Gilan
| Author: Laxman Burdak, IFS (R) |
Gilan (Persian: استان گیلان, Ostān-e Gīlan) is one of the 31 provinces of Iran.
Variants
Location
It lies along the Caspian Sea, in Iran's Region 3, west of the province of Mazandaran, east of the province of Ardabil, and north of the provinces of Zanjan and Qazvin. It borders Azerbaijan (Astara District) in the north.
The northern part of the province is part of the territory of South (Iranian) Talysh. At the center of the province is the main city of Rasht. Other towns in the province include Astara, Astaneh-e Ashrafiyyeh, Fuman, Siahkal, Lahijan, Langarud, Masouleh, Manjil, Rudbar, Rudsar, Shaft, Hashtpar, and Sowme'eh Sara.
The main harbor port is Bandar-e Anzali (previously Bandar-e Pahlavi).
History
In antiquity, this area was a province of Persia known as Daylam (sometimes Daylaman, Dailam or Delam). The Daylam region corresponds to the modern region of Gīlān.[1]
Early history See also: Caspians and Gelae (Scythian tribe)
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.[2]Their languages shares typologic features with the languages of the Caucasus.[3]
External links
References
- ↑ The Places Where Men Pray Together, Paul Wheatley P166
- ↑ Nasidze, Ivan; Quinque, Dominique; Rahmani, Manijeh; Alemohamad, Seyed Ali; Stoneking, Mark (2006). "Concomitant Replacement of Language and mtDNA in South Caspian Populations of Iran". Current Biology. 16 (7): 668–673. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2006.02.021. PMID 16581511. S2CID 7883334.
- ↑ The Tati language group in the sociolinguistic context of Northwestern Iran and Transcaucasia, D. Stilo, pages 137–185
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