Birdschand
| Birdschand | |||
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| Basic data | |||
| Country: |
 Iran
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| Province : | South Khorasan | ||
| Coordinates : | 32 ° 52 ' N , 59 ° 12' E | ||
| Height : | 1491 m | ||
| Residents : | 178,020 (2011) | ||
| Area code : | 0561 | ||
| Time zone : | UTC +3: 30 | ||
| City structure: | 3 boroughs | ||
| Website: | www.birjandcity.com | ||
Birdschand ( Persian بيرجند Birdjand , 'storm city') is the capital of the Iranian province of South Khorasan (formerly the sub-province of Birdschand) with its 179,686 inhabitants (as of 2012), a land area of 88,404 km² (March 2004) and a population density of 7 inhabitants per km².
location
Birjand is a very old surrounded by more than 20 castles city on the opium - Silk Road . This street was also called opium crescent because it was used to smuggle opium from Afghanistan to Europe . The city in eastern Iran is located on small hills in a barren valley and is now the only larger city within a radius of over 200 km. Birdschand has become one of the most important centers in eastern Iran, after Mashhad and Zahedan , due to the rapid population growth .
Birdschand is an important center for building materials, textile and carpet production, the sugar and confectionery industry, agriculture and livestock. Copper, lime and lead mines are operated.
Historically, Birdschand was the seat of semi-autonomous rulers and a center for caravans, particularly between Afghanistan and the rest of Iran. It is located 1,309 km southeast of Tehran . The city is separated from the rest of Iran by mountains and salt deserts (Kawir-e Lut, Kawir-e Namak, Dascht-e Kawir) and has the international airport Birjand Airport (IATA code XBJ), but can also be reached by road. The airport, built before World War II , was the country's third airport after Ghaleh Morghi in Tehran and Bushehr airport .
The city and the region still have no rail links.
As a bridge city in trade and traffic between the large cities in the north-east of Tehran and Mashhad as well as in the west, Russia and the former Soviet republics with Afghanistan , Pakistan , the People's Republic of China and India , the city has retained its importance to this day.
The city (or today the province) borders on Lake Hamun . The Shah River also flows through Birdschand.
The Birdschand region borders the Ghaeenat region in the north, Afghanistan over a length of 140 km in the east, the Nahbandan region and the Iranian province of Kerman in the south, and the Farduss and Tabass regions in the west .
The region is 34,893 km² and a mountain region. The city of Birdschand is both a provincial capital and the regional center. In the south are the Baghran Mountains , in the west the Shah Mountain, Mo'men Abad Mountains. The rivers are mostly dry depending on the season. The region itself comprises ten villages and two cities and is the most populous in the province.
A huge fortress, the Paeen Shahr Castle , still stands on a hill in the middle of the city . The city is surrounded by a mountain range. To the southeast of the city, uranic mountains begin near the city of Mud .
The province's only Kuh-e Ateschan ('Fire Mountain') volcano is located west of Birdschand in the Tabass region .
population
With very few exceptions, the differentiation between the various ethnic groups is of a linguistic nature, as differentiation according to ethnic criteria is hardly possible. Due to the eventful history of Khorasan , a multi-ethnic and multi-denominational population lives in the region today. The largest group of the population are the speakers of Iranian languages , mainly Persian and Pashto are represented, with Persian being the dominant language numerically, historically and culturally.
The speakers of Central Asian Mongolian and Turkic languages form a significant minority , of which Uzbek is certainly the most important. There are also smaller communities of Arabs and Kurds . The number of Kurds in the whole of Khorasan is around 2,170,000 today. They speak Kurmanji , a Kurdish dialect, and are often located in the Birdschand region. In addition to the Iranian ethnic group of Kurds, there has recently been an unknown number of Afghan refugees. The vast majority of the refugees are Shiite Muslims of Persian descent.
Birdschand lies on the same geographical level as the neighboring Afghan provincial capital Farah with its province of the same name . Birdschand and Farah people speak a similar Persian dialect; H. very old Persian words, terms, terms that only these people from these two cities understand and use. Most Shiite Persians from Birdschand have relatives in Farah and vice versa.
