Zanjān

Zanjān, city in northwestern Iran, located on the Zanjān River near the Caspian Sea in Zanjān province, of which it is the capital. Sitting in a valley of the Zagros Mountains, Zanjān is a manufacturing and trade center. Its chief industries include refined zinc, metalware, cutlery, cooperware (wooden barrels and tubs), textiles, flour, milled rice, processed foods, carpets, cement, and bricks. Zanjān is on the main highway and railroad linking Tehrān to the east with Tabrīz to the northwest. A road to the south connects the city with Bījār, in Kordestān Province. The area is home to the early-14th-century mausoleum for the Mongol ruler Oljaitu, which is situated in the village of Solţānīyeh, 26 km (16 mi) southeast of Zanjān. The tomb's dome, 52 m (171 ft) high, is the largest dome in the Middle East.

Because Zanjān sits at the foot of the mountains that separate Azerbaijan from the central plateau, it had developed as a caravan stop by the time of the Sassanian Empire (ad 224-651). It was devastated by the Mongols in the early 13th century and did not recover its prosperity until the Safavid dynasty (1502-1722). In the mid-19th century, Zanjān became a center of the young Baha’i religious movement and was partially destroyed in 1850 when government troops captured the town to suppress the Baha’is. By the beginning of the 20th century Zanjān once again was a prosperous commercial center. Major industrial projects began in the 1960s and spurred migration to Zanjān. As a result, the city's population has increased more than fourfold since 1966. Population (1996) 286,295.