Lerik, Azerbaijan
Lerik is the capital city of Lerik District in the southern area of Azerbaijan not far from the Iran border. It is located in the Talysh Mountains, a northwestern subrange of the Alborz (Elburz) mountain range. The majority of the population is Talysh.
History
Lerik is considered one of the ancient settlements of Azerbaijan. There are imprints of ancient people who lived in the caves. Nowadays there are settlement imprints which belong to bronze-Neolithic ages.Lerik became a center of Zuvand Region of Azerbaijan SSR. In 1930 this region was renamed as Lerik.
According to census back in 1939, the main population of Lerik were Talysh people.
Historical monuments
One of the main sights near Lerik is the Buzeyir cave. In the 19th century Jacques de Morgan discovered human imprints belonging to the Neolithic era.Population
Lerik city population 1939 :| Ethnic group | Quantity | Percentage |
| Talysh | 996 | 68.7% |
| Azerbaijani | 303 | 20.9% |
| Russian | 107 | 7.4 |
| Armenian | 11 | 0.8% |
| Other | 32 | 2.2% |
| Total | 1 449 | 100% |
Demographics now
| Ethnic group | Quantity | Percentage |
| Talysh | 72228 | 96.92% |
| Azerbaijani | 2281 | 3.06% |
| Russian | 11 | 0.01% |
| Other | 2 | 0.00% |
The vast majority of the city's population are Talysh, while the rest are Azerbaijanis and other ethnicities.