Urmia or Orumiyeh[nb 1] (Persian: ارومیه‎, pronounced [oɾumiˈje] (About this soundlisten);[nb 2] Azerbaijani: اورمیهor اورمو‎, romanized: Urmiya or Urmu, Kurdish: Ûrmiyê ,ورمێ‎;Syriac: ܐܘܪܡܝܐ‎, romanized: Urmia) is the largest city in West Azerbaijan Province of Iran and the capital of Urmia County. It is situated at an altitude of 1,330 metres (4,360 ft) above sea level, and is located along the Shahar River on the Urmia Plain. Lake Urmia, one of the world's largest salt lakes, lies to the east of the city, and the mountainous Turkish border area lies to the west.
Urmia is the 10th most populated city in Iran. At the 2012 census, its population was 667,499, with 197,749 households. The city's inhabitants are predominantly Azerbaijani people who speak the Azerbaijani language.There are also minorities of Kurds, Persians, Assyrians, and Armenians. The city is the trading center for a fertile agricultural region where fruits (especially apples and grapes) and tobacco are grown. Even though, the majority of the residents of Urmia are Muslims, but the Christian history of Urmia is well preserved and is especially evident in the city's many churches and cathedrals.
An important town by the 9th century, the city has had a diverse population which has at times included Muslims (Shias and Sunnis), Christians (Catholics, Protestants, Nestorians, and Orthodox), Jews, Bahá'ís and Sufis. Around 1900, Christians made up more than 40% of the city's population; however, most of the Christians fled in 1918 when Ottoman Empire invaded Qajar Iran and committed genocide against Urmia's Assyrian and Armenian population.
$Name:$
Richard Nelson Frye suggested Urartian origin for the name, while T. Burrow connected the origin of the name Urmia to Indo-Iranian urmi- wave and urmya- undulating, wavy.
As of 1921, Urmia was also called, Urumia and Urmi. During the Pahlavi Dynasty (1925–1979), the city was called Rezaiyeh[nb 3] (Persian: رضائیه‎) after Reza Shah, the dynasty's founder, whose name ultimately derives from the Islamic concept of rida via the Eighth Imam in Twelver Shia Islam, Ali al-Ridha.
According to Vladimir Minorsky, there were villages in the Urmia Plain as early as 2000 BC, with their civilization under the influence of the Kingdom of Van. Excavations of the ancient ruins near Urmia led to the discovery of utensils that date to the 20th century BC. In ancient times, the west bank of Urmia Lake was called Gilzan, and in the 9th century BC an independent government ruled there, which later joined the Urartu or Manna empire; in the 8th century BC, the area was a vassal of the Asuzh government until it joined the Median Empire.
Assyrians who did survive the invasion of Baghdad by Timur fled through northern Iraq up into the Hakkari Mountains to the west of Lake Urmia and the area remained as their homeland until the 19th century.[
During the Safavid era, the neighboring Ottoman Turks, who were the archrivals of the Safavids,[16] made several incursions into the city and captured it on more than one occasion, but the Safavids successfully regained control over the area. When in 1622, during the reign of Safavid king Abbas I (r. 1588–1629) Qasem Sultan Afshar was appointed governor of Mosul, he was forced to leave his office shortly afterwards due to the outbreak of a plague.[18] He moved to the western part of Azerbaijan, and became the founder of the Afshar community of Urmia.[18] The city was the capital of the Urmia Khanate from 1747–1865. The first monarch of Iran's Qajar dynasty, Agha Muhammad Khan, was crowned in Urmia in 1795.
Due to the presence of a substantial Christian minority at the end of the 19th century, Urmia was also chosen as the site of the first American Christian mission in Iran in 1835. Another mission was soon underway in nearby Tabriz as well. During World War I the population was estimated by Dr. Caujole to be 30,000, a quarter of which (7,500) were Assyrians and 1,000 Jews.
During the 19th century, the region became the center of a short-lived Assyrian renaissance with many books and newspapers being published in Syriac. Urmia was also the seat of a Chaldean diocese.
