1.
Rail transport
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Rail transport is a means of conveyance of passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, also known as tracks. It is also referred to as train transport. In contrast to road transport, where vehicles run on a flat surface. Tracks usually consist of rails, installed on ties and ballast, on which the rolling stock, usually fitted with metal wheels. Other variations are possible, such as slab track, where the rails are fastened to a concrete foundation resting on a prepared subsurface. Rolling stock in a transport system generally encounters lower frictional resistance than road vehicles, so passenger. The operation is carried out by a company, providing transport between train stations or freight customer facilities. Power is provided by locomotives which either draw electric power from a railway system or produce their own power. Most tracks are accompanied by a signalling system, Railways are a safe land transport system when compared to other forms of transport. The oldest, man-hauled railways date back to the 6th century BC, with Periander, one of the Seven Sages of Greece, Rail transport blossomed after the British development of the steam locomotive as a viable source of power in the 19th centuries. With steam engines, one could construct mainline railways, which were a key component of the Industrial Revolution, also, railways reduced the costs of shipping, and allowed for fewer lost goods, compared with water transport, which faced occasional sinking of ships. The change from canals to railways allowed for markets in which prices varied very little from city to city. In the 1880s, electrified trains were introduced, and also the first tramways, starting during the 1940s, the non-electrified railways in most countries had their steam locomotives replaced by diesel-electric locomotives, with the process being almost complete by 2000. During the 1960s, electrified high-speed railway systems were introduced in Japan, other forms of guided ground transport outside the traditional railway definitions, such as monorail or maglev, have been tried but have seen limited use. The history of the growth, decline and restoration to use of transport can be divided up into several discrete periods defined by the principal means of motive power used. The earliest evidence of a railway was a 6-kilometre Diolkos wagonway, trucks pushed by slaves ran in grooves in limestone, which provided the track element. The Diolkos operated for over 600 years, Railways began reappearing in Europe after the Dark Ages. The earliest known record of a railway in Europe from this period is a window in the Minster of Freiburg im Breisgau in Germany
2.
Bridge
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A bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles without closing the way underneath such as a body of water, valley, or road, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle. There are many different designs that each serve a particular purpose, the Oxford English Dictionary traces the origin of the word bridge to an Old English word brycg, of the same meaning. The word can be traced back to Proto-Indo-European *bʰrēw-. The word for the game of the same name has a different origin. The first bridges made by humans were probably spans of cut wooden logs or planks and eventually stones, using a simple support, some early Americans used trees or bamboo poles to cross small caverns or wells to get from one place to another. Dating to the Greek Bronze Age, it is one of the oldest arch bridges still in existence, several intact arched stone bridges from the Hellenistic era can be found in the Peloponnese. The greatest bridge builders of antiquity were the ancient Romans, the Romans built arch bridges and aqueducts that could stand in conditions that would damage or destroy earlier designs. An example is the Alcántara Bridge, built over the river Tagus, the Romans also used cement, which reduced the variation of strength found in natural stone. One type of cement, called pozzolana, consisted of water, lime, sand, brick and mortar bridges were built after the Roman era, as the technology for cement was lost. In India, the Arthashastra treatise by Kautilya mentions the construction of dams, a Mauryan bridge near Girnar was surveyed by James Princep. The bridge was swept away during a flood, and later repaired by Puspagupta, the use of stronger bridges using plaited bamboo and iron chain was visible in India by about the 4th century. A number of bridges, both for military and commercial purposes, were constructed by the Mughal administration in India and this bridge is also historically significant as it is the worlds oldest open-spandrel stone segmental arch bridge. European segmental arch bridges date back to at least the Alconétar Bridge, rope bridges, a simple type of suspension bridge, were used by the Inca civilization in the Andes mountains of South America, just prior to European colonization in the 16th century. During the 18th century there were innovations in the design of timber bridges by Hans Ulrich Grubenmann, Johannes Grubenmann. The first book on bridge engineering was written by Hubert Gautier in 1716, a major breakthrough in bridge technology came with the erection of the Iron Bridge in Shropshire, England in 1779. It used cast iron for the first time as arches to cross the river Severn, with the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, truss systems of wrought iron were developed for larger bridges, but iron does not have the tensile strength to support large loads. With the advent of steel, which has a tensile strength, much larger bridges were built. In 1927 welding pioneer Stefan Bryła designed the first welded bridge in the world
3.
