundly influenced by Onisaburo Deguchi, the spiritual leader of the Ōmoto-kyō religion (a neo-Shinto movement) in Ayabe. One of the primary features of Ōmoto-kyō is its emphasis on the attainment of utopia during one's life. The idea was a great influence on Ueshiba's martial arts philosophy of extending love and compassion especially to those who seek to harm others. Aikido demonstrates this philosophy in its emphasis on mastering martial arts so that one may receive an attack and harmlessly redirect it. In an ideal resolution, not only is the receiver unharmed, but so is the attacker. In addition to the effect on his spiritual growth, the connection with Deguchi gave Ueshiba entry to elite political and military circles as a martial artist. As a result of the exposure, he was able to attract not only financial backing but also gifted students. Several of the students went on to begin their own styles of aikido. |
Aikido | International dissemination | International dissemination
Aikido was first introduced to the rest of the world in 1951 by Minoru Mochizuki with a visit to France, where he demonstrated aikido techniques to judo students. He was followed by Tadashi Abe in 1952, who came as the official Aikikai Hombu representative, remaining in France for seven years. Kenji Tomiki toured with a delegation of various martial arts through 15 continental states of the United States in 1953. Later in the same year, Koichi Tohei was sent by Aikikai Hombu to Hawaii for a full year, where he set up several dōjō. The trip was followed by several visits and is considered the formal introduction of aikido to the United States. The United Kingdom followed in 1955; Italy in 1964 by Hiroshi Tada; and Germany in 1965 by Katsuaki Asai. Designated the "Official Delegate for Europe and Africa" by Morihei Ueshiba, Masamichi Noro arrived in France in September 1961. Seiichi Sugano was appointed to introduce aikido to Australia in 1965. Today there are aikido dōjō throughout the world. Steven Seagal's film debut Above the Law (1988) is regarded as the first American film to feature aikido in fight sequences. |
Aikido | Proliferation of independent organizations | Proliferation of independent organizations
The largest aikido organization is the Aikikai Foundation, which remains under the control of the Ueshiba family. However, aikido has developed into many styles, most of which were formed by Morihei Ueshiba's major students. The earliest independent styles to emerge were Yoseikan Aikido, begun by Minoru Mochizuki in 1931, Yoshinkan Aikido, founded by Gozo Shioda in 1955, and Shodokan Aikido, founded by Kenji Tomiki in 1967. The emergence of these styles pre-dated Ueshiba's death and did not cause any major upheavals when they were formalized. Shodokan Aikido, however, was controversial, since it introduced a unique rule-based competition that some felt was contrary to the spirit of aikido.
After Ueshiba's death in 1969, two more major styles emerged. Significant controversy arose with the departure of the Aikikai Hombu Dojo's chief instructor Koichi Tohei, in 1974. Tohei left as a result of a disagreement with the son of the founder, Kisshomaru Ueshiba, who at that time headed the Aikikai Foundation. The disagreement was over the proper role of development in regular aikido training. After Tohei left, he formed his own style, called Shin Shin Toitsu Aikido, and the organization that governs it, the Ki Society (). A final major style evolved from Ueshiba's retirement in Iwama, Ibaraki and the teaching methodology of long term student Morihiro Saito. It is unofficially referred to as the "Iwama style", and at one point a number of its followers formed a loose network of schools they called Iwama Ryu. Although Iwama style practitioners remained part of the Aikikai until Saito's death in 2002, followers of Saito subsequently split into two groups. One remained with the Aikikai and the other formed the independent Shinshin Aikishuren Kai in 2004 around Saito's son Hitohiro Saito.
Today, the major styles of aikido are each run by a separate governing organization, have their own in Japan, and are taught throughout the world. |
Aikido | {{transliteration | right|thumb|100px|The kanji for until 1946 is shown; in 1946 it was changed to .
The study of is an important component of aikido. The term does not specifically refer to either physical or mental training, as it encompasses both. The kanji for was written in its older form as up until the Japanese governmental writing reforms after World War II, and now is more prevalently seen in its modern form of . This form has the removal of the eight directions denoting the pre and post natal energies of (Chinese – ) also known in the Art of Aikido as "Source energy".
The character for is used in everyday Japanese terms, such as , or . has many meanings, including "ambience", "mind", "mood", or "intention and action", however, in traditional martial arts and medicine it is often referred to in its more general terminology as "life energy". Gozo Shioda's Yoshinkan Aikido, considered one of the "hard styles", largely follows Ueshiba's teachings from before World War II, and surmises that the secret to lies in timing and the application of the whole body's strength to a single point. In later years, Ueshiba's application of in aikido took on a softer, more gentle feel. The concept was known as Takemusu Aiki, and many of his later students teach about from this perspective. Koichi Tohei's Ki Society centers almost exclusively around the study of the empirical (albeit subjective) experience of , with students' proficiency in aikido techniques and development ranked separately. |
Aikido | Training | Training
thumb|right|200px|Training (稽古 Keiko). () is very important for safe practice.
In aikido, as in virtually all Japanese martial arts, there are both physical and mental aspects of training. The physical training in aikido is diverse, covering both general physical fitness and conditioning, as well as specific techniques. Because a substantial portion of any aikido curriculum consists of throws, beginners learn how to safely fall or roll. The specific techniques for attack include both strikes and grabs; the techniques for defense consist of throws and pins. After basic techniques are learned, students study freestyle defense against multiple opponents, and techniques with weapons.
In some dojo, Uchi-deshi programs permit students to live in the dojo and immerse themselves in practice several times each day. |
Aikido | Fitness | Fitness
Physical training goals pursued in conjunction with aikido include controlled relaxation, correct movement of joints such as hips and shoulders, flexibility, and endurance, with less emphasis on strength training. In aikido, pushing or extending movements are much more common than pulling or contracting movements. This distinction can be applied to general fitness goals for the aikido practitioner. In aikido, specific muscles or muscle groups are not isolated and worked to improve tone, mass, or power. Aikido-related training emphasizes the use of coordinated whole-body movement and balance similar to yoga or pilates. For example, many dōjōs begin each class with , which may include stretching and (break falls). |
Aikido | Roles of {{transliteration | Roles of and
thumb|"Shite" (Nage), in this case, is the person on the right. He is doing Kokyu-Nage (呼吸投げ). "Uke", in this case on the left, is doing rolling Ukemi (France, 2002)
Aikido training is based primarily on two partners practicing pre-arranged forms () rather than freestyle practice. The basic pattern is for the receiver of the technique () to initiate an attack against the person who applies the technique—the , or (depending on aikido style), also referred to as (when applying a throwing technique), who neutralises this attack with an aikido technique.
