Naqadeh

For the administrative subdivision, see Naqadeh County. For the village in East Azerbaijan Province, see Naqadeh, East Azerbaijan. For the village in Hamadan Province, see Naqadeh, Hamadan.

"Sulduz" redirects here. For the village in Miandoab County, see Sulduz, Miandoab.

"Solduz" redirects here. For the administrative subdivision, see Solduz Rural District.

Naqadeh نقده
city
Naqadeh
Coordinates:
Country	Iran
Province	West Azerbaijan
County	Naqadeh
Bakhsh	Central
Population (2006)
• Total	121,975
Time zone	IRST (UTC+3:30)
• Summer (DST)	IRDT (UTC+4:30)

Naqadeh (Persian: نقده‎‎, Azerbaijani: Sulduz - سولدوز, also known as Naqadeh, Naghadeh, Naghdeh, and Nākhuda; formerly known as Sulduz(asn dej) , also Romanized as Sulduz, Solduz and Suldoz) is a city in and the capital of Naqadeh County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran. At the 1996 census, its population was 110,257, in 20,781 families.

The city is located in the Gadar River valley, 23 kilometres (14 mi) south of Lake Urmia at an elevation of 1,300 metres (4,300 ft) above sea-level. The region's economy is based on agriculture, particularly the production of fruit, grain, and timber.

The town is inhabited mainly by Iranian Azerbaijani, as well as large minorities of Kurds and Qarapapaqs, the latter whom were resettled from the Caucasus into the newly established borders of Persia/Iran after the irrevocable loss of Georgia, Azerbaijan, Dagestan, and Armenia to neighboring Russia following the first and second Russo-Persian Wars of the (19th century). Until the genocides of World War One, the town was once home to a large number of Assyrians who perished during the Assyrian Genocide. The main religion is Shitte Islam.

Historical places

Naqadeh has several cultural and recreational attractions like "Yeddi göz" and "Sultan Yaghoob". The most important worth seeing and historical places of the city are as follows:

• Important archaeological sites in the vicinity of Naqadeh include Teppe Hasanlu, 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) northwest of Naqadeh and famous for its "Golden Cup", and Hajji Firuz where some of the oldest evidence for winemaking has been uncovered.
• Mannae and Urartu historical inscriptions in south-west to Lake Urmia.
• Several wetlands (Yadegarloo, Hassanlu and Sulduz wetlands).
• Zendan and Baha Hasan caves.
• tepe bashi central and old park of the city that has big history and american researchers believe there is a big castle under ground of it.
• Qal'a Paswe is a very small village near Naqadeh whose name according to the Iranist Vladimir Minorsky has kept the memory of the Iranian settlements from the 9th century BC and reminds of the "Parsua tribes" mentioned in the records of the Assyrian ruler Shalmaneser III (reign 858-824 BC).

Education

• Payam Noor University
• Azad University of Naghadeh

Language

65 percent of the population of the city speak in Azerbaijani Turkish, the remaining amount predominantly speaks in Kurdish.

Economy

The regional economy greatly depends on agricultural products, and cattle and sheep are raised both for meat and for wool. Some of this production is exported. The region's farmers also raise apples, grapes, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, peas, and other fruits. The high farm production results from the fertile soil and the use of modern machinery and scientific farming methods.

References

• اطلس گیتاشناسی استان‌های ایران [Atlas Gitashenasi Ostanhai Iran] (Gitashenasi Province Atlas of Iran)