Articles

Lorestan Province

 6/27/2014

About Lorestan:

 

Lorestan Province (Persian: استان لرستان, Ostān-e Lorestān ) is a historic territory and province of western Iran, amidst the Zagros Mountains. The population of Lorestan was estimated at 1,716,527 people in 2006.

Lorestan covers an area of 28,392 km². Khoramabad is the capital of Luristan province.The major cities in this province are: Khorramabad, Borujerd, Aligoodarz,  Dorood,  Koohdasht, Azna, Alashtar, Noor Abad, and Pol-e-Dokhtar.

 

Geography and climate

The name Lorestan means "land of the Lurs", and in the wider sense consists of that part of western Iran coinciding with the province of Ilam and extending for about 650 km on a northwest to southeast axis from Kermanshah to Fars, with a breadth of 150–180 km. The terrain consists chiefly of mountains, with numerous ranges, part of the Zagros chain, running northwest to southeast. The central range has many summits which almost reach the line of perpetual snow, rising to 4000 m and more, and it feeds the headwaters of Iran's most important rivers, such as the Zayandeh rud, Jarahi, Karun, Dix, Abi, Karkheh. Between the higher ranges lie many fertile plains and low hilly, well-watered districts.

The highest point of the province is Oshtoran Kooh peak at 4,050 m. The low-lying areas being in the southern most sector of the province, are approximately 500 m above sea level.

The climate is generally sub-humid continental with winter precipitation, a lot of which falls as snow (Köppen Csa). Because it lies on the westernmost slopes of the Zagros Mountains, annual precipitation in Lorestan is among the highest anywhere in Iran south of the Alborz Mountains. At Khorramabad, the average annual precipitation totals 530 millimetres (21 inches) of rainfall equivalent, whilst up to 1270 millimetres (50 inches) may fall on the highest mountains. The months June to September are usually absolutely dry, but Khorramabad can expect 4 inches of rainfall equivalent in December and January.

 

 

Temperatures vary widely with the seasons and between day and night. At Khorramabad, summer temperatures typically range from a minimum of 12 °C (54 °F) to a hot maximum of 32 °C (90 °F). In winter, they range from a minimum of -2 °C (28 °F) to a chilly maximum of 8 °C (46 °F).

People and culture

The Lurs constitute part of the Southwestern branch of the Iranian peoples and part of the Indo-Iranian linguistic group, spread across the Iranian plateau, stretching from the Hindu Kush to central Anatolia and from Central Asia to the Persian Gulf - a region that is sometimes termed Greater Iran.[4] Their language (called Luri or Lurish language ) is closely related to Persian, and there are two distinct dialects of this language. "Lur-e-Bozourg" (Greater Lur), which is spoken by the Bakhtiaris, and "Lur-e-Kuchik" (Lesser Lur), spoken by the Lurs themselves. People in Borujerd speak in Borujerdi Dialect, a local Lori Persian dialect which is extracted from Luri. Northwest of Lorestan Province is dominated by Laki speakers. Professor Richard N. Frye wrote that "the Lurs and their dialects are closely related to the Persians of Fars province, and naturally belong to the southwestern branch of the Iranian peoples...".[5] The overwhelming majority of Lurs are Shia Muslims. In Khuzestan, Lur tribes are primarily concentrated in the northern part of the province, while in Ilam they are mainly in the southern region.

Prior to the 20th century the majority of Lurs were nomadic herders, with an urban minority residing in the city of Khorramabad. There were several attempts by the Pahlavi governments to forcibly settle the nomadic segment of the Lur population. Under Reza Shah, these campaigns tended to be unsuccessful. The last Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, used less forceful methods along with economic incentives, which met with greater, though not complete, success. By the mid-1980s the vast majority of Lurs had been settled in towns and villages throughout the province, or had migrated to the major urban centres.

A number of nomadic Lur tribes continue to exist in the province. Amongst the settled urban populace the authority of tribal elders still remains a strong influence, though not as dominant as it is amongst the nomads. As in Bakhtiari Lurs and Kurdish societies, Northern Lur women have had much greater freedoms than women in other Iranian groups.

In the northern part of Lorestan, formerly known as Lesser Lorestan ("Lur-e-Kuchik"), live the Faylis, divided into the Pishkuh Lurs in the east and Pushtkuh Lurs in the adjoining Iraqi territory in the west.

Lesser Lorestan maintained its independence under a succession of princes of the Khorshidi dynasty, known as Atabegs, from A.D. 1155 to the beginning of the 17th century. Shah Abbas I then removed the last Atabeg, Shah Verdi Khan, and entrusted the government of the province to Hossein Khan Shamlu, the chief of the rival tribe of Shamlu, with the title of Vali in exchange for that of Atabeg. The descendants of Hossein Khan retained the title as governors of the Pushtkuh Lurs, to whom only the denomination of Feili now applies.

