Antiquity There are traces of large-scale settlements in Shaki dating back to more than 2700 years ago. The Sakas were an
Iranian people that wandered from the north side of the
Black Sea through Derbend passage and to the
South Caucasus and from there to
Asia Minor in the 7th century B.C. They occupied a good deal of the fertile lands in South Caucasus in an area called Sakasena. The city of Shaki was one of the areas occupied by the Sakas. The original settlement dates back to the late
Bronze Age. Shaki was founded in the 8th century B.C. Shaki was one of the biggest cities of the
Caucasian Albanian states in the 1st century. The kingdom of Shaki was divided into 11 administrative provinces. The main temple of the ancient Albanians was located there. The Albanians adopted Christianity early from the
Armenians, and Armenian cultural and religious influence became strong in Shaki. As a result of archaeological excavations conducted in 1902 in the village of Boyuk-Dakhna in the Shaki region, various ceramic products and a stone tombstone dating back to the 2nd century AD and containing inscriptions in Greek were discovered. Shaki was one of the important political and economic cities before the Arab invasion. But as a result of the invasion in 654, Shaki was annexed to the third emirate of
Arminiya. At the turn of the 9th century, when the
Arab caliphate was weak, Shaki joined with
Cambysene and was ruled by the Armenian Smbatean princes as part of the independent principality of Shaki or
Hereti, a vassal of the Armenian
Bagratid kingdom. The population was mostly of Armenian origin and
Armenian-speaking. The first Armenian prince of Shaki was
Sahl Smbatean, who ruled with relative autonomy from the Abbasid Caliphate. By the 10th century, the Arab geographer, Ibn Haukal mentions that Shaki was ruled by the Armenian prince Prince Ishkhanik. In 1117, the region was captured by the army of the Georgian king
David IV. The city was also ruled by the
Atabegs of Azerbaijan and the
Khwarazmian Empire, before the
Mongol invasion.
Feudal era In the 13th and 14th centuries, the territory of the present Shaki district was a part of the state of
Shirvanshahs. Management of Shaki was entrusted to the son of Rashid al-Din Hamadani – Jalat In the 30s of the 14th century, the local Oirat tribe took power. After the collapse of the
Hulagu Khan's rule in the first half of the 14th century, Shaki gained independence under the rule of Sidi Ahmed Orlat. In 1392,
Emir Timur captured Shaki, and the ruler of Shaki, Seyid Ali, was killed. Seyid Ali's son, Seyid Ahmed, who came to power, along with Shirvanshah Ibrahim I Derbendi, accompanied Timur on his third campaign against Azerbaijan in 1399. In 1444, Shaki, then known as Nukhi, was ruled by a Muslim family of Armenian origin whose reign lasted till 1551. In the early 1500s,
Safavid king
Ismail I (r. 1501–1524) conquered the area, but the town continued to be governed by its hereditary rulers, under Safavid suzerainty. Ismail's son and successor
Shah Tahmasp (r. 1524–1576) put an end to this, and in 1551, he appointed the first
Qizilbash governor to rule the town. , and
Alexander II of Kakheti with his Georgian troops (bottom) at the conquest of Sheki in Shirvan from the Safavids on 10 September 1578.
Nusretname, Topkapi, H.1365. Safavid rule was twice briefly interrupted by the
Ottomans between 1578 and 1603 and 1724–1735. In 1734-1735, there was a revolt of poor people against the policy of
Nadir Shah in the village of Bilecik (Shaki) During the existence of Shaki khanate, the local population of the city was engaged in
silkworm breeding, craft and trade. As a result of a flood in the river Kish, the city of Shaki was partially ruined and the population was resettled in the present day city. The Jaro-Balakan Jamaat,
Qabala and Ares sultanates were dependent on the Shaki khanate In 1751, Haji Chelebi defeated the army of the
Kakheti king
Heraclius II. At the initiative of Heraclius II, a political conspiracy of the Kakheti Kingdom, the Karabakh, Ganja, Irevan, Nakhichevan, and Karadag khanates against the Shaki khan was arranged. In 1752, in the area of Kyzylgaya, Georgian troops unexpectedly attacked the khans: they were captured. Haji Celebi himself defeated the Georgians in the battle near Ganja and came to the aid of the khans. The army of Shaki khan captured Gazakh and Borchali. In 1767, the Western part of the Shamakhi khanate was annexed to the Shaki khanate. During the reign of Selim khan, the territory of the khanate was conditionally divided into 8 magals, which were ruled by naibs directly appointed by the khan himself.
Modern era The area was fully annexed by Russia by the
Treaty of Gulistan in 1813 and the khanate was abolished in 1819 and the Shaki province was established in its place. Shaki province was merged with provinces of Shemakha, Baku, Susha, Lankaran, Derbent and Kuban in 1840 and Caspian Oblast was created. At the same time Shaki was renamed as Nuha. The oblast was dissolved in 1846 and it was raion center of
Shemakha Governorate. After the earthquake in Shemakha in 1859, the governorate was renamed as
Baku Governorate. On 19 February 1868, raion of Nukha was passed to the newly created
Elizavetpol Governorate as the
Nukha uezd. After founding of USSR, it was the center of Nukha raion. Its one was abolished on 4 January 1963 and was bounded to one of
Vartashen. Nukha one was founded again in 1965 and finally, city and raion regained traditional name in 1968. During its history, the town saw devastation many times and because of that, the oldest historic and architectural monuments currently preserved are dated to only the 16th–19th centuries. For many centuries, Shaki had a large Armenian community and has been famous for being the center of silkworm-breeding and local silk production. Originally located on the left bank of the river Kish, the town sat lower down the hill, however Shaki was moved to its present location after a devastating flood in 1772 and became the capital of
Shaki Khanate. As the new location was near the village of Nukha, the city also became known as Nukha, until 1968 when it reverted to the name Shaki. In 1829, the Khanabad factory was opened in Shaki. The products of the Nukha silk-winding factory, which opened in 1861, were awarded a medal in London in 1862. The Shaki uprising of 1838 had an impact on the administrative, judicial, and agrarian reforms of the 1840s. In 1917, Soviets of Workers' deputies were formed in a number of cities of Azerbaijan, including Shaki. In May 1920, Soviet power was established in Shaki, as well as in other cities of Azerbaijan.
Republic era A letter from the Chairman of the
Kyoto City Council,
Daisaku Kadokawa, on 8 December 2008, said that Sheki was a member of the World Historical Cities League. Sheki became a member after the meeting of the Board of the World Cities League in October 2008. Works to be done in the field of renovation and construction in 2012 were identified: Together with Sheki City Executive Authority and Architectural Urbanization Committee, Shaki City General Plan was prepared. According to the General Plan, it was planned to implement a number of infrastructure projects, as well as the expansion of the city to the west, inclusion of city of
Oxud,
İncə, Shaki,
Kish, and
Qoxmuq villages to Shaki. ==Geography==