Sunnis from the Baluch tribe live directly above the city . Sunni Pashtun tribes are at home in the province administered by Birdschand on the northeastern border with Afghanistan . Both the Baluchi, who mainly live in Pakistan , and the Pashtuns, who mainly live in Afghanistan, are of Iranian descent.
The official language in Birdschand is Persian.
climate
Warm in southern areas and temperate in mountainous regions. In general, the region around Birdschand is dry.
Climate data (2002):
- Average rainfall in the year 169 mm or 169 l / m², the maximum is reached in March.
- Average temperature in the year is 17.0 ° C, in July the maximum is reached.
- In July, the apex of the parabola is reached at 28.8 ° C.
- The lowest temperature is reached in January at 4.0.
education
In the middle of the 19th century, Shokatiyeh, one of the first public schools in Iran, was built in Birdschand . Since then, numerous university institutes have established themselves in the city and Birdschand has achieved worldwide fame as a city of science and research.
There are the following universities in Birdschand:
- Birdschand University
- Islamic Asad University of Birdschand
- Birdschand University of Medicine
- University of Pajam Noor
- Bahonar Academy for Education
- Elite academy
- Academy of Public Administration
- University of Mining
- Sepide Kaschani Academy for Women's Education
history
Antiquity
Birdschand and its surrounding area were part of the emergence of the Persian Empire during the Achaemenid dynasty . The city found in early history u. a. Mentioned in the books of Ma'jm Albaldan, Marco Polo , Yāqūt al-Hamawī ar-Rūmī , Moghaddassi, Hamdallah Mustaufi and Hafes Abru .
Birdschand only succeeded in ascending after the arrival of Islam and is located in the country of Ghahestan (Persian: Kuhestan , mountainous country ). For 300 to 400 years it has been the seat of government in this region (Arabic: Dar Al-Malek ). For a time (from the Pahlavi- until shortly after the Khomeini era, 2004), the region was part of the province of Khorasan in 2004. The old even larger region Khorasan encompassed an area that all the former Soviet republics east of the Caspian Sea and Afghanistan included .
The region is called Herat Bergland due to the forest-free plateaus in the north of the city up to the city of Herat, which is now in Afghanistan . Since the Sassanid dynasty, this region was criss-crossed by small and very distant villages. Birdschand was just a settlement at the time. To this day, the region is very sparsely populated and unspoiled. In the Parthian era, the local tribe of the Sagartians was a very close ally of the Parthians and together with them ruled the entire Parthian empire ( Regnum Parthorum in Latin ).
middle Ages
During the Sassanid dynasty, the Khorasan and Birdschand area was ruled by Sepahbod (= 'Lieutenant General' - three-star general) Padgoosban and four margraves - each commander of one of the four parts of Khorasan.
After the Islamic conquest of Khorasan in 651, the Khorasan area was divided into four areas, which were named after the four large cities of Neyschabur , Merv , Herat , and Balkh .
Birdschand has been devastated by earthquakes several times in its early Islamic history. In the book Farhanghe Aameh earthquake stories Birdschands often mentioned.
The Abbasid clan controlled Khorasan and Birdschand until 820 , followed by the reign of the Iranian clan of the Tahirids in 896 and the Samanid dynasty in 900. The Turk Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni conquered Birdschand in 994. A few years later he was defeated by the advancing Sultan Ahmad Sandjar .
In 1157 the whole of Khorasan was occupied by the Khwarazmids and some time later, conquered by Mongols, Ilkhanate was added to the territory of the Mongols . Independence movements began in the 14th century. In 1468 Amir Teimoor Goorkani (also called Tamerlane ) came to power. In 1507 the area was occupied by Uzbek tribes (= Turks / Mongols) and Birdschand was destroyed.
