Table of Contents

• ISFAHAN iii. POPULATION (1) The Qajar Period

  Heidi Walcher

  Population figures for the Qajar period diverge drastically and are largely based on conjecture by European diplomats.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• ISFAHAN iii. POPULATION (2) Isfahan Province

  Habibollah Zanjani

  In 2001, the province (ostān) of Isfahan comprised 19 sub-provinces (šahrestāns), 83 towns in 43 districts (baḵš), and 2,514 rural settlements in 121 sub-districts (dehestāns).

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• ISFAHAN iii. POPULATION (3) Isfahan City

  Habibollah Zanjani

  The city of Isfahan is the capital of Isfahan Province (ostān) and Sub-province (šahrestān) and the center of the Isfahan comprehensive regional planning complex.

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• ISFAHAN iv. PRE-ISLAMIC PERIOD

  J. Hansman and EIr

  The Arab geographers  report that the Sasanian city of Isfahan comprised two adjoining towns: Jayy, the fortified town and province center and, two miles (mil) away, Yahudiya, a Jewish settlement.

• ISFAHAN v. LOCAL HISTORIOGRAPHY

  JÜRGEN PAUL

  Isfahan is exceptional in the number and variety of works of local historiography; no other Persian city has attracted nearly as many such works.

• ISFAHAN vi. MEDIEVAL PERIOD

  Hossein Kamaly

  The history of Isfahan prior to the city’s efflorescence in the 17th century often traced alternating cycles of urbanization and de-urbanization.

• ISFAHAN vii. SAFAVID PERIOD

  Masashi Haneda and Rudi Matthee

  Isfahan came under Safavid rule in 1503 following Shah Esmāʿil’s defeat of Solṭān Morād, the Āq Qoyunlu ruler of Erāq-e ʿAjam, near Hamadān.

• ISFAHAN viii. QAJAR PERIOD

  Heidi Walcher

  The historical changes affecting the Isfahan of this period included loss of its status as the royal capital and its transformation into a major provincial city.

• Isfahan ix. THE PAHLAVI PERIOD AND THE POST-REVOLUTION ERA

  Habib Borjian

  In the process of consolidating his power in Isfahan, Reza Shah managed to constrain two powerful social groups: the Shiʿite clergy and the Baḵtiāri tribesmen.

• ISFAHAN x. MONUMENTS

  Sussan Babaie with Robert Haug

  According to the French traveler Jean Chardin, in the late 17th century Isfahan housed some 162 mosques, 48 theological colleges (madrasa), 1,802 caravansaries, and 273 bathhouses.