Nagorno-Karabakh, also spelled Nagorno-Karabach, Azerbaijani Dağlıq Qarabağ, Armenian Artsakh, region of southwestern Azerbaijan. The name is also used to refer to an autonomous oblast (province) of the former Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic (S.S.R.) and to the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, a self-declared country whose independence is not internationally recognized. The old autonomous region occupied an area of about 1,700 square miles (4,400 square km), while the forces of the self-proclaimed Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh presently occupy some 2,700 square miles (7,000 square km). The general region includes the northeastern flank of the Karabakh Range of the Lesser Caucasus and extends from the crest line of the range to the margin of the Kura River lowland at its foot. Nagorno-Karabakh’s environments vary from steppe on the Kura lowland through dense forest of oak, hornbeam, and beech on the lower mountain slopes to birchwood and alpine meadows higher up. The peaks of the Karabakh Range culminate in Mount Gyamysh (12,218 feet [3,724 metres]). Vineyards, orchards, and mulberry groves for silkworms are intensively developed in the valleys of Nagorno-Karabakh. Cereal grains are grown, and cattle, sheep, and pigs are kept. The region has some light industry and many food-processing plants. Xankändi (formerly Stepanakert) is the chief industrial centre.

Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Gandzasar monastery, an Armenian monastery near the village of Vank, Nagorno-Karabakh, Azer. © Alexey Averiyanov/Shutterstock.com

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The region was acquired by Russia in 1813, and in 1923 the Soviet government established it as an Armenian-majority autonomous oblast of the Azerbaijan S.S.R. Detached from the Armenian S.S.R. to the west by the Karabakh Range, Nagorno-Karabakh thus became a minority enclave within Azerbaijan. The region developed quietly through decades of Soviet rule, but in 1988 the ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh began agitating for the transfer of their oblast to Armenian jurisdiction, a demand that was strongly opposed by both the Azerbaijan S.S.R. and the Soviet government. Ethnic antagonisms between Armenians and Azerbaijanis grew inflamed over the issue, and, when Armenia and Azerbaijan gained their independence from the collapsing Soviet Union in 1991, Armenians and Azerbaijanis in the enclave went to war.

During the early 1990s the Karabakh Armenian forces, supported by Armenia, gained control of much of southwestern Azerbaijan, including Nagorno-Karabakh and territory connecting the enclave with Armenia. A series of negotiations followed—guided by Russia and a committee informally known as the “Minsk Group” (named for an envisioned peace conference in Minsk, Bela., that was not realized)—that failed to reach a lasting resolution but did manage to yield a cease-fire agreement in 1994, which, though periodically violated, has largely held.

The ongoing search for a political solution to the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan has been further complicated by the disputed territory’s political aspirations. The self-proclaimed Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh declared its independence in early 1992 and has since held several independent elections, as well as a 2006 referendum that approved a new constitution. Azerbaijan has declared these actions illegal under international law. At the beginning of the 21st century, the independence of the self-proclaimed enclave nation was not internationally recognized.

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In November 2008 Pres. Serzh Sargsyan of Armenia and Pres. Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan signed a landmark agreement—the first such agreement in 15 years—pledging to intensify efforts toward a resolution of the conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.