Golestan province

History

Human settlements in this area date back to 10,000 BC. Evidence of the ancient city of Jorjan can still be seen near the current city of Gonbad-e Kavus. It was an important city of Persia located on the Silk Road.

Under Achaemenid Iran, it seems to have been administered as a sub-province of Parthia and is not named separately in the provincial lists of Darius and Xerxes. The Hyrcanians, however, under the leadership of Megapanus, are mentioned by Herodotus in his list of Xerxes' army during the invasion of Greece.

Demographics

Language and ethnicity

In 2006, the Ministry of Education of Iran estimated the ethnic breakdown of the province to be:

• Turkmens: 34.20%
• Mazandaranis: 30.40%
• Sistanis & Persians: 14.90%
• Baluchis: 10.90%
• Qizilbash: 7.30%
• Others (including Azeris, Kazakhs, Kurds, Armenians and Georgians): 2.3%

The Mazandaranis who inhabit the foothills to Shah Pasand were subsumed under the rubric "Persian" by these official statistics.

The Persians/Mazandaranis are considered by nearly all inhabitants of the province to be "the old natives" while all others are considered ethnic immigrants in the past.

Most Mazandaranis live in Gorgan, Ali Abad, Kordkuy, Bandar-e Gaz and Gonbad-e Kavus. They speak Mazanderani language.

The Turkmens reside in the north of the province, a plain called Turkmen Sahra. Since the 15th century, these formerly nomadic people have lived in this area, the main cities of which are Gonbad-e Kavus and Bandar Torkaman. Turkmens are Sunni Muslim. They form a sizable minority in cities such as Gorgan, Ali Abad, Kalaleh, and many eastern townships.

Azeris and the Qizilbash predate the Turkmen by centuries and have in time become completely Shia, and therefore, culturally associated with the Persians and other Shias.

The Sistani Persians and the Baluch are relatively recent arrivals and date back to the early 20th century. They are still arriving in the area in some numbers due to the lasting drought in their home areas of Sistan.

The people of Kordkuy are originally from the Kurdish areas of west Iran, Kermanshah and Kurdistan provinces. They belong to the Kord-rostami tribe and are also found in significant numbers in other cities like Gorgan and Bandare Gaz. Subtribes of the Kord-Rostami tribe are the Aghili and Sepanlou tribes. Moreover, the city of Maraveh Tappeh has a mixed population of Sunni Turkmens and Shia Kurds.

Other ethnic groups such as Kazakhs, Khorasani Kurds, Georgians, and Armenians also reside in this area, and have preserved their traditions and rituals.

A small minority of followers of the Baháʼí faith also live in Golestan (in Shahpasand).

Population

At the time of the 2006 National Census, the province's population was 1,593,055 in 379,354 households. The following census in 2011 showed an increase in population to 1,777,014 in 482,842 households. The 2016 census measured the population of the province as 1,868,819 in 550,249 households.

Administrative divisions

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

Cities

According to the 2016 census, 1,015,774 people (over 54% of the population of Golestan province) live in the following cities:

Culture

The world's tallest brick structure of its kind, the Gonbad-e Qabus tower, stands in this province.

Climate and geography

Golestan enjoys mild weather and a temperate climate most of the year. Geographically, it is divided into two sections: The plains, and the mountains of the Alborz range. In the eastern Alborz section, the direction of the mountains faces northeast and gradually decreases in height. The highest point of the province is Shavar, with a height of 3,945 meters. Two of the main rivers are the Gharasu and Gorganrud.

Golestan National Park

Golestan National Park in northern Iran is faced with the construction of a road through the forest, allegedly for the ease of traffic for the villagers and woodmen but at the expense of losing the only national park in Iran throughout which a range of different climates (humidity near the Caspian Sea and desert farther south) is spread.

Golestan National Park is Iran's biggest national park which spans three provinces, Golestan, Mazandaran, and North Khorasan. Surprisingly, the authorities ignore repeated calls by experts to construct such roads around, instead of through, the forests, which in this way would no longer threaten animal and plant life.

The park has a significant biodiversity. Its fauna includes wild deer, bears, and small deer. However, with the exception of wild boars, the ungulate population has declined by 68–89% between 1970–1978 and 2011–2014 due to poaching, according to a study published in 2017. The park covers 5% of Iran's forests, and at least 1,362 plant species have been recorded there. The western forest zone, which is typical of the Hyrcanian mountain range, is home to numerous broad-leaved trees - including remnant species such as oak and maple - while the eastern steppe zone is mainly composed of evergreen shrubs such as juniper and artemisia.

Colleges and universities

• Golestan University
• Golestan University of Medical Sciences
• Gonbad Kavous University
• Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources
• Islamic Azad University of Azadshahr
• Islamic Azad University of Gorgan
• Islamic Azad University of Ali Abad katool