Илам: история, население и языковое разнообразие провинции

Province of Iran
Iranian province
At the time of the National Census in 2006, the population of Ilam province was 530,464 in 110,515 households. The following census in 2011 counted 557,599 people in 135,499 households. As of the 2016 census, the population of the province was 580,158 people in 159,310 households. Ilam is presently the least populated province in Iran.

The etymology of Ilam, a province in Iran, is deeply rooted in the historical legacy of the region. The name "Ilam" finds its origins in the ancient civilization of Elam, which thrived in the areas of present day southwest Iran for over two millennia, spanning from 2700 to 539 BC. The region that is now known as Ilam had a different name for an extended period in history. It was referred to as 'Poshtkouh,' and together with 'Pishkouh,' it was a part of the larger Lorestan region. At one point during its history, when Hossein Qoli Khan ruled over Poshtkouh, it was also identified as 'Hossein Abad.' A significant transformation in the nomenclature of this area occurred during the reign of Reza Shah in September 1929. This change was initiated with the approval of the Cabinet of the time. In this historic decision, 'Hossein Abad' village was officially renamed 'Ilam.' The purpose behind this renaming was to pay homage to the grandeur and significance of the ancient civilization of Elam, which had left an indelible mark on the region's history and culture. Subsequently, in 1937, Ilam was officially designated as a town, solidifying its status as a distinct and significant region within Iran. This act of renaming and recognition not only highlighted the historical importance of the area but also symbolized a connection between the contemporary identity of Ilam and its illustrious past, where the legacy of the Elamite civilization still resonates today.

Ilam Province has a diverse linguistic presence, albeit having the smallest population in Iran. This diversity derives from the geographical location of the province, positioned in the transitional zone between Kurdish and the Southwestern Iranian language bloc. The predominant language is Kurdish, more specifically the Southern Kurdish dialects Kalhori, Elami, Malekshahi, Laki and the Khezeli dialect closely related to Laki. Kurdish is the dominant language in the cities of Ilam, Mehran, Eyvan, Abdanan, Sarableh, Lumar and Pahleh, and Cheshmeh ye Shirin Shah Ahmad is the southern most Kurdish speaking settlement in the province. Luri is spoken in the southern parts of the province and is the predominant language in Murmuri, Haft Cheshmeh and many smaller villages. The city of Darreh Shahr has a Luri speaking majority with a significant Kurdish speaking minority. Two linguistically distinctive Luri dialects called Hinimini and Shuhani are also spoken in the province. Shahrak e Changuleh is the largest Shuhani speaking settlement, while Hinimini is spoken in and around Zarangush.

The north is mostly inhabited by the Kurdish Kalhuri and Feyli tribes. The Feyli tribes include the Malekshahi, Khezel, Arkawâzi, Beyrey, Shuhan and Ali Sherwan tribes.

With about 31% of its territory covered with scattered to dense forests of mostly Persian oak, Ilam ranks 3rd in the country after Kohgiluyeh and Lorestan provinces, excluding the northern provinces of Mazandarn and Gilan. The highlands and the forests of the province are the habitat of many animals including the Asian black bear, Caracal, Caucasian squirrel, Eastern imperial eagle, Golden eagle, Black kite, Black stork, Blunt nosed viper, and the endangered Persian leopard. Ilam is home to the endangered Spider tailed horned viper, a unique species only found in Ilam province in the world. More than of the province, around 31% of its territory, is covered with scattered to dense forests. This is about one third of the total forests in the Zagros Mountains. The predominant species of these forests are Persian oak, though other trees such as wild almond, hawthorn, Persian turpentine, Montpellier maple and Judas can be found. The Arghavan Canyon near Ilam is known for the pink blooms of the Judas trees, which flower in Spring.

After the Muslims conquest of Mesopotamia in 640 AD, the Arabs named the area the "Land of the Mountains," or "Jibal". During the Arabs' rule, the kingdom of Jibal, whose capital was Seymareh, was one of the territories under the control of Baghdad and Basra, and lasted until 961 CE. The Rashidun Caliphate conquered Mesopotamia by 640 CE and later the whole Sasanid Empire by 643 CE and kept the control until their collapse in 661 CE. Prior to their collapse, civil war had taken over the caliphate, after which Muawiyah faction won and thus established the Umayyad Caliphate. The Umayyad controlled the area until their own collapse in 750 AD, after which the Abbasid Caliphate took over and reigned for around two hundred years until 945 CE. After conquering the western Iran in 945 CE, the Buyid Dynasty ruled over this area until 1055.