Khoy County
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Khoy County is a county in West Azerbaijan Province in Iran. The capital of the county is Khoy, Khoy was named in ancient times for the salt mines that made it an important spur of the Silk Route. 3000 years ago, a city had existed on the area where Khoy is located nowadays, in 714 BC, Sargon II passed the region of which Khoy is part of in a campaign against Urartu. In the Parthian period, Khoy was the gateway of the Parthian Empire in the Northwest, around 37 BC, Marc Anthony had crossed the plain that is located between Khoy and Marand during one of the many and frequent Roman-Parthian Wars. One of the important historic elements of the citys Khoy in the county is the St. Sourp Sarkis church, Armenian documents wrote that the date of the making has to be either 332 or 333 AD. Khoy city was fortified at various times in its history, most recently by the Qajar dynasty in the nineteenth century. Khoy became the centre of the newly established Khanate of Khoy which was loyal to the government only when it was powerful. The return of Khoy to the government of Iran was during the beginning of Qajar period during Agha Mohammad Khans reign. Khoy was attacked in 1827 by Russia who was attempting to seize the last of the Caucasian territories of Iran comprising Armenia, the war, which mainly razed in the extremely nearby South Caucasus region eventually happened to moved deeper south as well. In the mid-1800s some of them immigrated to eastern Armenia, which by then had just became part of the Russian Empire, however, a small Armenian population remains living in Khoy city and county. In 1911 Khoy was occupied by Ottoman troops, followed in World War I by Russian troops, in World War II it was again occupied by Soviet troops, who remained until 1946. Khoy is located in the mountains, so the weather is cold in winter. Spring weather in this city is very pleasant, the city is located in the vicinity of mountains such as Chelekhaneh Mount and Avrin Mount. Khoy was fortified at various times in its history, most recently by the Qajar dynasty in the Nineteenth Century, azerbaijanis form the majority in the county, while Persians, Armenians, Kurds, and Assyrians form minorities there. Khoy Airport is an airport and Bus station in Khoy, Iran, a bus terminus is a designated place where a bus or coach starts or ends its scheduled route. The terminus is the place that a timetable is timed from. Termini can be located at bus stations, interchanges, bus garages or simple bus stops, termini can both start and stop at the same place, or may be in different locations for starting and finishing a route. Termini may or may not coincide with the use of bus stands and it is well known for the tomb of Shams Tabrizi, renowned Iranian poet
4.
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
5.
Urmia
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Urmia (Azerbaijani, اورمو –اورمیه, Persian, ارومیه is the second largest city in the Iranian Azerbaijan and the capital of West Azerbaijan Province. Urmia is situated at an altitude of 1,330 m above sea level, Lake Urmia, one of the worlds largest salt lakes, lies to the east of the city and the mountainous Turkish border area lies to the west. Urmia is the 10th most populated city in Iran, at the 2012 census, its population was 667,499 with 197,749 households. The citys inhabitants are predominantly Iranian Turks who speak Azeri Turkish, as well as Irans official language, Persian. There are also minorities of Kurds, Assyrians, and Armenians, the city is the trading center for a fertile agricultural region where fruits and tobacco are grown. An important town by the 9th century, Urmia was seized by the Seljuk Turks, for centuries the city has had a diverse population which has at times included Muslims, Christians, Jews, Baháís and Sufis. The name Urmia originated in the Kingdom of Urartu, Urartian fortresses and artifacts found across Azerbaijan and into the Azerbaijan province of Iran denote a Urartian etymology. The citys Armenian population also complements the idea of a Urartian origin, richard