The seismic history of the Maku region (western Azarbaijan-NW Iran) from 735 A.D. to 1977 is given, together with the structural history of this part of the country, which has a rather complicated and unknown seismotectonic character. Some informa­tion on the Caucasus is given, in order to present a better picture of the region.

The Maku region, which is situated in the northwestern part of Iran and eastern Turkey border zone, and the southern part of the minor Caucasus, has a complicated seismotectonic character (Figs. 1,2, 3). Structurally, four major regional faults die out in NW Iran and eastern Turkey. These faults are the North Anatolian fault, the East Anatolian fault, the Main Recent fault and the North Tabriz fault (See Bcrberian 1976 a, b, and c; and Tchalenko 1977). Several destructive earthquakes occurred in this region, especially before the twentieth century.

In order to initiate the study of the seismotectonics of this region, a summary of the historical earthquakes (pre 1900) and the seismicity of the twentieth century is given. The seismotectonics of the adjacent areas such as Tabriz and Shahpur (Salmas) regions were published by Bcrberian and Arshadi (1976) and Berbcrian and Tchalenko (1976).