Iran’s Regions
A brief description of all the amazing places you can while
visiting Iran.
YAZD
The city has a history of over 3,000 years, dating back to the time of
the Median empire, when it was known as Ysatis (or Issatis). The
present city name has however been derived from Yazdegerd I, a
Sassanid ruler. The city was definitely a Zoroastrian centre during
Sassanid times.
Yazd panorama view from the Amir Chakmaq Complex.
Here is Marco Polo writing about Yazd:
“Yasdi also is properly in Persia; it is a good and noble city, and has a
great amount of trade. They weave there quantities of a certain silk
tissue known as Yasdi, which merchants carry into many quarters to
dispose of. The people are worshippers of Mahommet.
When you leave this city to travel further, you ride for seven days over
great plains, finding harbour to receive you at three places only. There
are many fine woods [producing dates] upon the way, such as one can
easily ride through; and in them there is great sport to be had in
hunting and hawking, there being partridges and quails and abundance
of other game, so that the merchants who pass that way have plenty of
diversion. There are also wild asses, handsome creatures. At the end of
those seven marches over the plain you come to a fine kingdom which
is called Kerman.”
KERMAN
Kerman was founded as a defensive outpost, in the 3rd century AD.
Already in the eighth century the city was famous for its manufacture of
cashmere wool shawls and other textiles.
The name Kerman was adopted at some point in the tenth century.
The Masjid gate through which Agha Mohammad Khan entered the city.
The name Kerman was adopted at some point in the tenth century.
When Marco Polo visited the city in 1271 it had become a major trade
emporium linking the Persian Gulf with Khorasan and Central Asia.
The present city of Kerman was rebuilt in the 19th century to the
northwest of the old city, but the city did not recover to its former size
until the 20th century.
BANDAR ABBAS
Bandar Abbas has always been a port, and as such its various names
have all addressed this function.
The most common name over time (Gameroon) has traditionally been
said to derive from Persian gümrük, customhouse (from Late Greek
kommerkion, from Latin commercium, "commerce"), but is now
speculated to be from Persian kamrūn, shrimp.
The harbour of Bandar Abbas in 1704.
The earliest record of Bandar Abbas is during the reign of Darius the
Great (between 586 and 522 B.C.). Darius's commander, Silacus,
embarked from Bandar Abbas to India and the Red Sea
During Alexander's conquest of the Persian Empire, Bandar Abbas was
known under the name of Hormirzad.
Nickname(s): The Crab Port
In the 1980s, the name "Gameron" was changed in favor of "Bandar
Abbas", following similar movements with Iranian names (see Iran
naming convention).
Bandar Abbas serves as a major shipping point for mostly imports, and
has a long history of trade with India, particularly the port of Surat.
Thousands of tourists visit the city and nearby islands including Qeshm
and Hormuz every year.
Bandar Abbas was a small fishing port of about 17,000 people in 1955,
prior to initial plans to develop it as a major harbor. By 2001, it had
grown into a major city. It has a population of 360,280 (2001 estimate).
BOUSHEHR
To the south of the present city, at Reesheer/Reeshehr, are the
remains of an earlier Elamite (c 3000 BCE) settlement.
In the 5th century AD, Bushehr was the seat of the Nestorian Christian
expansion into southern Iran.
Persian Gulf Coast in Bushehr
Industries include fishing and a thermoelectric power plant, while the
inland area (also called Bushehr) produces Shiraz wine, metalwork, rugs
and other textiles, cement, and fertilizer. The Iranian navy maintains a
base here.
KHOUZESTAN
The province of Khuzestan is one of the centres of ancient civilization,
based around Susa. The first large scale empire based here was that of
the powerful 4th millennium BC Elamites.
The ziggurat of Choqa Zanbil in
Khuzestan was a magnificent structure of the Elamite Empire. Khuzestan's Elamites were "precursors of the royal
Persians", and were "the founders of the first Iranian empire in the geographic sense.
Archeological ruins verify the entire province of Khuzestan to be home
to the Elamite civilization, a non-Semitic, and non-Indo-European-
speaking kingdom, and "the earliest civilization of Persia. The name
Khuzestan is derived from the Elamite.
In fact, in the words of Elton L. Daniel, the Elamites were "the founders
of the first 'Iranian' empire in the geographic sense. Hence the central
geopolitical significance of Khuzestan, the seat of Iran's first empire.
