For the administrative division of Kurdistan province, see Sanandaj County.
Sanandaj | |
|---|---|
City | |
Sanandaj from Abidar, Sanandaj Museum, Khosro Abad Mansion, Qeshlaq Bridge | |
Interactive map of Sanandaj | |
| Coordinates: 35°18′41″N 46°59′46″E / 35.31139°N 46.99611°E[1] | |
| Country | Iran |
| Province | Kurdistan |
| County | Sanandaj |
| District | Central |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Seyed Anwar Rashidi[2] |
| Area | |
• Total | 3,033 km2 (1,171 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 1,538 m (5,046 ft) |
| Population (2016)[3] | |
• Total | 412,767 |
| • Density | 136.1/km2 (352.5/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+3:30 (IRST) |
| Area code | 087 |
| Climate | Csa |
| Website | e-sanandaj |
Sanandaj (Persian: سنندج; pronounced [sænænˈdædʒ] ⓘ Kurdish: سنە, romanized: Senneh[4]) is a city in the Central District of Sanandaj County, in the Kurdistan province of Iran, serving as capital of the province, the county, and the district.[5] With a population of 850,000,[6] it is the second largest Kurdish city and 20th largest city overall in Iran. The city is considered a historic centre of Kurdish cultural and intellectual life, particularly noted for its tradition of Kurdish music, poetry, and carpet weaving.[7][8]
Sanandaj's founding is fairly recent, (about 250 years ago), yet in its short existence it has grown to become one of the centers of Kurdish culture.[9][10] During the Iran–Iraq War the city was attacked by Iraqi planes and saw disturbances.[11] Since 2019, UNESCO has recognized Sanandaj as Creative City of Music.[12]
The name "Sinna" first appears in records from the 14th century CE.[13] Before this, the main city in the region was Sisar, whose exact location is unknown.[13] Sisar was also called "Sisar of Sadkhaniya", or "Sisar of the hundred springs", and it has been proposed that the current name of "Sinna" is a contracted form of "Sadkhaniya".[13]
The name "Sisar" disappears in the 14th century and the name "Sinna" replaces it, for example in the works of Hamdallah Mustawfi who refers to a mountain and a pass with this name.[13] Then the Kurdish historian Sharaf al-Din Bitlisi mentions that in 1580 an Ardalan ruler named Timur Khan had a land grant including Sinna and the earlier Ardalan capital of Hasanabad.[14] However, the local historian Ali-Akbar Munshi Waqayi-Nigar wrote in 1892/3 that Sinna was founded later, by the ruler Soleyman Khan Ardalan, on the site of an earlier settlement; the chronogram he gives for this event corresponds to 1046 AH, or 1636-7 CE.[14]
Sinna was developed significantly under the reign of Aman Allah "the Great" (from 1797-1825).[14] 19th-century Sinna was "a lively commercial center, exporting oak galls, tragacanth, furs, and carpets".[14] Its population was mostly Kurdish, with a significant Jewish minority and smaller numbers of Armenian and Assyrian Christians (the latter of which are predominantly Chaldean Catholic).[14]
The population of Sanandaj is mainly Kurdish. The city also had an Armenian minority who gradually emigrated from the city. Until the Iranian Revolution (1979), the city had a small Aramaic-speaking Jewish community of about 4,000 people.[9] The city boasted a sizable Assyrian community that spoke a unique dialect of Aramaic called Senaya, they are mostly members of the Chaldean Catholic Church.[15] The Kurdish character of Sanandaj has been extensively documented in urban studies scholarship. Alizadeh and colleagues (2019) characterise Sanandaj as a paradigmatic example of a traditional Kurdish city, noting that its urban morphology, architectural heritage, and social organisation have been shaped over centuries by Kurdish cultural norms.[16]
The linguistic composition of the city:[17]
| Language | percent | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central Kurdish | 86% | |||
| Hawrami | 7% | |||
| New Persian | 4.95% | |||
| Southern Kurdish | 2% | |||
| Aramaic | 0.05% | |||
The predominance of Central Kurdish in the city reflects the broader demographic composition of Iranian Kurdistan. Persian serves primarily as the language of education, government, and inter-ethnic communication, while Kurdish is the dominant vernacular of daily life.[18]
Most of the people of Sanandaj follow the Shafi‘i branch of Sunni Islam.[19][20]
At the time of the 2006 National Census, the city's population was 311,446 in 81,380 households.[21] The following census in 2011 counted 373,987 people in 106,771 households.[22] The 2016 census measured the population of the city as 412,767 people in 126,240 households.[3]
The city is the second largest Kurdish city in Iran, behind Kermanshah.[23]
The city is between the Qishlaq river, a tributary of the Diyala, and Mount Awidar, which separates it from the old Ardalan capital of Hasanabad.[14] Carpet making is the biggest industry in Sanandaj.[14]
Sanandaj has a Mediterranean climate (Csa) according to the Köppen climate classification, bordering on a humid continental climate (Dsa), with cold and wet winters and very hot and dry summers.
