Gilan Province

History

Paleolithic

Early humans were present at Gilan since Lower Paleolithic. Darband Cave is the earliest known human habitation site in Gilan province; it is located in a deep tributary canyon of the Siah Varud and contains evidence for the earliest prehistoric human cave occupation during the Lower Paleolithic in Iran.

Stone artifacts and animal fossils were discovered by a group of Iranian archaeologists that dates back to the late Chibanian. Yarshalman is a Middle Paleolithic shelter that was probably occupied by Neanderthals about 40,000 to 70,000 years ago. Later Paleolithic sites in Gilan are Chapalak Cave and Khalvasht shelter.

Early history

It seems that the Gelae, or Gilites, entered the region south of the Caspian coast and west of the Amardos River (now called the Sefid-Rud) in the second or first century BCE, Pliny identifies them with the Cadusii who were living there previously. It is more likely that they were a separate people, had come from the region of Dagestan, and taken the place of the Kadusii. That the native inhabitants of Gilan have some originating roots in the Caucasus is supported by genetics and language, as the Y-DNA of Gilaks most closely resemble that of Georgians and other South Caucasus peoples, while their mtDNA closely resembles other Iranian groups. Their languages shares typologic features with the languages of the Caucasus.

Medieval history

Gilan province was the place of origin of the Ziyarid dynasty and Buyid dynasty in the mid-10th century. Previously, the people of the province had a prominent position during the Sassanid dynasty through the 7th century, so that their political power extended to Mesopotamia.

The first recorded encounter between Gilak and Deylamite warlords and invading Muslim armies was at the Battle of Jalula in 637 AD. Deylamite commander Muta led an army of Gils, Deylamites, Persians and people of the Rey region. Muta was killed in the battle, and his defeated army managed to retreat in an orderly manner.

However, this appears to have been a Pyrrhic victory for the Arabs, since they did not pursue their opponents. Muslim Arabs never managed to conquer Gilan as they did with other provinces in Iran. Gilanis and Deylamites successfully repulsed all Arab attempts to occupy their land or to convert them to Islam.

In fact, it was the Deylamites under the Buyid king Mu'izz al-Dawla who finally shifted the balance of power by conquering Baghdad in 945. Mu'izz al-Dawla, however, allowed the Abbasid caliphs to remain in comfortable, secluded captivity in their palaces.

The Church of the East began evangelizing Gilan in the 780s, when a metropolitan bishopric was established under Shubhalishoʿ. In the 9th and 10th centuries AD, Deylamites and later Gilanis gradually converted to Zaydi Shiʿism.

Several Deylamite commanders and soldiers of fortune who were active in the military theaters of Iran and Mesopotamia were openly Zoroastrian (for example, Asfar Shiruyeh a warlord in central Iran, and Makan, son of Kaki, the warlord of Rey) or were suspected of harboring pro-Zoroastrian (for example Mardavij) sentiments. Muslim chronicles of Varangian (Rus', pre-Russian Norsemen) invasions of the littoral Caspian region in the 9th century record Deylamites as non-Muslim. These chronicles also show that the Deylamites were the only warriors in the Caspian region who could fight the fearsome Varangian Vikings as equals. Deylamite mercenaries served as far away as Egypt, al-Andalus, and in the Khazar Kingdom.

The Buyids established the most successful of the Deylamite dynasties of Iran.

Early modern and modern history

Gilan recognized twice, for brief periods, the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire without rendering tribute to the Sublime Porte, in 1534 and 1591.

The Safavid emperor, Shah Abbas I ended the rule of Khan Ahmad Khan (the last semi-independent ruler of Gilan) and annexed the province directly to his empire. From this point onward, rulers of Gilan were appointed by the Persian Shah. In the Safavid era, Gilan was settled by large numbers of Georgians, Circassians, Armenians, and other peoples of the Caucasus whose descendants still live or linger across Gilan. Most of these Georgians and Circassians are assimilated into the mainstream Gilaks. The history of Georgian settlement is described by Iskandar Beg Munshi, the author of the 17th century Tarikh-e Alam-Ara-ye Abbasi, and the Circassian settlements by Pietro Della Valle, among other authors.

The Safavid empire became weak towards the end of the 17th century CE. By the early 18th century, the once-mighty empire was in the grips of civil war and uprisings. The ambitious Peter I of Russia (Peter the Great) sent a force that captured Gilan and many of the Iranian territories in the North Caucasus, Transcaucasia, as well as other territories in northern mainland Iran, through the Russo-Persian War (1722–1723) and the resulting Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1723). Gilan and its capital of Rasht, which was conquered between late 1722 and late March 1723, stayed in Russian possession for about ten years.

Qajars established a central government in Persia (Iran) in the late 18th century CE. They lost a series of wars to Russia (Russo-Persian Wars 1804–1813 and 1826–28), resulting in an enormous gain of influence by the Russian Empire in the Caspian region, which would last up to 1946. The Gilanian cities of Rasht and Anzali were all but occupied and settled by Russians and Russian forces. Most major cities in the region had Russian schools and significant traces of Russian culture can be found today in Rasht. Russian class was mandatory in schools and the significant increase of Russian influence in the region lasted until 1946 and had a major impact on Iranian history, as it directly led to the Persian Constitutional Revolution.