Early modern age
The city regained importance in the Safavid dynasty (17th century) and developed into the regional seat of government, but it soon had to relinquish its importance as the most important city in the east to the pilgrimage city of Mashhad ( shrine of the poisoned 8th Imam of the Twelve Shiites - Imam Reza ). Most of the fortifications that have survived to this day date from the time of the Safavid dynasty. The original fortresses were mostly completely destroyed by the Mongols and the then prince of the city was also killed in defense. The most impressive fortress is the mighty Furg Citadel .
In the 17th century, numerous Kurds were deported to Khorasan by the Safavid Shah Abbas I and forcibly settled in the cities of Quchan (located in northern Khorasan) and Birdschand.
In the Safavid dynasty it is mentioned in numerous writings that the region produced many poets, writers and scientists and that the town of Birdschand - built on the Mahur hill - ruled the province of Ghahestan.
Mud houses, narrow streets, small public centers, ancient cisterns , mosques and public baths as well as caravanserais give a characteristic image of the city of that time. They served, especially through their arrangement, to better defend the city from enemies or to fight sandstorms.
After the death of afscharidischen Shah Nadir Shah in 1747, there was an Afghan occupation.
Most recent modern times
After the fall of the historic city of Ghaen during the Safavid Dynasty (probably due to an earthquake), Birdschand became the undisputed center of the Birdschand Province. Since then, the Alam Klan ruled the region as governor until the end of the Qajar dynasty. The father of the Prime Minister Alam was the Amir of Birdschand's sub-province of Ghaenaat until the Pahlavi dynasty.
The last tribal leader / prince von Birdschand, who represented the people parallel to the state governor, was related to the clan and the penultimate emperor Reza Shah Pahlavi , and the tribal leader drew his power from the former district of Mud . It is said that everyone who lived there were related to him.
With the reform of the city administration at the beginning of the Pahlavi dynasty, the medieval era ended in Birdschand, when tribal leaders (from Birdschand, his districts and, if applicable, his region) met for important decisions in the city council. After that, only Prince von Birdschand remained on the city council until his death, as city treasurer.
The ongoing re-conquests during the reign of the Turkish Qajar -Kaiser, there was heavy military conflicts between activities supported by the British Sunni Afghans in the eastern Khorasan regions and which contained again in a coup in Iran's possession areas Herat in the western Khorasan and Birdschands.
An enormous water shortage hindered Birdschand's urban development at that time, especially due to a larger population increase.
With great land losses, not just birdshands, to Afghanistan, which at the time was part of the British sphere of interest, a new eastern border was finally drawn with the peace of Paris in 1857, with the most densely populated regions of the current Khorasan being lost to Iran and Afghanistan from the Persian Union exited.
Birdschand also suffered from the conflict between the Persian Empire and Tsarist Russia at that time, with the north-western provinces (formerly Soviet republics) gradually being lost and the entire country plunging into a serious economic and defensive emergency.
In 1907, Great Britain and the Russian Empire reached a contractual agreement on Iran. Accordingly, Russia accepted British rule over Afghanistan and the desert stretch of the southeast corner, northeast of Bandar Abbas would be assigned to the British, with the trade regions of Azerbaijan, the rich provinces of the Caspian Sea , Khorasan , the country around Tehran and the cities of Yazd and Isfahan being assigned to the Russian Power were left. The parties adhered to the treaty until after the First World War and the October Revolution with the ensuing civil war, when the Russian Empire lost its momentum in foreign policy for decades and thus the state collapse of Iran and the Russian advance into Baghdad and the Persian Gulf could be averted. Unlike the British, the Russians did not leave it mainly to exerting influence over the administration and the military, but tried to exercise total control. Immediately after the invasion, Persian officials were executed. The traditional covering was torn from women, which particularly attracted religious leadership. Birdschand remained largely unaffected by the events of the internal division of Iran between Great Britain and Russia.
When the Qajar ruler Naser al-Din Shah was assassinated, Mozaffar al-Din Shah, considered by most historians to be a weak personality, came to power in his place . He literally followed economic and political advice from Russia. With the help of the mullahs, Great Britain managed to overthrow him from the throne. A dark time continued, which was also felt in Birdschand.
