Zahedan - Demographics and Culture

Demographics and Culture

The Demographics of Zahedan's inhabitants are largely ethnic Baluchi who speak the Baluchi language and Sistanis who speak Persian sistani and yazdi, khorasani. There are also smaller numbers of Brahuis and Pashtuns.

Zahedan lies east of the Kavir-e Loot desert. The city was part of the historic region of Sistan (Persian: سیستان), situated today on the borders of southeastern Iran and southwestern Afghanistan. One portion is part of the Iranian province of Sistan and Baluchestan. The other portion is part of the Nimruz Province of Afghanistan.

The name Sistan comes from 'Sakastan', of which Sistan was once the westernmost part. The Sakas that were once native to Sistan were driven to the Punjab during the Arsacid era (63 BCE-220 CE). The Saffarids (861–1003 CE), one of the early Iranian dynasties of the Islamic era, were originally rulers of Sistan. In the Shahnameh, Sistan is also referred to as Zabulistan, after Zabol, a city in the region. In Ferdowsi's epic, Zabulistan is in turn described to be the homeland of the mythological hero-king Rostam.

Zahedan and the area of Sistan has a very strong connection with Zoroastrianism and during Sassanid times Lake Hamun was one of two pilgrimage sites for followers of that religion. In Zoroastrian religion, the lake is the keeper of Zoroaster's seed and just before the final renovation of the world, three maidens will enter the lake, each then giving birth to the saoshyants who will be the saviours of mankind at the final renovation of the world. The most famous archaeological site in Sistan is on Kuh-e Khwajeh, a hill rising up as an island in the middle of Lake Hamun.

Zahedan is the main economic center of the region and home to many small- and medium-scale industries. Its main products include cotton textiles, woven and hand-knotted rugs, ceramics, processed foods, livestock feed, processed hides, milled rice, brick, reed mats and baskets.

Zahedan is a stronghold of Sunnism in Baluchistan. The Makki mosque and its madrasa play an important role in Baluchistan's society.Shaikh Abdolhamid Ismaeelzahi is the main and most influential religious and sunni community leader in Iran that is heading Makki mosque and its vigorous institutions . Zahedan also has a Friday mosque for shiye and Jame mosque, where many members of the community gather to worship on Fridays. The city also has a Sikh gurdwara. A colorful bazaar, Rasouli Bazaar, can also be found in the city, where Baluchi and Pashtun traders intermingle. About 100 km south of Zahedan is an intermittently active volcano, Taftan, which rises abruptly 4,042 meters from the surrounding plain.

Although the surrounding area has many ancient sites, Zahedan itself developed mainly in the 20th century. Before being chosen as the provincial administrative center in the 1930s, Zahedan was a small village. Its population reached 17,500 by 1956 and increased more than fivefold to 93,000 by 1976. After 1980 large numbers of refugees fleeing the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan helped triple the population of Zahedan to more than 281,000 by 1986, a number which has since doubled again.