For 270 years, between 1155 and 1424, the reigned the Zagros Mountains, especially areas around Lorestan. Hazaraspids who are also known as Lorestan Atabegs were composed of two groups, the Little Lor, who were mostly of Lor descent and Big Lor Atabegs who were of Kurdish descent. The former controlled parts of present day provinces of Markazi, Hamedan, Kermanshah, Lorestan, Khuzestan and Ilam. From 961 to 1015, the Ḥasanwayhid dynasty ruled over western Iran under the influence of the Buyid Dynasty. Centred at Dinawar, near present day Kermanshah, Hasanwyhids, Kurdish Muslims with ties to the Kurdish Barzikani tribe, controlled central areas of the Zagros Mountains. At its greatest extent, the dynasty included the modern day areas around Khorramabad, Borujerd, Nahavand, Asadabad, Borujerd, Ahwaz, Ilam, Kermanshah, Hulwan and Kirkuk. The Ḥasanwayhid dynasty was overthrown by the Annazids, who, with help of the Buyid dynasty, controlled the area until their collapse in 1116 CE.

The capital of Little Lor was Shapourkhwast or the modern day Khorramabad, especially the Falak ol Aflak Castle. The Little Lor Atabegs or the Khorshidi dynasty ruled over the area for over 412 years, from 1184 to 1597 CE, after which Shah Abbas the Great executed the last ruler, Shahverdi Khan, and replaced Shahverdi's nephew, Hossein Beyg/Khan, thus ending the rule of Little Lor and beginning of the Vali/Wali dynasty also known as Feyli Vali.

During the Qajar era, Lorestan was divided into two regions: Poshtkoh (present day Ilam province) with the center of Ilam city and Pishkouh (present day Lorestan) with the center of Khorramabad. Poshtkhouh literally means “back of mountain” and it was due to the fact that Ilam was situated at the westernmost parts of the Zagros Mountains and to the rest of the country it was plainly considered at the back of mountains. From that point on, Ilam was ruled independently from Lorestan, and the governor reported directly to the central government, thereby ending Lorestan control of Ilam and Poshtkouh. The two districts were later renamed "Deh e Bala" and "Deh e Pa'een", which basically means the upper and lower villages. During the rule of Hossein Qoli Khan over "Deh e Bala" (1863 1900 CE), it was renamed to "Hossein Abad Poshtkuh". The Vali Castle of Ilam was built by the next Vali, Gholamreza Khan Feyli, in 1908. The castle is now a nationally registered heritage and also the Ilam Museum of Anthropology.

Following the establishment of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1925, Reza Shah suppressed the local governments to consolidate his dominance. In 1928, the government forces took over Poshtkouh and Gholamreza Khan Feyli, the last Feyli governor left Poshtkouh with any resistance and went to Iraq, thus abolishing the rule of the Feylis in Ilam after 332 years. On November 7, 1937, the parliament passed a law on the political division of the country under the title of "Act of Division of the Country and the Duties of the Governors", thereby dividing the country into 6 provinces and 50 counties. Poshtkouh, being a county, was part of the "West Province". The 1937 political division law did not last long and a while later on January 9, 1938, an amendment was passed which divided the country into 10 province and 49 counties. Based on the new division, "Ilam" was a county of the "Fifth Province". In 1964, Darreh Shahr, Abdanan and Dehloran from Lorestan province and Mousian from Khuzestan were annexed to Ilam, thus upping its status to "general governorate" as part of the Kermanshah Province. Following the approval of the government cabinet, Holeylan County was established on 4 January 2020, having been a district of Chardavol County prior to that, becoming the 11th county of the province. Chavar District was separated from Ilam County and elevated to county status. + Ilam Province Population History Administrative Divisions 2006RankTownPop.1Ilam194,0302Dehloran32,9413Eyvan31,2994Abdanan23,9465Darreh Shahr21,9006Mehran17,4357Sarableh12,3938Arkavaz11,977

The original inhabitants of Ilam were the Guitians and the Kassites, and with the arrival of the Aryans in Iran, the Medes settled in the Zagros region. Throughout history, many people have settled and ruled in the region and as the result, today, Ilam is inhabited by Kurds, Lurs, Laks and Arabs. For the same reasons, the culture of the Ilamians is diverse, mostly a blend of many cultures.

Embossed kilim is a combination of simple kilim and carpet knot in its text, which is considered as the most important and original handicraft in Ilam province. Ilam's embossed kilim is different from other parts of the country. Upon its creation by Sahar Chalanghar, a resident of Zanjireh village of Sarableh county, Ilam's embossed kilim became popular both in Iran and the world. Now, there are more than 4,500 weavers of this specific type of kilim in Ilam province, producing around 3,000m2 annually. It is estimated that around 50% of those involved in all handicrafts work in Ilam province are in the field of kilim production. "Ilam's embossed kilim" is different from other parts of the country because a weaver named "Sahar Chalangar", a resident of Zanjireh village (one of the functions of Sarablah city of Ilam province), succeeds in performing a prominent role in a part of his woven kilim by using a carpet knot. From this, a background is provided for the growth and promotion of embossed kilims. Ilam's embossed kilim has received a national hologram and has been registered as a souvenir and brand of Ilam province. Ilam was subsequently appointed as the national capital of embossed kilim.

