The fantastical silhouettes of oil derricks dominate the landscape. My great-grandfather, an oil rig mechanic who lived here, recounted Sabunchi in the 1900s. Nobel's settlement is bordered to the left. Small oil plots, each with a dense cluster of derricks, belonged to different owners. Between them, the ground, black with oil and its byproducts, was a network of greasy, dusty paths marked by the tracks of horses, mules, camels, and cartwheels. Everything converged on the railway and the roads.. Read more » connecting Baku and Sabunchi. The air was thick with the smell of oil and smoke, as something was always burning – not so much from negligence, but from arson by revolutionaries extorting capitalists. Hence, every plot had guards, high fences, and barking dogs – the ubiquitous sights and sounds of the area. Many old photographs show an almost complete lack of vegetation, which simply couldn't grow or survive. Summer heat, fierce spring winds, oil-soaked earth, and constant construction had turned the area into an ecological wasteland. Fresh water, which had to be brought in, was the most precious commodity. After work, many people would wash themselves with sand to scrub off the oil, which, my great-grandfather explained, resembled the chase scene in the Soviet film "Operation Y." By the turn of the century, Nobel's settlement was the only developed area.
Azerbaijan