Gilan was a major producer of silk beginning in the 15th century CE. As a result, it was one of the wealthiest provinces in Iran. Safavid annexation in the 16th century was at least partially motivated by this revenue stream. The silk trade, though not the production, was a monopoly of the Crown and the single most important source of trade revenue for the imperial treasury. As early as the 16th century and until the mid 19th century, Gilan was the major exporter of silk in Asia. The Shah farmed out this trade to Greek and Armenian merchants and, in return, received a handsome portion of the proceeds.

Demographics

Language and ethnicity

Gilaks and Talysh form the majority of the population, while Azerbaijanis, Kurds and Persians are minorities in the province.

Gilaks live in most of the cities and villages in the province, except Astara and Talesh counties. They are the majority in most of the counties and the province is named after them.

Talysh people live in the northern districts of the province, constituting a majority in the counties of Astara, Talesh, Rezvanshahr and Masal. Overall, in Astara county the Talysh are a slight majority, although they are a significant minority in urban areas like Astara and Lavandevil. In the other three counties, they are a clear majority.

Azerbaijanis, Turkic speakers of the province, are concentrated primarily in urban areas of Astara county, as well as the Haviq and Lisar districts of Talesh county. Also, there is a sizeable Azerbaijani community in the port city of Bandar-e Anzali.

There are four groups of Kurds in the province with different origins. Amarlou in Rasht and Rudbar, Reshvand in Rasht, Jalalvand in Langroud, and Kormanj in Hashtpar.

Persians are concentrated in the city of Rasht and are divided into two: the immigrants from Tehran and other central Iranian cities, and the local people who have adopted the Persian language in favor of their heritage language.

The Gilaki language is a Caspian language, and a member of the northwestern Iranian language branch, spoken in Iran's Gilan, Mazandaran and Qazvin provinces. Gilaki is the main heritage language in the province of Gilan and is divided into three dialects: Western Gilaki, Eastern Gilaki, and Galeshi (in the mountains of Gilan and Mazandaran). The western and eastern dialects are separated by the Sefid Roud.

Although Gilaki is the most widely spoken heritage language in Gilan, the Talysh language is also spoken. There are only two counties in Gilan where Talyshi is exclusively spoken: Masal and Masuleh. In other cities Talyshi is spoken alongside other languages.

Population

At the time of the 2006 National Census, the province's population was 2,381,063 people in 669,221 households. The following census in 2011 counted 2,480,874 in 777,316 households. The 2016 census measured the population of the province as 2,530,696 people in 851,382 households.

Administrative divisions

The population history and structural changes of Gilan province's administrative divisions over three consecutive censuses are shown in the following table.

Cities

According to the 2016 census, 1,598,765 people (over 63% of the population of Gilan province) live in the following cities:

Geography and climate

Gilan has a humid subtropical climate with, by a large margin, the heaviest rainfall in Iran: reaching as high as 1,900 millimetres (75 in) in the southwestern coast and generally around 1,400 millimetres (55 in). Rasht, the capital of the province, is known internationally as the "City of Silver Rains" and in Iran as the "City of Rain".

Rainfall is heaviest between September and December because the onshore winds from the Siberian High are strongest, but it occurs throughout the year though least abundantly from April to August. Humidity is very high because of the marshy character of the coastal plains and can reach 90 percent in summer for wet bulb temperatures of over 26 °C (79 °F). The Alborz range provides further diversity to the land in addition to the Caspian coasts.

The coastline is cooler and attracts large numbers of domestic and international tourists. Large parts of the province are mountainous, green and forested. The coastal plain along the Caspian Sea is similar to that of Mazandaran and mainly used for rice paddies. Due to successive cultivation and selection of rice by farmers, several cultivars including Gerdeh, Hashemi, Hasani, and Gharib have been bred.

Colleges and universities

Gilan University of Medical Sciences

Institute of Higher Education for Academic Jihad of Rasht

Islamic Azad University of Bandar Anzali

Islamic Azad University of Astara

Islamic Azad University of Lahijan

Islamic Azad University of Talesh

Islamic Azad University of Rasht

Payam-e-Noor University – Talesh

Technical & Vocational Training Organization of Gilan

University of Guilan

Notable people

Abdul Qadir Gilani

Ebrahim Pourdavoud

Mohammad Ali Mojtahedi Gilani, founder of Sharif University of Technology

Ardeshir Mohassess, cartoonist

Mirza Kuchek Khan, founder of Constitutionalist movement of Gilan

Arsen Minasian

Hazin Lahiji, poet

Mohammad Taghi Bahjat Foumani, Twelver Shi'a Marja

Ataollah Salehi

Mahmoud Behzad

Majid Samii, brain surgeon in Germany

Fazlollah Reza, second head of Sharif University of Technology

Mohammad Moin, prominent Iranian scholar of Persian literature and Iranology

Houman Seyyedi

Mahmoud Namjoo

Alireza Jahanbakhsh, football player

Jalal Hosseini, football player

Hushang Ebtehaj, contemporary poet

Mardavij, former king of Iran

Khosrow Golsorkhi, journalist, poet, and communist activist

Anoushiravan Rohani, pianist and composer