Baku

ba'koo, a spacious Russian port and town on the west coast of the Caspian. It is in the latitude of New York City. There are numerous naphtha wells and burning springs in the vicinity. The region was at one time a favorite resort of the fire worshipers, the remains of whose temples may still be seen. Of late years Baku has become noted for the production of petroleum. About one-third of the world's product is obtained in this region. It is in the hands of foreign capitalists who pay the Russian government a royalty. Large pipes have been constructed to carry the crude petroleum to immense reservoirs and refineries. The entire business is carried on on a very large scale. There were in 1900 1,306 wells. The yield for the year was 72,018,743 barrels of oil; 1906, 56,000,000 barrels. A pipe line leads over the mountains, through which oil is pumped to the wharves of Batoum on the Black Sea. Baku has a population (1909) of about, 179,000. See Petroleum