Ganja (Gəncə ) is Azerbaijan's third largest city, with a population of around 335,600. The city has been a historic and cultural center throughout most of its existence. It was the capital of the Ganja Khanate until 1804; after Qajar Iran ceded it to the Russian Empire following the Treaty of Gulistan in 1813, it became part of the administrative divisions of the Georgia Governorate, Georgia-Imeretia Governorate, Tiflis Governorate, and Elizavetpol Governorate. Following the dissolution of the Russian Empire and the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic, it became a part of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, followed by Azerbaijan SSR, and, since 1991, the Republic of Azerbaijan.
The name Ganja derives from the Persian word ganj ("treasure"; "treasury", Middle Persian ganza). The city was renamed Yelisavetpol (Елизаветпо́ль) during the Russian Empire period. After its incorporation into the Soviet Union it was initially renamed back to Ganja (Gyandzha), but in 1935 the name was changed again to Kirovabad (Кироваба́д), a name which the city retained throughout most of the rest of the Soviet period. In 1989, during perestroika, the city regained its original name of Ganja (Gəncə), which is known as Gyandzha (Гянджа, ), Gandzak (Գանձակ), and Ganjeh (گنجه) in Russian, Armenian and Persian, respectively.
