Narmashir () is a city in the
Central District of
Narmashir County
Narmashir County () is in Kerman province, Iran. Its capital is the city of Narmashir.
History
After the 2006 National Census, Narmashir and Rud Ab Districts were separated from Bam County in the establishment of Narmashir County, whic ...
,
Kerman
Kerman (; ) is a city in the Central District (Kerman County), Central District of Kerman County, Kerman province, Kerman province, Iran, serving as capital of the province, the county, and the district.
History
Kerman was founded as a def ...
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 ...
, serving as capital of both the county and the district.
History
In the middle ages, Narmashir was one of the major cities of Kerman, but it was not at its present location — the ruins at the nearby village of
Choghukabad are the most likely candidate for the site of medieval Narmashir.
The medieval geographers
al-Muqaddasi
Shams al-Din Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Abi Bakr, commonly known by the '' nisba'' al-Maqdisi or al-Muqaddasī, was a medieval Arab geographer, author of ''The Best Divisions in the Knowledge of the Regions'' and ''Description of Syri ...
,
Yaqut al-Hamawi
Yāqūt Shihāb al-Dīn ibn-ʿAbdullāh al-Rūmī al-Ḥamawī (1179–1229) () was a Muslim scholar of Byzantine ancestry active during the late Abbasid period (12th–13th centuries). He is known for his , an influential work on geography con ...
, and
Hamdallah Mustawfi
Hamdallah Mustawfi Qazvini (; 1281 – after 1339/40) was a Persian official, historian, geographer and poet. He lived during the last era of the Mongol Ilkhanate, and the interregnum that followed.
A native of Qazvin, Mustawfi belonged to fami ...
described medieval Narmashir as a large and prosperous town on the main trade route connecting Kerman with
Sistan
Sistān (), also known as Sakastān (, , current name: Zabol) and Sijistan (), is a historical region in south-eastern Iran and extending across the borders of present-day south-western Afghanistan, and south-western Pakistan. Mostly correspond ...
.
Merchants travelling between
Oman
Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...
and
Khorasan
KhorasanDabeersiaghi, Commentary on Safarnâma-e Nâsir Khusraw, 6th Ed. Tehran, Zavvâr: 1375 (Solar Hijri Calendar) 235–236 (; , ) is a historical eastern region in the Iranian Plateau in West and Central Asia that encompasses western and no ...
did business here, and there was also a market for Indian goods.
The town was walled, with four gates and a citadel, and there was a
congregational mosque
A congregational mosque or Friday mosque (, ''masjid jāmi‘'', or simply: , ''jāmi‘''; ), or sometimes great mosque or grand mosque (, ''jāmi‘ kabir''; ), is a mosque for hosting the Friday noon prayers known as ''Friday prayer, jumu'ah' ...
built of fired brick.
Narmashir was one of the five ''kura''s (districts) of Kerman during this period.
Sometime between Mustawfi's account in the 14th century, Narmashir became abandoned; European travellers in the 19th century found no trace of it.
Demographics
Population
At the time of the 2006 National Census, the city's population was 3,966 in 1,007 households,
when it was capital of the former
Narmashir District of
Bam County
Bam County () is in Kerman province, Iran. Its capital is the city of Bam. Arg e Bam (Bam Citadel) and its cultural landscape are located in Bam County.
History
After the 2006 National Census, Fahraj District and Chahdegal Rural Distri ...
The following census in 2011 counted 6,167 people in 1,587 households,
by which time the district had been separated from the county in the establishment of Narmashir County. Narmashir was transferred to the new Central District as the county's capital.
The 2016 census measured the population of the city as 5,222 people in 1,545 households.
See also
Notes
References
Cities in Kerman province
Populated places in Narmashir County
{{Narmashir-geo-stub