Masally District () is one of the 66 districts of Azerbaijan. It is located in the southeast of the country and belongs to the Lankaran-Astara Economic Region. The district borders the districts of Lankaran, Lerik, Yardimli, Jalilabad, and Neftchala. Its capital and largest city is Masally. As of 2020, the district had a population of 227,700. Average temperature is in January, and in July. The amount of annual precipitation is . The Vilash is the largest river of the district. There are broad-leaved forests of Girkan type-chestnut-leaved oak, hornbeam, beech, Persian ironwood tree, Girkan boxwood, Caucasian persimmon, medlar and others in the mountainous part of the district. Total area of the district's forests equals . There are 107 villages in Masally.
History
Masally district was established in 1930. Formerly, the territory of the district was part of Arkevan area of Lankaran District. Before that, the territory of the district belonged to ancient Manna and Atropatena states. It was included in Talysh Khanate in the middle of the 18th century.
Politics
The head of Masally District is chief executive. Chief executives:
- Safarov Azer Fattah oghlu-till September 30, 2004
- Aliyev Ogtay Jalil oghlu-from September 30, 2004, to September 29, 2006
- Aghayev Gazanfar Arif oghlu-since September 30, 2006
- Huseynov Rafil İsrafil oghlu-since April 14, 2012
Administrative structure
The center of the district is the city of Masally. The average population density is 159 people per km<sup>2</sup>. Boradigah township, Badalan, Arkevan, Banbashi, Gizilagaj, Teze Alvadi, and Chakhirli villages are the other largest population aggregates.
Population
According to data of 2020, the population of the rayon consists of 228,977 people; 92% are Azerbaijanis and 7.9% are the Talysh people.
{| class="wikitable"
| rowspan="2" |Total
| colspan="2" |including:
| rowspan="2" |Urban places
| colspan="2" |including:
| rowspan="2" |Rural places
| colspan="2" |including:
|-
|men
|women
|men
|women
|men
|women
|-
|228,977
|116,408
|112,569
|51,907
|26,679
|25,229
|177,070
|89,730
|87,340
|}
Territory
The total area of the district is 72,097 ha. 22,783 ha (31.6%) of the territory belongs to the state. (73.1%) of this area is covered with forests, which Forest Agriculture department owns 15,960 ha, and the rest is for the domestic economy. (1.9%) area is included to water fund and (20.02%) area belongs to the state reserve fund.
Municipality owns (26.0%) of the area. of this territory is for the perspective development of municipality bodies and 1,393 ha of area belongs to the reserve fund of the municipality.
Agriculture, construction, industry, transportation, and telecommunication are the cores of economy in Masally district.
Agriculture
{| class="wikitable"
|+Statistics of agriculture in Masally district
Museum of History and Regional Studies
The museum has more than 7,000 exhibits, which illustrates the history of Masally from Eneolithic period to the 20th century. Exhibits include sculptures, carvings, drawings, clothing, photos, arts, crafts, and documents.
Gallery
<gallery class="center">
Image: Masalli08.jpg
Image: Masalli01.jpg
Image: Masalli05.jpg
Image: Масаллы011.jpg
</gallery>