The subsequent invasion of the Turks, initially viewed by most Iranians as liberators, left behind a scorched earth policy, whereby the Turks incited the hatred of the Iranians even from the Russians.
The city's first cinema opened towards the end of the Qajar rule. It got its electricity from a factory called "Marschal".
The city of Birdschand has often been considered the last refuge for the waves of Iranian refugees ( Shiites , Zoroastrians , Ismailis , (Sunni) Arabs, Kurds , etc.) to India . During the wars in Afghanistan there were also large waves of refugees from Tajiks, Uzbeks and various Afghan tribes from Afghanistan. The city has also been the target of Arab refugees trying to escape the tyranny of the Abbasid Caliphate.
Traces and preserved remains of the Zoroastrians still mark the city and its region today. The city has also achieved notoriety for the Baha'i religion through the continuing bloody pogroms against alleged Baha'i followers. The towns in the vicinity of the city are known as strongholds of the Ismaili believers, who once fleeing from the Sunni rulers, whether caliph, sultan or khan, now feel safe here.
Due to its isolated, small and heterogeneous population, the city and its region were often the target of various political and religious movements that hoped to gain a foothold here.
One of the great Baha'i teachers, Nabíl-iA`zam , was once imprisoned here for some time by the governor Sultan-Murad Mirza ( Hisamu's-Saltanih ) and then released again.
The supreme spiritual leader of Iran, Ayatollah Sejjed Ali Khamenei himself, was arrested in the city of Birdschand in 1963 for "involvement in Islamic activities" and released after a short period of time.
In the conflict between Russia and the British Empire , the neutral city had a similar status to Berlin . There, bilateral diplomatic missions were established starting with the British embassy in 1894.
British troops advanced through Birdschand to Khorasan after a protectorate agreement of August 9, 1919 was not ratified by the Persian parliament and revolutionary turmoil in Russia also spread south of the Caucasus.
On the basis of a contract between the RSFSR and Iran dated February 26, 1921, a stay of people hostile to the Soviet Union would have resulted in an invasion of Birdschand.
In August 1941, as part of the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran, Soviet and British troops marched into Iran in violation of international law. Without organized defense, Birdschand fell to the British, who operated from Iraq and the Gulf.
While the Soviets transported all cattle and all agricultural produce, factories and even rails into their own country in the rest of Khorasan, and hunger and epidemics raged in the regions separated from the rest of Persia by a dense military cordon and Iranians were recruited as forced laborers or were forcibly deported, Birdschand, isolated from Northern Iran, was doing comparatively better. Bitter poverty and a lack of medical care were at the center of the problems here too. Opium served as an all-purpose remedy. Malaria was widespread here at the time.
During World War II, Russian fighter pilots flew to Birdschand and bought food. The city was the first Iranian city to have modern water and drainage supplies and, at the same time as the state capital Tehran, a public school Schukatije .
During the Second World War, under the rule of Reza Shah Pahlavis, Birdschand was connected to the southern provincial capital Zahedan and the northern provincial capital Mashhad by a federal road (Persian Schahrah ) , which also led to the railway. Under the rule of Reza Shah Pahlavis, the first city administration with twelve officials was founded and the city's first hospital, "Imam Reza", was put into operation. The first mayor of the city, Mr. Afshar, was in office for six years.
The city became world famous for its saffron and carpet production. The finest quality Khorasan carpets are known in the trade as mud carpets after an earlier part of the city. Birdschand also markets a fruit called Anaab , which is found and grown almost exclusively in its province - mainly in dried form.
A strong earthquake destroyed the city in 1968 and claimed 12,000 lives. The magnitude of the quake reached 7.0. In 1978 the city had a population of 46,943. The population of the South Khorasan region was 196,615. The city was the regional administrative center of South Khorasan at that time and had three further administrative districts under itself, each of which was administered by its three cities Darmiyan, Khoosf and Nahbandan.
The city has now been completely rebuilt, but the risk of earthquakes is still higher than average. A 7.3 magnitude quake on May 10, 1997 killed up to 2,400 people. The quake devastated eleven villages near the border with Afghanistan and also caused considerable damage in Birdschand.
