BAKU (Baki) -- Azerbaijan's ancient capital was founded 1,500 years ago. The name Baku comes from bad kube, meaning "city of winds". The climate is usually sunny and surprisingly arid, with gale-force winds that sweep through on occasion. Baku is located on the western shore of the Caspian Sea and is one of Azerbaijan's largest cities and has wonderful beaches, spas and a striking setting on the salty Caspian Sea (the world's largest inland body of water).

Baku is really three cities rolled into one -- the old town, the boomtown and the Soviet-built town. The center of Baku is the old town, which is also a fortress. Most of the walls, strengthened after the Russian conquest in 1806, survive. This section is picturesque, with its maze of narrow alleys and ancient buildings. Wander the cobbled streets past the Palace of the Shirvans, two caravansaries (ancient inns), the 11th-century Maiden's Tower (nice view of the harbor) and Dzhuma Mosque (houses the exquisite Carpet and Applied Art Museum). The boomtown, south of the old city, was built after massive oil exploitation began nearly a century ago and has interesting beaux-arts architecture. Fine arts, history and literature museums are located there, all housed in the mansions of pre-Revolutionary millionaires.

Modern Baku spreads out from the walls, its streets and buildings rising up hills that rim the Bay of Baku. Greater Baku is divided into 11 districts and 48 townships. Among these are townships on islands in the bay and one island built on stilts in the Caspian Sea, 60 miles (100 kilometers) from Baku proper.

Citizens of Azerbaijan are the heirs of a rich history, the successors of a long progression of cultures and civilizations. Azerbaijan occupies one of the Asian continent's strategic crossroads between East and West. Given this geographic reality, many king domes and empires, and such famous warriors as Persia's Cyrus the Great, the Roman General Pompey, Alexander the Great, Tamerlane and Genghis Khan, have fought to assert control over the region. Persia controlled the site by the 11th century, though for a time during the 13th and 14th centuries it was captured and possessed by the Mongols. In 1723 Peter I the Great, czar of Russia, captured Baku, but it was returned to Persia in 1735. Russia captured the town in 1806, and in 1920 it became the Azerbaijan capital. Zoroastrianism, the world's oldest religion, first began in Azerbaijan and archaeologists dated the first human settlements in Azerbaijan to the Stone Age. Prehistoric cave dwellings have been excavated throughout Azerbaijan, one of the more important being the excavations at Gobustan, famous for its rock paintings.

The basis of Baku's economy is petroleum. The existence of petroleum has been known since the 8th century. By the 15th century oil for lamps was obtained from surface wells. Commercial exploitation began in 1872, and by the beginning of the 20th century the Baku oil field was the largest in the world. Toward the end of the 20th century much of the land's petroleum had been exhausted, and drilling had extended into the sea. Baku ranks as one of the largest centers for the production of oil-industry equipment. The World War II Battle of Stalingrad was fought to determine who would have control of the Baku oil fields. Fifty years before the battle, Baku supplied half of the world's oil supply.

Medieval castles, spas and the country's best beaches can be found along the 43-mi-/70-km-long Apsheron Peninsula, which stretches to the northeast of Baku. Day trips from the city include the Shakhov Bank Nature Reserve and the Surakhany Temple (where fire worshipers used to watch flames shooting up from natural gas vents). Other possibilities are Gobustan, Quba and Sumgait.