Country Azerbaijan Elevation 697 m (2,287 ft) Area code(s) +994 230 Population 37,280 (2010) | Founded 1819 Time zone AZT (UTC+4) Local time Friday 11:04 PM Rayon Goygol District | |
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Weather 7°C, Wind S at 13 km/h, 58% Humidity | ||
Goygol (known as Helenendorf before 1931, Yelenino in 1931–1938, Khanlar in 1938–2008) is a city and municipality and the capital of the Goygol Rayon in northwestern Azerbaijan. It is about 10 km (6 mi) south of Ganja, Azerbaijan's second largest city. The city of Göygöl has a population of 37,200 (est. 2010). The municipality includes the city of Göygöl and the village of Qızılqaya.
Contents
Map of Goygol, Azerbaijan
History
An extensive cemetery was excavated in the 1990s, with many bronze weapons (swords, daggers, axes), some jewelry (rings, bracelets, necklaces), and clay black dishes with the geometric designs, some of which are on display at the local museum. Helenendorf was founded in 1819 by Germans from Württemberg, brought as a colony under orders of Czar Alexander to help settle the region that had just been acquired from the Safavid dynasty under the Treaty of Gulistan of 1813.
The town was renamed to Khanlar in 1938 in honor of the Azerbaijani labor organizer Khanlar Safaraliyev. In 1942, the German population was deported to Siberia on Joseph Stalin's orders. Traces of the German settlement can be seen in the school buildings and the parish church built in 1854. The city today is overwhelmingly populated by Azeris. Starting in 1915, the town also has been home to a small Assyrian community, originally from Turkey and Iran. The last resident of Goygol of German descent died in 2007. The Assyrian population consisted of three families as of 2016.
In 2008, Khanlar was renamed Goygol after a nearby lake, Göygöl.
Economy
A large wine machinery plant, which aids in the processing of grapes, is located in Khanlar, as was a state-owned cattle-breeding farm (1990).