BAKU STATE UNIVERSITY

The chair of physical geography was created in 1948 under the auspices of the chair of general geography which carries out its activity in the geology-geography faculty of the BSU. In the same year N.K. Karamov was appointed as the head of the chair. 
Since there were no human resources with academic degree in Azerbaijan specializing in geography in the years when the geography department and the chair of physical geography were established, highly qualified specialists were invited to teach a number of courses. Out of these people the services of M.A. Salayev (soil sciences), K.T.E.N., academician Sh.F.Mehdiyev (general geology), H.Kh. Afandiyev (mineralogy and crystallography), G.M.E.D., Prof. A.H. Asgarov (historical geology), M.H. Aliyev (geodesy and cartography), famous teachers A.A. Shahbazov (physical geography), I.A. Ibrahimbayli (physical geography of continents) and others deserve a particular attention.

Being the first Azerbaijani who was honored with a degree of Doctor of geographical sciences and the famous explorer of the Caspian Sea, Professor G.K. Goul headed up the chair of physical geography from 1952 to 1959, and at the same time he worked as a pro-rector for teaching affairs in the BSU. Associate professor M.A. Mouseyibov (Professor, DGS, since 1963), being a famous scientist and a scientific organizer, was appointed as the director of the Geography Institute of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences in 1959. Then in 1960 he was appointed as a chief of the chair of physical geography.
The creation of the physical geography chair and retention of young alumni of the University’s geography faculty conduced to maturing of a number of young scientists within the first 10 years of the chair’s activity. In 1954-1959 M.A. Mouseyibov, S.B. Karimov, R.Kh. Piriyev, M.M. Hasanov obtained Ph.D. degree in geographical sciences and started to take an active part in development of textbooks and teaching aids.
In 1950 valuable investigations were carried out in the chair concerning Azerbaijan’s physical geography, Caspian Sea, landscape studies, geomorphology, cartography and helped the chair to be noticed in the Union.

The fundamental monographic works of Prof. G.K. Goul dedicated to the Caspian Sea caused the chair of physical geography to become a center for the Caspian Sea studies on the USSR scale. The researches on geomorphology, neotectonics, landscape studies, cartography, hydrology conducted in the chair began to develop more rapidly. From the second half of the 1960s the chair started receiving large governmental purchase orders for researches on geomorphology, neotectonics, and landscape. As a result large scale landscape and geomorphological maps of a number of physical geographical regions of Azerbaijan were compiled. Along with that from the end of the 60s and the beginning of the 70s Prof. M.A. Mouseyibov joined large scale works on neotectonics and compilation of geomorphologic maps, monographs of the Caucasus and the USSR.

In the 1960s-1970s R.Kh. Piriyev, N.K. Karamov, N.A.Valiyev, S.B. Karimov, M.A. Souleymanov, R.Y. Gouliyev, M.M. Hassanov, M.S. Chobanzadeh, F.A. Hajiyev, F.A. Ahmadov, S.Sh. Shoukurov, T. Soltanov, R.H. Mougalov, A.M. Moustafayev, A.Y. Ismayilov, S.M.Atakishiyev, S.V. Seredova and others took an active part in scientific and teaching work at the chair. As a result of intensive efforts of the physical geography chair’s team, in the 60s-70s a number of original textbooks were created or were translated from Russian. The chair of economic and social geography was created in 1961. Starting from that year until 1990 Prof. A.M. Hajizadeh headed up the chair. From the establishment date the chair turned into a center of scientific research and study for economic and social geography and strengthened its human resource capacity thanks to young academic workforce. 
The chief of the chair, associate professor Tapdyg Hasanov Goulahmad, Ph.D. in economic sciences, has been working in the chair from 1969. From 1991 up to present he has been holding a position of chair chief. He is the author of more than 70 scientific works. Among them noteworthy are “Severe social and economic consequences of occupation of Azerbaijani territories by armenia” (a monograph in Azerbaijani, Russian and Kazakhi languages), as well as textbooks on “Research methods of geography”, “History of geography”, etc.