Nelson Frye also suggested a Urartian origin for the name. Hence Urmia simply means Watertown — a befitting name for a city situated by a lake and surrounded by rivers, would be the cradle of water. This also suggests, that the Assyrians referred to the Urartian influence in Urmia as ancestors of the inhabitants of the Sumerian city state Ur, referenced Biblically as Ur of the Chaldees. Thus the root of Urmia is an Assyrian reference to the etymology of the Urartu/Ur Kingdoms and the Aramaic word Mia meaning water, burrow noted, referenced the city that is situated by a lake and surrounded by rivers. As of 1921, Urmia was also called, Urumia and Urmi, according to Vladimir Minorsky, there were villages in the Urmia plain as early as 2000 BC, with their civilization under the influence of the Kingdom of Van. The excavations of the ancient ruins near Urmia led to the discovery of utensils that date to the 20th century BC. When in 1622, during the reign of Safavid king Abbas I Qasem Sultan Afshar was appointed governor of Mosul and he moved to the western part of Azerbaijan, and became the founder of the Afshar community of Urmia. The city was the capital of the Urmia Khanate from 1747–1865, the first monarch of Irans Qajar dynasty, Agha Muhammad Khan, was crowned in Urmia in 1795. Due to the presence of substantial Christian minority at the end of the 19th century, another mission soon became operational in nearby Tabriz as well. During World War I the population was estimated at 30,000 by Dr. Caujole, during the 19th century, the region became the center of a short lived Assyrian renaissance with many books and newspapers being published in Syriac. Urmia was also the seat of a Chaldean diocese, at the beginning of the First World War tens of thousands of Assyrians and Armenians from the Ottoman Empire found refuge in Urmia
6.
Maku, Iran
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Maku is a city in the West Azerbaijan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 41,865 and it is situated 22 kilometres from the Turkish border in a mountain gorge at an altitude of 1634 metres. The Zangmar River cuts through the city, Maku Free Trade and Industrial Zone is Iran’s largest and the world’s second largest free trade zone and will encompass an area of 5000 square km when it was scheduled to open in 2011. Azerbaijanis and later Kurds constitute the population of the city, Maku was a region of the old Armenia c. 300-800, previously known as Artaz according to Aziz Atiyas History of Eastern Christianity, a branch of the family Amatuni ruled it, as vassals of the family Ardzruni. Maku was the capital of a Kangarli Khanate one of numerous small, the city is well known in Baháí history for its fort where the Báb had been exiled to and imprisoned for nine months. At this fortress Mullá Husayn, the first Disciple of the Báb, Maku has a semi-arid climate owing to its location in the rain shadow of the Zagros Mountains. The city is hot and dry in the summer, and cold with snow in the winter. Most precipitation comes from spring thunderstorms, according to the 2006 census, the city has a population of 42.500 The language in Maku is Azerbaijani Baqcheh Jooq Palace, dates back to the end of the Qajar period. It used to be the house of the governor until 1974. It is 7 km northwest of central Maku and presently functions as a museum displaying some carpets, farhads Home, A place near Baqcheh Jooq Palace. A small home with a hall and two rooms that carved into the rock, the saying comes form the story Farhad and Shirin. Ruins of a fortress are folded into a ledge of the cliff that towers above the town centre. Hiking, it is advisable to have a guide or stay within eyesight of the town, due to its proximity to the Turkish border, it is easy to cross the border unintentionally. Rock climbing, There are numerous rock climbing sites at the part of the city. Panj Cheshmeh - This bridge is located 5 km. from Maku on the Zangmar River and this bridge was constructed in order to facilitate communications between Tabriz and Maku, and the surrounding rural areas. Maku on facebook Maku on panoramio P
7.
