Golestan province is one of the 31 provinces of Iran, located in the northeast of the country and southeast of the Caspian Sea. Its capital is the city of Gorgan, formerly called Esterabad until 1937. Golestan was split off from Mazandaran Province in 1997.
Golestan province borders Turkmenistan to the north. One of the key border points between the two countries is Incheh Borun, which serves as a vital crossing point.
The province was made a part of Region 1 upon the division of the provinces into 5 regions, solely for coordination and development purposes, on 22 June 2014.
Etymology
Gulistan, Golestan, or Golastan translates to "gul-" meaning "flower" and "-stan" meaning "land" or "region." Golestan, therefore, literally means "land of flowers" in Iranian languages (e.g., Persian, Kurdish, and Mazandarani). This is a common toponym in countries with Persian linguistic roots (see Gulistan).
The capital of Gorgan derives its name from a wider region known historically as Gorgân (), Middle Persian Gurgān, and Old Persian Varkāna (in the Behistun Inscription) meaning "land of wolves". This is also the root of the Ancient Greek Ὑρκανία (Hyrkanía) and Latin Hyrcania. Wild wolves are still found in the province.
History
thumb|left|Map of the Abbasid Caliphate showing Gorgan province, forerunner to modern-day Golestan province
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.
- 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
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The population history and structural changes of Golestan province's administrative divisions over three consecutive censuses are shown in the following table.
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Golestan Province
|-
! Counties !! 2006 || style="text-align: right;" | 123,923 || style="text-align: right;" | 132,757 || style="text-align: right;" | 140,709
|-
| Aqqala || style="text-align: right;" | 109,440 || style="text-align: right;" | 124,185 || style="text-align: right;" | 132,733
|-
| Azadshahr || style="text-align: right;" | 88,251 || style="text-align: right;" | 91,767 || style="text-align: right;" | 96,803
|-
| Bandar-e Gaz || style="text-align: right;" | 46,179 || style="text-align: right;" | 46,315 || style="text-align: right;" | 46,130
|-
| Galikash || style="text-align: right;" | — || style="text-align: right;" | 59,975 || style="text-align: right;" | 63,173
|-
| Gomishan || style="text-align: right;" | — || style="text-align: right;" | 63,447 || style="text-align: right;" | 68,773
|-
| Gonbad-e Kavus || style="text-align: right;" | 283,331 || style="text-align: right;" | 325,789 || style="text-align: right;" | 348,744
|-
| Gorgan || style="text-align: right;" | 393,887 || style="text-align: right;" | 462,455 || style="text-align: right;" | 480,541
|-
| Kalaleh || style="text-align: right;" | 149,857 || style="text-align: right;" | 110,473 || style="text-align: right;" | 117,319
|-
| Kordkuy || style="text-align: right;" | 67,427 || style="text-align: right;" | 70,244 || style="text-align: right;" | 71,270
|-
| Maraveh Tappeh || style="text-align: right;" | — || style="text-align: right;" | 55,821 || style="text-align: right;" | 60,953
|-
| Minudasht || style="text-align: right;" | 126,676 || style="text-align: right;" | 75,659 || style="text-align: right;" | 75,483
|-
| Ramian || style="text-align: right;" | 81,866 || style="text-align: right;" | 85,324 || style="text-align: right;" | 86,210
|-
| Torkaman || style="text-align: right;" | 122,218 || style="text-align: right;" | 72,803 || style="text-align: right;" | 79,978
|-
| Total || style="text-align: right;"| 1,593,055 || style="text-align: right;"| 1,777,014 || style="text-align: right;"| 1,868,819
|}
Cities
According to the 2016 census, 1,015,774 people (over 54% of the population of Golestan province) live in the following cities:
- 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
See also
Notes
References
External links
- The Provincial Cultural Heritage Organization