Ahar

File:Aqdash June 2011.jpg

Aqdash was the resting place of muleteers who carried charcoal to Ahar.

File:Sabalan02.JPG

Mount Sabalan is in the proximity of Ahar

File:Balan (Kaleybar) Rug 2.jpg

Balan Rug; An example of carpets which used to be sold in Ahar's bazar.

Ahar<ref>Template:GEOnet3</ref> (Template:Lang-fa, Template:Lang-az) is a city and capital of Ahar County, East Azerbaijan Province, Iran. According to the 2016 census, Ahar was the fourth most populated city of the province with a population of 100,641 in 20,844 families.<ref name="IranCensus2006|03">Template:IranCensus2006</ref> Ahar was the capital of Karadag Khanate in 18th and 19th centuries.

Situation

In the wake of Russo-Persian War (1804–13) Ahar, with 3500 inhabitants, was the only city of Qaradağ.<ref>Bibliothèque orientale Elzévirienne, Volume 52; Volume 55, 1887 p.224.</ref> Around the mid 1830s the population was estimated to be from five to six thousand inhabitants in about six hundred houses.<ref>Robert Mignan, A Winter Journey Through Russia, the Caucasian Alps, and Georgia: Thence ..., Vol. 1, 1839, London</ref> By 1956 the population had increased to 19816.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> At the 2016 census, its population was 100,641, in 20,844 families.<ref name="IranCensus2006|03"/> Despite this population boom the city has been losing its former importance to the much smaller neighboring Kaleybar city as the later is gaining nationwide fame as a tourist destination.

History

Ahar is one of the ancient cities of Azerbaijan, its name before Islam was "meimad".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In the 12th-13th centuries, Ahar was a minor and short-lived, but prosperous emirate ruled by the Pishteginid dynasty of Georgian origin (1155—1231).<ref>Minorsky, Vladimir (1951), "The Georgian Maliks of Ahar." BSOAS vol. 13/4, pp. 868-77.</ref> Yaqut al-Hamawi, writing in early thirteenth century, describes Ahar as very flourishing despite its small extent.<ref name="Yaqoot">Yaqut ibn 'Abd Allah al-Rumi al-Hamawi, Charles Adrien Casimir Barbier de Meynard, Dictionnaire géographique, historique et littéraire de la Perse et des contrees adjacentes, 1851, Paris, p. 57</ref>

The city lost most of its importance during the rule of Ilkhanate.<ref name="Yaqoot" /> Hamdallah Mustawfi, writing in mid fourteenth century, describes Ahar as a little town. He estimates the tax revenue of the town to be comparable to that of Mardanaqom, which presently is a medium-sized village.<ref>نزهةالقلوب ، حمداله مستوفی ، به کوشش محمد دبیر سیاقی ، انتشارات کتابخانه طهوری ، چاپ اول ، تهران ، ۱۳۳۶، ص. ۹۵.</ref>

Ahar was in the focus of Safavid dynasty's agenda for casting of Azerbaijan as a Safavid dominion. Thus, Shah Abbas rebuilt the mausoleum of Sheikh Sheikh Shihab-al-din in Ahar.<ref>Kishwar Rizvi , The Safavid Dynastic Shrine: Architecture, Religion and Power in Early ..., 2011, I.B.Tauris, p. 161</ref>

Ahar suffered enormously during Russo-Persian War (1804–13) and Russo-Persian War (1826–28). Western travelers in 1837-1843 period had found Ahar, a city with around 700 households, in wretched condition. Their impression was that the Qajar princes, who were dispatched as the governors of Qaradagh hastened to collect as much wealth as possible before their removal.<ref>Richard Tappe, Frontier Nomads of Iran: A Political and Social History of the Shahsevan, 1997, Cambridge University Press, p. 171</ref>

Ahar was one of the epicenters of Persian Constitutional Revolution due to the involvement of Arasbaran tribes in armed conflicts; the revolutionary and ati-revolutionary camps were headed, respectively, by Sattar Khan and Rahimkhan Chalabianloo, both from Qaradağ region. When in 1925 Rezā Shāh deposed Ahmad Shah Qajar and founded the Pahlavi dynasty, Ahar's gradual decline started. The new king insisted on ethnic nationalism and cultural unitarism and implemented his policies with forced detribalization and sedentarization. He renamed Qaradağ as Arasbaran to deny the Turkic identity of the inhabitants. This policy, in particular, resulted in suppression of ethnic Azeris.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

For further information on the history of Ahar and Arasbaran region one may consult the following scholarly books (all in Persian language):

• H. Bayburdi "The history of Arasbaran",<ref name="Bayburdi">سرهنگ حسین بایبوردی، "تاریخ ارسباران"، ابن سینا، تهران ۱۳۴۱</ref>
• Ḥusayn Dūstī, "The history and geography of Arasbaran",<ref>حسین دوستی، تاریخ و جغرافیای ارسباران,انتشارات احرار,تبریز,1373</ref>
• N. Sedqi, "The contemporary political and social history of Arasbaran",<ref>ناصر صدقی،تاریخ اجتماعى و سیاسى ارسباران (قره داغ) در دوره معاصر، ۱۳۸۸، تبریز، نشر اختر.</ref>
• S.R. Alemohammad, "The book of Arasbaran".<ref>سیدرضا آل‌محمد، نامه ارسباران، ۱۳۹۱، تهران، کتابخانه موزه‌ و اسناد مجلس شورای اسلامی.</ref>