Salmas
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Salmas is a city in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran. It is located near the boarder of Turkey. At the 2011 census, its population was 97,060, the majority of the population is composed of Azerbaijanis and Kurds with some Assyrian, Armenian, Persian Jewish, and Persians as minorities. Early mention of Salmas was made in 1281, when its Assyrian bishop made the trip to the consecration of the Assyrian Church of the East patriarch Yaballaha in Baghdad. In the Battle of Salmas on 17–18 September 1429, the Kara Koyunlu were defeated by Shah Rukh who was consolidating Timurid holdings west of Lake Urmia, however, the area was retaken by the Kara Koyunlu in 1447 after the death of Shah Rukh. Mar Shimun, the Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East was murdered by the Kurdish chieftain Simko Shikak in Salmas in March 1918, around the advent of the 1910s, Imperial Russia started to station infantry and Cossacks in Salmas. The Russians retreated at the time of Enver Pashas offensive in the Iran-Caucasus region, but returned in early 1916, part of the Assyrian Genocide took place in Salmas and the surrounding region at the hands of the Ottoman Army and loyal Kurdish irregulars. This followed initially successful Assyrian military campaigns against the Ottomans and their Kurdish allies, Iran and the First World War, Battleground of the Great Powers. Salmas famous people Salmas, By C. E. Bosworth, Salmas Map – Satellite Images of Salmas, Maplandia
8.
Teppe Hasanlu
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Teppe Hasanlu or Tappeh Hassanlu is an archeological site of an ancient city located in northwest Iran, a short distance south of Lake Urmia. Hasanlu Tepe is the largest site in the Gadar River valley, the site consists of a 25m high central citadel mound, with massive fortifications and paved streets, surrounded by a low outer town, 8m above the surrounding plain. The entire site, once much larger but reduced in size by local agricultural and building activities, now measures about 600m across, the site was inhabited fairly continuously from the 6th millennium BC to the 3rd century AD. It is famous for the Gold Bowl found by a team from the University of Pennsylvania led by Robert Dyson, the site of Hasanlu was excavated in 10 seasons between 1956 and 1974 by a team from the University Museum, University of Pennsylvania and the Metropolitan Museum. The project was directed by Robert H. Dyson, Jr. and is considered today to have been an important training ground for a generation of highly successful Near Eastern archaeologists. These other excavations were conducted at Dinkha Tepe, Dalma Tepe, Hajji Firuz Tepe, Agrab Tepe, Pisdeli, the Hasanlu Publications Project was initiated in 2007 to produce the official monograph-length final reports on the excavation. Currently two Excavation Reports and several Special Studies volumes have been completed, starting in the Middle Bronze III period or hasanlu VIa, there are important changes in material culture. This is best attested at the site of Dinkha Tepe, but is present at Hasanlu. This ware is known as Monochrome Burnished Ware or, formerly, Grey Ware — the ware occurs in a range of colors. In the Late Bronze Age or Hasanlu Period V, Monochrome Burnished Ware comes to dominate the ceramic assemblages of the Ushnu, during this time, there was occupation on the High Mound and Low Mound of Hasanlu, and graves have been excavated at Dinkha Tepe and Hasanlu. At around 1250 BC, there are changes in the material culture at Hasanlu. This marks the beginning of the Iron I period, formerly identified with Hasanlu Period V, while this period is designated the Iron I, there is virtually no iron in use during this period — two iron finger rings are known from Hasanlu. The High Mound of Hasanlu was almost certainly fortified during this period, and a gateway, large residential structures. The Low Mound was also occupied, the best evidence of this coming from a house excavated in 1957 and 1959 dubbed the Artisans House. This structure derives it name from the fact that evidence for metalworking, at the end of Hasanlu IVc/Iron I, Hasanlu was destroyed by a fire. Evidence of this destruction was discovered on the High andLow Mound and this destruction dates to around 1050 BC and it marks the beginning of the Iron II period. The buildings of the Iron II settlement were based on their Iron I precursors, the primary example of this being the monumental columned halls of the citadel. By the time we hear about it, it is already a fully developed state - the circumstances attending its rise in the 2nd millennium are obscure
9.
