Urmia

Map of Iran showing location of Urmia.

Urmia (Persian: ارومیه, Azeri: Urumiah, Kurdish: Wurmê, Syriac: ܘܪܡܝܐ; previously called رضائیه, Rezaiyeh) is a city in northwestern Iran, and the capital of the West Azerbaijan province, situated on the western side of Lake Urmia near the Turkish border. Its population in 2005 is estimated at 602,403 [1].

Etymology

The name Urmia is thought to have come from Syriac, the language of the city's Assyrian founders: Ur, meaning "cradle," and mia, meaning "water." Hence, Urmia, situated by a lake and surrounded by rivers, is the cradle of water.

File:Lake Urmia.jpg

Satellite image of Lake Urmia, taken in November 2003

Administrative divisions

Urmia consists of five parts:

• Markazi (Central): Baranduzchay, Baranduzchay Shomali, Baranduzchay jonubi, bashqale, bakshluchay , Torkman, Dol, Rozechay, Nazluchay Jonubi, and its Center is Urmia
• Anzal: Anzal Jonoubi, Anzal Shomali, and its center is Qushchi
• Silvan: Tergawar, Margawar, Dasht, and its center is Silvane
• Somay Brados: Somay Jonubi, Somay Shomali, Bradost, and its center is Sero
• Nazlu: Talatape, Nazluchay, Nazluchay shomali, and its center is Nushin

Urmia University has a large accredited college of agriculture. Urmia is situated in a fertile region where fruit (apples and grapes) and tobacco are grown. Many families have apple plantations of various sizes.

People

Urmia is an ethnically diverse city, with a population composed of Kurds, Azeris, Persians, and scatetred Assyrians. The Kurds and Azeris comprise the majority of Urmia and the main languages spoken in the city are Kurdish and Azerbaijani while the official language at schools and government institutions remains Persian.

The city has been home to various ethnic groups during its long history. For this reason, the demographics of the city underwent numerous changes, with Kurds currently constituting the majority of the population. Nonetheless, many historical documents attest to the fact that at begining of 20th century, the majority of the city's population was composed of Assyrians who adhered to Christinarity. However, the mass exodus of Assyrians and Armenians starting in 1914 by virtue of the Armenian Genocide and the subsequent battles between the Russian and Ottoman armies, lead to a drastic shift in the city's demographics. During the era of Reza Shah Pahlavi, Iranian Assyrians were invited to return to the region and repopulate their villages and a few thousand did return. However, since that time, most Assyrians are centered in Tehran and other major cities. [2][3].

After the Islamic Revolution in Iran, the Kurds who pursued a nomadic life-style in the mountainous regions of North West Iran, started to settle in and around the vicinity of Urmia. Coupled with their substantially higher birth-rates compared with that of the Azeris, the Kurds became the majority of the city. According to a recent article published by Yuri Nabiyev, an investigative journalist for the Russian Regnum News Agency, "some 15 years ago Urmia in Iran was a half-Kurdish, half-Azeri town. Now it is almost totally Kurdish." [4].

Iran´s Minister of Energy, Parviz Fattah, is from Urmia.

History

The Columbia Encyclopedia mentions that Urmia was an important town in the region during the 9th century.[5] Urmia, according to some historians, is also believed to be the birthplace of the prophet Zarathustra.

Oghuz Turks entered the area in the 11th century, in the period 1029 to 1041. At this time, the ruler of Urmia was Abul-Hayja bin Rabib al-Dawla, who was the chief of Hadhbani Kurds. He defeated the Oghuz Turks and killed 25,000 of them, when they were trying to pass through his territory [6].

The city was reportedly sacked by the Seljuk Turks in 1184. The Ottoman Turks made several incursions into the city, but the Safavids were soon able to regain control over the area. The first monarch of Iran's Qajar dynasty, Agha Muhammad Khan, was coronated in Urmia in 1795. Due to Urmia's relatively large Christian population growth by the end of the 19th century, Urmia also became the seat of the first American Christian mission in Iran in 1835. Another mission soon became operational in nearby Tabriz as well. It is reported that by the turn of the century, Christians composed more than 50% of the city's population. Most of them, however, fled the city during or after WWI. Currently, Muslims constitute 95% of the population.

The Catholic Encyclopedia mentions Urmia as the seat of a Chaldean diocese.

Colleges and universities

Urmia University was first built by an American Presbyterian missionary in 1878. A medical faculty was also established there headed by Joseph Cochran and a team of American medical associates. Joseph Cochran and his colleagues were buried in an old cemetery in the vicinity of Urmia. Urmia University website says this about them:

There they lie in peace away from their homeland, and the testimonial epitaphs on their tombs signify their endeavor and devotion to humanity.

The city today has the following major institutes of higher education:

• Urmia University of Medical Sciences
• Urmia University [7]
• Islamic Azad University of Urmia

Museums

• Baghcheh-Juq Palace A monument dating back to the Qajar era that is open to the public.

• Khoy Museum A public museum displaying archeological & ethnological monuments.

• Miandoab Museum An archaeological Museum.

• Natural History Museum Displays the animals native to the vicinity of Urmia.

• Urmia Museum Archaeological museum affiliated with the faculty of Shahid Beheshti University.

See also

• Lake Urmia

External Links

• Urmiya, By V. Minorsky and C.E. Bosworth, in Encyclopaedia of Islam.
• Urmia Museum