Two concise English language articles are the following:

• "The Tribes of Qarāca Dāġ: A Brief History" by P. Oberling.<ref>Oberling, Pierre. "The Tribes of Qarāca Dāġ: A Brief History." Oriens 17 (1964): 60-95</ref>
• The entry "AHAR", in Encyclopædia Iranica.<ref>http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ahar-the-name-of-a-county-sahrestan-and-town-in-azerbaijan</ref>

Economy

Until the early 1960s Ahar was the economic hub of Arasbaran region. Arasbaran nomadic tribes bartered their produce in Ahar's bazaar. The charcoal produced in villages adjacent to Arasbaran forests was carried by muleteers to Ahar and from there was transported to Tabriz. In addition, Ahar was a distribution center for the Arasbaran rug. The gradual settlement of nomads, widespread use of fossil fuels, changing life-styles, and establishment of new marketplaces such as Kaleybar through facilitated transportation, have diminished Ahar's economical importance.

Tourism

The main tourist site in the city is the mausoleum of Sheikh Shaabe-deen, who was the teacher of Safi-ad-din Ardabili, the founder of the family of Safavid dynasty. The monument has been described by James Morier in early nineteenth century as the following, "The mausoleum is of brick, with a foundation of stone, and faced by an elevated portico, flanked by two minors or pillars encrusted with green tiles. A little wooden door was opened for us in the back of the building, which introduced us into the spot that contained the tomb of the Sheikh, which was enclosed by a stone railing, carved into open work, and surrounded by a sculptured arabesque ornament, of very good taste. The tomb is distinguished by a marble cover, on which is an Arabic inscription in relieve.".<ref name="James Morier">James Morier, A second journey through Persia, Armenia, and Asia Minor, to Constantinople ..., 1818, p. 234</ref>

Notable people

All notable people from Arasbaran region would have counted Ahar as their home town. Here we list some prominent figures who have spent parts of their lives in Ahar or the neighboring villages:

• Sattar Khan was originally from Qaradağ. He is considered as a national hero of Iran and is referred to as سردار ملی (meaning National Commander). He headed Constitutionalist rebels from the Amirkhiz district of Tabriz in early twentieth century.<ref>Ervand Abrahamian, Iran Between Two Revolutions, Princeton University Press, 1982 p.97</ref><ref>اسماعيل اميرخيزى، قيام آذربايجان و ستار خان، ۱۹۶۰، كتابفروشى تهران</ref><ref>حسین دوستى، "حماسه ها و حماسه سازان انقلاب مشروطيت: با تاءکید بر نقش مردم ارسباران (قره داغ)"، باران، ۲۰۰۶</ref><ref>نصرت الله فتحى،"ديدار همرزم ستارخان" ،گوتنبرگ ۱۹۷۳</ref><ref>پناهى سمنانى، "ستار خان: سردار ملى ونهضت مشروطه"، ۱۹۹۷، کتاب نمونه.</ref><ref>رحيم رئيسنيا، عبد الحسين ناهيد،"دو مبارز جنبش مشروطه: ستار خان، محمد خيابانى", ۱۹۷۰، انتشارات آگاه.</ref>
• Amir Arshad, the headman of Haji-Alilu tribe, was a legendary military commander in early twentieth century. He is credited with fending off the communism from Iran.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Stephanie Cronin, 'The Making of Modern Iran: State and Society Under Riza Shah, 1921-1941', 2007, p. 207</ref>
• Qasem Ahari<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> was born in Ahar in 1884. He was the first European trained ophthalmologist of Iran. Qasem Ahari served four terms in National Consultative Assembly. He was the first representative of Azerbaijan in Senate of Iran.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Abbas Eslami, known with his pen-name Barez, (1932-2011) was a great poet.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He described the melancholic demise of Qaradağ in a book titled mourning Sabalan (ياسلي ساوالان).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Houssein Rezapour a contemporary poet with the pen-name "Razi".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• Prof. Mahmoud Akhondi (محمود آخوندى) was born ii 1933. He is an eminent Swiss-trained law professor. His 10 volume book on criminal prosecution is a major textbook in Iranian law schools.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Colonel Husein bayburdi (حسين بايبوردي) was borne in Ahar and retired from Army in 1959. He wrote and published a book on the history of Arasbaran.<ref name="Bayburdi"/> This book is, perhaps, the only comprehensive original source on Arasbaran.
• Ḥusayn Dūstī (حسین دوستی), was born in Ahar. He is a prolific writer of books dealing with Arasbaran.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Photo gallery

• Arasbaran by Amirgtt64.jpg

  Arasbaran forests in the vicinity of Ahar (Kaleibar county)

• Sab dalj1.JPG

  Ahar town lies on the north-west face of Mount Sabalan