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GIFT GIVING v. In the Qajar Period The act of giving has not been an incidental, but rather a structural, institutionalized element of Persian society and polity that was based on patronage. Whereas as a social custom gifts served to solidify reciprocal social relationships and obligations, in the area of…

GĪLAKĪ. See GĪLĀN, v. Languages.

GĪLĀN, Ḡelān (گیلان, Ar. Jīlān), province at the southwestern coast of the Caspian Sea. i. Geography and Ethnography ii. Population iii. Archeology iv. History in the early Islamic period v. History under the Safavids vi. History in the 18th century vii. History in the 19th century viii. History in the 20th century. Forthcoming. viiia. In the Constitutional Revolution 1905-11….

GĪLĀN   i. Geography and Ethnography Physical Geography (Figure 1). Gīlān includes the northwestern end of the Alborz chain and the western part of the Caspian lowlands of Persia. The mountainous belt is cut through by the deep transversal valley of the Safīdrūd between Manjīl and Emāmzāda Hāšem near Rašt….

GĪLĀN ii. POPULATION There are no reliable sources on the population of Gīlān until the first national census of population and housing in 1956. Reflecting on various population estimates or plausible guesses for the provinces of Gīlān and Māzandarān in the 19th century, George Curzon writes, “The population of two…

GĪLĀN iii. ARCHEOLOGY The archeology of Gīlān, particularly in the pre-Islamic period, is usually studied in the wider context of the entire south Caspian region, including Mazandarān and Gorgān. Articles on three important locations, Marlik Tepe (below), Amlaš, and Deylamān (qq.v.), illustrate the perennial difficulties faced by archeological research in…

GĪLĀN iv. HISTORY IN THE EARLY ISLAMIC PERIOD The Gelae (Gilites) seem to have entered the region south of the Caspian coast and west of the Amardos River (later Safīdrūd) in the second or first century B.C.E. Pliny identifies them with the Kadusii previously living there. More likely they were…

GĪLĀN v. HISTORY UNDER THE SAFAVIDS Gīlān has traditionally been considered by its local population as a land of two distinct regions divided by the course of Safīdrūd River. The author of Ḥodūd al-ʿālam, who may have sojourned there, refers to the people of the two sections as those of…

GĪLĀN vi. HISTORY IN THE 18TH CENTURY The rapid decline of the Safavids in the first decades of the 18th century, leading to their ultimate demise in 1722, created a general state of chaos in the country. The northern regions of the country in particular became vulnerable to foreign influence…

GĪLĀN vii. HISTORY IN THE 19TH CENTURY During the 19th century, Persia underwent major political, economic, and social changes which were partly instigated by the Anglo-Russian colonial interests in the country and the beginnings of the incorporation of Persia into the emerging inter national economy. In Gīlān, which was within…

GĪLĀN ix. MONUMENTS Gīlān is an area with high precipitation, where the annual rainfall may reach as high as 120 cm. Building materials, except for hard rocks, rapidly wear out, turning aging structures into mounds of rubble. Trees, weeds, and grass grow on these mounds, changing old buildings into hills…

GĪLĀN x. LANGUAGES Introduction: linguistic diversity. In Gīlān there are three major Iranian language groups, namely Gīlakī, Rūdbārī, and Ṭālešī, and pockets of two other groups, Tātī and Kurdish. The non-Iranian languages include Azeri Turkish and some speakers of Gypsy (Romany, of Indic origin). Gīlakī is spoken by possibly three…

GILĀN xi. IRRIGATION In the Caspian region of Iran, abundantly watered by rivers descending from the mountains, irrigation methods differ significantly from the techniques and methods used in the country’s arid zones, characterized by their use of subterranean aqueducts (qanāts). In the rice-growing regions of the Caspian hinterland, water requirements…

GILĀN xii. RURAL HOUSING There are considerable differences among settlement and building styles according to geographic location (see Map 1, Map 2 and Map 3). Roughly, one can isolate four geographic areas, each with a distinctive type of rural dwelling: the Gilān plain; the low foothills of the Alborz range;…

GILĀN xiii. Kinship and Marriage Kinship in Gilān displays several remarkable characteristics: an exceptionally low level of intermarriage between consanguineous kin (a far cry from a “republic of cousins” in which intra-lineage marriages are encouraged); marriage “strategies” whose objectives are not to reinforce, as for the rural communities of the…