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Brief History
Of The Land:
Location:
Eastern Azerbaijan Province, 625 kms northwest of Tehran
It all began about 6000
years ago when the dwellers of the sweeping plains of what
is now Southwestern Iran began to establish settlements that
would grow into cities bustling with rich commerce. Susa
(Shush), capital of the region known as Elam, was first
among them, and it would be followed by the Elamite cities
such as Anshan.
Standing as it did between the Indus valley to the east
and the ancient civilization of Sumer to the west, Susa
became a focal point for trade. It also became a rich prize
for conquerors.
Although the history of the time is murky,
the third millennium B.C. seems to have been marked by
frequent warfare between Elamites and Mesopotamian forces
from Akkad, who eventually overran and occupied Susa. In
time the armies of Elam regained the city, but control would
fall intermittently to Elamites and to Mesopotamians for
centuries to come.
Elamites were renowned for their
metal work, exemplified in the three-inch gold statuette
- thought to represent a king at worship, bearing a
sacrificial goat, which was unearthed beneath a temple in
Susa from about 1200 B.C.
Then came the Aryans from a land according
to the Avesta called Aeria Veich, or Iran Veich. They were
groups of Indo-Europeans living in cold, icy lands of north
western Asia. Maads (Medes according to Greeks) were first
of four Indo-European groups (Medes, Persians, Parthians,
Segs or Sistanis) who settled in the land they called Iran.
The Medes settled in Northwest of Iran
which is today the Azerbaijan, Hamadan, Kermanshahan,
Qazvin, Tehran and Espahan. These were called the Median
Lands with Azerbaijan being the Smaller Medes and the
other part being called the Greater Medes. Medes formed
their own Iranian Empire by defeating Assyrians and
capturing Asia Minor all the way to Syria.
By the time the Assyrian King, Ashurbanipal sacked Susa
in 647 B.C., the Elemites had already been eclipsed by the
Indo-European Medes, who would in turn oust the Assyrians.
There then arose a new power, the Persians, also
Indo-Europeans, and once vassals to the Medes. Under the
great king, Koorosh (Cyrus) the Great, (whose mother was a
Median Princess and daughter of the great Median king,
Astyag), a new alliance was formed between the Persians and
the Medes. They defeated the Babylonians ending the
Babylonian empire and became undisputed rulers of the old
territory of the Elamites. Claiming descent from the
legendary Persian King Achaemenes, Cyrus the Great founded
the Achaemenid dynasty, thus forming another more powerful
Iranian Empire. Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Iranian
Nation and the Persian empire, embarked on an ambitious
imperial adventure that would see the Iranian conquest of
Syria, Asia Minor, and Mesopotamia. At his death in 529
B.C., Cyrus the Great was succeeded by his son, Cambyses II
who added Egypt to the Persian empire.
Darius the Great, seized the throne in 522 B.C. after
Cambyses II, consolidated and expanded the empire and
brought Achaemenid Persia to its height. Choosing as his
capital the ancient Elamite city of Susa. Achievements of
the king Darius’ reign surpasses in glory and
majesty anything that history has ever recorded.
The Name:
In reference to the etymology of the
term Azerbaijan, the late scholar and iconoclastic thinker,
Ahmad Kasravi Tabrizi, himself an Iranian from
Azerbaijan, has numerous enlightening articles, the
following, is a shortened version of one called The
Azerbaijan.
Among the provinces of Iran, perhaps none is as renowned
as Azerbaijan or Azerbaijan. Specially after the beginning
of the
constitutional era, when she achieved all those heroic
victories in those revolutionary movements, Azerbaijan
gained more prominence both in Iranian and European
newspapers. This name, from over 2000 years ago, has been
one of the most famous terms in Iran's geography, and in
each century her name has been synonymous with
momentous historic events. However, if we search for
this name in history books we will find three different
variations of it listed in Persian books: Azerbaijan,
Azerbaijan and Azarbadgan. Ferdosi in Shahnameh calls it
Azarabadgan:
Be Yek Mah Dar Azarabadgan Be Boodand Shahan o
Azadegan
Arabs refer to it as
Azerbaijan. In Armenian books both Azarbayaghan and Azarbadaghan are recorded. In ancient
Pahlavi books it is listed as Aturpatgan.
