The region of the modern province as Matiene, as opposed to Atropatene to the east
The major known ancient civilization in the region was that ofMannaeans, a buffer state betweenUrartian andAssyrian sphere of influence. Mannaeans in turn spoke a language related to Urartian. After the fall of Assyria, the region was known asMantiene (or Matiene) in Greek sources. Matiene bordered onAtropatene situated east of Lake Urmia.
The region is known asVaspurakan andNor Shirakan inArmenian history and made up an important part ofhistorical Armenia, functioning as one of the cradles ofArmenian civilisation.[13] On 26 May 451 AD, a very important battle was fought that would prove pivotal in Armenian history. On theAvarayr Plain, at what is modern-dayChurs in West Azerbaijan province, the Armenian army underVardan Mamikonian clashed with theSasanian one. Although the Persians were victorious on the battlefield itself, the battle proved to be a major strategic victory for Armenians, as Avarayr paved the way to theNvarsak Treaty (484 AD), which affirmed Armenia's right to practice Christianity freely.[14][15]
In the 7th century this area was under Islamic rule. AfterBabak Khorramdin revolted, the grip of the Abbasid caliphate weakened, allowing some native dynasties to rise. By the first half of the 11th century, theByzantine emperors were actively trying to round off their eastern territories, in an attempt to absorb the unstable Armenian dynasties. In 1021-1022 emperorBasil II led his army as far asKhoy within 175 km ofDvin, and obtained the surrender of royalty from theArtsruni dynasty ofVan.[20] The Seljuk Turkic tribes, who the local Hadhabani Kurds initially resisted, eventually conquered the region in the 11th and early 12th centuries. During Timurid rule in the 14th century,Khoy gained an important role in all over the region. After Hadhabanis, three other Kurdish principalities, Mukriyans in the southern part, Bradosti in the middle, and Donboli in the northern part ruled the region for centuries, who temporarily sided with either the Ottomans or Safavids. Thebattle of DimDim between theSafavids and local Bradosti Kurds took place in this region. After a long and bloody siege led by the Safavid grand vizierHatem Beg, which lasted from November 1609 to the summer of 1610, theCastle of Dimdim was captured. All the defenders were killed andShah Abbas I ordered a general massacre in Bradost and Mukriyan (reported by Eskandar Beg, Safavid historian in the bookAlam Aray-e Abbasi) and resettled theAfshar tribe in the region while deporting many Kurdish tribes toKhorasan region, where many of their descendants still reside of as of today.
The Safavid control was firmly restored byShah Abbas but during the Afghan invasion (1722–1728) more than a century later, the Ottomans captured the northwestern regions of Iran, untilNadir Shah expelled them and reasserted Iranian suzerainty over the region and far beyond. The Russian (Tsarist) army occupied the region in 1909, and again in 1912–1914 and 1915–1918 period. The Ottomans occupied the region in 1914–1915 and 1918–1919 periods. The Soviet forces occupied the region in 1941, resulting in the establishment of a short-lived, Soviet-supportedpuppet state called theRepublic of Mahabad, from November 1945 to November 1946.
The districts of Maku, Khoy, Salmas, and Arasbaran, and the region of Urmia, according to 19th-century administrative division became a part of the northwestern Iranian province of Azerbaijan.[21] In 1937 the province was renamed toShomal-e gharb (Northwestern Province). Shortly after it the province of Azerbaijan was divided into a western and eastern part which were renamed toChaharom (Fourth Province) andsevom (Third Province), respectively. In 1961 Fourth province was renamedWest Azerbaijan by the Iranian authorities.
Some events in the 19th and 20th centuries are:
Shaikh Ubeidullah Attacks, west and south of LakeUrmia in 1880;[22]
Simko Insurrections, west of LakeUrmia from 1918 to 1922;[23]
The foundation and destruction of theRepublic of Mahabad in 1946 in County of Mahabad;
Periodic severe fighting from 1979 until the 1990s near to boundaries of Iraq-Iran between Kurdish militia belonging to Kurdish political parties and the Iranian government.[24] During the early 1980s parts of the province were outside central government's control.
Zoroaster claim
Some Muslim researchers[25] have proclaimed that the birth of the prophetZoroaster was in this area, in the vicinity ofLake Orumieh, Chichest or Ganzak; recent scholarship, however, indicates that sites in Central Asia are more likely.[26]
Demographics
Language and ethnicity
There are no official statistics on the ethnic or linguistic makeup of Western Azerbaijan. Most of the population of the province consists ofAzerbaijanis andKurds, with smaller populations ofArmenians,Assyrians, andJews. On the question of linguistic majority of the province, linguist Anonby argued in 2019 that:[6]
As is the case for most other parts of Iran, there are no reliable or detailed data on language distribution in West Azerbaijan Province. A number of districts in the province are majority Azerbaijani-speaking, including the capital city of Orumieh (Urmia). Because of this – and perhaps also because of the province's name – it is often assumed that Azerbaijani is the main language of the province as a whole. However, our own preliminary investigations of this topic, which are based on district-by-district calculations... suggest that Kurdish may in fact be the mother tongue of a slight majority of the province's population.