At the beginning of the First World War tens of thousands of Assyrians and Armenians from the Ottoman Empire found refuge in Urmia.[citation needed] During the war, the city changed hands several times between the Russians and the Ottoman troops and their Kurdish allies in the following two years.[clarification needed] The influx of Christian refugees and their alliance with the Russians angered the Ottoman troops who attacked the Christian quarter in February 1918. The better armed Assyrians managed to capture the whole city following a brief battle.[clarification needed] The region descended into chaos again after the assassination of the Assyrian patriarch Shimun XIX Benyamin at the hands of Simko Shikak one month later. Ottomans and Simko managed to take and plunder the city in June/July 1918. Thousands of Christians were massacred by Ottomans as part of the Assyrian and Armenian genocide; others found refuge under British protection in the neighboring Iraq.
$Population:$
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$Demographics:$
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (June 2019)
According to the 2016 census, population of Urmia city is 736,224, with an annual growth rate of 2.0% and an average of 3.27 people per household.
The city has been home to various ethnic groups during its history. The population of Urmia in the early Islamic period was Christian.[25] At the beginning of the 20th century, the city had a significant Christian minority (Assyrians and Armenians) [8][26] with the Christian population of the town consisting of 40–50 % of the total population.
[better source needed] According to Macuch, and Ishaya, the city was the spiritual capital of the Assyrians, who were influenced by four Christian missions that had been established in the city in the period from 1830 to the end of World War I.[28] A large number of the Assyrians and Armenians were killed in 1914 during the Armenian and Assyrian genocides, which resulted in a change in the city's demographics.[28] During the era of Reza Shah Pahlavi, Iranian Assyrians were invited to return to the region, and several thousand did return. There are around 5,000 Assyrians remaining in the city,or around 1% of the population.
Until the Iran crisis of 1946 and the Establishment of the State of Israel in 1947, several thousand Jews also lived Urmia, and their language (Lishán Didán) is still spoken by an ageing community in Israel.
According to some sources, the population is mostly made up of Azerbaijanis who live alongside minorities of Kurds,Assyriansand Armenians.However, according to the Federal Research Division of Library of Congress, ethnic Azeris form around 40% of the population of Urmia region.
The majority of the population can speak the official language of Iran, Persian, in addition to their own native tongue.
$Christianity:$
The city is the archiepiscopal see of the Eastern Catholic Metropolitan Chaldean Catholic Archeparchy of Urmyā, which has a suffragan in Salmas. There are also Protestants, Church of the East adherents and Armenian Orthodox. There are four churches in the central part of the city, two being Assyrian Church of the East, one Armenian, and one Chaldean.
Parks and touristic centres
The tourist attractions of the city of Urmia include many parks and coastal villages lying on or near the shores of Lake Urmia. The oldest park in Urmia, called Park-e Saat, was established in the first Pahlavi era. Urmia's largest park is Ellar Bagi Park (Azerbaijani People's Garden) along the Shahar Chayi, or the City River.Aghol=KTML_ImageCaption_Begin==KTML_StyleDiv=width:30%;height:20%;float:right;=KTML_ImageCaption_Target_Link=https://www.kurdipedia.org/files/relatedfiles/2020/388100/0001.JPG=KTML_ImageCaption_Title=monument=KTML_ImageCaption_CaptionStyle=000000=KTML_ImageCaption_Caption=monument=KTML_ImageCaption_End=
Lakes and ponds
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Hasanloo Lake
Marmisho lake
Shahrchay ِDam
Urmia Lake Islands
Lagoons
Haft Abad
Soole Dokel
Dana Boğan
Ali Pancesi
Isti Sou
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Park-e Saat (Clock Park)
Park-e Jangali (Jungle Park)
Ellar Bagi (People's Garden)
Park-e Shahr (City Park)
Park-e Saheli (Riverside Park)
Park-e Shaghayegh
Alghadir Park
Tokhmemorghi (Oval) Park
Ghaem Park
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Chichest
Bari
Fanoos
Sier
Band
Khoshako
Landscape attractions:
Qasimlu Valley
Kazem Dashi Islet in Lake Urmia
Kashtiban Village
Imamzada Village
Silvana Region
Rashekan to Dash
Nazloo
Dalamper
Kaboodan Island
$Climate:$
Urmia's climate is hot-summer mediterranean climate (Köppen: Csa) bordering continental climate with cold winters, mild springs, hot dry summers, and warm autumns. Precipitation is heavily concentrated in late autumn, winter (mostly in the form of snow), and especially spring, while precipitation is scarce in summer. Temperatures in Urmia are much colder than most of the remainder of Iran because of the elevation. Although dry for being a traditional continental climate, it has cold enough winters to qualify as general continental.