Ağdaş is a city in and the capital of the Agdash Rayon of Azerbaijan. Ağdaş suffered considerable damage during the June 4, 1999 earthquake but has since been thoroughly repaired.
History
At the beginning of the 19th century, Uchgovag, a small village, in the Agdash district of the Shaki Khanate, was later called Agdash. In 1819, Shaki province was established in the place of the Shaki Khanate. Later, in accordance with the "Administrative reform law in the Transcaucasia" dated April 22, 1840, the province of Sheki was part of Kaspi Province, and after that it was called “Shakinsky Uyezd”. After the abolishment of Kaspi Province in 1846, Shakinsky Uyezd was remained in the Shamakhi governorate which was previously established in the Kaspi Province, but later, Shakinsky Uyezd was removed from the Baku province and joined the newly established Yelizavetpol Province at the end of 1867. At that time, Shakinsky Uyezd was officially called "Nukhinsky Uyezd" in accordance the name of the administrative center. In 1873 a part of the territory of the Nukhinsky Uyezd was a separate Uyezd – it was called Eresh Uyezd, and the administrative center of the Aresh Uyezd was Agdash village.
Cotton-growing
In 1887, the head of the Lodz Kontory, Ramendik came to Aghdash and he opened Cotton fields, set up 4 cotton-machine tools made in China and a press for the initial processing and packaging of cotton. There were seven factories, consisting of cotton- Chinese machines in Agdash, in 1897. 3100 poods of cotton were sold in the Aghdash market In 1888, and in 1892 this number reached 28,000 poods. At the end of the 19th century, Agdash became the center of cotton production, processing and sale in the whole Caucasus. Therefore, the first congress of Caucasian cotton growers was held in Agdash in 1904.
Education
One of the first educational institutions opened in Azerbaijan was the Russian-Tatar school founded by educator Suleyman Gayibov in Agdash on October 25, 1882. It is not accidental that one of the three schools in Azerbaijan at that time was opened in Aghdash. Because before that, there were up to 20 madrasah in Aghdas until that time which gave education to people. The status of the city was given to Aghdash village, in 1900. At the beginning of the 20th century, educational institutions operated in Agdash such as the "Nəşri-Maarif" -society, reading-room, "Saadat" girls' school, "Darulirfan" and "Rushdiye". Educators such as Mukhtar Afandizade, Donat Mammadzadeh, Hasan Efendiyev worked in this institutions.
