Oil and Economic - Social Changes in Baku

After industrial revolution and making use of steam engine, a rapid progressive change occurred in the world’s economy, handy industries were superseded by mechanical ones, the handy industries of Asian and African countries were replaced by the European industrial productions and this caused such countries’ dependence on the global economy with the centrality of European countries. Oil discovery and the development of its relevant industries, which first began in the U.S, and the monopoly of these industries’ exploitation in the hands of the U.S and European countries accelerated the industrial development process of U.S and European countries and as a result, their domination over underdeveloped countries. The oil discovery, also, made significant changes in the procedure of political, economic and social changes of oil-exporting countries and changed the traditional atmosphere of these societies. It seems that the development of oil industry of Baku in 19th and 20th centuries has changed social and economic aspects of this city, and these changes have rapidly happened. In the current study, using descriptive-analytical method and accounting for statistical data, it has been indicated that the oil discovery and the establishment of oil industries have greatly influenced the social and economic changes of Baku including the emergence of new classes, the changes in races and population and the social movments in the working class. The speed of oil industries’ development has accelerated political, social and cultural changes of Baku and these changes have made Baku one of the most important and influent cities of the Eastern world in the early 20th century.