Shemakha,

Shemakha, a town of Russian Caucasus, on the Pisargat River, 63 miles W. by N. of Baku, with silk manufactures. It was known to Ptolemy and the Greek geographers as Semachia, and was subsequently for centuries the capital of the Tartar khans of Shirvan, but was entirely destroyed by Nadir Shah in 1742. Nevertheless it was soon rebuilt, but was overwhelmed by an earthquake in 1859, and a second time in 1872. Pop. 28,545.