Bojnord () is a city in the Central District of Bojnord County, North Khorasan province, Iran, serving as capital of the province, the county, and the district. It is about from

Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...

. and 242 km away from

Mashhad Mashhad ( ; ), historically also known as Mashad, Meshhed, or Meshed in English, is the List of Iranian cities by population, second-most-populous city in Iran, located in the relatively remote north-east of the country about from Tehran. ...

, the capital of Razavi Khorasan province.

History

According to local tradition, the whole area was controlled by the Qarai Turks since the

Mongol invasion The Mongol invasions and conquests took place during the 13th and 14th centuries, creating history's largest contiguous empire, the Mongol Empire (1206–1368), which by 1260 covered large parts of Eurasia. Historians regard the Mongol devastati ...

in the 13th century. Bojnurd is of recent origin and possibly built by the

Safavids The Guarded Domains of Iran, commonly called Safavid Iran, Safavid Persia or the Safavid Empire, was one of the largest and longest-lasting Iranian empires. It was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. It is often considered the begi ...

for the Kurdish Şadiyan tribe who had been settled there to strengthen the Safavid borders against hostile

Turkmens Turkmens (, , , ) are a Turkic ethnic group native to Central Asia, living mainly in Turkmenistan, northern and northeastern regions of Iran and north-western Afghanistan. Sizeable groups of Turkmens are found also in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, ...

. Traditionally, the city was surrounded by a

defensive wall A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications such as curtain walls with t ...

and consisted of eleven quarters,

bazaar A bazaar or souk is a marketplace consisting of multiple small Market stall, stalls or shops, especially in the Middle East, the Balkans, Central Asia, North Africa and South Asia. They are traditionally located in vaulted or covered streets th ...

s and four mosques. In 1849, the city saw a revolt which destroyed the city. When traveller G. C. Napier visited the city in 1876, it was noted that the chief of Bojnurd was a Kurd who governed the city without taxation in exchange for military support to the central government in

. Severe earthquakes in 1896 and 1929 destroyed the city and its surroundings. The city would consequently be rebuilt without historical or recent fortifications in a modern matter. In 1997, a magnitude 6.5 earthquake caused significant damage and many fatalities in the city.

Demographics

Population

At the time of the 2006 National Census, the city's population was 172,772 in 44,217 households. The following census in 2011 counted 199,791 people in 56,761 households. The 2016 census measured the population of the city as 228,931 people in 67,335 households.

ٔGeography

Bojnourd city, the capital of North Khorasan province with an area of 36 square kilometers, is located in northeastern Iran at 57 degrees and 20 minutes longitude and 37 degrees and 28 minutes latitude south of Kopedagh mountain range and east of Aladagh mountain range and north of Alborz mountain range. Bojnourd is 1070 meters above sea level and its distance to Tehran is 821 kilometers.

Climate

Bojnord has a

cold semi-arid climate Cold is the presence of low temperature, especially in the atmosphere. In common usage, cold is often a subjective perception. A lower bound to temperature is absolute zero, defined as 0.00K on the Kelvin scale, an absolute thermodynamic ...

(''BSk'') according to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

Colleges and universities

Universities located in Bojnord include: * University of Bojnurd * North Khorasan University of Medical Sciences * Islamic Azad University of Bojnurd
Eshragh Institute of Higher Education (Bojnurd, North Khorasan)

Payam Noor University of Bojnurd
* University of Kosar

Notable people

Abdolhossein Teymourtash Abdolhossein Teymourtash (; 25 September 1883 – 3 October 1933) was an influential Iranian statesman who served as the first minister of court of the Pahlavi dynasty from 1925 to 1932, and is credited with playing a crucial role in laying the ...

(Sardar Moazzam Khorasani), a distinguished and influential politician of the 20th century (

Pahlavi dynasty The Pahlavi dynasty () is an List of monarchs of Iran, Iranian royal dynasty that was the Pahlavi Iran, last to rule Iran before the country's monarchy was abolished by the Iranian Revolution in 1979. It was founded in 1925 by Reza Shah, Reza S ...

) * Ali-Akbar Davar, politician and judge and the founder of the modern

judicial system of Iran A nationwide judicial system in Iran was first implemented and established by Abdolhossein Teymourtash under Reza Shah, with further changes during the second Pahlavi era. After the 1979 overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty by the Islamic Revol ...

* Kazem Mousavi Bojnurdi, historian, theologian, writer and the curator of the National Library of Iran (1997–2005) * Mohammad Davari, journalist, known for arrest in 2009–10 Iranian election protests * Mostafa Tabrizi, politician

Notes

References

External links

{{Provincial capitals of Iran Cities in North Khorasan province Iranian provincial capitals Populated places in Bojnord County Kurdish settlements in Iran