As an explanation for the origin and appearance of the
name Azerbaijan, Strabo (63 B.C. - 24 A.D.), the famous
Greek geographer happens to be the most accurate. According
to him, at the end of the Achaemenid Empire, When Alexander
of Macedonia was prevailing in Iran, an Iranian commander by
the name of Aturpat, fought successfully against the
invaders of Macedonia and prevented them from capturing this
region ( part of the "Median" territory referred to as the
smaller Mede-Maad e Koochek). Thus, this land was named
after him - The Aturpatgan. People elected Aturpat as their
sovereign and he protected their independence and ruled
independently during Alexander's attack on Iran ( 328 B.C.).
Aturpat and his children ruled for three centuries
independently of Selukian and Ashkanian (Parthian) dynasties
over this land in the Northwest of the country which became
Iran again later. Strabo, in his book, which was written at
the time of the Parthians and close to the birth of Jesus,
declares that:
still the successors of Aturpat are reigning
independently. Occasionally they have married into the
family of the Armenian, Parthian, and Syrian rulers.
Thus Azerbaijan is a combination of three words:
- Atur, meaning Azar or Fire
- Pat or paay, from paayeedan, meaning To
Look After/To watch Over,
- Gan, meaning A place, as in Golpaygan
or Zangan (Zanjan) .
Now, the meaning of Azerbaijan is clear to
us:
Azerbaijan is derived from: Aturpatgan
and it means: The Land Of Aturpat or Azarbad
General Location:
Tabriz, Being the provincial capital of Eastern
Azerbaijan ( Aturpatgan ), has slightly more than 1,400,000
population (1992 census) and was the second largest city in
Iran until the early 1970's. Tabriz has been the capital
city of Iran on numerous times throughout the old history of
this country. Tabriz is located in a valley to the north of
the beautiful Mount Sahand. The valley opens out into a
plain that slopes down gently to the northern end of Lake
Orumieh, about 60 km to the west.
Tabriz is 310 km southeast of Bazargan ( Iranian-
Turkish frontier); 159 km south of Jolfa on Iran- Aran (Azerbaijan
republic ) border, and can be reached by very good roads,
rail (742km from Tehran, with connections to the Europe and
Moscow), and air from Tehran and other major cities.
The 160 km long Talkheh Rud or Aji Chai is the major
river of the city, formed by merging of three smaller
rivers of Ab Nahand, Guri Chai, and Ojan Chai which all
originate from the Sabalan Mountain range and heights in the
southeastern part of the town. The Talkheh Rud and other
streams join the lake of Orumieh after passing through the
valleys between the Sorkhband and Yekkeh Chin mountain north
of Tabriz and Osku district. Mehran Rud also called Liqvan
rud originates from the peaks between Karim and Sultan
Mountains overlooking the Liqvan village near the beautiful
Esparakhoon and Qeshloq villages.
Climate:
By virtue of its location, Tabriz has a mild Summer
climate, which makes this city an ideal Summer vacation
spot for the Iranians from the more Southern areas of the
country. The Winters are cold and the snow filled mountains
of Tabriz are perfect for the lovers of Winter sports.
Tabriz has a continental type of climate with low humidity
of average annual rainfall of 289 mm.
Tabriz has been vulnerable to earthquakes
throughout its long history, one of which nearly destroyed
the city completely in 858. After being rebuilt, it was
again devastated in 1041, when more than 40,000 people lost
their lives.
History Of Tabriz:
The city has a long and turbulent history: although the
early history of Tabriz is shrouded in legend and mystery,
the town's origin is believed to date back to distant
antiquity, perhaps even before the Sassanian era
(224-651AD). The oldest stone tablet with a reference to
Tabriz is that of Sargon the second, the Assyrian King. The
tablet refers to a place called Tauri Castle and Tarmkis.
The historians believe this castle was situated on the site
of the present day Tabriz.