Economy

Lorestan Foreign Trade:

Lorestan Province has a unique strategic position in the region due to being in the vicinity of border provinces as well as import-export origins, specially Iraq and Persian Gulf Arab countries ;situating on transit ways , national north – south railway lines, Tehran-south freeway, and also being in the neighborhood of major industrial , mineral , commercial, agricultural and population centers in the country .moreover , it contains the required potentials to serve as a main active commercial pole nationwide. On the other hand, carrying out the plans and massive investments in water, soil , and energy resources by the government in the origin ;being located along energy-directing lines (oil, gas and power);the private sector's investment in macro , medium and micro projects of industrial , mineral , agricultural , handicrafts , guild ,livestock and aquatic groups; leading capitals towards foreign trade arena ; performing various scientific and applied programs in order to increase scientific  and empirical knowledge ; the availability of different educational centers specially for higher education ; the presence of active economic organizations in the province ; the existence of foreign exchange branches as nominated banks , and more importantly capable export bodies and the International Fairs Company have provided the needed infrastructures for development , opening up quite bright horizons in the field of provincial foreign trade promotion.

 

 

Lorestan Major Public Capabilities:

1-having an excellent geographical situations as the national north-south ravine

2-suitable infrastructures and the ability to attract the neighboring provinces 'economic spillovers

3-being adjacent to major national population centers and industrial poles, and having consumer markets for industrial and agricultural products

3-enjoying suitable cultural context; tourism, historical, natural and ecotourism attractions

4- Having communication networks, and international transportation companies

5- Numerous academic centers

6-consideable huge mineral reservoirs including such stone as ornamental , gypsum, limestone , feldspar and (producing more than 3 percents of the world 's stone, as well as having more than 50 active mines and 20 stone production-export units)

7-producing legumes as a national productive pole (ranking first in producing legumes specially chick-pea in the country

8-ranking first in breeding coldwater fish among national non-littoral provinces

9-enjoying climatic diversity and suitable potentials of water and soil in cultivating greenhouse products and orchards including pomegranate, fig and apricot (ranking first in producing black fig in the country)

10-enjoying rich resources of surface waters due to Dez and Karkheh large rivers and abundant ground water resources ( 12 billion cubic meters of surface water and ground water comprising 11 percent of national waters).

11-relative enjoyment of needed contexts for industrial promotion (having 9 industrial estates one economic zone, and 4 main production – export bodies).

12- Productive lands as well as vast areas of pastures and forests.

13-Availibility of legal contexts for promoting sport, positive outlooks for sports activities, private sector and NGO's tendency.

 

Kinds of imports in Lorestan:

Industrial machinery , clothes and shoes, raw chemical materials for factories , wood cover, cloth, spare parts for cars , toys , computer accessories and raw materials , detergent- health materials, tables, furniture and equipment for kitchen , kinds of cell phone cases , kinds of frames , MDF me laminated sheets , raw sheets, polystyrene expansion , polyester cloth , industrial cloth, detergent materials and electroplate ( cladding) , spare parts for installing and setting up air conditioning devices , liquid polytetraflour and ethylene, polyamide chips , simple tunnel carwashes , compact wood in the form of profile and wooden flooring , horse hair (mane) , pliable tubes , girl's hand bags , powder paint for Teflon utensils , sandal and slippers , pat injection equipment , Teflon rods , glycerin , liquid paste , crocks for bottled mineral water , orij essence , machinery for working on the wire rods, vermin-colitis , mollies , metal glass-wool , polyethylene hoyden , liquids , coco amide  propyls.

 

Main export items of Lorestan:

Granule crude nelvet salambor , floor and wall tiles , bran and resin shampoo , takchereh thread , clothes of nylon thread , livestock medicines , human medicines , gas hose , artistic artifacts , power panel , façade stone , nylon thread , profile p.v.c, private cars , living sheep , peas , industrial limestone , construction stone , mineral water , hand-woven carpet forosilis ,micro silica and cement.

 

 

Tourist Attraction

Lorestān has 263 sites of historical and cultural significance according to Iran's Cultural Heritage Organization. Some of the most popular tourist attractions are 6th Century Inscription in Khorramabad, Falak-ol-Aflak Castle, Sassanid Kashgan Bridge in Koohdasht, Khorramabad Tower, Jame Mosque of Borujerd, Soltani Mosque of Borujerd, Imamzadeh Ja'far in Borujerd, Bazaar of Borujerd, Pariz Kooh Mountain Dorood, Gahar Lake in Dorood, Kiyou Lake, Khorramabad, Oshtoran Kooh Mountain in Dorood, Bisheh Waterfall Dorood.

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