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.