It was the capital of Azerbaijan in the
3rd century AD and again under the Mongol Ilkhanid dynasty
(1256 - 1353), although for some time Maragheh supplanted
it.
During the reign of Aqa Khan of the Ilkhanids, as well
as under the reign of Ghazan Khan, Tabriz reached the peak
of glory and importance. Many great artists and philosophers
from all over the world traveled to Tabriz.
In 1392, after the end of Mongol rule, the town was
sacked by Tamerlane. It was soon restored under the Turkman
tribe of the Qara Qoyunlu, who established a short-lived
local dynasty. Under the Safavids it rose from regional to
national capital for a short period, but the second of the
Safavid kings, Shah Tahmasb, moved the capital to Qazvin
because of the vulnerability of Tabriz to Ottoman attacks. The town then went into a period of decline, fought over by
the Iranians, Ottomans and Russians and struck by earthquake
.
Tabriz was the residence of the crown prince under the Qajar kings, but the town did not return to prosperity
until the second half of the 19th century. The greatest
boost to Tabriz came with the opening up of Iran to the West
at the turn of this century, when it became the main staging
post between the interior of Iran and the Black Sea and,for
a short time, the economic capital. In 1908 it was the
center of a revolt against Mohammad Ali Shah, which was only
put down with the brutal intervention of the Russians.
In the second Irano-Russian War the city was occupied by
the Czar troops. However, it was returned to Iran
following the signing of Turkmanchai Treaty, a peace and
trade settlement that ended the Irano-Russian War of
1826-1828.
The Iranian Constitutional Revolution originated in
Tabriz and culminated during the reign of Mohammad Ali Shah
of Qajar dynasty (1779-1925). Sattar Khan and Baqer Khan
were the two most prominent leading figures behind the
movement.
Tabriz was occupied by Russians several times in the
first half of this century, including most of both world
wars. A railway line to the border at Jolfa, built by the
expansionist Russians, was of little importance until
recently, but it has increased in significance in the '90s
as a result of Iran's friendlier relations with its northern
neighbors.
With a very rich history, Tabriz used to house many
historical monuments. Unfortunately, many of them were
destroyed in repeated invasions and attacks of foreign
forces, negligence of the ruling governments, as well
natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods. What
remains now mostly dates back to the Ilkhanids, the Safavids,
and the Qajars. Some of the monuments are unrivaled
masterpieces of architecture.
There are many factories and great industrial and
productive sites in Tabriz which have changed it into one of
the industrial centers in the country. The most important
factories are as follows:
Tractor, machinery and ball-bearing manufacturing factories,
refinery and so many other centers such as carpet weaving
sites.
There are weekly and daily flights from Tabriz
International Airport to Tehran, Mashhad, Rasht, Orumiyeh,
Pars Abad (Moghan) and Kish Island. There are over ten
hotels (first class), which provide good facilities for the
tourists.
Sightseeing In Tabriz:
Kandovan Village: is located in a cold mountainous area
at 50 kms. south of Tabriz and on the slopes of Sahand
Mountain. It is very cold for about 9 months of the year. The interesting point about this village is the shape of the
mountains with the small cave like spaces, that people are
using for living.
Thermal Springs: There are so many thermal
springs in Tabriz Township which are used as a remedy by
many people, such as: Sofiyan, Kandovan, and Bostan Abad.
Jame' Mosque, Tabriz Museum, Old Bazaar of Tabriz,
Bagh-e-Golestan, Bagh-e-Shomal, Ancient Bridge of Chehel
Dokhtar near Tabriz, Constitution House and
Maqbarat-ol-Shoara are of other places of interest in Tabriz.
Old Bazaar of Tabriz is one of the most well known
bazaars of Iran. The architecture of this bazaar is very
popular in the Middle East. There are great number of
shops, arcades, mosques and schools in this place, which
make it an excellent trade center.
