Arasbaran
Arasbaran, also known as Qaradagh, is a large mountainous area stretching from the Qūshā Dāgh massif, south of Ahar, to the Aras River in East Azerbaijan province of Iran. The region is confined to Aras River in the north, Meshgin Shahr County and Mughan plain in the east, Sarab County in the south, and Tabriz and Marand counties in the west. Since 1976, UNESCO has registered 72,460 hectares of the region, confined to 38°40' to 39°08'N and 46°39' to 47°02'E, as biosphere reserve with the following general description:
In 2023, Jolfa County in the north was designated UNESCO Aras Geopark.
History
In antiquity, this region was inhabited by the Alarodians and Caspian tribes.Then this area became alternately part of the Medes and Persia. In the 2nd century B.C. the region became part of the Armenian kingdom, where the Armenian principality Parspatunik was established, which existed until the 6th century A.D. Small Armenian melikdoms of Karadagh remained until the Turkish invasion of 1918. The Armenian population is preserved in the mountains of Arasbaran in modern day.
There is no mention of Arasbaran as a geo-political entity in written sources dating prior to Safavid era. There is a speculation that the region referred to as Syah Kuh by the 10th-century Muslim geographer, Ibn Hawqal, corresponds to the present day Arasbaran. However, the said Syahkoh has more similarities with Manghishlaq in the eastern shores of Caspian Sea. Therefore, Arasbaran's history should be considered in the context of its two main towns, Ahar and Kaleybar.
Kaleybar, formerly known as bedh, was the stronghold of Babak Khorramdin who, in 816 AD, revolted against Islamic Caliphate and was defeated in 836 AD. The events of the two decades long tumultuous times have been extensively reported by Islamic historians of the epoch. The first report is by Al-Masudi in The Meadows of Gold: Babak revolted in Bedh region with the disciples of Djavidan... Following a series of defeats Babak was blockaded in his native town..., which even now is known as Babak's country. Ibn Athir in his book, The Complete History, has devoted many pages to the description of battles.
Yaqut al-Hamawi, writing in early thirteenth century, describes Kaleybar in the following words, County between Azerbaijan and Erran.... This county produces pomegranates of incomparable beauty, excellent figs and grapes that are dried on fires. In the 12th-13th centuries, Ahar was a minor and short-lived, but prosperous emirate ruled by the Pishteginid dynasty of Georgian origin. Yaqut al-Hamawi, describes Ahar as very flourishing despite its small extent.
Both towns lost most of their importance during the rule of Ilkhanate. Hamdallah Mustawfi, writing in the-mid fourteenth century, describes Ahar as "a little town", and Kaleybar as "A village of Azerbaijan, in the woods near a mountain which comprises a fortress".
Ahar was in the focus of Safavid dynasty's agenda for casting of Azerbaijan as a Safavid dominion. Thus, Shah Abbas rebuilt the tomb of Sheikh Shahab ol-Din Ahari. In 1604, as Ottoman forces threatened the area directly to the north of Arasbaran during the Ottoman–Safavid War, Shah Abbas ordered Maqsud Sultan to evacuate the entire population of the Nakhichevan region to Arasbaran and Dezmar.
Arasbaran region suffered enormously during Russo-Persian War and Russo-Persian War due to its proximity to the war zone. Western travellers in 1837–1843 period had found Ahar, a city with around 700 households, in wretched condition.
Arasbaran was one of the epicentres of Persian Constitutional Revolution. Arasbaran tribes were heavily involved in armed conflicts; the revolutionary and anti-revolutionary camps were headed, respectively, by Sattar Khan and Rahimkhan Chalabianloo, both from Qaradağ region. When in 1925 Rezā Shāh deposed Ahmad Shah Qajar and founded the Pahlavi dynasty, Arasbaran's gradual decline started. The new king insisting on cultural and ethnic nationalism, and implemented a policy of cultural assimilation. He renamed Qaradağ as Arasbaran to deny the Turkic identity of the inhabitants. Consequently, Arasbaran is no longer in the focus of national politics. Still, many books and articles are being written on the contribution of Arasbaran region, and its inhabitants in the contemporary history of Iran cannot be underestimated. The interested reader may refer to the following scholarly books and articles:
- H. Bybordi "The history of Arasbaran" and the Bybordi migration tribe.