Takab
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Takāb or Tekāb also known as Tikan Tapa is a city in and the capital of Takab County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 43,702, the citys inhabitants are predominantly Iranian Azerbaijanis who speak the Azerbaijani language. The famous historical complex Takht-e Soleyman is situated to the North-East of the city, takht-e-Soleyman was one of Takabs oldest Zoroastrian fire temples during the Sassanid Dynasty and had the name Azargoshnasp. The Karaftu Cave is also situated in Takab near Saqqez, shiz is the ancient name used during Persian Empire for Takab. Takab means one narrow water way in Persian language, tak means one or alone and Ab means water. Takab was originally known as Tikan Təpə by its native Afshar people until 1941 when Irans Academy of Persian Language, Afshar people are one of the Oghuz Turkic peoples. These originally nomadic Oghuz tribes moved from Central Asia and initially settled in Iranian Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan republic, later some of them relocated by the Safavids to Khurasan and Mazandaran. Today, they are grouped as a branch of the Turkmens or the Azerbaijanis. Takab has long been one of the centers for production of the famous Afshar rugs, weaving in Takab flourished in the Safavid era. Shahriar Afshar, is an Iranian-American physicist and multiple award-winning inventor
10.
West Azerbaijan Province
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Kurdistan roughly encompasses the northwestern Zagros and the eastern Taurus mountain ranges. Contemporary use of the term refers to four parts of Kurdistan, which include southeastern Turkey, northern Syria, northern Iraq, and northwestern Iran. Iraqi Kurdistan first gained autonomous status in a 1970 agreement with the Iraqi government, there is a province by the name Kurdistan in Iran, it is not self-ruled. Kurds fighting in the Syrian Civil War were able to control of large sections of northern Syria as government forces, loyal to Bashar al-Assad. Having established their own government, they called for autonomy in a federal Syria after the war, various groups, among them the Guti, Hurrians, Mannai, and Armenians, lived in this region in antiquity. The original Mannaean homeland was situated east and south of the Lake Urmia, the region came under Persian rule during the reign of Cyrus the Great and Darius I. At its zenith, the Roman Empire ruled large Kurdish-inhabited areas, corduene became a vassal state of the Roman Republic in 66 BC and remained allied with the Romans until AD384. After 66 BC, it passed another 5 times between Rome and Persia, corduene was situated to the east of Tigranocerta, that is, to the east and south of present-day Diyarbakır in south-eastern Turkey. When the Sasanian Marzban asked Mar Abdisho about his place of origin, he replied that according to his parents, they were originally from Hazza, a village in Assyria. However they were driven out of Hazza by pagans, and settled in Tamanon. Tamanon lies just north of the modern Iraq-Turkey border, while Hazza is 12 km southwest of modern Erbil, in another passage in the same document, the region of the Khabur River is also identified as land of the Kurds. According to Al-Muqaddasi and Yaqut al-Hamawi, Tamanon was located on the south-western or southern slopes of Mount Judi, Kurdistan in the Middle Ages was a collection of semi-independent and independent states called emirates. It was nominally under indirect political or religious influence of Khalifs or Shahs, a comprehensive history of these states and their relationship with their neighbors is given in the text of Sharafnama, written by Prince Sharaf al-Din Bitlisi in 1597. The emirates included Baban, Soran, Badinan and Garmiyan in the south, Bakran, Bohtan and Badlis in the north, the earliest medieval attestation of the toponym Kurdistan is found in a 12th-century Armenian historical text by Matteos Urhayeci. He described a battle near Amid and Siverek in 1062 as to have taken place in Kurdistan, the second record occurs in the prayer from the colophon of an Armenian manuscript of the Gospels, written in 1200. A later use of the term Kurdistan is found in Empire of Trebizond documents in 1336 and in Nuzhat-al-Qulub, written by Hamdollah Mostowfi in 1340. According to Sharafkhan Bitlisi in his Sharafnama, the boundaries of the Kurdish land begin at the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf and stretch on a line to the end of Malatya. In the 16th century, after prolonged wars, Kurdish-inhabited areas were split between the Safavid and Ottoman empires, a major division of Kurdistan occurred in the aftermath of the Battle of Chaldiran in 1514, and was formalized in the 1639 Treaty of Zuhab