Both halves of the technique, that of and that of , are considered essential to aikido training. Both are studying aikido principles of blending and adaptation. learns to blend with and control attacking energy, while learns to become calm and flexible in the disadvantageous, off-balance positions in which places them. This "receiving" of the technique is called . continuously seeks to regain balance and cover vulnerabilities (e.g., an exposed side), while uses position and timing to keep off-balance and vulnerable. In more advanced training, will sometimes apply to regain balance and pin or throw . refers to the act of receiving a technique. Good involves attention to the technique, the partner, and the immediate environment—it is considered an active part of the process of learning aikido. The method of falling itself is also important, and is a way for the practitioner to receive an aikido technique safely and minimize risk of injury. |
Aikido | Initial attacks | Initial attacks
Aikido techniques are usually a defense against an attack, so students must learn to deliver various types of attacks to be able to practice aikido with a partner. Although attacks are not studied as thoroughly as in striking-based arts, attacks with intent (such as a strong strike or an immobilizing grab) are needed to study correct and effective application of technique. Many of the of aikido resemble cuts from a sword or other grasped object, which indicate its origins in techniques intended for armed combat. Other techniques which explicitly appear to be punches (), are practiced as thrusts with a knife or sword. Kicks are generally reserved for upper-level variations; reasons cited include that falls from kicks are especially dangerous, and that kicks (high kicks in particular) were uncommon during the types of combat prevalent in feudal Japan.
Some basic strikes include:
is a vertical knifehand strike to the head. In training, this is usually directed at the forehead or the crown for safety, but more dangerous versions of this attack target the bridge of the nose and the maxillary sinus.
is a diagonal knifehand strike to the side of the head or neck.
is a punch to the torso. Specific targets include the chest, abdomen, and solar plexus, sometimes referred to as , or .
is a punch to the face, sometimes referred to as .
Beginners in particular often practice techniques from grabs, both because they are safer and because it is easier to feel the energy and the direction of the movement of force of a hold than it is for a strike. Some grabs are historically derived from being held while trying to draw a weapon, whereupon a technique could then be used to free oneself and immobilize or strike the attacker while they are grabbing the defender. Here are examples of some basic grabs:
, when one hand grabs one wrist.
, when both hands grab one wrist; sometimes referred to as
, when both hands grab both wrists; sometimes referred to as .
when one shoulder is grabbed.
, when both shoulders are grabbed. It is sometimes combined with an overhead strike as .
, when the lapel is grabbed; sometimes referred to as . |
Aikido | Basic techniques | Basic techniques
right|thumb|Diagram of , or "first technique"
Here is a sample of the basic or widely practiced throws and pins. Many of the techniques derive from Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu, but some others were invented by Morihei Ueshiba. The precise terminology for some may vary between organisations and styles; the terms presented are the terms used by the Aikikai Foundation. Although the names of the first five techniques listed are in succession, they are not universally taught in numeric order.
, a control technique using one hand on the elbow and one hand near the wrist which leverages to the ground. This grip applies pressure into the ulnar nerve at the wrist.
is a pronating wristlock that torques the arm and applies painful nerve pressure. (There is an adductive wristlock or Z-lock in the version.)
is a rotational wristlock that directs upward-spiraling tension throughout the arm, elbow and shoulder.
is a shoulder control technique similar to , but with both hands gripping the forearm. The knuckles (from the palm side) are applied to the recipient's radial nerve against the periosteum of the forearm bone.
is a technique that is visually similar to , but with an inverted grip of the wrist, medial rotation of the arm and shoulder, and downward pressure on the elbow. Common in knife and other weapon take-aways.
is a throw during which 's hand is folded back past the shoulder, locking the shoulder joint.
is a supinating wristlock-throw that stretches the extensor digitorum.
is a loosely used umbrella term for various types of mechanically unrelated techniques; generally do not use joint locks like other techniques.
, throws in which moves through the space occupied by . The classic form superficially resembles a "clothesline" technique.
, a throw in which, beginning with , moving forward, sweeps one hand low ("earth") and the other high ("heaven"), which unbalances so that they easily topple over.
, aikido's version of the hip throw; drops their hips lower than those of , then flips over the resultant fulcrum.
, a throw that locks the arms against each other (the kanji for "10" is a cross-shape: ).
is a throw in which sweeps 's arm back until it locks the shoulder joint, then uses forward pressure to throw them. |
Aikido | Implementations | Implementations
left|thumb|Diagram showing two versions of the technique: one moving forward (the version) and one moving backward (the version)
Aikido makes use of body movement ( or ) to blend the movement of with the movement of . For example, an "entering" () technique consists of movements inward towards , while a technique uses a pivoting motion.
Additionally, an technique takes place in front of , whereas an technique takes place to their side; a technique is applied with motion to the front of , and a version is applied with motion towards the rear of , usually by incorporating a turning or pivoting motion. Finally, most techniques can be performed while in a seated posture (). Techniques where both and are standing are called , techniques where both start off in are called , and techniques performed with standing and sitting are called (). From these few basic techniques, there are numerous of possible implementations. For example, can be applied to an opponent moving forward with a strike (perhaps with an type of movement to redirect the incoming force), or to an opponent who has already struck and is now moving back to reestablish distance (perhaps an version). Specific aikido are typically referred to with the formula "attack-technique(-modifier)"; , for example, refers to any technique executed when is holding one wrist. This could be further specified as (referring to any forward-moving technique from that grab).
are strikes (or feints) employed during an aikido technique. Some view as attacks against "vital points" meant to cause damage in and of themselves. For instance, Gozo Shioda described using in a brawl to quickly down a gang's leader. Others consider , especially to the face, to be methods of distraction meant to enable other techniques; a strike, even if it is blocked, can startle the target and break their concentration. Additionally, the target may also become unbalanced while attempting to avoid a strike (by jerking the head back, for example) which may allow for an easier throw. Many sayings about are attributed to Morihei Ueshiba, who considered them an essential element of technique. |
Aikido | Weapons | Weapons
right|thumb|Disarming an attacker using a technique
Weapons training in aikido traditionally includes the short staff () (these techniques closely resemble the use of the bayonet, or Jūkendō), the wooden sword (), and the knife (). Some schools incorporate firearm-disarming techniques, where either weapon-taking and/or weapon-retention may be taught. Some schools, such as the Iwama style of Morihiro Saito, usually spend substantial time practicing with both and , under the names of , and , respectively. The founder developed many of the empty-handed techniques from traditional sword, spear and bayonet movements. Consequently, the practice of the weapons arts gives insight into the origin of techniques and movements, and reinforces the concepts of distance, timing, foot movement, presence and connectedness with one's training partner(s). |
Aikido | Multiple attackers and {{transliteration | Multiple attackers and
One feature of aikido is training to defend against multiple attackers, often called , or . Freestyle practice with multiple attackers called is a key part of most curricula and is required for the higher-level ranks. exercises a person's ability to intuitively perform techniques in an unstructured environment. Strategic choice of techniques, based on how they reposition the student relative to other attackers, is important in training. For instance, an technique might be used to neutralise the current attacker while turning to face attackers approaching from behind.