- H. Doosti, "The history and geography of Arasbaran".
- N. Sedqi, "The contemporary political and social history of Arasbaran".
- S.R. Alemohammad, "The book of Arasbaran".
- A concise English language article is "The Tribes of Qarāca Dāġ: A Brief History" by P. Oberling.
- Encyclopediae Iranica has many articles which are related to Arasbaran.
Arasbaran ecotourism potential
Arasbaran is home to 215 species of birds, notably the Caucasian black grouse, grey partridge, black francolin, and common pheasant, 29 species of reptiles, 48 species of mammals, notably wild goat, wild boar, brown bear, wolf, lynx, and leopard, and 17 species of fish. There is an effort going on to revitalize the extinct sub-species of Caspian red deer local to the area . The local flora include hornbeam, sumac, and Berberis. A unique characteristic of Arasbaran forests is the ubiquity of edible wild trees. For instance, a patch of forest between Aghaweye and Oskolou includes hazelnut trees. The large walnut and Cornus mas trees, which grow wild alongside streams, provide an important income source for inhabitants. More exotic plant species, such as redcurrant, truffle and herbs with application in traditional medicine significantly add to the ecological importance of Arasbaran region.
Another potential tourist attraction are the summer camps of semi-settled Tribes of Arasbaran, known as Ilat, who spend five months of the year in uplands for grazing their livestock. A tourist, while enjoying the fresh thin air of the mountains, may get a chance to observe the age-long traditional living styles of the locals. Some of the attractive sites are Aliabad mountains, meadows above Shojaabad, East Azerbaijan village, and Chaparli and Aqdash summer quarters, all located in a driving distance from Kaleybar.
Numerous hot springs, scattered all over the region, have been considered as attractions for promoting tourism. One example is Motaalleq hot spring therapeutic facility, which is the largest of its kind in Iran. The facility, with an area of 12870 m2 includes bathing areas, coffee-shop, restaurants, prayer room, and gymnasium.
In recent years, the local government has organised Zoğal festivals in Kaleybar as a means of promoting tourism. In addition, every year, in the second half of October, a Pomegranate Festival is organised in by the provincial authorities in Mardanaqom village. The main programme of the festival is the performance of ashugh music.
Nearly every village in the region has a landmark in its territories. Some of these are potential tourism attractions. For instance, there is a landmark ancient plane tree in the Kavanaq village, whose photo is presented here. The tree is about 3 metres in diameter and is said to have lived for 500 years. The villagers have developed interesting oral narratives around the events experienced by the tree.
Demographics
In the wake of the Russo-Persian War a significant fraction of the inhabitants lived as nomadic tribes. The major tribes included; Chalabianlu 1500 tents and houses, Karacurlu 2500, Haji-Alilu 800, Begdillu 200, and various minor groups 500. At the time Ahar, with 3500 inhabitants, was the only city of Qaradağ. By the beginning of the twentieth century the settlement of tribesman were growing and in 1920 there were more than four hundred villages, less than thirty of which were Armenian. However, the nomadic way of living has survived to the present. The nomadic population at present has been estimated to be about 36000, and is not significantly different from the 30000 estimate of 1960.The defeat of Soviet-created "Azerbaijan People's Government" following World War II and the ensuing events, resulted in mass migration of inhabitants to Tabriz and Tehran. Most of these migrants settled in the shanty towns and worked as painters. The land reforms of 1962–1964 accelerated the migration. The case of a typical village, Abbasabad, is a good example to demonstrate the population depletion; the number of families dropped from 60 families at 1970 to 12 at 2006.
After the election of Ahmadinezhad as president of Iran, a rumour was circulated that UNESCO will compensate the residents to have the village evacuated for wild-life protection efforts. Some early emigrants returned and built decent houses. At the present the region is undergoing a population boom as more wealthy city residents want to spend their retirement in a cleaner environment. Recently, the deputy governor of the East Azarbaijan province has mentioned the phenomenon of reverse migration to Khoda Afarin and Kaleybar counties. The problem is that the population is aging and the working class adults, in the face of scarce job opportunities, live most of the year in large population centres such as Tehran. The issue is so critical that during recent presidential campaign, Mohsen Rezaee referred to Iranian villages as the old age residence.