1.
Iran
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Iran, also known as Persia, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, is a sovereign state in Western Asia. Comprising a land area of 1,648,195 km2, it is the second-largest country in the Middle East, with 82.8 million inhabitants, Iran is the worlds 17th-most-populous country. It is the country with both a Caspian Sea and an Indian Ocean coastline. The countrys central location in Eurasia and Western Asia, and its proximity to the Strait of Hormuz, Tehran is the countrys capital and largest city, as well as its leading economic and cultural center. Iran is the site of to one of the worlds oldest civilizations, the area was first unified by the Iranian Medes in 625 BC, who became the dominant cultural and political power in the region. The empire collapsed in 330 BC following the conquests of Alexander the Great, under the Sassanid Dynasty, Iran again became one of the leading powers in the world for the next four centuries. Beginning in 633 AD, Arabs conquered Iran and largely displaced the indigenous faiths of Manichaeism and Zoroastrianism by Islam, Iran became a major contributor to the Islamic Golden Age that followed, producing many influential scientists, scholars, artists, and thinkers. During the 18th century, Iran reached its greatest territorial extent since the Sassanid Empire, through the late 18th and 19th centuries, a series of conflicts with Russia led to significant territorial losses and the erosion of sovereignty. Popular unrest culminated in the Persian Constitutional Revolution of 1906, which established a monarchy and the countrys first legislative body. Following a coup instigated by the U. K. Growing dissent against foreign influence and political repression led to the 1979 Revolution, Irans rich cultural legacy is reflected in part by its 21 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the third-largest number in Asia and 11th-largest in the world. Iran is a member of the UN, ECO, NAM, OIC. Its political system is based on the 1979 Constitution which combines elements of a democracy with a theocracy governed by Islamic jurists under the concept of a Supreme Leadership. A multicultural country comprising numerous ethnic and linguistic groups, most inhabitants are Shia Muslims, the largest ethnic groups in Iran are the Persians, Azeris, Kurds and Lurs. Historically, Iran has been referred to as Persia by the West, due mainly to the writings of Greek historians who called Iran Persis, meaning land of the Persians. As the most extensive interactions the Ancient Greeks had with any outsider was with the Persians, however, Persis was originally referred to a region settled by Persians in the west shore of Lake Urmia, in the 9th century BC. The settlement was then shifted to the end of the Zagros Mountains. In 1935, Reza Shah requested the international community to refer to the country by its native name, opposition to the name change led to the reversal of the decision, and Professor Ehsan Yarshater, editor of Encyclopædia Iranica, propagated a move to use Persia and Iran interchangeably
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Mazandaran Province
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Mazandaran Province pronunciation, is an Iranian province located along the southern coast of the Caspian Sea and in the adjacent Central Alborz mountain range, in central-northern Iran. Mazandaran Province is one of the most densely populated provinces in Iran and has natural resources, notably large reservoirs of oil. The provinces four largest counties are Sari, Amol, Nur, Mazandaran is a major producer of farmed fish, and aquaculture provides an important economic addition to traditional dominance of agriculture. Another important contributor to the economy is the industry, as people from all of Iran enjoy visiting the area. Mazandaran is also a centre for biotechnology. The province covers an area of 23,842 km², Sari is the capital city of the province. Mazandaran is divided into 15 counties, all the shahrestans are named after their administrative center, except Savadkooh. Human habitation in the dates back at least 75,000 years. Recent excavations in Gohar Tape in Behshahr provide proof that the area has been urbanized for more than 5,000 years, and it has played an important role in cultural and urban development of the region. Mazandaran is one of the oldest areas Sedentism, Mazandaran is a Caspian province in the north of Iran. Located on the southern coast of the Caspian Sea, it is bordered clockwise by Russia, Golestan, Semnan, Tehran, Alborz, Qazvin, Sari is the largest city and the capital of Mazandaran province. Mazandaran Province was made part of the First Region upon the division of the provinces into five regions solely for coordination, before the arrival of the Iranian-speakers to Iran, native people of this area were subsistence hunters and cattle herders. Archaeological studies in caves belt and Hutu man in Behshahr in the Mazandaran date to approximately 9500 BC, the Amard were a tribe living along the mountainous region bordering the Caspian Sea, including current day Amol. The territory known as Mazandaran has changed hands among various dynasties from early in its history, there are several fortresses remaining from Parthia and Sassanid times, and many older cemeteries scattered throughout the province. During this era, Mazandaran was part of Hyrcania Province which was one of the important provinces, in 662 CE, ten years after the death of Yazdegerd III the last Sassanian Emperor, a large Muslim army under the command of Hassan ibn Ali invaded Tabarestan. With the advent of the Sassanid dynasty, the King of Mazandaran was Gushnasp, in 529–536, Mazandaran was ruled by the Sassanid prince Kawus, son of Kawadh. Anushirawan, the Sassanid king, defeated Zarmihr, who claimed his ancestry from the legendary blacksmith Kaveh and this dynasty ruled the area till 645 AD, when Gil Gilanshah joined Mazandaran to Gilan. There are several fortresses remaining from Parthian and Sassanid times, during this era, Mazandaran was part of Hyrcania Province which was one of the important provinces