At the time of the 2006 National Census, the province's population was 2,831,779 people in 655,260 households.[39] The following census in 2011 counted 3,080,576 inhabitants in 822,152 households.[40] The 2016 census measured the population of the province as 3,265,219 in 935,956 households.[3]
Administrative divisions
The population history and structural changes of West Azerbaijan province's administrative divisions over three consecutive censuses are shown in the following table.
With an area of 43,660 square kilometers, includingLake Urmia, the province of West Azerbaijan is located on the northwest of Iran.
Climate
Cold northern winds affect the province during winter and cause heavy snow.[44] According to existing meteorological data, local temperatures vary within the province. Average temperature differs from 9.4 °C inPiranshahr to 11.6 °C in Mahabad, while it is 9.8 °C inUrmia, 10.8 °C in Khoy, 9.4 °C inPiranshahr, and in Mahabad 11.6 °C. According to the same data, the highest temperature in the province reaches 34 °C in July, and the lowest temperature is –16 °C in January. The maximum change of temperature in summer is 4 °C and in winter 15 °C.[45]
Archaeology
Permanent settlements were established in the province as early as the 6th millennium BC as excavation at sites such asTeppe Hasanlu establish. In Hasanlu, a famous Golden Vase was found in 1958. The province is the location ofTepe Hajji Firuz, site of some of the world's earliest evidence ofwine production.[46][47][48]Gooy Teppe is another significant site, where a metal plaque dating from 800 BC was found that depicts a scene from theEpic of Gilgamesh.
Ruins such as these and theUNESCO world heritage site at theSasanian compound ofTakht-i-Suleiman illustrate the strategic importance and tumultuous history of the province through the millennia. Overall, the province enjoys a wealth of historical attractions, with 169 sites registered by theCultural Heritage Organization of Iran.
Higher education
Urmia University was first built by an AmericanPresbyterian missionary in 1878. Amedical faculty was also established there, headed byJoseph Cochran and a team of American medical associates. Cochran and his colleagues were buried in an old cemetery in the vicinity ofUrmia. 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 province today has the following major institutions ofhigher education:
^Habibi, Hassan (12 September 1990) [تاریخ تصویب (Approval date) 1369/06/21 (Iranian Jalali calendar)].تصویب سازمان و سلسله تابعیت عناصر و واحدهای تقسیمات کشوری استان آذربایجان غربی به مرکزیت شهر ارومیه [Approval of the organization and chain of citizenship of the elements and units of the national divisions of West Azerbaijan province, centered in the city of Urmia].لام تا کام [Lam ta Kam] (in Persian).وزارت کشور [Ministry of the Interior].کمیسیون سیاسی دفاعی هیأت دولت [Political Defense Commission of the Government Board].شناسه [ID] D6D37EAB-50D7-43D6-B320-D774C01ADE50.شماره دوره [Course number] 69,شماره جلد [Volume number] 3. Archived fromthe original on 20 December 2023. Retrieved29 September 2025.
^Hewsen, Robert H. (17 August 2011)."AVARAYR".Encyclopædia Iranica.So spirited was the Armenian defense, however, that the Persians suffered enormous losses as well. Their victory was pyrrhic and the king, faced with troubles elsewhere, was forced, at least for the time being, to allow the Armenians to worship as they chose.
^Susan Paul Pattie (1997).Faith in History: Armenians Rebuilding Community. Smithsonian Institution Press. p. 40.ISBN1560986298.The Armenian defeat in the Battle of Avarayr in 451 proved a pyrrhic victory for the Persians. Though the Armenians lost their commander, Vartan Mamikonian, and most of their soldiers, Persian losses were proportionately heavy, and Armenia was allowed to remain Christian.
^Richard G. Hovannisian, 2004, The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times, Volume I: The Dynastic Periods: From Antiquity to the Fourteenth Century, Palgrave Macmillan,ISBN1-4039-6421-1,ISBN978-1-4039-6421-2, p. 92
^Minorsky, V. (2007)."Ādharbaydjān (Azerbāydjān)". In P. Bearman; Th. Bianquis; C. E. Bosworth; E. van Donzel; W. P. Heinrichs (eds.).Encyclopaedia of Islam. Brill. Archived fromthe original on 18 May 2024. Retrieved16 January 2008.
