About the Author

Abbas Qoli Aqa Bakikhanov was an Azerbaijani journalist, linguist, poet and philosopher. A scion of the Khan of Baku, he was born there in 1794. From 1820 to 1845 he served as a secretary and translator in the Russian army, which had taken over most of the Caucasus in previous decades. Throughout this time he travelled widely, carried out ethnographic studies and kept his ties with the literary establishment of the Caucasus, centred in Tiflis in present-day Georgia. He died in 1847. Willem Floor has published numerous works of history as well as translations. Hasan Javadi is the author or translator of many books.