Table of Contents

• KERMAN viii. HISTORY IN THE AFSHARID AND ZAND PERIOD

  James M. Gustafson

  Between the fall of the Safavids and the rise of the Qajar dynasty (ca. 1722-94), Kerman maintained a measure of stability and security under local rulers despite the rise and fall of dynastic states across the Iranian plateau.

• KERMAN ix. HISTORY IN THE QAJAR PERIOD

  James M. Gustafson

  Kerman's geographical position on the periphery of the Qajar empire (1795-1925), was at the center of numerous significant developments in this important transitional period in Iran's history.

• KERMAN xiv. Jewish Community of Kerman City

  Nahid Pirnazar and EIr

  In the late 18th century, according to the account of the Jewish community of Yazd compiled by Molla Aqābābā Damāvandi a century later, severe drought caused its members to move to Rafsanjān and Sirjān and the villages around Kerman. Thus the Jewish Quarter of nineteenth-century Kerman became mainly an offshoot of the community in Yazd.

• KERMAN xv. CARPET INDUSTRY

  James M. Gustafson

  Since the late 19th century, Kerman’s hand-woven, knotted pile carpets are widely regarded as among the finest in the world by art historians and collectors for the quality of their materials and workmanship. 

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• KERMAN xvi. LANGUAGES

  Habib Borjian

  The province of Kerman is characterized by two indigenous languages, Persian in the mountainous north and Garmsiri in the lowland south, supplemented by the Median-type dialects spoken by the Zoroastrian, Jewish, and possibly Turkish residence of the city of Kerman.

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• KERMANSHAH

  Multiple Authors

  a province in western Iran; also the name of its principal city and capital.

• KERMANSHAH i. GEOGRAPHY

  Habib Borjian

  Kermanshah Province, situated in western Iran, spreads over an area of 25,000 km² (9,560 square miles, roughly the size of Vermont), or 1.5 percent of the total area of the country.

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• KERMANSHAH iv. HISTORY TO 1953

  Jean Calmard

  The town and province of Kermanshah are located on the strategic travel route, later known as the “Khorasan Highway,” linking Mesopotamia to the Iranian plateau. This route was militarily and commercially important even in antiquity.

• KERMANSHAH vii. LANGUAGES AND DIALECTS

  Habib Borjian

  Kermanshah is linguistically characterized by a triad of Kurdish, Gurāni, and Persian within a multifaceted, areal-tribal-social setting; supplemented by Neo-Aramaic spoken in pockets by area Jewry, as well as an isolated Turkic dialect spoken in the Sonqor valley.

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• KERMANSHAH viii. THE JEWISH COMMUNITY

  Nahid Pirnazar

  Surviving the obscure period of the Middle Ages, the Jews of Kermanshah were not affected by the forced conversions under the Safavids.