Azerbaijan is a country located in the Caucasus region of Asia and Eastern Europe, with its capital at Baku. Azerbaijan briefly gained independence from the Russian Empire in 1918 until being invaded by the Soviet Union in 1920, while south Azerbaijan (now in Iran), which modern day Azerbaijan (North Azerbaijan) used to be part of until the treaty of Turkmenchay split the country in two, had finally ceded to becoming Persian territory after Iran gained independence from the Azerbaijani Turkic Qajar Empire (The final dynasty of the 551 year lasting Azerbaijani Turkic Empire, which was ruled by multiple Azerbaijani Turkic dynasties and started back in 1374 under the rule of the Qara Qoyunlu dynasty, followed by the Aq Qoyunlu, Safavids, Afsharids and finally the Qajars) which collapsed in 1925. The country became known as the Azerbaijan SSR until 30 August 1991. Azerbaijan went to war with neighboring Armenia and Russia over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, fighting Armenia until 1994, when a ceasefire was declared; since then, Armenia and Azerbaijan have engaged in some deadly border clashes, until 2020, when Azerbaijan won the second and decisive part of the war. Today, the country has a high rate of literacy and economic development and a low unemployment rate, as well as a low poverty rate of 5.5%. In 2016, the nation had a population of 9,754,830 people, with 98% of the population being Muslim (92% Shia, 8% Sunni), 1.1% Christian, .5% other faiths, and .4% atheist.
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