In Shodokan Aikido, differs in that it is not performed with multiple persons with defined roles of defender and attacker, but between two people, where both participants attack, defend, and counter at will. In this respect it resembles judo . |
Aikido | Injuries | Injuries
In applying a technique during training, it is the responsibility of to prevent injury to by employing a speed and force of application that is appropriate with their partner's proficiency in . When injuries (especially to the joints) occur, they are often the result of a misjudging the ability of to receive the throw or pin.Aikido and injuries: special report by Fumiaki Shishida Aiki News 1989;80 (April); partial English translation of article re-printed in Aikido Journal A study of injuries in the martial arts showed that the type of injuries varied considerably from one art to the other. Soft tissue injuries are one of the most common types of injuries found within aikido, as well as joint strain and stubbed fingers and toes. Several deaths from head-and-neck injuries, caused by aggressive in a hazing context, have been reported. |
Aikido | Mental training | Mental training
Aikido training is mental as well as physical, emphasizing the ability to relax the mind and body even under the stress of dangerous situations. This is necessary to enable the practitioner to perform the 'enter-and-blend' movements that underlie aikido techniques, wherein an attack is met with confidence and directness. Morihei Ueshiba once remarked that one "must be willing to receive 99% of an opponent's attack and stare death in the face" in order to execute techniques without hesitation. As a martial art concerned not only with fighting proficiency but with the betterment of daily life, this mental aspect is of key importance to aikido practitioners. |
Aikido | Uniforms and ranking | Uniforms and ranking
rank belt color type 65px white / 65px black
Aikido practitioners (commonly called outside Japan) generally progress by promotion through a series of "grades" (), followed by a series of "degrees" (), pursuant to formal testing procedures. Some aikido organizations use belts to distinguish practitioners' grades, often simply white and black belts to distinguish and grades, although some use various belt colors. Testing requirements vary, so a particular rank in one organization is not comparable or interchangeable with the rank of another. Some dōjōs have an age requirement before students can take the rank exam.
The uniform worn for practicing aikido () is similar to the training uniform () used in most other modern martial arts; simple trousers and a wraparound jacket, usually white. Both thick ("judo-style"), and thin ("karate-style") cotton tops are used. Aikido-specific tops are available with shorter sleeves which reach to just below the elbow.
Most aikido systems add a pair of wide pleated black or indigo trousers known as (used also in Naginatajutsu, kendo, and iaido). In many schools, the wearing of is reserved for practitioners with ranks or for instructors, while others allow all practitioners to wear a regardless of rank. |
Aikido | Aikido styles | Aikido styles
Aikido styles vary in their intention, due to its holistic nature. The most common differences noted in aikido, when observed externally, relate to the intensity and realism of training. Stanley Pranin has observed that some criticism may stem from weak attacks from , allowing for a conditioned response from , resulting in underdevelopment of the skills needed for the safe and effective practice of both partners.
To counteract that some styles allow students to become less compliant over time, however in keeping with the core philosophies, that is after having demonstrated proficiency in being able to protect themselves and their training partners. Shodokan Aikido addresses the issue by practicing in a competitive format. Such adaptations are debated between styles, with some maintaining that there is no need to adjust their methods because either the criticisms are unjustified, or that they are not training for self-defense or combat effectiveness, but spiritual, fitness or other reasons. Reasons for the difference and diversity of teachings, intention, and forms of aikido can be traced to the shift in training focus after the end of Ueshiba's seclusion in Iwama from 1942 to the mid-1950s, as he increasingly emphasized the spiritual and philosophical aspects of aikido. As a result, strikes to vital points by , entering () and initiation of techniques by , the distinction between (front side) and (back side) techniques, and the use of weapons, were all de-emphasized or eliminated from practice.
Conversely, some styles of aikido place less importance on the spiritual practices which were emphasized by Ueshiba. According to Minoru Shibata of Aikido Journal:
O-Sensei's aikido was not a continuation and extension of the old and has a distinct discontinuity with past martial and philosophical concepts.
In other words, aikido practitioners who focus on aikido's roots in traditional or are said to be diverging from what Ueshiba taught, as some critics urge practitioners:
[Ueshiba's] transcendence to the spiritual and universal reality were the fundamentals of the paradigm that he demonstrated. |
Aikido | References | References |
Aikido | External links | External links
AikiWeb Aikido Information site on aikido, with essays, forums, gallery, reviews, columns, wiki and other information.
Category:Japanese martial arts
Category:Dō
Category:Articles containing video clips |
Aikido | Table of Content | short description, Etymology and basic philosophy, History, Initial development, Religious influences, International dissemination, Proliferation of independent organizations, {{transliteration, Training, Fitness, Roles of {{transliteration, Initial attacks, Basic techniques, Implementations, Weapons, Multiple attackers and {{transliteration, Injuries, Mental training, Uniforms and ranking, Aikido styles, References, External links |
Art | Short description | thumb|upright=1.5|Visual artworks: (clockwise from upper left) an 1887 self-portrait by Vincent van Gogh; a female ancestor figure by a Chokwe artist; detail from The Birth of Venus (–1486) by Sandro Botticelli; and an Okinawan Shisa lion
Art is a diverse range of cultural activity centered around works utilizing creative or imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an expression of emotional power, conceptual ideas, technical proficiency, and/or beauty.
There is no generally agreed definition of what constitutes art, and its interpretation has varied greatly throughout history and across cultures. In the Western tradition, the three classical branches of visual art are painting, sculpture, and architecture. Theatre, dance, and other performing arts, as well as literature, music, film and other media such as interactive media, are included in a broader definition of "the arts". Until the 17th century, art referred to any skill or mastery and was not differentiated from crafts or sciences. In modern usage after the 17th century, where aesthetic considerations are paramount, the fine arts are separated and distinguished from acquired skills in general, such as the decorative or applied arts.
The nature of art and related concepts, such as creativity and interpretation, are explored in a branch of philosophy known as aesthetics. The resulting artworks are studied in the professional fields of art criticism and the history of art. |
Art | Overview | Overview
In the perspective of the history of art, artistic works have existed for almost as long as humankind: from early prehistoric art to contemporary art; however, some theorists think that the typical concept of "artistic works" does not fit well outside modern Western societies. One early sense of the definition of art is closely related to the older Latin meaning, which roughly translates to "skill" or "craft", as associated with words such as "artisan". English words derived from this meaning include artifact, artificial, artifice, medical arts, and military arts. However, there are many other colloquial uses of the word, all with some relation to its etymology.
thumb|upright|20th-century bottle, Twa peoples, Rwanda. Artistic works may serve practical functions, in addition to their decorative value.
Over time, philosophers like Plato, Aristotle, Socrates and Immanuel Kant, among others, questioned the meaning of art.Gilbert, Kuhn pp. 73–96 Several dialogues in Plato tackle questions about art, while Socrates says that poetry is inspired by the muses and is not rational. He speaks approvingly of this, and other forms of divine madness (drunkenness, eroticism, and dreaming) in the Phaedrus (265a–c), and yet in the Republic wants to outlaw Homer's great poetic art, and laughter as well. In Ion, Socrates gives no hint of the disapproval of Homer that he expresses in the Republic. The dialogue Ion suggests that Homer's Iliad functioned in the ancient Greek world as the Bible does today in the modern Christian world: as divinely inspired literary art that can provide moral guidance, if only it can be properly interpreted.Gilbert, Kuhn pp. 40–72
With regards to the literary art and the musical arts, Aristotle considered epic poetry, tragedy, comedy, Dithyrambic poetry and music to be mimetic or imitative art, each varying in imitation by medium, object, and manner.Aristotle, Poetics I 1447a For example, music imitates with the media of rhythm and harmony, whereas dance imitates with rhythm alone, and poetry with language. The forms also differ in their object of imitation. Comedy, for instance, is a dramatic imitation of men worse than average; whereas tragedy imitates men slightly better than average. Lastly, the forms differ in their manner of imitation—through narrative or character, through change or no change, and through drama or no drama.Aristotle, Poetics III Aristotle believed that imitation is natural to mankind and constitutes one of mankind's advantages over animals.Aristotle, Poetics IV
The more recent and specific sense of the word art as an abbreviation for creative art or fine art emerged in the early 17th century. Fine art refers to a skill used to express the artist's creativity, or to engage the audience's aesthetic sensibilities, or to draw the audience towards consideration of more refined or finer works of art.
