Oshnavieh (Persian:اشنويه)^[a] is a city in theCentral District ofOshnavieh County,West Azerbaijan province,Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district.^[5]

Oshnavieh اشنویه
City
Oshnavieh
Coordinates:37°02′11″N45°05′44″E / 37.03639°N 45.09556°E /37.03639; 45.09556[1]
Country	Iran
Province	West Azerbaijan
County	Oshnavieh
District	Central
Government
Population  (2016)[2]
• Total	39,801
Time zone	UTC+3:30 (IRST)

Oshnavieh County is bordered byNaqadeh County to the east, byPiranshahr County to the south, byUrmia County to the north, and by Iraqi Kurdistan Province to the west.^[6]

Oshnavieh lies on the historic route from Urmia basin toRawandiz over the Kalashin Pass. AnUrartianstele from about 800 BCE exist near the city. After theMongol invasion, the city became the seat of theNestorian Church for a brief moment.^[7]

Medieval geographers from the 10th century wrote that the city was fair-sized, attached toUrmia, fertile and having goodpasture.Kurds from theHadhabani tribe would settle in the area during the summer, pasture their livestock and sell their products for manufactures and textiles from the city. The city came under the rule of theRawadids in the 10th century and continued to flourish. The city also fostered scholars andtraditionalists.

Ali ibn al-Athir wrote in 1205/6 thatNusrat al-Din Abu Bakr of theEldiguzids handed over the city to the ruler ofMaragheh ʿAlāʾ-al-Din Qara Sonqor. In 1226, the city was under the Ivāʾiya Kurds until its capture byJalal al-Din Mangburni. In 1220/1, whenYaqut al-Hamawi passed the city, the city was in ruins, but had been rebuilt by the time of the visit ofHamdallah Mustawfi. Mustawfi described the city as beingSunni, in a rural district of 120 villages and producing a total revenue worth 19,300 dinars annually. It was mentioned by travellerFraser in 1840 that the city was populated Zerza Kurds, whose presence is possibly attested as being present in the city as early as the 14th century.

In the 19th century, the population was mostlyKurdish with a small population ofAssyrians which perished during theSayfo.^[7]

WhenSheikh Ubeydullah and his forces advanced fromOttoman Hakkari towardsUrmia, he captured Oshnavieh and made it his capital until he was defeated in 1880.^[8]

The town was incorporated into the short-livedRepublic of Mahabad in 1946.^[9]

Protesters briefly took over the city during theMahsa Amini protests, from 24 to 25 September 2022.^[10]

The city is populated byKurds who speakSorani.^[11]

At the time of the 2006 National Census, the city's population was 29,896 in 6,572 households.^[12] The following census in 2011 counted 32,723 people in 8,149 households.^[13] The 2016 census measured the population of the city as 39,801 people in 10,667 households.^[2]

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