In 640 BC, the Elamites were defeated by Ashurbanipal, coming under
the rule of the Assyrians who brought destruction upon Susa and
Chogha Zanbil. But in 538 BC, Cyrus the Great was able to re-conquer
the Elamite lands. The city of Susa was then proclaimed as one of the
Achaemenid capitals. Darius the Great then erected a grand palace
known as Apadana there in 521 BC. But this astonishing period of glory
and splendor of the Achaemenian dynasty came to an end by the
conquests of Alexander of Macedon. After Alexander, the Seleucid
dynasty came to rule the area.
The existence of prominent scientific and cultural centers such as
Academy of Gundishapur which gathered distinguished medical
scientists from Egypt, India, and Rome, shows the importance and
prosperity of this region during this era. The Jondi-Shapur Medical
School was founded by the order of Shapur I. It was repaired and
restored by Shapur II (a.k.a. Zol-Aktaf: "The Possessor of
ShoulderBlades") and was completed and expanded during the reign of
Anushirvan.
Karoun River passing the Iranian city of Ahvaz
ZANJAN
Zanjan city was a major city in pre-historic Azerbaijan. The name of
Azerbaijan derives from Atropates, an Iranian satrap of Media under
the Achaemenid Empire, who later was reinstated as the satrap of
Media under Alexander of Macedonia. The original etymology of this
name is thought to have its roots in the ancient Zoroastrianism, namely,
in Avestan Frawardin Yasht ("Hymn to the Guardian Angels"), there is a
mentioning of: âterepâtahe ashaonô fravashîm ýazamaide, which
literally translates from Old Persian as "we worship the Fravashi of the
holy Atare-pata. Atropates ruled over the region of present-day Iranian
Azerbaijan.
In Ptolemy's Geography, the city is referred to as Aganzana. It is said
that the Sassanid king Ardashir I of Persia, reconstructed the city and
called it Shahin but later it was renamed to Zangan, of which the
present name is the arabicized form of.
In past times Zanjan's name was Khamseh, which means "province with
five tribes".
takhte soleyman
KURDESTAN
The mountainous lands of this area first encouraged Aryan tribes to
settle in this region after their immigration to Iran. It was from here
where the first plan to overthrow the Assyrian Empire began, leading to
their defeat in 612 BCE, and setting the stage for the commence of the
Median empire.
The Kurdish language is categorized under the Indo-European group of
languages, with a distinctive grammatical form. This language has
various branches in Iran, such as the Sorani, Hewrami, Feyli,Kalhuri and
Kurmanji. Majority of the people in Kurdistan province speak variants of
Sorani Kurdish, sometimes called as "Ardalani" dialect. Hewrami
Kurdish is also spoken around Marivan, in a region called "Hewramanî
Text"(The Flat Hawraman). In eastern parts of the province including
Bijar and Qorveh, the majority are Shiite Kurds. There also exists an
Azeri minority in the villages around Qorveh.
zarivar lake in spring
zarivar lake in winter
GILAN
The first recorded encounter between Gilak and Deylamite warlords
and invading Muslim Arabarmies was at the Battle of Jalula in 637 AD.
Deylamite commander Muta led an army of Gils, Deylamites,
Azerbaijanis and people of the Rey region.
Gilan has a humid subtropical climate with by a large margin the
heaviest rainfall in Iran: reaching as high as 1,900 millimetres (75 in) in
the southwestern coast and generally around 1,400 millimetres (55 in).
Rasht, the capital of the province, is known internationally as the "City
of Silver Rains" and within Iran as the "City of Rain". Rainfall is heaviest
between September and December because the onshore winds from
the Siberian High are strongest, but it occurs throughout the year
though least abundantly from April to July. Humidity is very high
because of the marshy character of the coastal plains and can reach 90
percent in summer for wet bulb temperatures of over 26 °C (79 °F). The
Alborz range provides further diversity to the land in addition to the
Caspian coasts.
The coastline is cooler and attracts large numbers of domestic and
international tourists. Large parts of the province are mountainous,
green and forested. The coastal plain along the Caspian Sea is similar to
that of Mazandaran, mainly used for rice paddies.
MAZANDARAN
Mazandaran is located on the southern coast of the Caspian Sea.
The Hyrcanian Golden Cup.
Dated first half of first millennium.
Excavated at Kalardasht in Mazandaran
It is bordered clockwise by Golestan, Semnan and Tehran provinces
There is often snowfall in the Alborz regions, which run parallel to the
Caspian Sea's southern coast, dividing the province into many isolated
valleys. The province enjoys a moderate, subtropical climate with an
average temperature of 25 °C in summer and about 8 °C in winter.
Although snow may fall heavily in the mountains in winter, it rarely falls
at sea level.
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