Ark Or Citadel Of
Tabriz:
Ark-e Tabriz in Persian (also called Masjid-e Alishah,
Arg-e Alishah) is the impressive remainder of a great and
imposing building in the town. The Arg, a huge and crumbling
brick citadel, is a notable landmark that was built in the
early 14th century on the site of a massive mosque which
collapsed over 500 years ago, and which must been one of the
largest ever constructed. Inside the Citadel there is
nothing except two arches and an indication of the position
of the mehrab; Ali Shah’s court has been covered with
ignoble buildings, the sanctuary walls have been rebuilt and
propped up, and it is hard to believe that any part of this
place was ever a mosque.
Constitution House:
The
Constitution House; is located next to the Tabriz grand
bazaar, on Motahari Ave. During the years which led to the
Constitutional Revolution and afterwards, the house was used
as the gathering place of the leaders, activists, and the
sympathizers of the movement, among them Sattar Khan, Baqer
Khan, Seqatoleslam and Haji Mirza Aqa Farshi.
The two-story building was constructed in 1868 by Haj Vali
Me’mar-e Tabrizi. It has numerous rooms and halls. The most
beautiful part of the house is a skylight and a corridor
decorated with colorful glasses and mirrors.
Blue Mosque:
The
Blue Mosque (or Masjid-e Kabud) on the north side of
town, is a 15th-century structure destroyed partially by one
of Tabriz's recurrent earthquakes.
The entrance portal with its two minarets appears to
have been connected with the main prayer hall (Shabestan)
under the largest cupola of the mosque, by means of vaulted
corridor. On both sides along the corridor, there stand the
remains of the chambers with vaulted roofs. The walls of
the mosque have been riveted with marble slabs and decorated
with superb mosaic tiles. Some of the blue mosaics in the
mosque's portal are heavily damaged and half missing.
Golestan gardens:
Also called the National Park, the garden is one of the
main recreation centers of the city and covers an area of
53,000 square meters. It was built some 70 years ago and
has many huge pools surrounded by green and trees.
Shah Goli:
Do not miss El Goli (former
Shah Goli), a pleasant hillside garden and park around
an artificial lake to the area of 54,675 square meters. El
Goli, only 4 km south of downstream Tabriz, is so lovely a
place that it deserves an illustration. It is a popular
weekend resort for the locals.
A hill in the eastern side of the park leads down to the
pool with steps, and a fountain from top of the hill flows
down to the pool. In the center of the pool there is a
grand hexagonal building. The pool itself is said to have
been built during the reign of Aq Qoyunlu kings. However,
it was extended by the Safavids.
Azerbaijan
Museum:
Azerbaijan Museum, inaugurated in 1962, is on
Khomeini
Ave (next to the Kabud Mosque). With an area of 300 square
meters, it consists of three main halls in which historical
articles, costumes of various tribes of Iran, works of
renowned calligraphers, as well as a collection of pictures,
tracts, declarations, documents, and personal articles of
the leaders of the Constitutional Revolution are on display.
Bazaar:
Strolling in the center of Tabriz, one is reminded very
forcibly that it is a commercial city: one cannot miss its
very large and 15th-century covered bazaar. It is already
much diminished in its variety of goods, but still a great
place for getting hopelessly lost amid its dusty
architectural splendors. Its architectural style, numerous
caravansaries, mosques, and schools have added further
beauty and glory to this complex. Exact information on the
history and origin of the bazaar is not available; however,
historical buildings such as the Jam’s Mosque, Talebieh
School, and Sadeqieh School indicate that the complex is one
of the oldest structures of the city. The present structure
of bazaar dates back to the closing years of the Zand
dynasty (1750-1779 AD).
Leaving the modern chick avenues to see the real bazaar, the
visitor will understand with the amusement of recognition
the shocked tone of the Moor, that indefatigable traveler
Ibn Battuta, who visited Tabriz in 1334:
"I passed through the jewelers’ bazaar, and my eyes were
dazzled by the varieties of precious stones that I beheld.
They were displayed by beautiful slaves wearing rich
garments with a waist-sash of silk, who stood in front of
the merchants, exhibiting the jewels to the customers'
wives, who bought them in large quantities to outdo each
other."
The complex has high brick domes and arches. It includes
several small bazaars, or bazaarches, each for a specific
guild and craft. Carpet making is the main trade, but Tabriz
is also renowned for its silverware and jewelry.
