Black City

Black City is the general name for the southeastern neighbourhoods of Baku, which once formed its suburbs. In the late 19th and early 20th century it became the main location for Azerbaijan's oil industry, and the area's name derives from the smoke and soot of the factories and refineries. History Background Baku was incorporated into the Russian Empire in 1813 under the Treaty of Gulistan. At that time it was a small town of 10,000 inhabitants. The world's first oil well was drilled at Baku in 1847/1848, and was soon followed by many more. The first oil refining plants were built in 1859 in the city suburbs. By the 1860s the Baku fields accounted for 90% of the world's oil supply. Industrial buildings came to occupy large sections of the city. Plants and factories were hazardous to the population due to air pollution from their smokestacks. Public pressure forced the provincial authorities to consider developing a separate industrial zone. In 1870, the authorities suggested that pasture lands to the east of the city be allotted for construction of oil refineries. By 1872 there were almost sixty refineries in Baku producing kerosene. A law was passed prohibiting the construction of any new plants in the city, and allocating a new district outside the city limits for refineries. Foundation and growth