| Geography and Climate |
Azerbaijan is a landlocked country, located at the southwestern Asia, bordering the Caspian Sea, between Iran and Russia . The area comparatively slightly smaller than Maine. The land boundary has a total of 2,013 km, border countries are Armenia (with Azerbaijan-proper) 566 km, Armenia (with Azerbaijan-Naxcivan exclave) 221 km, Georgia 322 km, Iran (with Azerbaijan-proper) 432 km, Iran (with Azerbaijan-Naxcivan exclave) 179 km, Russia 284 km, Turkey 9 km. Azerbaijan borders the Caspian Sea (800 km, est.) .
Azerbaijan has a dry, semiarid steppe climate. Terrain consists of large, flat Kur-Araz Lowland (much of it below sea level) with Great Caucasus Mountains to the north, Qarabag (Karabakh) Upland in west; Baku lies on Abseron (Apsheron) Peninsula that juts into Caspian Sea. The elevation extreme has lowest point in Caspian Sea -28 m and highest point in Bazarduzu Dagi 4,485 m.
Land use: arable land: 18%, permanent crops: 5%, permanent pastures: 25%, forests and woodland: 11%, other: 41% (1993 est.). Irrigated land is 10,000 sq km (1993 est.). The natural hazards in the Azerbaijan are droughts; some lowland areas threatened by rising levels of the Caspian Sea.
Environment—current issues: local scientists consider the Abseron (Apsheron) Peninsula (including Baku and Sumqayit) and the Caspian Sea to be the ecologically most devastated area in the world because of severe air, water, and soil pollution; soil pollution results from the use of DDT as a pesticide and also from toxic defoliants used in the production of cotton
Geography is landlocked.
Ref. Anonymous, 1999 |