Karaj
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| Basic data | |||
| Country: |
 Iran
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| Province : | Alborz | ||
| Coordinates : | 35 ° 49 ′ N , 50 ° 58 ′ E | ||
| Height : | 1312 m | ||
| Surface: | 162 km² | ||
| Residents : | 1,973,470 (2016 census) | ||
| Population density: | 12,182 inhabitants per km² | ||
| Area code : | 0261 | ||
| Time zone : | UTC +3: 30 | ||
| Website: | karaj.ir | ||
| politics | |||
| Mayor : | Seyyed Ali Aghazadeh | ||
Karaj ( Persian کرج; English Karaj ) is a large city in Iran with around 2 million inhabitants (2016) and a large proportion of young people (around 50% of the population). The city is located at an altitude of 1300 m at the foot of the Elburs Mountains , about 40 km west of Tehran and is the capital of the Alborz province .
history
Karaj has now become a suburb of the capital through the expansion of Tehran. But the city itself has been inhabited since the Bronze Age. Sites from this time are the Tepe Churvin (Bronze Age) and Kalak (Iron Age). A large caravanserai and a stone bridge were built over the Karaj River under the Safavids . During the Qajar era , the city was an important stop between Tehran and Qazvin . The trade route through Karaj, which led to Chalus on the Caspian Sea , was expanded into a modern expressway in the 1930s and opened in 1938. Another important road through Karaj connected Tehran with Gilan and Azerbaijan .
In the course of the wave of modernization under Reza Shah Pahlavi , an industrial area of over 200 hectares was designated south of Karaj. The first Iranian steelworks were to be built here, but their components from Germany were stopped by the British on the Suez Canal due to the prevailing Second World War . Nevertheless, Karaj became a location where, among other things, sugar, textiles and alcohol were produced. In the 1960s, Sharak-e Jahanshar, a modern workers' settlement with industrial facilities, was built. As part of the entire Tehran-Karaj-Qazvin industrial region, Karaj generated a large proportion of the gross national income .
As the city grew, informal settlements such as B. Tepe Morad Ab / Zurabad, which was built by workers from the regions of Zanjan and Azerbaijan. Several districts became so large that they were declared independent cities (Schahr) in 1979, but were merged with Karaj to form the city of Karaj in 1996. In order to control urban development, master plans were drawn up over the years, but never implemented. The first master plan in 1977 failed due to the Islamic Revolution. In the years of the First Gulf War (1980–1988) Karaj grew out of control because of the large number of refugees from the war zones. In 1989 a new plan was presented, which was only approved in 1993 and only started to be implemented in 1999. But illegal settlements and the appropriation of land made implementation difficult.
The modern Karaj consists of 10 districts and is about 16,000 hectares (1997). Green areas and rural parts make up about 700 hectares. There is a metro connection to Tehran, but public transport within Karaj is underdeveloped and connections to the suburbs are poor. There is a postal airport in Mehrschahr, but it doesn't work much. In order to strengthen the connection between industry and universities, large areas were allocated to various universities. The level of education of the residents is similar to that of the people from Tehran, but Karaj offers few social and cultural activities.
Well-known institutions
- On the western outskirts (Hesarak / Mehrshahr) is the Morvarid Palace, which was built in the 1960s.
- As part of the Iranian nuclear program, a nuclear research center for agriculture and medicine is located in Karaj. It is also believed that a nuclear reactor is being built in Karaj with the help of Russian and Chinese experts. In addition, Karaj is considered to be the center of the Iranian missile industry.
- In 1810, the Qajar prince Solayman Mirza built a summer palace with four towers and surrounded by gardens and walls. But as early as 1860 the traveler EB Eastwick reported that the palace was deserted. The palace grounds were restored under Nāser ad-Din Shah and in 1917 an agricultural college moved into the gardens. Under Reza Shah Pahlavi, the Faculty of Agriculture of Tehran University moved here.
traffic
The city lies on the Tehran – Tabriz railway line .
climate
The climate in Karaj is very continental with little rainfall. Typical are hot and dry summers and damp and cold winters. Precipitation is very unlikely in summer. But if it does come, you have to reckon with comparatively heavy rains, which mostly come at night. The next day you can admire the snow-capped mountains (above 2500 meters). Most precipitation comes in the winter months (mostly as snow) and in spring. The temperature differences between day and night, which are usually more than 15 ° C, are also remarkable. Therefore the summer nights are also pleasant and bearable. In autumn there can often be heavy air pollution because the mountain range in the northeast represents a natural obstacle to the typical west and south winds and the pollution can build up. The capital in the east is also struggling with the same problem to a different extent.
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Average monthly temperatures and rainfall for Karaj
Source: weather.ir
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Ethnic compilation
| Ethnicity | language | Percentage ownership % |
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| Persian | Persian | 53% |
| Azerbaijanis | Azeri ( South Azerbaijani ) | 30% |
| Kurds | Kurdish languages ( Kurmanji , Sorani ...) | 7.2% |
| Gilaker and Masanderans | Gilaki or Masanderan | 5% |
| Lurs | Lurian dialects | 4.1% |
| Arabs | Arabic | 0.9% |
| Others | Others | 0.3% |
Karaj reflects the ethnic composition of Iran : Persians make up the largest ethnic group with around 50%, followed by Azerbaijanis , Kurds , Caspian peoples , Lurs and Arabs . There are also Christians and other insignificant minorities, including refugees from Afghanistan . Persian is the dominant language, and minorities also speak Persian as a second language. Almost all people are officially Muslim , the majority Shiite , although there are also Sunnis .
sons and daughters of the town
- Abu Bakr al-Karaji (* around 953, † around 1029), Persian mathematician
- Zende (* 1943), artist
- Mehrdad Pooladi (* 1987), soccer player
- Raheleh Asemani (* 1989), Belgian-Iranian Taekwondo athlete
See also
Web links
- Karaj . In: Ehsan Yarshater (Ed.): Encyclopædia Iranica (English, including references)
- Website about Karaj in Persian
Individual evidence
- ↑ Statistical Center of Iran: Population by age groups and sex and province, the 2016 Population and Housing Census. (xlsx) Retrieved July 21, 2017 (Excel file, can be downloaded from the website. (Excel; 21 KB)).
- ↑ PARS Advanced Research Scholars - = | =. February 17, 2016, accessed April 20, 2020 .