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Caspian Sea
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The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed inland body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the worlds largest lake or a full-fledged sea. It is in a basin located between Europe and Asia. It is bounded by Kazakhstan to the northeast, Russia to the northwest, Azerbaijan to the west, Iran to the south, the Caspian Sea lies to the east of the Caucasus Mountains and to the west of the vast steppe of Central Asia. In its northern part, the Caspian Depression lies 28 to 130 m below sea level, the sea bed in the southern part reaches as low as 1023 m below sea level, which is the second lowest natural depression on earth after Lake Baikal. The ancient inhabitants of its coast perceived the Caspian Sea as an ocean, probably because of its saltiness, the sea has a surface area of 371,000 km2 and a volume of 78,200 km3. It has a salinity of approximately 1. 2%, about a third of the salinity of most seawater, the word Caspian is derived from the name of the Caspi, an ancient people who lived to the southwest of the sea in Transcaucasia. Strabo wrote that to the country of the Albanians belongs also the territory called Caspiane, which was named after the Caspian tribe, as was also the sea, but the tribe has now disappeared. Moreover, the Caspian Gates, which is the name of a region in Irans Tehran province, the Iranian city of Qazvin shares the root of its name with that of the sea. In fact, the traditional Arabic name for the sea itself is Bahr al-Qazwin, in classical antiquity among Greeks and Persians it was called the Hyrcanian Ocean. In Persian antiquity, as well as in modern Iran, it is known as the دریای خزر, Daryā-e Khazar, ancient Arabic sources refer to it as Baḥr Gīlān meaning the Gilan Sea. Turkic languages refer to the lake as Khazar Sea, in Turkmen, the name is Hazar deňizi, in Azeri, it is Xəzər dənizi, and in modern Turkish, it is Hazar denizi. An exception is Kazakh, where it is called Каспий теңізі, old Russian sources call it the Khvalyn or Khvalis Sea after the name of Khwarezmia. In modern Russian, it is called Каспи́йское мо́ре, Kaspiyskoye more, the Caspian Sea, like the Black Sea, Namak Lake, and Lake Urmia, is a remnant of the ancient Paratethys Sea. It became landlocked about 5.5 million years ago due to tectonic uplift and a fall in sea level. Due to the current inflow of water, the Caspian Sea is a freshwater lake in its northern portions, and is most saline on the Iranian shore. Currently, the salinity of the Caspian is one third that of Earths oceans. The Caspian Sea is the largest inland body of water in the world, the coastlines of the Caspian are shared by Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkmenistan. The Caspian is divided into three distinct regions, the Northern, Middle, and Southern Caspian
4.
Sari, Iran
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Sari is the provincial capital of Mazandaran and former capital of Iran, located in the north of Iran, between the northern slopes of the Alborz Mountains and southern coast of the Caspian Sea. Sari is the largest and most populous city of Mazandaran, the Mazandaran Sea provides a beautiful coastline to the north of Sari, north-east of the city lies Neka. Qaemshahr is to its south-west, Juybar is to its north-west, and Kiasar, Damghan, excavations in the Hutto cave present evidence for the existence of settlements around Sari as far back as the 70th millennium BCE. The Muslim historian Hamdollah Mostowfi attributes the foundation of Sari to king Tahmoures Divband of the Pishdadian Dynasty, after that success, Fereydun of Pishdadi feeling indebted to Kaveh, chose this city so as to live near him until his death. For this reason, when Touraj and Salam murdered Iraj, they buried him here, espahbod Tous-e Nouzar systematically founded it to remain as family monument. Han Way, who visited Saruye in 1734, makes mention of four ancient Magian temples as still standing then, built in the form of several rotundas, each thirty feet in diameter, and about 120 in height. However Sir William Ouseley, who had travelled to the site in 1811, has speculated that these to be masses of masonry of the Mohammedan age. Out of four, one of the rotunda is still standing since the rest were overturned by an earthquake, in the seventh century, Farrukhan the Great of the Dabuyid dynasty reconstructed the city, and because his sons name was Sarouyeh, he called it by this name. Sari once again became the capital of Tabaristan during that century, after invasions by the successors of Mongols, Timur the Lame of Uzbeks, Turcoman, and Tatars the city lost its high status and was periodically burnt to ashes. Because Shah Abbas Is mother was from Behshahr, he founded Farahabad as his capital of Persia in the north of the city. Still many towns, villages and neighbourhoods in Mazandaran bear the name Gorji in them, after the Safavid dynasty fell and until the rise of Agha Mohammad Khan to power there, is no evidence of any notable events in Sari. Major developments took place after the Qajar dynasty, during the reign of Reza Shah Pahlavi, the face of the town was changed drastically. Sari Rail Station and most of the streets and governmental buildings date from that era, during World War II the Soviet army occupied the city, but left it after the war. The Clock Tower, in the Clock Square located in downtown Sari, Sari also contains the tombs of the Muslim cleric leaders Yahya and Zayn Al-Abedin, Emamzade-ye Abbas, and Shazdeh Hussein the architecture of which are from the 15th century. The economy of Sari is based on food such as milled rice, dairy products, canned meat. Sari is a citrus fruits producer, especially oranges, tangerines. Oil seeds such as soybean and rape being cultivated in vast lands around villages for producing of vegetable ghee, during the 1950s to 1970s, a factory of MM company was the citys largest industrial complex and one of the countrys biggest vegetable oil producers. After the 1979 revolution, the company was nationalized but got bankrupt, other sources of the economy include, but are not limited to, paper, wood, fabrics and construction materials
