The Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic (Azerbaijani: Naxçıvan Muxtar Respublikası, pronounced [nɑxtʃɯˈvɑn muxˈtɑɾ ɾesˈpublikɑsɯ]), is a landlocked exclave of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The region covers 5,502.75 km2 (2,124.62 sq mi) with a population of 459,600 bordered by Armenia to the east and north, Iran to the southwest, and Turkey to the west. The republic, especially the capital city of Nakhchivan, has a long history dating back to about 1500 BCE. Nakhijevan was one the cantons of the historical Armenian province of Vaspurakan in the Kingdom of Armenia. Historically though, the Persians, Armenians, Mongols, and Turks all competed for the region. The area that is now Nakhchivan became part of Safavid Iran in the 16th century. In 1828, after the last Russo-Persian War and the Treaty of Turkmenchay, the Nakhchivan Khanate passed from Iranian into Imperial Russian possession. After the 1917 February Revolution, Nakhchivan and its surrounding region were under the authority of the Special Transcaucasian Committee of the Russian Provisional Government and subsequently of the short-lived Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic. When the TDFR was dissolved in May 1918, Nakhchivan, Nagorno-Karabakh, Syunik, and Qazakh were heavily contested between the newly formed and short-lived states of the First Republic of Armenia and the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR). In June 1918, the region came under Ottoman occupation. Under the terms of the Armistice of Mudros, the Ottomans agreed to pull their troops out of the Transcaucasus to make way for British occupation at the close of the First World War. In July 1920, the Bolsheviks occupied the region. In November of that year, Bolshevik Russia and Azerbaijan both promised that Nakhchivan, alongside neighboring Nagorno-Karabakh and Zangezur, was an "integral part" of Armenia. However, on March 16, 1921, in accordance with the results of a referendum, the Bolshevik government declared the Nakhchivan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, which went on to become an autonomous republic within the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic in 1924. In January 1990, Nakhchivan declared independence from the USSR to protest against the suppression of the national movement in Azerbaijan and became the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic within the newly independent Republic of Azerbaijan a year later. Though a culturally mixed Armenian–Azerbaijani region as late as a century ago, Nakhchivan is homogeneously Azerbaijani today besides its small remainder of Russians. The Autonomous Republic is an autonomous area of Azerbaijan, governed by its own elected legislature. The administrative capital city is Nakhchivan. As declared by the constitution of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, the state symbols and anthem are the same as those of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Both the name of the autonomous republic and its capital city are ultimately derived from Armenian.