Within this latter sense, the word art may refer to several things: (i) a study of a creative skill, (ii) a process of using the creative skill, (iii) a product of the creative skill, or (iv) the audience's experience with the creative skill. The creative arts (art as discipline) are a collection of disciplines which produce artworks (art as objects) that are compelled by a personal drive (art as activity) and convey a message, mood, or symbolism for the perceiver to interpret (art as experience). Art is something that stimulates an individual's thoughts, emotions, beliefs, or ideas through the senses. Works of art can be explicitly made for this purpose or interpreted on the basis of images or objects. For some scholars, such as Kant, the sciences and the arts could be distinguished by taking science as representing the domain of knowledge and the arts as representing the domain of the freedom of artistic expression.Gilbert, Kuhn pp. 287–326
thumb|Back of a Renaissance oval basin or dish, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Often, if the skill is being used in a common or practical way, people will consider it a craft instead of art. Likewise, if the skill is being used in a commercial or industrial way, it may be considered commercial art instead of fine art. On the other hand, crafts and design are sometimes considered applied art. Some art followers have argued that the difference between fine art and applied art has more to do with value judgments made about the art than any clear definitional difference.David Novitz, The Boundaries of Art, 1992 However, even fine art often has goals beyond pure creativity and self-expression. The purpose of works of art may be to communicate ideas, such as in politically, spiritually, or philosophically motivated art; to create a sense of beauty (see aesthetics); to explore the nature of perception; for pleasure; or to generate strong emotions. The purpose may also be seemingly nonexistent.
The nature of art has been described by philosopher Richard Wollheim as "one of the most elusive of the traditional problems of human culture".Richard Wollheim, Art and its objects, p. 1, 2nd ed., 1980, Cambridge University Press, Art has been defined as a vehicle for the expression or communication of emotions and ideas, a means for exploring and appreciating formal elements for their own sake, and as mimesis or representation. Art as mimesis has deep roots in the philosophy of Aristotle. Leo Tolstoy identified art as a use of indirect means to communicate from one person to another.Jerrold Levinson, The Oxford Handbook of Aesthetics, Oxford University Press, 2003, p. 5. Benedetto Croce and R. G. Collingwood advanced the idealist view that art expresses emotions, and that the work of art therefore essentially exists in the mind of the creator.Jerrold Levinson, The Oxford Handbook of Aesthetics, Oxford University Press, 2003, p. 16. R.G. Collingwood's view, expressed in The Principles of Art, is considered in Wollheim, op. cit. 1980 pp. 36–43 The theory of art as form has its roots in the philosophy of Kant, and was developed in the early 20th century by Roger Fry and Clive Bell. More recently, thinkers influenced by Martin Heidegger have interpreted art as the means by which a community develops for itself a medium for self-expression and interpretation.Martin Heidegger, "The Origin of the Work of Art", in Poetry, Language, Thought, (Harper Perennial, 2001). See also Maurice Merleau-Ponty, "Cézanne's Doubt" in The Merleau-Ponty Aesthetics Reader, Galen Johnson and Michael Smith (eds), (Northwestern University Press, 1994) and John Russon, Bearing Witness to Epiphany, (State University of New York Press, 2009). George Dickie has offered an institutional theory of art that defines a work of art as any artifact upon which a qualified person or persons acting on behalf of the social institution commonly referred to as "the art world" has conferred "the status of candidate for appreciation".W. E. Kennick, Art and Philosophy: Readings in Aesthetics. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1979, p. 89. . Larry Shiner has described fine art as "not an essence or a fate but something we have made. Art as we have generally understood it is a European invention barely two hundred years old."Shiner 2003. The Invention of Art: A Cultural History. The University of Chicago Press Books. p. 3.
Art may be characterized in terms of mimesis (its representation of reality), narrative (storytelling), expression, communication of emotion, or other qualities. During the Romantic period, art came to be seen as "a special faculty of the human mind to be classified with religion and science". |
Art | History | History
thumb|left|upright=.8| figurine, Germany, between 35,000 and 41,000 years old. One of the oldest-known examples of an artistic representation and the oldest confirmed statue ever discovered."Lion man takes pride of place as oldest statue" by Rex Dalton, Nature 425, 7 (4 September 2003) doi:10.1038/425007a also Nature News 4 September 2003
A shell engraved by Homo erectus was determined to be between 430,000 and 540,000 years old. A set of eight 130,000 years old white-tailed eagle talons bear cut marks and abrasion that indicate manipulation by neanderthals, possibly for using it as jewelry. A series of tiny, drilled snail shells about 75,000 years old—were discovered in a South African cave. Containers that may have been used to hold paints have been found dating as far back as 100,000 years.
The oldest piece of art found in Europe is the Riesenhirschknochen der Einhornhöhle, dating back 51,000 years and made by Neanderthals.
Sculptures, cave paintings, rock paintings and petroglyphs from the Upper Paleolithic dating to roughly 40,000 years ago have been found, but the precise meaning of such art is often disputed because so little is known about the cultures that produced them.
The first undisputed sculptures and similar art pieces, like the Venus of Hohle Fels, are the numerous objects found at the Caves and Ice Age Art in the Swabian Jura UNESCO World Heritage Site, where the oldest non-stationary works of human art yet discovered were found, in the form of carved animal and humanoid figurines, in addition to the oldest musical instruments unearthed so far, with the artifacts dating between 43,000 and 35,000 BC, so being the first centre of human art.
thumb|right|Cave paintings, Lascaux, France, c. 17,000 BCE
Many great traditions in art have a foundation in the art of one of the great ancient civilizations: Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, India, China, Ancient Greece, Rome, as well as Inca, Maya, and Olmec. Each of these centers of early civilization developed a unique and characteristic style in its art. Because of the size and duration of these civilizations, more of their art works have survived and more of their influence has been transmitted to other cultures and later times. Some also have provided the first records of how artists worked. For example, this period of Greek art saw a veneration of the human physical form and the development of equivalent skills to show musculature, poise, beauty, and anatomically correct proportions.Gombrich, pp. 83, 75–115, 132–141, 147–155, 163, 627.
In Byzantine and Medieval art of the Western Middle Ages, much art focused on the expression of subjects about biblical and religious culture, and used styles that showed the higher glory of a heavenly world, such as the use of gold in the background of paintings, or glass in mosaics or windows, which also presented figures in idealized, patterned (flat) forms. Nevertheless, a classical realist tradition persisted in small Byzantine works, and realism steadily grew in the art of Catholic Europe.Gombrich, pp. 86–89, 135–141, 143, 179, 185.
