Казвинская провинция: история и современность

Province of Iran

Qazvin Province (استان قزوین, Ostān e Qazvīn) is one of the 31 provinces of Iran. It is in the northwest of the country, with the city of Qazvin as its capital. The province was carved out of Tehran province in 1993. At the time of the National Census of 2006, the population of the province was 1,127,734 in 294,305 households. The following census in 2011 counted 1,201,565 inhabitants living in 352,472 households, of whom 68.05% lived in cities and 31.95% in villages. By the time of the most recent census in 2016, the population had risen to 1,273,761 people in 397,165 households. The province was made a part of Region 1 upon the division of the provinces into 5 regions solely for coordination and development purposes on June 22, 2014. The majority of people in the northeast of the province, in Alamut, are Mazandarani or Gilaks who speak a dialect of the Mazandarani or Gilaki language. However, other sources claim that the majority of people in Alamut are ‘Tats’.

Qazvin was the location of a former capital of the Persian Empire and contains over 2000 architectural and archeological sites. It is a provincial capital today that has been a cultural center of mass throughout history. Archeological findings in the Qazvin plain reveal the existence of urban agricultural settlements as far back as 7000 BC. The name “Qazvin” or “Kasbin” is derived from Cas, an ancient tribe that lived south of the Caspian Sea millennia ago. The Caspian Sea itself in fact derives its name from the same origin. Qazvin geographically connects Tehran, Isfahan, and the Persian Gulf to the Caspian seacoast and Asia Minor, hence its strategic location throughout the ages. Qazvin has been a hotbed of historical developments in Iranian history. In the early years of the Islamic era Qazvin served as a base for the Muslim forces. Destroyed by Genghis Khan (13th century), the Safavid monarchs made Qazvin the capital of the Safavid empire in 1548 only to have it moved to Isfahan in 1598. During the Qajar dynasty and contemporary period, Qazvin has always been one of the most important governmental centers due to its proximity to Tehran. Abbas Mirza, a Crown Prince and Minister of Commerce, was also the governor of Qazvin. Qazvin is situated close to Alamut, where the famous Hasan i Sabbah, founder of the secret Ismaili order of the Assassins, operated from. Qazvin is where the coup d'état of General Reza Khan, with his Russian trained Cossack brigade, was launched from – which led to the founding of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1921. 1962 Buin Zahra earthquake killed 12.225 people.

The province covers 15821 km2 between 48–45 to 50–50 east of Greenwich Meridian of longitude and 35–37 to 36–45 north latitude of the equator. The province is bounded on the north by Mazandaran and Gilan, on the west by Hamedan and Zanjan, on the south by Markazi and on the east by Tehran Provinces. The famous mountains of the province are those of Siälän, Shäh Alborz, Khashchäl, Sephidkouh, Shojä e din, Alehtareh, Rämand, Ägh dägh, Kharaghän, Saridagh, Soltan pïr, and Siähkouh, in which Siälän with a height of 4,175m and Shäh Alborz which is 4,056m are the highest. All are part of the central chain of Alborz. The lowest point of the province is in Tärom e Soflä.

The climate of the province in the northern parts is cold and snowy in winters and temperate in summers. In the southern parts, the climate is mild with comparatively cold winters and warm summers.

Qazvin contains three buildings built by the Russians in the late 19th/early 20th century. Among these is the current Mayor's office (former Ballet Hall), a water reservoir, and the Cantor church where a Russian pilot is buried. According to explorers Pietro Della Valle, Jean Baptist Tavenier, Johannes Chardin, and others, there have been many Christians of various sects living in Qazvin for centuries. Qazvin is the location of the Saint Hripsime church, and it is also where four Jewish prophets gave tidings of the arrival of Jesus Christ. Their tomb is now a popular shrine called Peighambariyeh.

In the old days, Qazvin was nicknamed the 'city of water reservoirs'. Of the 100 or so water reservoirs of Qazvin, only 10 remain today, all protected by the Provincial Cultural Heritage Organization. See: List of famous ab anbars of Qazvin

13,000 km2 are under cultivation in the province, covering 12% of the cultivable lands of the country. These are fed by numerous subterranean canals, deep and semi deep wells, and a large irrigating canal which originates from The Sangbän dam in Taleghän and Ziärän. The agricultural produce of the land is grape, hazelnut, pistachio, almond, walnut, olive, apple, wheat, barley, sugar beet, pomegranate, fig, and cereals. Animal husbandry, and aquatic and poultry breeding are developed throughout the province.

In recent decades, Qazvin has become a developing pole of the country, primarily due to its preferable location. Qazvin today is a center of textile trade, including cotton, silk and velvet, in addition to leather. It is on the railroad line and the highway between Tehran and Tabriz. Qazvin has one of the largest power plants feeding electricity into Iran's national power grid, the Shahid Raja'i facility, which provides 7% of the country's electricity.