The synoptic station of Sanandaj started working in the autumn of 1959.[24]
Highest recorded temperature: 44°C on 16 July 1981[25]
Lowest recorded temperature: -31°C on 6 February 1974[26]
| Climate data for Sanandaj (1991-2020, extremes 1959-2020) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 17.5 (63.5) |
21.4 (70.5) |
27.8 (82.0) |
32.8 (91.0) |
36.6 (97.9) |
41.0 (105.8) |
44.0 (111.2) |
43.0 (109.4) |
39.4 (102.9) |
33.8 (92.8) |
26.0 (78.8) |
22.9 (73.2) |
44.0 (111.2) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 7.0 (44.6) |
9.7 (49.5) |
15.0 (59.0) |
20.5 (68.9) |
26.4 (79.5) |
33.7 (92.7) |
37.7 (99.9) |
37.5 (99.5) |
32.5 (90.5) |
24.9 (76.8) |
15.3 (59.5) |
9.7 (49.5) |
22.5 (72.5) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 0.8 (33.4) |
3.0 (37.4) |
7.8 (46.0) |
12.8 (55.0) |
17.8 (64.0) |
24.3 (75.7) |
28.4 (83.1) |
27.6 (81.7) |
21.9 (71.4) |
15.4 (59.7) |
7.8 (46.0) |
3.1 (37.6) |
14.2 (57.6) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −4.4 (24.1) |
−2.7 (27.1) |
1.1 (34.0) |
5.4 (41.7) |
9.1 (48.4) |
13.6 (56.5) |
18.1 (64.6) |
17.1 (62.8) |
11.1 (52.0) |
6.8 (44.2) |
1.8 (35.2) |
−2.1 (28.2) |
6.2 (43.2) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −28.0 (−18.4) |
−31.0 (−23.8) |
−16.0 (3.2) |
−7.0 (19.4) |
−2.0 (28.4) |
3.0 (37.4) |
7.0 (44.6) |
5.0 (41.0) |
1.0 (33.8) |
−4.6 (23.7) |
−14.0 (6.8) |
−23.6 (−10.5) |
−31.0 (−23.8) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 44.6 (1.76) |
50.7 (2.00) |
58.0 (2.28) |
65.9 (2.59) |
28.9 (1.14) |
2.2 (0.09) |
1.3 (0.05) |
0.2 (0.01) |
1.0 (0.04) |
28.2 (1.11) |
55.8 (2.20) |
47.4 (1.87) |
384.2 (15.14) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm) | 6.8 | 7.1 | 7.9 | 7.6 | 4.3 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 3 | 6.4 | 5.9 | 50.5 |
| Average rainy days | 6.9 | 8.8 | 11.4 | 11.4 | 5.9 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 4.9 | 10.4 | 8.3 | 70.1 |
| Average snowy days | 8.0 | 6.4 | 2.1 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.6 | 3.9 | 21.3 |
| Average relative humidity (%) | 70 | 64 | 55 | 53 | 46 | 28 | 24 | 24 | 29 | 43 | 63 | 69 | 47 |
| Average dew point °C (°F) | −4.7 (23.5) |
−3.9 (25.0) |
−2.3 (27.9) |
1.6 (34.9) |
3.7 (38.7) |
2.2 (36.0) |
3.7 (38.7) |
3.0 (37.4) |
0.8 (33.4) |
0.9 (33.6) |
0.1 (32.2) |
−2.9 (26.8) |
0.2 (32.3) |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 155 | 166 | 211 | 231 | 295 | 356 | 357 | 347 | 313 | 255 | 183 | 152 | 3,021 |
| Source 1: NCEI[27] | |||||||||||||
| Source 2: IRIMO (extremes, snow/sleet days for 1959-2010)[25][26][28] | |||||||||||||
The economy of Sanandaj is based upon the production of carpets, processed hides and skins, milled rice, refined sugar, woodworking, cotton weaving, metalware and cutlery.[29][30]
In Sanandaj, there is a combined cycle power plant with a capacity of 1000 megawatts, a petrochemical plant, a tractor manufacturing plant, a tire manufacturing plant, a tile and ceramic manufacturing plant, a pasteurized milk manufacturing plant, and hundreds of other factories.
There is also an international airport in Sanandaj.
In Sanandaj, there are two 5-star hotels, Laleh Hotel and Jin Plus Hotel, two 4-star hotels, Shadi Hotel and Shahu Hotel, and two 3-star hotels, Jahangardi Hotel and Farhangian Hotel.
The world's largest open-air cinema is located in Abidar Forest Park.
See: Category:People from Sanandaj
Media related to Sanandaj at Wikimedia Commons
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