Renaissance art had a greatly increased emphasis on the realistic depiction of the material world, and the place of humans in it, reflected in the corporeality of the human body, and development of a systematic method of graphical perspective to depict recession in a three-dimensional picture space.
right|thumb|The stylized signature of Sultan Mahmud II of the Ottoman Empire was written in Islamic calligraphy. It reads "Mahmud Khan son of Abdulhamid is forever victorious".
thumb|The Great Mosque of Kairouan in Tunisia, also called the Mosque of Uqba, is one of the most significant and best preserved artistic and architectural examples of early great mosques. Dated in its present state from the 9th century, it is the ancestor and model of all the mosques in the western Islamic lands.
In the east, Islamic art's rejection of iconography led to emphasis on geometric patterns, calligraphy, and architecture.Gombrich, pp. 127–128 Further east, religion dominated artistic styles and forms too. India and Tibet saw emphasis on painted sculptures and dance, while religious painting borrowed many conventions from sculpture and tended to bright contrasting colors with emphasis on outlines. China saw the flourishing of many art forms: jade carving, bronzework, pottery (including the stunning Terracotta Army of Emperor QinGombrich, pp. 634–635), poetry, calligraphy, music, painting, drama, fiction, etc. Chinese styles vary greatly from era to era and each one is traditionally named after the ruling dynasty. So, for example, Tang dynasty paintings are monochromatic and sparse, emphasizing idealized landscapes, but Ming dynasty paintings are busy and colorful, and focus on telling stories via setting and composition. Japan names its styles after imperial dynasties too, and also saw much interplay between the styles of calligraphy and painting. Woodblock printing became important in Japan after the 17th century.Gombrich, p. 155, p. 530.
thumb|Chinese painting by Song dynasty artist Ma Lin, . 24.8 × 25.2 cm
The western Age of Enlightenment in the 18th century saw artistic depictions of physical and rational certainties of the clockwork universe, as well as politically revolutionary visions of a post-monarchist world, such as Blake's portrayal of Newton as a divine geometer, or David's propagandistic paintings. This led to Romantic rejections of this in favor of pictures of the emotional side and individuality of humans, exemplified in the novels of Goethe. The late 19th century then saw a host of artistic movements, such as academic art, Symbolism, impressionism and fauvism among others.Gombrich, pp. 394–395, 519–527, 573–575.
The history of 20th-century art is a narrative of endless possibilities and the search for new standards, each being torn down in succession by the next. Thus the parameters of Impressionism, Expressionism, Fauvism, Cubism, Dadaism, Surrealism, etc. cannot be maintained very much beyond the time of their invention. Increasing global interaction during this time saw an equivalent influence of other cultures into Western art. Thus, Japanese woodblock prints (themselves influenced by Western Renaissance draftsmanship) had an immense influence on impressionism and subsequent development. Later, African sculptures were taken up by Picasso and to some extent by Matisse. Similarly, in the 19th and 20th centuries the West has had huge impacts on Eastern art with originally western ideas like Communism and Post-Modernism exerting a powerful influence.
Modernism, the idealistic search for truth, gave way in the latter half of the 20th century to a realization of its unattainability. Theodor W. Adorno said in 1970, "It is now taken for granted that nothing which concerns art can be taken for granted any more: neither art itself, nor art in relationship to the whole, nor even the right of art to exist."Adorno, Theodor W., Aesthetic Theory, (1970 in German) Relativism was accepted as an unavoidable truth, which led to the period of contemporary art and postmodern criticism, where cultures of the world and of history are seen as changing forms, which can be appreciated and drawn from only with skepticism and irony. Furthermore, the separation of cultures is increasingly blurred and some argue it is now more appropriate to think in terms of a global culture, rather than of regional ones.
In The Origin of the Work of Art, Martin Heidegger, a German philosopher and seminal thinker, describes the essence of art in terms of the concepts of being and truth. He argues that art is not only a way of expressing the element of truth in a culture, but the means of creating it and providing a springboard from which "that which is" can be revealed. Works of art are not merely representations of the way things are, but actually produce a community's shared understanding. Each time a new artwork is added to any culture, the meaning of what it is to exist is inherently changed.
Historically, art and artistic skills and ideas have often been spread through trade. An example of this is the Silk Road, where Hellenistic, Iranian, Indian and Chinese influences could mix. Greco Buddhist art is one of the most vivid examples of this interaction. The meeting of different cultures and worldviews also influenced artistic creation. An example of this is the multicultural port metropolis of Trieste at the beginning of the 20th century, where James Joyce met writers from Central Europe and the artistic development of New York City as a cultural melting pot.Liu, Xinru "The Silk Road in World History" (New York 2010), pp. 21.Veronika Eckl "Vom Leben in Cafés und zwischen Buchdeckeln" In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 17.01.2008; Angelo Ara, Claudio Magris "Triest Eine literarische Hauptstadt Mitteleuropas (Trieste: un'identità di frontiera)" (1987). |
Art | Forms, genres, media, and styles | Forms, genres, media, and styles
thumb|Napoleon I on his Imperial Throne by Ingres (French, 1806), oil on canvas
The creative arts are often divided into more specific categories, typically along perceptually distinguishable categories such as media, genre, styles, and form.. Walton distinguishes between paintings and sculptures, but he also distinguishes further between sub-categories, such as cubist paintings and paintings in the style of Cezanne, classical sonatas and music in the style of late Beethoven. Art form refers to the elements of art that are independent of its interpretation or significance. It covers the methods adopted by the artist and the physical composition of the artwork, primarily non-semantic aspects of the work (i.e., figurae), such as color, contour, dimension, medium, melody, space, texture, and value. Form may also include Design principles, such as arrangement, balance, contrast, emphasis, harmony, proportion, proximity, and rhythm.
In general there are three schools of philosophy regarding art, focusing respectively on form, content, and context. Extreme Formalism is the view that all aesthetic properties of art are formal (that is, part of the art form). Philosophers almost universally reject this view and hold that the properties and aesthetics of art extend beyond materials, techniques, and form. Unfortunately, there is little consensus on terminology for these informal properties. Some authors refer to subject matter and content—i.e., denotations and connotations—while others prefer terms like meaning and significance.
Extreme Intentionalism holds that authorial intent plays a decisive role in the meaning of a work of art, conveying the content or essential main idea, while all other interpretations can be discarded. It defines the subject as the persons or idea represented, and the content as the artist's experience of that subject. For example, the composition of Napoleon I on his Imperial Throne is partly borrowed from the Statue of Zeus at Olympia. As evidenced by the title, the subject is Napoleon, and the content is Ingres's representation of Napoleon as "Emperor-God beyond time and space". Similarly to extreme formalism, philosophers typically reject extreme intentionalism, because art may have multiple ambiguous meanings and authorial intent may be unknowable and thus irrelevant. Its restrictive interpretation is "socially unhealthy, philosophically unreal, and politically unwise".
