Zanjan, Iran

Drawing by Eugène Flandin

According to the Nuzhat al-Qulub of the 14th-century Iranian geographer Hamdallah Mustawfi (died after 1339/40), Zanjan was said to have been founded by the first Sasanian ruler Ardashir I (r. 224–242), who named it "Shahin." During the Arab invasion of Iran, Zanjan was conquered in 645 by a force led by al-Barra ibn Azib. Medieval geographers generally agree that Zanjan was located in the region of Jibal/Persian Iraq, near the frontier of the neighbouring region of Azerbaijan. Some geographers also include Zanjan as part of Daylam or Ray.[8]

After 833, the Abbasid Caliphate had a chain of forts constructed from Zanjan to Ardabil to counter the 817–837 rebellion of the Khurramite leader Babak Khorramdin (died 838).[9] In the 10th-century, Zanjan was ruled by local Daylamite dynasties such as the Musafirids (919–1062).[8] According to the 13th-century Arab geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi (died 1229), the Persians referred the city as "Zangan."[10] During the Ilkhanate era (1256–1335), the inhabitants were reported by Hamdallah Mustawfi to have spoken "pure Pahlavi" (pahlavī-e rāst), a Median or northern form of Persian.[11][12]

One important moment in the history of the city was in 1851 when the city became a center for the suppressed Babi religious movement, along with Neyriz and a fortress known as Shaykh Tabarsi. The forces of the central government captured the Babi fort in Zanjan after a long siege on the orders of Grand Vizier (Prime Minister of Iran) Amir Kabir and killed or expelled the Bab's followers.[13]

Before becoming the capital of the namesake Zanjan province, Zanjan was a county of the Gilan province.[11]

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, rainfed agriculture makes up around 42% of Zanjan's land cover and grasslands account for another 37%. The remainder is bareland, irrigated agriculture, forest, orchard and riverbanks. Only 1.07% of the land is urban development.[14]

• Lead
• Zinc
• Pasteurized milk
• Chemical productions
• Weaving
• Cotton
• Food productions
• Transformer
• Electrical productions

Zanjan is also home to several universities such as:

• University of Zanjan
• Zanjan University of Medical Sciences
• Islamic Azad University of Zanjan
• Institute for Advanced Studies in Basic Sciences (IASBS)

Zanjan is known for having one of the best indoor sport climbing walls in the Middle East, located in Enghelab sports complex. The facility also includes standard speed climbing walls. The city's football team is Shahrdari Zanjan F.C., who play in the 2nd Division.[21]

Approximately half of the population of Zanjan Province lives in Zanjan city.[6] In a 2017 study, researchers concluded that Azerbaijani-speaking families in the city display language shift to Persian.[6]

For a complete list see: Category:People from Zanjan, Iran

• Syed Miran Hussain Zanjani, 11th century Sayyid Sufi mystic, who travelled to and settled in Lahore to preach Islam
• Shahab al-Din Yahya ibn Habash Suhrawardi, Persian philosopher and founder of the Iranian school of Illuminationism, an important school in Islamic philosophy that drew upon Zoroastrian and Platonic ideas
• Asadollah Bayat-Zanjani, Iranian theologian, Islamic philosopher, writer and Grand marja of Islam
• Hujjat, early leader of the Bábí movement of 19th-century Persia
• Reza Mirkarimi, contemporary film writer, director, and producer
• Mousa Shubairi Zanjani, Iranian shia Marja
• Yousef Sobouti, contemporary Iranian theoretical physicist
• Mehdi Sohrabi, Iranian professional racing cyclist
• Amir Hatami, Iranian regular army (Artesh) officer with the rank of Brigadier general and the current minister of defense of Iran
• Abbas-Ali Amid Zanjani, Iranian politician and cleric
• Saeid Mahdioun, Iranian fighter pilot
• Majid Shahriari, nuclear scientist and engineer who worked with the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran
• Jamileh Sheykhi, Iranian actress
• Said Matinpour, Iranian activist, journalist and ex-political prisoner
• Mirza Abutaleb Zanjani, Iranian jurist and Shia scholar
• Mohammad Ezodin Hosseini Zanjani, Iranian shia Marja
• Farah Ossouli, Iranian painter
• Jamshid Ansari, Iranian reformist politician
• Abdulkarim Zanjani, Shiite teacher
• Mohammad Yeganeh, Iranian economist who was the Governor of the Central Bank of Iran from 1973 to 1975
• Seyyed Mohammad Hosseini Zanjani, Iranian shia Marja
• Reza Zanjani, Shia Iranian cleric
• Masoud Roghani Zanjani, Iranian academic, economist, scholar
• Fatemeh Rakeei, Iranian politician, linguist, poet
• Ali Shakouri-Rad, Iranian physician and reformist politician
• Mahsa Javar, Iranian competitive rower
• Mohsen Mohammadseifi, Iranian wushu athlete
• Abdul Karim Kho'ini Zanjani, Iranian scholar and cleric
• Ali Akbar Saremi, Iranian architect
• Mohammad Kiavash, Iranian politician
• Meisam Nassiri, Iranian freestyle wrestler
• Ebadollah S. Mahmoodian, retired professor of mathematics
• Hossein Monzavi, prominent Iranian poet
• Hossein Abedini, Iranian actor
• Ahmad Hakimipour, Iranian reformist politician
• Davoud Maleki, Iranian featherweight weightlifter
• Seyed Esmaeil Mousavi Zanjani, Iranian politician
• Sadollah Nasiri Gheydari, university professor
• Narges Mohammadi, human rights activist and Nobel laureate

• 
  Asadollah Bayat-Zanjani
• 
  Mousa Shubairi Zanjani
• 
  Amir Hatami
• 
  Reza Mirkarimi
• 
  Ali Akbar Saremi
• 
  Yousef Sobouti
• 
  Mehdi Sohrabi

• 
  Archaeology museum of Zanjan
• 
  Seyyed Mosque
• 
  Bazaar of Zanjan
• 
  Rakhtshur khaneh, (traditional laundry house of Qajar era, Zanjan's Museum of Anthropology)
• 
  University of Zanjan
• 
  Soltaniyeh's tiles (interior designs)

• Trabzon, Turkey[22]
• Malacca, Malaysia[22]

• Rakhtshooy Khaneh Edifice

• Bosworth, C.E. (2002). "Zand̲j̲ān". In Bearman, P. J.; Bianquis, Th.; Bosworth, C. E.; van Donzel, E. & Heinrichs, W. P. (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam. Volume XI: W–Z (2nd ed.). Leiden: E. J. Brill. pp. 446–447. ISBN 978-90-04-12756-2.
• Le Strange, Guy (1905). The Lands of the Eastern Caliphate: Mesopotamia, Persia, and Central Asia, from the Moslem Conquest to the Time of Timur. New York: Barnes & Noble, Inc. OCLC 1044046.
• Mottahedeh, Roy (1975). "The 'Abbāsid Caliphate in Iran". In Frye, Richard N. (ed.). The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 4: From the Arab Invasion to the Saljuqs. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 57–89. ISBN 0-521-20093-8.
• Yarshater, Ehsan (1988). "Azerbaijan vii. The Iranian Language of Azerbaijan". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica, Volume III/3: Azerbaijan IV–Bačča(-ye) Saqqā. London and New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul. pp. 238–245. ISBN 978-0-71009-115-4.

• Official website of Zanjan Governorship
• zanjansite
• Official website of Zanjan chamber of commerce
• Sultaniyeh Dome Official website

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