Caucasian Albania - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Albania is a name for the historical region of the eastern Caucasus, that existed on the territory of present-day republic of
Azerbaijan.
During the reign of Roman emperor Hadrian (117-138) Albania was invaded by the
Alans, an Iranian nomadic group.I
In 628, during the Third Perso-Turkic War, the
Khazars invaded Albania, according to Peter Golden, "steady pressure from Turkic nomads was typical of the Khazar era, although there are no unambiguous references to permanent settlements.
Under Achaemenid, Parthian and especially Sassanid influence, Zoroastrianism also grew in the region.
Christianity started to spread in the late 4th century in the Sassanid era. The Arab conquest and the Chalcedonian crisis led to severe disintegration of the Church of Caucasian Albania. Starting from the 8th century, much of the local population
converted to Islam
These Islamised groups would later be known as Lezgins and Tsakhurs or mix with the Turkic and Iranian population to form present-day Azeris, whereas those that remained Christian were gradually absorbed by Armenians.