Balakhani hand-dug oil well
Pozo de petróleo excavado de Balajani
- Date
- 1594 · confidence high
- Place
- Balakhani, Baku, Azerbaijan
- Credited to
- Allahyar Mammad Nur oglu
- Field
- Matter & energy
What it is
A hand-dug well 35 m deep, with an inscription giving its date, from which oil was extracted for lighting and medicine. It shows the organised exploitation of Baku oil centuries before the modern industry.
Marco Polo (13th century) already described Baku oil; the 1594 inscription is the oldest direct dating of a well.
What it led to
- trade in Baku oil across Persia and Central Asia
- 19th-century mechanical drilling in Baku