Sistan and Baluchestan province

In the epigraphs of Bistoon and Persepolis, Sistan is mentioned as one of the eastern territories of Darius the Great. The name Sistan, as mentioned above, is derived from Saka (also sometimes Saga, or Sagastan), a Central Asian tribe that had taken control over this area in the year 128 BC. During the Arsacid dynasty (248 BC to 224 AD), the province became the seat of Suren-Pahlav Clan. From the Sassanid period until the early Islamic period, Sistan flourished considerably.

During the reign of Ardashir I of Persia, Sistan came under the jurisdiction of the Sassanids, and in 644 AD, the Arab Muslims gained control as the Persian empire was in its final moments of collapsing.

During the reign of the second Sunni caliph, Omar ibn Al-Khattab, this territory was conquered by the Arabs and an Arab commander was assigned as governor. The famous Persian ruler Ya'qub-i Laith Saffari, whose descendants dominated this area for many centuries, later became governor of this province. In 916 AD, Baluchestan was ruled by the Daylamids and thereafter the Seljuqids, when it became a part of Kerman. Dynasties such as the Saffarids, Samanids, Qaznavids, and Seljuqids, also ruled over this territory.

In 1508 AD, Shah Ismail I of the Safavid dynasty conquered Sistan. After the assassination of Nader Shah in 1747, Sistan and Balochistan became part of the Brahui Khanate of Kalat, which ruled it till 1896. Afterwards, it became part of Qajar Iran.[7]

The whole of the province had been previously called Baluchestan, but the government added Sistan to the end of Baluchestan. After the 1979 revolution, the name of the province was changed to Sistan and Baluchestan.

Today, Sistan refers to the narrow strip of the northern margin of the province and Baluchestan stretches north to south from Zahedan County to Chabahar County. The province borders South Khorasan province in the north, Kerman province and Hormozgan province in the west, the Gulf of Oman in the south, and Afghanistan and Pakistan in the east.

Sistan and Baluchestan province is one of the driest regions of Iran, with a slight increase in rainfall from east to west, and a rise in humidity in the coastal regions. The province is subject to seasonal winds from different directions, the most important of which are the 120-day wind of Sistan, known in Baluchi as Levar; the seventh wind (Gav-kosh); the south wind (Nambi); the Hooshak wind; the humid and seasonal winds of the Indian Ocean; the north wind (Gurich); and the western wind (Gard).

Jameh Mosque of Makki

Most of the population are Balōch and speak the Baluchi language, although there also exists among them a small community of speakers of the Indo-Aryan language Jadgali.[10]^: 25 Baluchestan means "Land of the Balōch"; Sistani are the second largest ethnic group in this province who speak the Sistani dialect of Persian.

The minority Sistani people of Sistan and Baluchestan province are Shia Muslims, and the majority Baloch people of the Baluchestan area in the province are Sunni Muslims, specially Deobandis.[11][12][13]

The southern coasts of the province along the Gulf of Oman

Sistan and Baluchestan is the poorest of Iran's 31 provinces, with a HDI score of 0.688.[2]

The government of Iran has been implementing new plans such as creating the Chabahar Free Trade-Industrial Zone.

Mountains in Chabahar County

Chabahar

Industry is new to the province. Efforts have been done and tax, customs and financial motivations have caused more industrial investment, new projects, new producing jobs and improvement of industry. The most important factories are the Khash cement factory with production of 2600 tons cement daily and three other cement.

Factories under construction:

• Cotton cloth and fishing net weaving factories and the brick factory can be named as well.

The province has important geological and metal mineral potentials such as chrome, copper, granite, antimony, talc, manganese, iron, lead, zinc, tin, nickel, platinum, gold and silver.

One of the main mines in this province is Chel Kooreh copper mine in 120 km north of Zahedan.

Sistan embroidery has been an ancient handicraft of the region that has been traced as far back as 5th-century BC, originating from the Scythians.[14]

1. University of Sistan and Baluchestan
2. Chabahar Maritime University
3. Zabol University
4. Islamic Azad University of Iranshahr
5. Islamic Azad University of Zahedan[17]
6. Zahedan University of Medical Sciences[18]
7. Zabol University of Medical Sciences
8. International University of Chabahar
9. Velayat University of Iranshar
10. Jamiah Darul Uloom Zahedan

Landmarks such as the Firuzabad Castle, Rostam Castle and the Naseri Castle are located in the province.

• 
  Naseri Castle, Iranshahr
• 
  Rostam Castle, in Hamun County

• Bazman, volcano mountain
• Baloch people
• Sistan region
• Balochistan region
• Balochistan, Afghanistan
• Balochistan, Pakistan

• W. Barthold (1984). "Sistan, the Southern Part of Afghanistan, and Baluchistan". An Historical Geography of Iran. Translated by Svat Soucek. Princeton University Press. pp. 64–86. ISBN 978-1-4008-5322-9.
• Kameel Ahmady (2019). From border to border. Comprehensive research study on identity and ethnicity in Iran. London: Mehri publication. ISBN 9781914165221.

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article "Baluchistan (Persia)".

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sistan and Baluchestan Province.

• Official website of Sistan and Baluchestan Governorship
• Chabahar Free Trading Zone, Sistan and Baluchistan