Finally, the developing theory of post-structuralism studies art's significance in a cultural context, such as the ideas, emotions, and reactions prompted by a work. The cultural context often reduces to the artist's techniques and intentions, in which case analysis proceeds along lines similar to formalism and intentionalism. However, in other cases historical and material conditions may predominate, such as religious and philosophical convictions, sociopolitical and economic structures, or even climate and geography. Art criticism continues to grow and develop alongside art. |
Art | Skill and craft | Skill and craft
thumb|left|The Creation of Adam, detail from Michelangelo's fresco in the Sistine Chapel (1511)
Art can connote a sense of trained ability or mastery of a medium. Art can also refer to the developed and efficient use of a language to convey meaning with immediacy or depth. Art can be defined as an act of expressing feelings, thoughts, and observations. .
There is an understanding that is reached with the material as a result of handling it, which facilitates one's thought processes.
A common view is that the epithet art, particular in its elevated sense, requires a certain level of creative expertise by the artist, whether this be a demonstration of technical ability, an originality in stylistic approach, or a combination of these two. Traditionally skill of execution was viewed as a quality inseparable from art and thus necessary for its success; for Leonardo da Vinci, art, neither more nor less than his other endeavors, was a manifestation of skill. Rembrandt's work, now praised for its ephemeral virtues, was most admired by his contemporaries for its virtuosity. At the turn of the 20th century, the adroit performances of John Singer Sargent were alternately admired and viewed with skepticism for their manual fluency, yet at nearly the same time the artist who would become the era's most recognized and peripatetic iconoclast, Pablo Picasso, was completing a traditional academic training at which he excelled.
thumb|Detail of Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, –1506, showing the painting technique of sfumato
A common contemporary criticism of some modern art occurs along the lines of objecting to the apparent lack of skill or ability required in the production of the artistic object. In conceptual art, Marcel Duchamp's Fountain is among the first examples of pieces wherein the artist used found objects ("ready-made") and exercised no traditionally recognised set of skills. Tracey Emin's My Bed, or Damien Hirst's The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living follow this example. Emin slept (and engaged in other activities) in her bed before placing the result in a gallery as work of art. Hirst came up with the conceptual design for the artwork but has left most of the eventual creation of many works to employed artisans. Hirst's celebrity is founded entirely on his ability to produce shocking concepts. The actual production in many conceptual and contemporary works of art is a matter of assembly of found objects. However, there are many modernist and contemporary artists who continue to excel in the skills of drawing and painting and in creating hands-on works of art. |
Art | Purpose | Purpose
thumb|right|A Navajo rug made
thumb|Mozarabic Beatus miniature. Spain, late 10th century
Art has had a great number of different functions throughout its history, making its purpose difficult to abstract or quantify to any single concept. This does not imply that the purpose of art is "vague", but that it has had many unique, different reasons for being created. Some of these functions of art are provided in the following outline. The different purposes of art may be grouped according to those that are non-motivated, and those that are motivated (Lévi-Strauss). |
Art | Non-motivated functions | Non-motivated functions
The non-motivated purposes of art are those that are integral to being human, transcend the individual, or do not fulfill a specific external purpose. In this sense, Art, as creativity, is something humans must do by their very nature (i.e., no other species creates art), and is therefore beyond utility.
Basic human instinct for harmony, balance, rhythm. Art at this level is not an action or an object, but an internal appreciation of balance and harmony (beauty), and therefore an aspect of being human beyond utility.Imitation, then, is one instinct of our nature. Next, there is the instinct for 'harmony' and rhythm, meters being manifestly sections of rhythm. Persons, therefore, starting with this natural gift developed by degrees their special aptitudes, till their rude improvisations gave birth to Poetry. – Aristotle
Experience of the mysterious. Art provides a way to experience one's self in relation to the universe. This experience may often come unmotivated, as one appreciates art, music or poetry.The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. – Albert Einstein
Expression of the imagination. Art provides a means to express the imagination in non-grammatic ways that are not tied to the formality of spoken or written language. Unlike words, which come in sequences and each of which have a definite meaning, art provides a range of forms, symbols and ideas with meanings that are malleable.Jupiter's eagle [as an example of art] is not, like logical (aesthetic) attributes of an object, the concept of the sublimity and majesty of creation, but rather something else—something that gives the imagination an incentive to spread its flight over a whole host of kindred representations that provoke more thought than admits of expression in a concept determined by words. They furnish an aesthetic idea, which serves the above rational idea as a substitute for logical presentation, but with the proper function, however, of animating the mind by opening out for it a prospect into a field of kindred representations stretching beyond its ken. – Immanuel KantImmanuel Kant, Critique of Aesthetic Judgement (1790).
Ritualistic and symbolic functions. In many cultures, art is used in rituals, performances and dances as a decoration or symbol. While these often have no specific utilitarian (motivated) purpose, anthropologists know that they often serve a purpose at the level of meaning within a particular culture. This meaning is not furnished by any one individual, but is often the result of many generations of change, and of a cosmological relationship within the culture.Most scholars who deal with rock paintings or objects recovered from prehistoric contexts that cannot be explained in utilitarian terms and are thus categorized as decorative, ritual or symbolic, are aware of the trap posed by the term 'art'. – Silva TomaskovaSilvia Tomaskova, Places of Art: Art and Archaeology in Context: (1997) |
Art | Motivated functions | Motivated functions
Motivated purposes of art refer to intentional, conscious actions on the part of the artists or creator. These may be to bring about political change, to comment on an aspect of society, to convey a specific emotion or mood, to address personal psychology, to illustrate another discipline, to (with commercial arts) sell a product, or used as a form of communication.
Communication. Art, at its simplest, is a form of communication. As most forms of communication have an intent or goal directed toward another individual, this is a motivated purpose. Illustrative arts, such as scientific illustration, are a form of art as communication. Maps are another example. However, the content need not be scientific. Emotions, moods and feelings are also communicated through art.[Art is a set of] artefacts or images with symbolic meanings as a means of communication. – Steve MithenSteve Mithen. The Prehistory of the Mind: The Cognitive Origins of Art, Religion and Science. 1999
Art as entertainment. Art may seek to bring about a particular emotion or mood, for the purpose of relaxing or entertaining the viewer. This is often the function of the art industries of motion pictures and video games.
