Bonab County () is in

East Azerbaijan East Azerbaijan province () is one of the 31 provinces of Iran. Its capital is the city of Tabriz. The province is located in Iranian Azerbaijan, bordering Armenia, the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ardabil province, West Azerbaijan province ...

province,

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

. Its capital is the city of

Bonab Bonab () is a city in the Central District of Bonab County, East Azerbaijan province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district. Bonab is 120 km south of Tabriz (the capital of the province), near Lake Urmia. The c ...

. The county is located on the east side of

Lake Urmia Lake Urmia is an endorheic salt lake in Iran. The lake is located between the provinces of East Azerbaijan and West Azerbaijan in Iran, and west of the southern portion of the Caspian Sea. At its greatest extent, it was the largest lake in th ...

Etymology

The name of the county, like most other towns in East Azerbaijan, is of

Azeri Turkish Azerbaijani ( ; , , ) or Azeri ( ), also referred to as Azerbaijani Turkic or Azerbaijani Turkish (, , ), is a Turkic language from the Oghuz sub-branch. It is spoken primarily by the Azerbaijani people, who live mainly in the Republic of A ...

origin, means "1000 houses." The meaning "water base" can be considered true because back when the Lake Urmia had yet to lose more than half of its water, digging ground for 5 meters gained access to water in Bonab, but it is not an original meaning.

History

The village of

Khusheh Mehr Khusheh Mehr () is a city in the Central District (Bonab County), Central District of Bonab County, East Azerbaijan province, East Azerbaijan province, Iran. As a village, it was the capital of Benajuy-ye Sharqi Rural District until its capi ...

was elevated to the status of a city in 2018.

Demographics

Language

The main language spoken is

Azeri Azeri or Azeri Turk may refer to: * Azeri people, an ethnic group also known as Azerbaijanis * Citizens of Azerbaijan * Azeri language, the modern-day Turkic language * Old Azeri, an extinct Iranian language * Azeri Turk (journal), Academic jour ...

Population

At the time of the 2006 National Census, the county's population was 125,209 in 31,921 households. The following census in 2011 counted 129,795 people in 37,353 households. At the time of the 2006 National Census, the county's population was 134,892 in 42,325 households.

Administrative divisions

Bonab County's population history and administrative structure over three consecutive censuses are shown in the following table.

Bicycle city of Iran

The Great Cycling Conference in 1996 was founded by Mohammad Mirzadoost, head of the Bonab Sports Bureau and former Governor of Bonab. And this conference is held annually with the presence of more than 30,000 bicycle riders in Bonab. In the end, awards will be awarded to the participants by lottery. In the city, there are at least one bike in every building, and most people go to work with their bikes.

Notes

References

{{Bonab County, state=collapsed Counties of East Azerbaijan province