Azerbaijan 500 Manat Banknote – Face and Back
Nizam Ganjavi1, the great poet of the 12th century, is featured on our banknote. His poems set standards for a literary tradition that has been imitated for centuries following. He is considered the greatest epic poet of the Persians and is widely regarded among the Iranians and Kurds and Afghanis and others.
Nizam Ganjavi was born in the region we now know as Azebaijan and appears to have lived his entire life there. His poetry exhibits vast knowledge of culture and science including astronomy and mathematics, alchemy, medicine and botany, Islamic religion and law, Persian myths and legends and much more. His compositions synthesize this learning into a beautiful vision of life.
In 1918 the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan declared its independence. In 1920 it was incorporated into the Soviet Union. In August 1991, half year before the December dissolution of the Soviet Union, Azerbaijan declared its independence again. October 18, 1991, its Supreme Court adopted a Declaration of Independence which was affirmed by the people in a nationwide referendum two months later. October 18 is celebrated as Azerbaijan’s Independence Day.