Julfa (Azerbaijani: Culfa), formerly Jugha (Armenian: Ջուղա, also transliterated as Djugha), is a city and the capital of the Julfa District of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan.

Julfa, an old Armenian city, is separated by the Aras River from its namesake, the town of Jolfa on the Iranian side of the border. The two towns are linked by a road bridge and a railway bridge.

Both Azerbaijan's absolute minimum temperature (−33 °C or −27.4 °F) and the absolute maximum temperature (46 °C or 114.8 °F) were observed in Julfa (and also in Ordubad).

The city is known as Jugha (Armenian: Ջուղա) in Armenian. The modern-day town of Julfa is located a few kilometers east of the ruins of the historical settlement of Julfa/Jugha, which are situated on a rocky strip of land in between the left bank of the Aras and a steep mountain range. The medieval Armenian historian Movses Khorenatsi wrote that Julfa was founded by the king of Armenia, Tigranes, using prisoners he took after defeating the Median king Astyages (Azhdahak in the Armenian tradition). The 18th-century Armenian Catholicos Lazar I wrote that some of the inhabitants of the medieval Armenian capital of Ani migrated to Julfa after the former's destruction, leading to the misconception that Julfa was founded after the destruction of Ani.

Existing as a village in the early Middle Ages, it grew into a town between the 10th and 13th centuries, with a population that was almost entirely Armenian. For a time, Julfa was one of the most important settlements in medieval Armenia. It became prosperous in the 15th and 16th centuries due to the role it played in international trade, as it was located along the ancient trade routes from Persia, the Middle East, South-East Asia, India, to Russia, the Mediterranean, and North-West Europe. An English preacher who passed through the town in 1600 estimated its population to be about 10,000 people. Unlike other Armenian cities, Julfa does not seem to have experienced significant hardship before its destruction and the deportation of its population in 1605.

In 1603, during the Ottoman–Safavid war (1603–1612), Abbas the Great, the emperor of Safavid Iran, retook Julfa from the Ottoman Empire and was seen as a liberator by its Armenian population. However, Abbas realized he could not defend the territory along the Aras from incursions by the Ottomans. His solution was to evacuate the region, undertaking a scorched earth policy to prevent its wealth and population from falling into Ottoman hands. In October 1605, the Shah issued a proclamation declaring that the entire population of Julfa must leave their homes and move deep into the Empire.

According to 17th-century chronicler Arakel of Tabriz, the proclamation stated that they had three days to leave or face being massacred. Another eyewitness, Augustus Badjetsi, Bishop of Nakhijevan, wrote:

[The Persians entered the Armenian villages] like thunder from the sky... We left houses full of goods, the herds in the fields ... the entire population was turned out of their land ... how many were pushed out at the point of swords and spears ... their moans and groans reaching the skies.