The Avant-Garde. Art for political change. One of the defining functions of early 20th-century art has been to use visual images to bring about political change. Art movements that had this goal—Dadaism, Surrealism, Russian constructivism, and Abstract Expressionism, among others—are collectively referred to as the avant-garde arts.By contrast, the realistic attitude, inspired by positivism, from Saint Thomas Aquinas to Anatole France, clearly seems to me to be hostile to any intellectual or moral advancement. I loathe it, for it is made up of mediocrity, hate, and dull conceit. It is this attitude which today gives birth to these ridiculous books, these insulting plays. It constantly feeds on and derives strength from the newspapers and stultifies both science and art by assiduously flattering the lowest of tastes; clarity bordering on stupidity, a dog's life. – André Breton (Surrealism)
Art as a "free zone", removed from the action of the social censure. Unlike the avant-garde movements, which wanted to erase cultural differences in order to produce new universal values, contemporary art has enhanced its tolerance towards cultural differences as well as its critical and liberating functions (social inquiry, activism, subversion, deconstruction, etc.), becoming a more open place for research and experimentation.According to Maurizio Bolognini this is not only associated with the postmodern rejection of all canons but with a process of secularization of art, which is finally considered as "a mere (albeit essential) convention, sustained and reproduced by the art system (artists, galleries, critics, collectors), providing a free zone, that is, a more open place for experimentation, removed from the constraints of the practical sphere.": see
Art for social inquiry, subversion or anarchy. While similar to art for political change, subversive or deconstructivist art may seek to question aspects of society without any specific political goal. In this case, the function of art may be used to criticize some aspect of society. Graffiti art and other types of street art are graphics and images that are spray-painted or stencilled on publicly viewable walls, buildings, buses, trains, and bridges, usually without permission. Certain art forms, such as graffiti, may also be illegal when they break laws (in this case vandalism).
Art for social causes. Art can be used to raise awareness for a large variety of causes. A number of art activities were aimed at raising awareness of autism, cancer, human trafficking, and a variety of other topics, such as ocean conservation, human rights in Darfur, murdered and missing Aboriginal women, elder abuse, and pollution. Trashion, using trash to make fashion, practiced by artists such as Marina DeBris is one example of using art to raise awareness about pollution.
Art for psychological and healing purposes. Art is also used by art therapists, psychotherapists and clinical psychologists as art therapy. The Diagnostic Drawing Series, for example, is used to determine the personality and emotional functioning of a patient. The end product is not the principal goal in this case, but rather a process of healing, through creative acts, is sought. The resultant piece of artwork may also offer insight into the troubles experienced by the subject and may suggest suitable approaches to be used in more conventional forms of psychiatric therapy.
Art for propaganda, or commercialism. Art is often used as a form of propaganda, and thus can be used to subtly influence popular conceptions or mood. In a similar way, art that tries to sell a product also influences mood and emotion. In both cases, the purpose of art here is to subtly manipulate the viewer into a particular emotional or psychological response toward a particular idea or object.Roland Barthes, Mythologies
Art as a fitness indicator. It has been argued that the ability of the human brain by far exceeds what was needed for survival in the ancestral environment. One evolutionary psychology explanation for this is that the human brain and associated traits (such as artistic ability and creativity) are the human equivalent of the peacock's tail. The purpose of the male peacock's extravagant tail has been argued to be to attract females (see also Fisherian runaway and handicap principle). According to this theory superior execution of art was evolutionarily important because it attracted mates.Dutton, Denis. 2003. "Aesthetics and Evolutionary Psychology" in The Oxford Handbook for Aesthetics. Oxford University Press.
The functions of art described above are not mutually exclusive, as many of them may overlap. For example, art for the purpose of entertainment may also seek to sell a product, i.e. the movie or video game. |
Art | Steps | Steps
Art can be divided into any number of steps one can make an argument for. This section divides the creative process into broad three steps, but there is no consensus on an exact number. |
Art | Preparation | Preparation
thumb|The Thinker in The Gates of Hell at the Musée Rodin
In the first step, the artist envisions the art in their mind. By imagining what their art would look like, the artist begins the process of bringing the art into existence. Preparation of art may involve approaching and researching the subject matter. Artistic inspiration is one of the main drivers of art, and may be considered to stem from instinct, impressions, and feelings. |
Art | Creation | Creation
thumb|The Great Wave off Kanagawa, the first in Hokusai's c. 1830–1832 series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji
In the second step, the artist executes the creation of their work. The creation of a piece can be affected by factors such as the artist's mood, surroundings, and mental state. For example, The Black Paintings by Francisco de Goya, created in the elder years of his life, are thought to be so bleak because he was in isolation and because of his experience with war. He painted them directly on the walls of his apartment in Spain, and most likely never discussed them with anyone.* Licht, Fred. Goya: The Origins of the Modern Temper in Art. Universe Books, 1979. The Beatles stated drugs such as LSD and cannabis influenced some of their greatest hits, such as Revolver. Trial and error are considered an integral part of the creation process. |
Art | Appreciation | Appreciation
The last step is art appreciation, which has the sub-topic of critique. In one study, over half of visual arts students agreed that reflection is an essential step of the art process. According to education journals, the reflection of art is considered an essential part of the experience. However an important aspect of art is that others may view and appreciate it as well. While many focus on whether those viewing/listening/etc. believe the art to be good/successful or not, art has profound value beyond its commercial success as a provider of information and health in society. Art enjoyment can bring about a wide spectrum of emotion due to beauty. Some art is meant to be practical, with its analysis studious, meant to stimulate discourse. |
Art | Public access | Public access
thumb|The Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan. Museums are important forums for the display of visual art.
Since ancient times, much of the finest art has represented a deliberate display of wealth or power, often achieved by using massive scale and expensive materials. Much art has been commissioned by political rulers or religious establishments, with more modest versions only available to the most wealthy in society.Gilbert, Kuhn pp. 161–165
Nevertheless, there have been many periods where art of very high quality was available, in terms of ownership, across large parts of society, above all in cheap media such as pottery, which persists in the ground, and perishable media such as textiles and wood. In many different cultures, the ceramics of indigenous peoples of the Americas are found in such a wide range of graves that they were clearly not restricted to a social elite, though other forms of art may have been. Reproductive methods such as moulds made mass-production easier, and were used to bring high-quality Ancient Roman pottery and Greek Tanagra figurines to a very wide market. Cylinder seals were both artistic and practical, and very widely used by what can be loosely called the middle class in the Ancient Near East. Once coins were widely used, these also became an art form that reached the widest range of society.
Another important innovation came in the 15th century in Europe, when printmaking began with small woodcuts, mostly religious, that were often very small and hand-colored, and affordable even by peasants who glued them to the walls of their homes. Printed books were initially very expensive, but fell steadily in price until by the 19th century even the poorest could afford some with printed illustrations. Popular prints of many different sorts have decorated homes and other places for centuries.
thumb|Kunstmuseum Basel, the Museum of Art in Basel, Switzerland, is the oldest public museum of art in the world.
In 1661, the city of Basel, in Switzerland, opened the first public museum of art in the world, the Kunstmuseum Basel. Today, its collection is distinguished by an impressively wide historic span, from the early 15th century up to the immediate present. Its various areas of emphasis give it international standing as one of the most significant museums of its kind. These encompass: paintings and drawings by artists active in the Upper Rhine region between 1400 and 1600, and on the art of the 19th to 21st centuries.
Public buildings and monuments, secular and religious, by their nature normally address the whole of society, and visitors as viewers, and display to the general public has long been an important factor in their design. Egyptian temples are typical in that the most largest and most lavish decoration was placed on the parts that could be seen by the general public, rather than the areas seen only by the priests. Many areas of royal palaces, castles and the houses of the social elite were often generally accessible, and large parts of the art collections of such people could often be seen, either by anybody, or by those able to pay a small price, or those wearing the correct clothes, regardless of who they were, as at the Palace of Versailles, where the appropriate extra accessories (silver shoe buckles and a sword) could be hired from shops outside.
