Which Asian capital is located on the Absheron Peninsula? Baku is located on Azerbaijan’s Absheron Peninsula.
Baku lies on the peninsula’s southern shore along the Caspian Sea and is Azerbaijan’s capital and largest city. The peninsula extends eastward into the Caspian, giving Baku a strategic position between inland Azerbaijan and maritime routes across the sea.
The region’s geography helped shape Baku’s history. Its dry, windy landscape contains salt lakes, semi-desert terrain, and natural petroleum resources. Oil production expanded dramatically from the 1870s, attracting workers, investors, and migrants and turning Baku into one of the world’s early major oil centres.
Baku’s historic core, including the walled Old City and the Maiden Tower, reflects much older layers of settlement than the modern oil boom. The city is sometimes confused with other Caucasus capitals such as Tbilisi or Yerevan, but those cities are inland and are not on the Absheron Peninsula. Ashgabat, another tempting option, is the capital of Turkmenistan and lies well east of the Caspian.