Astara
From Freepedia
- Astara is also the name of a Raion in Azerbaijan, see Astara, Azerbaijan
Astara is a city in the Iranian province of Gilan. It lies on the border with Azerbaijan Republic. It is a relatively important border trade center between Iran and the Caucasus.
Ethnicity and Name:
Its name is derived from the Tukic words AST (=lower)+ ARA (or ARALIQ =land); means "The lower land", beacause it's located in one of the lowest lands of azeri populated areas.
There is also another idea about Astara :Its name is derived from the Persian or taleshi word آهسته رو Aste-ro or Aheste-ro meaning the place where the travel gets slower (given the marshlands that surrounded the region before).
These two ideas are related to nationalistic affairs, then we put both of them together so that you can judge yourself.
History
"Astara is an area where Zoroaster(zartosht)preached and there were fire temples in the area..[there is other cities suspected as Zoroaster's homeland, such as Ardabil, Shiraz,Urmia, Mughan etc]. Its history dates back to 6000 years ago.The spoken language was talyshi but due to commerce with Azeri Turks and migration of Azeris into town the use of Taleshi reduced significantly."
There is also a city with this name just on apposite side of the border, inside the Azerbaijan Republic territory. The Northern Astara (azerbaijani Astara) was ceded from Persia by the Gulistan Treaty of 1813 between Russia and Persia.
People
- Population: about 70,000
- Religion: Mostly Islam Shi'a Islam
- Ethnicity: Azerbaijani Turk (Azeri), talesh
- Language: (Azeri), Taleshi(talesh)
