Elizabethpol

Elizabethpol, a town of Russian Transcaucasia, is situated on a tributary of the Kur, at an altitude of 1450 feet. Its streets are narrow and its houses mean, but it has several mosques and churches, the mosque of Shah Abbas being particularly fine. Elizabethpol is not a healthy town; its inhabitants, about 19,000 in number, are compelled to retire to the hills in summer. The town and its vicinity are famous for their fruit-trees; and horticulture, the breeding of silkworms, and agriculture are the chief industries of the place. Elizabethpol was formerly known as Gansha or Kanga, and belonged to the Turks. The modern town was founded by Shah Abbas of Persia, but fell into the hands of the Russians in 1804. On 25th September 1826 the Persians were defeated here by the Russians under Paskevitch.