The parallel Afghanistan conflicts ( Soviet-Afghan war , war in Afghanistan ) touched the city through numerous waves of refugees. After Iran's ceasefire with Iraq in 1988, the Birdschand government turned its attention to the drug problem and unemployment. Protective walls against drug smuggling and heavy disputes between smugglers and the federal police marked the post-war period.
With the takeover of Reza Shah Pahlavi and the centralization of political power, Birdschand lost its geopolitical significance between the imperial powers Russia and the British Empire even before the Islamic Revolution . Through Reza Shah Pahlavi, Birdschand became part of the province of Khorasan.
The rulers of Birdschand Province were stripped of their regional power with the Pahlavi dynasty and popular resistance to the assignment of their land lasted for over forty years. The resistance already formed during the term of office of Emperor Mohammad Reza Pahlavi . As part of the still largest province of Iran, Khorasan, Birdschand only regained independence in Iran on September 29, 2004 (approved by the Iranian Parliament on May 18, 2004 and the Guardian Council on May 29, 2004).
Personalities
- Shah Seyyed Ali Kazemi († 1984 in Birdschand), last tribal leader / prince of Birdschand
- Asadollah Alam (born 1919 in Birdschand; died 1978), Prime Minister and Court Minister and Birdschand's largest landowner
- Mohammad Hassan Ganji (1912–2012), father of meteorology and modern geography of Iran
- Sima Bina (* 1944 in Birdschand) is a famous singer and songwriter of Iranian folk music
- Mohammad Reza Hafeznia , professor of political geography and geopolitics
- Abd al-Ali al-Birjandi , famous 16th century astronomer
- Ahmad Kamyabi Mask , Professor of Theater Studies
Attractions
- Chenschat Cave
- Deragon Cave in Sarayan
- Numerous gorges, valleys, waterfalls and other natural / landscape attractions
- Dschame Mosque by Birdschand
- Tschahr Deracht Mosque
- Shrine of Imamzadeh Musa
- Alam palace
- Laughing mazar rock
- Over 20 fortresses and city ruins of the Parthian dynasty from the time 247 BC. BC to AD 226 (like the ruins of a huge city citadel of Nahbandan)
- Furg Citadel (12th century)
- Paen Schahr Castle (12th century)
- Sarayan Ghala Castle
- Kolah Farangi - stately home in Birdschand (built during the Zand Dynasty )
- Amir Abad Garden
- Behgard garden
- Akbariyeh garden
- Band-e-dare dam
fauna
Some of the species found in the Birdschand region:
- Asiatic lion ( Panthera leo persica ), attention: the Persian lion, which lived here about a century ago, can currently only be admired in the zoo and only in north-west India (Gir Forests) still in the wild (about 200)
- Persian leopard
- Persian cheetah
- Manul
- Ind. Mongoose
- Kleinspot genet
- Mouse weasel
- Scorpions
- Anopheles -Mücke
- chamois
- Various Bats
- Asiatic wild ass
- Alexander Parakeet
- Golden eagle
- Golden pheasant
- hoopoe
The diversity of animal and plant species in Birdschand and its region is classified by UNEP (in the study of biodiversity and extinction) as mediocre (status 2007).
Military bases
The military airfield of Birdschand Chur is 50 km west of the city.
The Army Order of Operations of the Eastern Birdschand Operations Sector provides an Airborne Forces Group.
The following military facilities exist near Birdschand:
- Sarji: Arms factory / arsenal
- Tabas: arms factory / arsenal
Others
- Governor: Vajhollah Khedmatgozar
- Crown Prince: Marcel Kasemi
- Mayor: Mohsen Sadeh
City population growth: 2%
Population density of the city: 3697 people per km²
The town of Birdschand is often confused with Bidschar in foreign carpet advertising brochures and newspapers . Often, however, only the name of his internationally much better known former district Mud is given.
See also
Individual evidence
- ^ City population by sex, city and city type. Iran. In: UNData. United Nations Statistics Division, accessed March 4, 2018 .