Sumgait, city in eastern Azerbaijan, about 39 km (about 24 mi) north of Baku, the capital. Sumgait is located at the mouth of the Sumgait River, where it empties into the Caspian Sea. Sumgait was founded in 1944 as an industrial center to support Soviet engagement in World War II. It rapidly developed into a major chemical and metallurgical center, using petroleum from the Absheron Peninsula around Baku and natural gas from the Karadag gas fields southwest of Baku. The natural gas deposits around Karadag recently have been depleted. Sumgait also is a major steel producer, and supplies about 40 percent of the steel for Caucasia. Sumgait's steel, made from scrap, is used to construct oil pipelines. An aluminum plant built in 1955 in Sumgait uses bauxite ores shipped in from the Ural Mountains of Russia. Because of the large deposits of salts nearby and the availability of cheap hydroelectricity, Sumgait is a major producer of sodium hydroxide (also known as caustic soda or lye), used in the manufacture of chemicals and soaps and in petroleum refining. Industries in Sumgait also produce synthetic rubber, fertilizers, detergents, and petrochemicals.
Fighting broke out between Azerbaijani and Armenian residents of the city in 1988 as part of the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, an Armenian enclave in western Azerbaijan. Population (1990 estimate) 235,000.
