Baku
2 of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Baku. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a Russian port on the W. shore of the Caspian, occupying part of the peninsula of Apsheron. The naphtha or petroleum springs of of Baku have long been known; and the Field of Fire, so called from emitting inflammable gases, have long been a place of pilgrimage with the Guebers or fire-worshippers. In modern times, from the development of the petroleum industry, Baku has greatly increased, and has become a large and flourishing town. Hundreds of oil wells are in operation, producing immense quantities of petroleum, much of which is led direct in pipes from the wells to the refineries in Baku. Baku, tion of the Caspian fleet, was strongly fortified, and had a large shipping trade. In 1901 and 1905 conflicts between the Armenians and Tartars resulted in the partial demolition of the town and costly conflagrations in the oil field. During the World War (1914-1918) Baku was the scene of severe fighting. In May, 1918, Baku became the capital of the new republic of Azerbaijan. The liberal government formed at that time was overthrown by the Bolsheviki in April, 1920, and Baku again was the scene of much fighting.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
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
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's caught Baku at a hinge point in 1921, reporting that the liberal Azerbaijani republic proclaimed there in May 1918 had been "overthrown by the Bolsheviki in April, 1920" — the city then spent seventy years as capital of Soviet Azerbaijan before independence in 1991. Its share of world output, which Aiton's put at about a third in 1910, collapsed as Texas, Persia and Arabia came in, though the oil kept its strategic pull: the German drive for Baku in 1942 stalled at Stalingrad and never reached the wells. Since 2006 Caspian crude has flowed to the Mediterranean through the Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan pipeline, a modern successor to the Batum line Aiton's described, and oil money has rebuilt the city, now a metropolis of over two million with the Flame Towers on its skyline, host to Eurovision in 2012 and a Formula One street race since 2016. The "Field of Fire" is still there, preserved as a monument rather than a place of pilgrimage.
Written for this edition, 2026.