The spice bazaar, one of the most pungent and impressive in
Iran, is an excellent place for picking up henna. Look out
also for the traditional Azeri hats resembling those worn by
the gypsies of Western Europe.
Churches:
From the earliest days of Christianity there has been a
sizable Armenian community in Tabriz, and the city boasts a
number of churches, including one mentioned by Marco Polo on
his travels.
Nowadays, Tabriz has six churches, the most important of
which are: Saint Serkis Church, located in Armenian
quarter of Tabriz, Baron Avak, which was renovated in 1845;
probably the most interesting and the oldest but
substantially rebuilt Church of St. Mary (Kelesa-ye Maryam-e
Moghaddas) which was completed in 1785, on the corner of
North Shari-ati Ave. and Jomhuri Ave; Able Mary Church which
was built in 1910 and is on Miar Miar quarter of Tabriz.
Tabrizi Rugs And
Art:
Conditions in Azerbaijan favored all the arts, including
carpet weaving. The province is abundantly endowed by nature
with wide meadows, fertile valleys, varied terrain, in part
cut by not too formidable mountains into well defined
districts, a circumstance that so often has fostered a vital
culture; and a variety of fundamental natural resources
combined with an equable climate to produce wealth. It is
not surprising that in this region civilization emerged at
an early date, perhaps earlier than anywhere else. Through
the Achaemenid, Parthian, and Sasanian periods little is
known about it and it may have been overshadowed then by
Khurasan and Fars; but after the Mongol invasion for a time
it assumed supremacy. In the fourteenth century it
dominated, politically and culturally, all Iran (Persia).
Here was created a series of architectural masterpieces,
here was a centre of learning, and here were the most
stimulating contacts with Europe. It was in this century
that were laid the foundations of the achievement that was
fulfilled in the art of the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries.
Carpet weaving must have been an ancient art in Azerbaijan.
The materials, the facilities, the necessity had all existed
here quite as much as, if not more than, the rest of Iran.
Tabriz was a carpet market and quite certainly also a
producing center in the Middle Ages. It is within the
possibilities that some of the carpets which appeared in
Europe in the fifteenth century came from this part of the
country, for Tabriz was a great center for European
merchants. But prior to the end of the fifteenth century
definite information is really too scanty to support
profitable speculation.
At the opening of the sixteenth century,
however, the craft in Northwest Iran had certainly attained
the status of a fine art, and it is quite possible that it
was in this region that it first reached that high estate.
Certainly circumstances at that time were decisively in its
favor, for this was the foyer of the brilliant Safavid
renaissance. Here ruled two of the greatest and most
intelligent patrons of art that Iran (Persia) had ever seen,
Isma’il and Tahmasb, monarchs who apparently took a personal
interest in carpet weaving and provided the support, the
opportunity, and the appreciation which evoked the utmost
from the gifted designers and artisans of the day. This
would help to explain why more great carpets have come from
that district, by far, than from all the rest of Iran put
together. Indeed, of the outstanding examples that can be
confidently ascribed to the first half of the sixteenth
century, practically all are from this province.
‘Northwest Iran` is an inclusive term and even the narrower
unit of Azerbaijan is a large territory, including various
separate cultural and ethnographical groups; hence it was
but natural that a number of different rug types should have
evolved there. These regional schools stand out more or less
clearly, and can be given a general and sometimes a specific
localization. Relations to modern carpets indicate, for
example, for certain types a Qara-bagh or Qara-dagh origin.
Tabriz is mentioned in the early literature as producing
carpets, and there is general agreement in assigning one
fairly large class to the capital, and local histories refer
to a court loom operating in Sultaniya in the early part of
the sixteenth century.
But within these regional types there are different kinds of
products: first, the ordinary designs wholly indigenous, the
results of a long accumulating tradition; second, special
efforts in which the master weaver either surpassed himself
or was aided by a professional designer called in from
outside, perhaps in response to an order from king or
courtiers, perhaps in the hope of attracting such profitable
patronage; and third, less ambitious productions, which
were, however, affected in various respects by these more
important cartoons. Thus the limits of the stylistic classes
became very elastic.
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