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Amol County
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Amol County is a county in Mazandaran Province in Iran. The capital of the county is Amol, at the 2006 census, the countys population was 343,747, in 93,194 families. The county is subdivided into three districts, the Central District, Larijan District, and Dabudasht District, the county has four cities, Amol, Rineh, Gazanak, and Dabudasht. Amols neighbour counties are Babol in the east, Mahmudabad in the north, Babolsar in the north-east, Noor in the west in Mazandaran province, the county elevated landscape and valleys have dense forests. Its hills overlook the plains and stretch out to the slopes of Damavand Mountains. The majestic valleys, rivers, springs, waterfalls, colorful vegetation, diversity of wildlife, thermal springs, summer quarters and rural settlements appeal to visitors. Mount Damavand,5610 m, the highest point in the Middle East These mountains form the two ranges of the central Alborz Mountains, and are the highest sections of this range. To the north, after the Kahu Pass, in the village of Garmabdar, in the south western sector are the peaks of Takht-e-khers and Se sang, extending towards the west, where the gigantic Damavand Peak is visible. In the south eastern direction it joins the Khansak and Shad Kooh Mountains, the Haraz Rivers source is in the skirts of the Alborz Mountains in the region of Larijan. After flowing along the Haraz Road and Valley for about 100 km. it meanders in the midst of the city of Amol, the fringes of this river are utilized as recreational areas as well as for fishing. The course that this river flows is beautiful and breath taking, Shahandasht, The Shahandasht Waterfall is the highest waterfall of Mazandaran Province. It is located in Shahandasht Village,65 kilometers away from Amol and it is 51 meters high flowing from the heart of Alborz Mountain. The waterfall is consisted of 3 waterfalls which make it 180 meters high, one can reach the waterfall by passing through the bridge of Vana Village and reaching the village of Shahandasht and walk towards the waterfall for 15 minutes on foot. Yakhi, Yakhi Waterfall with a height of 12 meters, is located in the vicinity of Doudkouh Mountain near the part of Damavand Peak in Mazandaran province. This waterfall is spectacular in that it is completely frozen throughout the year, the said waterfall is one of its own in the world. The other proposed Waterfall in county named, Ab Murad, Plas, Tara, Sang Darka, Qaleh Dokhtar, Peromed, Ab Garm-e Larijan Thermal Springs, This thermal spring is near the Rineh village. Its water is used in the treatment of joint disorders, skin diseases, Damavand has some thermal springs with therapeutic qualities. These mineral hot springs are located on the volcanos flanks and at the base
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Behshahr
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Behshahr is a city in Mazandaran, Iran. Located on the cost of the Caspian Sea, at the foot of the Alborz, at the 2006 census, its population was 83,537, in 22,034 families. In 1832 David Brewster wrote in The Edinburgh Encyclopædia that Ashraff is celebrated as the residence of Shah Abbas. Prior to the arrival of Shah Abbas I Ashraf was a village of no distinction, the location took the fancy of Abbis I who made it an imperial residence in 1613 and he commissioned the construction of a palace and gardens. The heyday of the town was from that time until the middle of the 18th century, at the time that Sir Thomas Herbert visited the palace in 1628 there were about 2,000 families living in the town that at that time contained at least 300 public bath houses. Jonas Hanway visited the town in 1744 when it was in a state of decay, by 1860 Ashraf was no more than a large village of 845 houses with between eight and ten thousand inhabitants. Kamarband cave is notable for three human skeletons discovered there, dating to approximately 9000 years B. C, other finds included flint blades, walrus and deer bones, giving valuable information about human development from the ice age in the Mazandaran area. The name Behshahr literally means great city, there is a road which leads up to a mountain through the jungle. In the touristic Abbas Abbad, the jungle surrounds a lake with a castle in the middle. The castle once belonged to the Shah Abbas, Behshahr is home to many famous Iranian figures ranging from actors to political figures. One of the famous political figures from Behshahr is Ahmad Tavakkoli who once was a presidential candidate. Every year, famous members of the Iranian entertainment industry gather in Behshahr in a ceremony rewarding entertainers, more recently, such members included Parviz Parastui. The city of Behshahr is a city which produces Tokhme, vegetable oil. Rika is the term for son. Behshahr is home to Behshahr Industrial Company which is the biggest producer of oil in Iran since 1951. Recently, after scavenging near the suburbs of Behshahr, an ancient town was discovered which included nearly a thousand corpses of children to middle-aged men, the corpses had heights above the modern typical heights. In the area, gold and jars were found, Abbas Abbad which is famous for its greenery and beauty and also its historic significance is a major tourism attraction. There is a road leads up to a mountain through the jungle
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