ame name, in Russian
Transcaucasia, on the south side of the peninsula of Apsheron, in 40deg 21'
N. and 49deg 50' E. It is connected by rail with the south Russian railway
system at Beslan, the junction for Vladikavkaz (400 m.), via Derbent and
Petrovsk, with Batum (560 m.) and Poti (536 m.) on the Black Sea via
Tiflis. A long stone quay next the harbour is backed by the new town
climbing up the slopes behind. To the west is the old town, consisting of
steep, narrow, winding streets, and presenting a decidedly oriental
appearance. Here are the ruins of a palace of the native khans, built in
the 16th century; the mosques of the Persian shahs, built in 1078 and now
converted into an arsenal; nearer the sea the "maidens' tower," transformed
into a lighthouse; and not far from it remains of ancient walls projecting
above the sea, and showing traces of Arabic architecture of the 9th and
10th centuries. Beside the harbour are engineering works, dry docks and
barracks, stores and workshops belonging to the Russian Caspian fleet.
Besides the petroleum refineries the town possesses oil-works (for fuel),
flour-mills, sulphuric acid works and tobacco factories. Owing to its
excellent harbour Baku is a chief depot for merchandise coming from Persia
and Transcaspia--raw cotton, silk, rice, wine, fish, dried fruit and
timber--and for Russian manufactured goods. The climate is extreme, the
mean temperature for the year being 58deg F., for January 38deg, for July
80deg; annual rainfall 9.4 in. A wind of exceptional violence blows
sometimes from the N.N.W. in winter. Pop. (1860) 13,381; (1897) 112,253;
(1900) 179,133. The town is mentioned by the Arab geographer, Masudi, in
the 10th century. From 1509 it was in the possession of the Persians. The
Russians captured it from them in 1723, but restored it in 1735; it was
incorporated in the Russian empire in 1806. In 1904-1905, [v.03 p.0231] in
consequence of the general political anarchy, serious conflicts took place
here between the Tatars and the Armenians, and two-thirds of the Balakhani
and Bibi-Eybat oil-works were burned.

See Marvin, _The Region of the Eternal Fire_ (ed. 1891) and J. D. Henry,
_Baku, an Eventful History_ (1906).

(P. A. K.)

BAKUNIN, MIKHAIL (1814-1876), Russian anarchist, was born of an
aristocratic family at Torjok, in the government of Tver, in 1814. As an
officer of the Imperial Guard, he saw service in Poland, but resigned his
commission from a disgust of des