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Maku (Armenia)

Maku
منطقه آزاد ماكو
city
Panoramic view
Panoramic view
Maku is located in Iran
Maku
Maku
Coordinates: 39°17′43″N 44°31′00″E / 39.29528°N 44.51667°E / 39.29528; 44.51667Coordinates: 39°17′43″N 44°31′00″E / 39.29528°N 44.51667°E / 39.29528; 44.51667
Country  Iran
Province West Azerbaijan
County Maku
Bakhsh Central
Population (2006)
 • Total 41,865
Time zone IRST (UTC+3:30)
 • Summer (DST) IRDT (UTC+4:30)
Website Make Free Trade Zone Official Portal

Maku (Persian: ماكو‎‎, Azerbaijani: ماكي - Makı; also Romanized as Mākū) is a city in the West Azerbaijan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 41,865, in 10,428 families.

It is situated 22 kilometres (14 mi) from the Turkish border in a mountain gorge at an altitude of 1634 metres. The Zangmar River cuts through the city.Maku Free Trade and Industrial Zone is Iran’s largest and the world’s second largest free trade zone and will encompass an area of 5000 square km when it was scheduled to open in 2011. Azerbaijanis and later Kurds constitute the population of the city.

Maku was a region of the old Armenia c. 300-800, previously known as Artaz according to Aziz Atiya's History of Eastern Christianity. A branch of the family Amatuni ruled it, as vassals of the family Ardzruni.

Maku was the capital of a Kangarli Khanate one of numerous small, semi-independent Maku Khanates that resulted from the breakup of the Safavid empire in the 17th century.

The city is well known in Bahá'í history for its fort where the Báb had been exiled to and imprisoned for nine months. At this fortress Mullá Husayn, the first Disciple of the Báb, arrived on Náw-Rúz of the year 1848 to see the Báb.

Maku has a semi-arid climate (Köppen BSk) owing to its location in the rain shadow of the Zagros Mountains. The city is hot and dry in the summer, and cold with little snow in the winter. Most precipitation comes from spring thunderstorms.


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