Ilam's cuisine, like its culture is a blend of Kurdish and Lurish cuisines. Some of the local traditional dishes are:

The highest government authority of the province is the governor general, who is appointed by the Minister of Interior given cabinet approval. The governor general, subsequently appoints county governors. The incumbent governor general is Qasem Soleimani Dashtaki, who has been in office since October 2017.

With about 0.99% contribution to the national GDP as of 2016, Ilam is one of the least developed provinces in Iran, ranked 26th out of 31. Most economic activities in the province are focused on agriculture and animal husbandry in the rural communities; and, skilled trades, public and private services in urban areas. The industry has a small share in the economy of the province and there are few factories.

The largest sector of Ilam's economy is agriculture, though much smaller compared to other provinces of Iran. There are more than 55,000 farmers in Ilam province. It is estimated that, about 50% of all households in the province are either directly or indirectly involved in agricultural activities. In 2018 harvest year, of land (11.1% of the territory of Ilam province) were cultivated for various crops such as wheat, barley, forage maize, corn, watermelon, melon and cucumber, producing 700,732 tons of produce in total, 14% through dry farming. Ilam is the bottom 3rd province in the country in terms of crop yield at 3.14 tons per hectare, only surpassing Kohgiluyeh and Kurdestan. For comparison, the average yield is 9.88 tons per hectare and highest is 25.64 tons per hectare in Alborz province. The farming lands of Ilam, like its geography, are divided; The northern and eastern parts of the province are mountainous and despite the presence of water resources, cultivable lands are limited to inter mountain plains, foothills and river banks; On the contrary, the hot climate plains of the south and southwest such as Hojandan Dasht, Amir Abad, Mehran, Mosian, Dehloran and Dasht Abbas, are large in size but limited in water resources. As of 2019, the total area of all orchards in Ilam province was , making it the last in the country. In total, these orchards produced 15,409 tons of fruits, or 0.1% of the country's production. The most grown horticultural products are: grapes, walnut, pomegranate, peach, olive and fig.

Ilam province is part of the Zagros sedimentary structure and is completely covered with sedimentary rocks of different ages. In other words, there are no phenomena of magmatism and metamorphism in the province. Therefore, the province's metal mineral reserves are negligible. There are, however, substantial non metallic reserves of gypsum, limestone, sandstone, dolomite, shale, bitumen, celestine, building stone and facade stone. The province's gypsum is more than 99 percent pure and can be found in colossal amounts in Dehloran, Mehran and Bouli of Abdanan. Dehloran Gypsum Factory produces a premium quality product in the country. The limestone reserves are also very significant in size and very high in purity (93 99.9%). Ilam Cement Factory, founded 1989 to use these mines, produces one of the finest cements in Iran and has won many national and international awards. There are also large amounts of celestine discovered northwest of Dehloran. Celestine is used in oil well drilling industry. The most valuable mineral in the province is bitumen. It is found as gilsonite and has a purity of more than 70%. Bitumen is found in Eyvan, Dehloran and Malekshahi counties. In some places in the province, liquid bitumen seeps to the ground and creates springs. "Dehloran Bitumen Spring" is a nationally registered natural monument in Iran. Salt stone has been recovered in Baloutestan area of Zarin Abad. There's also veins of blue salt excavated near Dashtalak (Mimak) and Majeen (Darreh Shahr). Given the geology of the province, building stones can also found in large amounts; White and black marble stone have been discovered near the city of Ilam. About 2.2 million tons of mineral were excavated in 2019 and Ilam's reserves are estimated at around 1 billion tons.

Compared to the rest of the country, Ilam is under developed in term of transportation. The Ilam Airport is the only airport in the province. With 2850 sorties, 215,799 passengers and around , Ilam Airport ranked 21st in the country and 2nd to Kermanshah Airport in the western region. Built in 1996, Ilam Airport has regular flights to Tehran and Mashhad. In 2016, the airport was upgraded to international status (controlled airspace) and started a weekly service to Najaf.

Palayesh Gas Ilam Women's football team is the only team in Ilam Province competing at the professional level, the Iranian Women's Football Premier League, also known as Kowsar Women Football League.

One of the most known athletic figures of Ilam Province is Mojtaba Maleki, a two times gold medalist in World Powerlifting Championships in 2017 and 2018. He also has more than ten Asian gold medals. Maleki is the second person in the world to have squatted 500 kg raw with wraps.