Rudbar ( fa, رودبار, Rudbār) ( Gilaki:, ''rubâr'') is a city and capital of Rudbar County, Gilan Province,

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkm ...

. At the 2006 census, its population was 11,454, in 3,303 families. Rudbar is from

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the Capital city, capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is th ...

and with a variable climate. It is located on the fringes of a valley through which the Sefid River (Rud-e Safid) flows. Rudbar can be considered as a gateway to the Gīlān Province from central Iran. Its name (meaning "by the river" in Persian) is a reference to the river named Sepid Rood (Sepid Roud) that passes by the city. Rudbar is also called "Roodbar Zeitoun (

olive The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' ...

)" for the olive gardens in the area. Rudbar's local economy notably includes olives and olive-based products. Groves of olive trees surround the city. Olive oil is produced locally. Rudbar is also known for its cream-hued, handcrafted carpets of fine quality. Despite the olive gardens that may suggest presence of a Mediterranean climate, the winters are very cold in the area. The winds in the Sepid Rood valley ( Manjil) are well known in the country. Main language there is the

Gilaki Language The Gilaki language ( ) is an Iranian languages, Iranian language of the Northwestern Iranian languages, Northwestern branch, spoken in Iran's Gilan Province. Gilaki is closely related to Mazandarani language, Mazandarani and the two language ...

. Larger cities in Gilan have slight variations to the way they speak. These "sub-dialects" are Rashti, Rudbari, Some’e Sarai, Lahijani, Langerudi, Rudesari, Bandar Anzali and Fumani. The majority of the people in Rudbar are Gilaks, and a minority are Talysh. They speak the

Talysh Language The Talysh language (زبان تالشی, Tolışə Zıvon, Tолышә зывон), is a Northwestern Iranian language spoken in the northern regions of the Iranian provinces of Gilan and Ardabil and the southern regions of the Republic of Az ...

with Galeshi Dialect and the

with Rudbari Sub-dialect.Guyeš-e Tāti-y-e Rudbār (The Tati Dialect of Rudbar), Jahandoost Sabzalipour, Rasht: Farhang-e Iliya Press, 2011

History

The civilization of Rudbar and its surroundings date back to 2000 years BCE. The Marlik bowl, a famous archeological artifact and one of the oldest gold bowls in the world from 1st millennium BC, was found there. With the advent of Islam, tribes from Damascus and Halab (Aleppo) immigrated and became settlers there. Later, Nizari Isma'ili ''da'i'' made inroads and eventually established an

Assassin Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have ...

stronghold. In the era of

Nader Shah Afshar Nader Shah Afshar ( fa, نادر شاه افشار; also known as ''Nader Qoli Beyg'' or ''Tahmāsp Qoli Khan'' ) (August 1688 – 19 June 1747) was the founder of the Afsharid dynasty of Iran and one of the most powerful rulers in History o ...

, groups from the

Kurds ug:كۇردلار Kurds ( ku, کورد ,Kurd, italic=yes, rtl=yes) or Kurdish people are an Iranian peoples, Iranian ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Ir ...

Quchan Quchan ( fa, قوچان ' ; also Romanized as Qūchān and Quçan; also known as Khabushan, Gochan) is a city and capital of Quchan County, in Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran. It is located due south of the border city of Ashgabat. At the 2006 c ...

and areas of northern Khorassan also settled there. Rudbar was near the epicenter of the

1990 Manjil–Rudbar earthquake The 1990 Manjil–Rudbar earthquake occurred on Thursday, June 21, 1990 at in northern Iran. The shock had a moment magnitude of 7.4 and a Mercalli Intensity of X (''Extreme''). Damage and casualties Widespread damage occurred to the northwest ...

of magnitude 7.3 on the Richter scale (MS=7.7, MW=7.3, mb=6.4) at 12:31am local time on June 21, 1990, that killed around 50,000 and injured 100,000 city residents.ReliefWeb Report of Earthquake
''

ReliefWeb ReliefWeb is a humanitarian information portal founded in 1996. The portal now hosts more than 720,000 humanitarian situation reports, press releases, evaluations, guidelines, assessments, maps and infographics. The portal is an independent vehi ...

'', June 1990 Despite reconstruction, it has not regained its former glory.

Shahrestan Rudbar

Rudbar County (

Shahrestan Shahrestan or Shahristan ( fa, شهرستان) may refer to: Places *Counties of Iran ("Shahrestan" in Persian), second order administrative divisions of Iran *Shahristan District, Afghanistan (alternate spelling: Shahrestan) * Shahrestan, Fasa, Fa ...

) was formed after a meeting between some Rudbari politicians such as Ziaeddin Tavakkoli and

Reza Shah Reza Shah Pahlavi ( fa, رضا شاه پهلوی; ; originally Reza Khan (); 15 March 1878 – 26 July 1944) was an Iranian Officer (armed forces), military officer, politician (who served as Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces Logistics (Iran), ...

References

* Book of Amarlu - M.M.Zand

External links

{{Gilan Province Cities in Gilan Province Populated places in Rudbar County Settled areas of Elburz Cities destroyed by earthquakes ro:Roudbar