Special arrangements were made to allow the public to see many royal or private collections placed in galleries, as with the Orleans Collection mostly housed in a wing of the Palais Royal in Paris, which could be visited for most of the 18th century. In Italy the art tourism of the Grand Tour became a major industry from the Renaissance onwards, and governments and cities made efforts to make their key works accessible. The British Royal Collection remains distinct, but large donations such as the Old Royal Library were made from it to the British Museum, established in 1753. The Uffizi in Florence opened entirely as a gallery in 1765, though this function had been gradually taking the building over from the original civil servants' offices for a long time before. The building now occupied by the Prado in Madrid was built before the French Revolution for the public display of parts of the royal art collection, and similar royal galleries open to the public existed in Vienna, Munich and other capitals. The opening of the Musée du Louvre during the French Revolution (in 1793) as a public museum for much of the former French royal collection certainly marked an important stage in the development of public access to art, transferring ownership to a republican state, but was a continuation of trends already well established.
Most modern public museums and art education programs for children in schools can be traced back to this impulse to have art available to everyone. However, museums do not only provide availability to art, but do also influence the way art is being perceived by the audience, as studies found. Thus, the museum itself is not only a blunt stage for the presentation of art, but plays an active and vital role in the overall perception of art in modern society.
Museums in the United States tend to be gifts from the very rich to the masses. (The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, for example, was created by John Taylor Johnston, a railroad executive whose personal art collection seeded the museum.) But despite all this, at least one of the important functions of art in the 21st century remains as a marker of wealth and social status.
There have been attempts by artists to create art that can not be bought by the wealthy as a status object. One of the prime original motivators of much of the art of the late 1960s and 1970s was to create art that could not be bought and sold. It is "necessary to present something more than mere objects" said the major post war German artist Joseph Beuys. This time period saw the rise of such things as performance art, video art, and conceptual art. The idea was that if the artwork was a performance that would leave nothing behind, or was an idea, it could not be bought and sold. "Democratic precepts revolving around the idea that a work of art is a commodity impelled the aesthetic innovation which germinated in the mid-1960s and was reaped throughout the 1970s. Artists broadly identified under the heading of Conceptual art ... substituting performance and publishing activities for engagement with both the material and materialistic concerns of painted or sculptural form ... [have] endeavored to undermine the art object qua object."Rorimer, Anne: New Art in the 60s and 70s Redefining Reality, p. 35. Thames and Hudson, 2001.
upright=2|thumb|250px|Versailles: Louis Le Vau opened up the interior court to create the expansive entrance cour d'honneur, later copied all over Europe.In the decades since, these ideas have been somewhat lost as the art market has learned to sell limited edition DVDs of video works, invitations to exclusive performance art pieces, and the objects left over from conceptual pieces. Many of these performances create works that are only understood by the elite who have been educated as to why an idea or video or piece of apparent garbage may be considered art. The marker of status becomes understanding the work instead of necessarily owning it, and the artwork remains an upper-class activity. "With the widespread use of DVD recording technology in the early 2000s, artists, and the gallery system that derives its profits from the sale of artworks, gained an important means of controlling the sale of video and computer artworks in limited editions to collectors."Robertson, Jean and Craig McDaniel: Themes of Contemporary Art, Visual Art after 1980, p. 16. Oxford University Press, 2005. |
Art | Controversies | Controversies
thumb|Théodore Géricault's Raft of the Medusa,
Art has long been controversial, that is to say disliked by some viewers, for a wide variety of reasons, though most pre-modern controversies are dimly recorded, or completely lost to a modern view. Iconoclasm is the destruction of art that is disliked for a variety of reasons, including religious ones. Aniconism is a general dislike of either all figurative images, or often just religious ones, and has been a thread in many major religions. It has been a crucial factor in the history of Islamic art, where depictions of Muhammad remain especially controversial. Much art has been disliked purely because it depicted or otherwise stood for unpopular rulers, parties or other groups. Artistic conventions have often been conservative and taken very seriously by art critics, though often much less so by a wider public. The iconographic content of art could cause controversy, as with late medieval depictions of the new motif of the Swoon of the Virgin in scenes of the Crucifixion of Jesus. The Last Judgment by Michelangelo was controversial for various reasons, including breaches of decorum through nudity and the Apollo-like pose of Christ.
The content of much formal art through history was dictated by the patron or commissioner rather than just the artist, but with the advent of Romanticism, and economic changes in the production of art, the artists' vision became the usual determinant of the content of his art, increasing the incidence of controversies, though often reducing their significance. Strong incentives for perceived originality and publicity also encouraged artists to court controversy. Théodore Géricault's Raft of the Medusa (), was in part a political commentary on a recent event. Édouard Manet's Le Déjeuner sur l'Herbe (1863), was considered scandalous not because of the nude woman, but because she is seated next to men fully dressed in the clothing of the time, rather than in robes of the antique world. John Singer Sargent's Madame Pierre Gautreau (Madam X) (1884), caused a controversy over the reddish pink used to color the woman's ear lobe, considered far too suggestive and supposedly ruining the high-society model's reputation.
The gradual abandonment of naturalism and the depiction of realistic representations of the visual appearance of subjects in the 19th and 20th centuries led to a rolling controversy lasting for over a century.
thumb|Performance by Joseph Beuys, 1978: Everyone an artist – On the way to the libertarian form of the social organism
In the 20th century, Pablo Picasso's Guernica (1937) used arresting cubist techniques and stark monochromatic oils, to depict the harrowing consequences of a contemporary bombing of a small, ancient Basque town. Leon Golub's Interrogation III (1981), depicts a female nude, hooded detainee strapped to a chair, her legs open to reveal her sexual organs, surrounded by two tormentors dressed in everyday clothing. Andres Serrano's Piss Christ (1989) is a photograph of a crucifix, sacred to the Christian religion and representing Christ's sacrifice and final suffering, submerged in a glass of the artist's own urine. The resulting uproar led to comments in the United States Senate about public funding of the arts. |
Art | Theory | Theory
Before Modernism, aesthetics in Western art was greatly concerned with achieving the appropriate balance between different aspects of realism or truth to nature and the ideal; ideas as to what the appropriate balance is have shifted to and fro over the centuries. This concern is largely absent in other traditions of art. The aesthetic theorist John Ruskin, who championed what he saw as the naturalism of J. M. W. Turner, saw art's role as the communication by artifice of an essential truth that could only be found in nature."go to nature in all singleness of heart, rejecting nothing and selecting nothing, and scorning nothing, believing all things are right and good, and rejoicing always in the truth". Ruskin, John. Modern Painters, Volume I, 1843. London: Smith, Elder and Co.
The definition and evaluation of art has become especially problematic since the 20th century. Richard Wollheim distinguishes three approaches to assessing the aesthetic value of art: the Realist, whereby aesthetic quality is an absolute value independent of any human view; the Objectivist, whereby it is also an absolute value, but is dependent on general human experience; and the Relativist position, whereby it is not an absolute value, but depends on, and varies with, the human experience of different humans.Wollheim 1980, Essay VI. pp. 231–239. |
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