I need to get a topographical and land use map of a portion of
Azerbaijan.  I can't seem to even find the name of this part of
Azerbaijan-but it is easy to spot.  Azerbaijan is a split country,
there is a piece of it on the other side of Armenia which is not
connected to the bigger piece which touches the Capian Sea.  I need to
know all about this little piece.  Elevation, water people
history-everything in the world, but mostly geography.

Hi Hal

I was intrigued by your question and went off to find out about this
'little piece' of land.

First let me tell you that it's called Naxcivan or Nakhchivan or
Nakhchevan, sometimes called the 'exclave' of Naxcivan.  That's as
opposed to an enclave since it's outside the main borders of
Azerbaijan.

There is a reasonable amount of information available but you may have
raised your hopes a bit high about maps.  The best topographical maps
are the old Soviet ones stored at Berkeley:
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/EART/maps/azerbaijan/
(Click on this sector by sector.)
These have FAR more detail than any others, though you would need to
transliterate the Russian letters to get all the place names.

But land use maps, no.  This area is remote, has had various political
ups and downs and I suspect that has left it very unmapped compared
with some parts of the world.  And only one third of the land *is*
usable since the rest is rocky slopes or desert.

But you can get facts on farming, mineral extraction etc..  You'll
find a range of information at:

http://www.president.az/azerbaijan/nar/

Be sure to click on the following headings:
NATURAL RESERVES       info on water and minerals
RURAL ECONOMY          climate and farming
GEOGRAPHICAL CONDITION mountains, lakes, watersheds

Then there's more on geography and agriculture at:

http://geo.ya.com/travelimages/az-nakhchivan.html

Here we find that the main crops are cotton and tobacco plus wheat,
vines and other fruit.  There are also cattle and sheep, some with
special wool used for carpet weaving.
(Unfortunately what look like good thumbnail maps on this site won't
enlarge as promised.)

Other maps I checked out that might add something:

Outline topographical info in a different style:
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/commonwealth/caucasus_region_1994.jpg

Another from the Times Atlas of the World is at:
http://www.grida.no/db/maps/prod/level3/id_1261.htm

And from an Azerbaijani website:
http://www.az/maps/azerb.html

Hope this helps you.  Please ask for clarification if you need it.
And thanks for the interesting question.

Regards - Leli

I hit lucky in the early stages with a mini-map of Azerbaijan showing
and naming Naxcivan.  Then went on to search with these terms:
Naxcivan OR Nakhchivan OR Nakhchevan map topography OR topographical
geography "land use" Azerbaijan Armenia

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Request for Answer Clarification by hal1999-ga on 22 Aug 2002 06:30 PDT

also, about that depression, I need to know where to find out about
all the archeological digs and discoveries and some anthropological
theories

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Clarification of Answer by leli-ga on 23 Aug 2002 04:40 PDT

Just a technical point about Google Answers.  I have to answer you
here because it's flagged as a clarification request.  But, as you
know, I've addressed your points on the page with your new question.

Thanks - Leli

I really need to be able to name the large valley-like depression of
which azerbaifan is a part.  The depression is in turkey, Iran,
Armenia, and maybe a little is in Georga.  I need to know the name of
the depression and the names of all the little valleys, hills, and
rivers, and Mountains in this area and elevations thereof.

"I need to
know all about this little piece.  Elevation, water people
history-everything in the world,"

historically nakichevan is part of armenia, it was placed under azeri
control by stalin IIRC in 1922. It had a large armenian population at
that time, but now is depopulated from armenians.
The name is believed to have deprived from the armenian words "nakh" & "ijevan"
Nakh=before, or first
Ijevan=stay, or settle

There are couple of versions how it was deprived
1) its believed that biblical noha settle there after the flood
2) it's believed that the first urban or i should say village
settlement ancestors of armenians was there.