^Encyclopædia Iranica, "Azerbaijan: Pre-Islamic History", K. Shippmann
^Historical Dictionary of Azerbaijan byTadeusz Swietochowski and Brian C. Collins. The Scarecrow Press, Inc., Lanham, Maryland (1999),ISBN0-8108-3550-9 (retrieved 7 June 2006)
^"As a matter of fact, only untrustworthy and late traditions place Zoroaster's birthplace at Urmia." Tarbiyat, Muḥammad Ali (1935)Dānishmandān-i Āzarbayjān Tehran, p. 162, reissued in 1999,ISBN964-422-138-9
^"تخت سلیمان".CGIE (in Persian).مردم این بخش به زبانهای تركی و كردی گفتوگو میكنند و از لحاظ مذهبی تركی زبانان پیرو مذهب شیعۀ دوازده امامی، و كردی زبانها، سنی شافعی مذهباند
^abسرشماري عمومي نفوس و مسكن 1385 : استان آذربایجان غربی [General Population and Housing Census 2006: West Azerbaijan Province].مرکز آمار ایران [Statistical Centre of Iran] (in Persian). Archived fromthe original(Excel) on 20 September 2011. Retrieved25 September 2022.
^abسرشماري عمومي نفوس و مسكن 1390 : استان آذربایجان غربی [General Population and Housing Census 2011: West Azerbaijan Province].Iran Data Portal—Syracuse University (in Persian).مرکز آمار ایران [Statistical Centre of Iran]. Archived fromthe original(Excel) on 20 January 2023. Retrieved19 December 2022.
^Jahangiri, Eshaq (18 July 2021) [تاریخ تصویب (Approval date) 1400/04/27 (Iranian Jalali calendar)].تصويب نامه در خصوص تقسيمات كشوري شهرستان مياندوآب استان آذربايجان غربي [Approval letter regarding the national divisions in Miandoab County of West Azerbaijan province].سامانه ملی قوانین و مقررات [National System of Laws and Regulations] (in Persian).وزارت کشور [Ministry of the Interior].هیات وزیران [Council of Ministers].پيشنهاد شماره [Proposal Number] 210606. Archived fromthe original on 28 September 2025. Retrieved28 September 2025.
^Davoodi, Parviz (9 December 2007) [تاریخ تصویب (Approval date) 1386/09/18 (Iranian Jalali calendar)].تصویب نامه درخصوص اصلاحات تقسیمات کشوری در استان آذربایجان غربی [Approval regarding the reforms of national divisions in West Azerbaijan province].لام تا کام [Lam ta Kam] (in Persian).وزارت کشور [Ministry of the Interior].کمیسیون سیاسی دفاعی هیأت دولت [Political Defense Commission of the Government Board].شناسه [ID] C87621A0-B504-45A5-A06D-DC28E1D1F3F9. Archived fromthe original on 26 September 2024. Retrieved3 October 2025.
^Mokhber, Mohammad (15 August 2022) [مصوب 1401,05,24 (Approved 1401/5/24) (Iranian Jalali calendar)].منتزع شدن شهر نلاس از بخش وزينه و الحاق به شهرستان سردشت در استان آذربايجان غربي [The separation of the city of Nalas from Vazineh District and its annexation to Sardasht County in West Azerbaijan province].سامانه ملی قوانین و مقررات [National System of Laws and Regulations] (in Persian).وزارت کشور [Ministry of the Interior].هیات وزیران [Council of Ministers].پيشنهاد شماره [Proposal Number] 101108. Archived fromthe original on 28 September 2023. Retrieved12 October 2025.
^"Azerbaijan".Encyclopædia Britannica. 29 June 2023.
^Voigt, Mary M. and Meadow, Richard H. (1983)Hajji Firuz Tepe, Iran: the neolithic settlement University Museum, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,ISBN0-934718-49-0
^Bert G. Fragner, 'Soviet Nationalism': An Ideological Legacy to the Independent Republics of Central Asia ' in Van Schendel, Willem(Editor) . Identity Politics in Central Asia and the Muslim World: Nationalism, Ethnicity and Labour in the Twentieth Century. London , GBR: I. B. Tauris & Company, Limited, 2001. Excerpt from pg 24: "Under Soviet auspices and in accordance with Soviet nationalism, historical Azerbaijan proper was reinterpreted as 'Southern Azerbaijan', with demands for liberation and, eventually, for 're'-unification with Northern (Soviet) Azerbaijan a breathtaking manipulation. No need to point to concrete Soviet political activities in this direction, as in 1945–46 etc. The really interesting point is that in the independent former Soviet republics, this typically Soviet ideological pattern has long outlasted the Soviet Union."
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