The Republic of Azerbaijan is a country located at the cross roads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe. Geographically, the country is bounded by Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Caspian Sea to the east. In 1991, the Nagorno-Karabakh region in the southwest of Azerbaijan declared independence but it is still considered as a legal part of Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan is a member of council of Europe, a partner of European Union's European Neighbourhood Policy, a member of NATO Individual Partnership Action Plan and NATO’s Partnership for Peace, and a Commonwealth of Independent States's member. About 90% population of Azerbaijan follows Islam, while rest belongs to Russian Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic and others.

People from different cultures inhibited Azerbaijan in the past. These inhabitants include Persians, Armenians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Turks, Mongols and Russians. During World War II, Adolf Hitler’s army invaded the Soviet Union; the primary objective of Hitler was to capture oil reserves hidden in Azerbaijan.

Till 1990, Soviet Union was ruling Azerbaijan, when Azeris – the people of Azerbaijan raised the voice for Free Azerbaijan. Following the collapse of Soviet Union, in 1991, Azerbaijan declared its’ independence.

Now, Azerbaijan is a presidential republic, the president is elected by Azeris for a 5 years term.

Azerbaijan contains 9 climatic zones and hence offers varied climatic conditions, arid, dry and subtropical with hot summers and mild winters. Annual rainfall varies from 200 mm to 400 mm. Temperature varies in accordance with season and region. Winter temperature in southeast lowland ranges from 6 degree Celsius to 26 degree Celsius, while in summers mercury soars to 32 degree Celsius. In the western and northern mountainous regions summer temperature averages to 12 degree Celsius and winter –9 degree Celsius, approximately.

The Azerbaijan’s economy is industry driven, and largely based on petroleum, mining, chemical processing and machine manufacture. Farmland contributes for one third of Azerbaijan’s economy. Farmers grow crops like cotton, fruit, tea, tobacco, vegetables, and grains. People living close to mountain ranges grow cattle, goats and domestic sheep. Nearby Caspian Sea is a rich reservoir of seafood including fishes and caviar. This all propels Azerbaijan’s economic growth.

The official language of Azerbaijan is Azerbaijani; Russian is also spoken as second language. A bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics has been placed by Azerbaijan, with Baku as the host city.