Azj'Aqir was the first empire of the Aqir, around 16,000 years before the Orcish invasion of Azeroth.
Azj'Aqir fell apart into two different city-states called Azjol-Nerub in the northern wastes, and Ahn'Qiraj in the southern desert.
History
The Aqir were intelligent insectoids who ruled the lands of the far west. These clever insectoids were greatly expansionistic and incredibly evil. The Aqir were obsessed with eradicating all non-insect life from the fields of Kalimdor. The trolls fought them for many thousands of years, but never succeeded in winning a true victory over the Aqir. Eventually, due to the troll's persistence, the Aqiri kingdom split in half as its citizens fled to separate colonies in the far northern and southern regions of the continent.
It was at that time that the Azj'Aqir Empire ceased to exist and fell apart into two different city-states called Azjol-Nerub in the northern wastes, and Ahn'Qiraj in the southern desert.