Marvdasht ( fa, مرودشت, also
romanize
Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, a ...
d as Marv Dasht) is a city and the capital of
Marvdasht County,
Fars Province,
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
. At the 2006 census, its population was 123,858, in 29,134 families.
Name
Some historians hold that Marvdasht was originally the name of one of the neighborhoods of the ancient city of
Estakhr, until gradually the whole area was called Marvdasht. Others have argued that ''marv'' was the name of a plant which grew in the area and the suffix ''dasht'' (meaning
plain
In geography, a plain is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and as plateaus or uplands ...
in the
Persian language
Persian (), also known by its endonym Farsi (, ', ), is a Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian subdivision of the Indo-European languages. Persian is a pluricentric language predominantly spoken an ...
) was added to form a descriptive placename.
History
Marvdasht is as ancient as the history of Iran and the
Persian Empire
The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire (; peo, 𐎧𐏁𐏂, , ), also called the First Persian Empire, was an ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. Based in Western Asia, it was contemporarily the largest emp ...
. Its former capital
Persepolis
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is in the vicinity of the city, and few kilometers farther
Naqsh-e-Rostam
Naqsh-e Rostam ( lit. mural of Rostam, fa, نقش رستم ) is an ancient archeological site and necropolis located about 12 km northwest of Persepolis, in Fars Province, Iran. A collection of ancient Iranian rock reliefs are cut into th ...
,
Naqsh-e Rajab and the ruins of the ancient city of
Estakhr are reminiscent of the region's importance in historic times. Archaeological excavations have shown that civilized people had already been living in the Marvdasht Plains for millennia when
Darius chose the plains of mount Rahmat for his royal residence.
The modern city of Marvdasht was constructed in the 20th century. After the
Pahlavi government built a sugar factory in 1935 (1314
Persian calendar
The Iranian calendars or Iranian chronology ( fa, گاهشماری ایرانی, ) are a succession of calendars invented or used for over two millennia in Iran, also known as Persia. One of the longest chronological records in human history, ...
), the city gradually developed around the factory. More and more people left the nearby villages or abandoned their nomadic life to settle in the developing city. People from farther areas also migrated to the city. In the years before the
Islamic Revolution
The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dyna ...
Marvdasht became the most important industrial city of Fars province, as other factories such as the petrochemical complex, Azmayesh (producing household appliances and intended to be biggest in the middle east), the Charmineh leather factory, the Fars meat complex and the Dadli biscuit company were constructed. These required a huge workforce, and the population of Marvdasht increased until it became the second most populated city in Fars province.
The fertile lands around the city were cultivated to make Marvdasht into the major center of Iranian agriculture, producing more wheat, maize, tomato, cucumber and other agricultural products than any other region.
Geographical features
220px, Tange Bostanak in Kamfirouz
Marvdasht is one of the northern cities and also counties of
Fars province. The city is located 45 km north of
Shiraz
Shiraz (; fa, شیراز, Širâz ) is the fifth-most-populous city of Iran and the capital of Fars Province, which has been historically known as Pars () and Persis. As of the 2016 national census, the population of the city was 1,565,572 p ...
and has an altitude of 1620 meters above the sea level. The county has an area of 3687 square kilometers and neighbors Arsenjan in the east, Pasargad in the north, Khorambid and Eghlid in the northwest, Sepidan in the southwest and Shiraz in the south. There are three cities in the county: Marvdasht, Seydan and Kamfirouz. Marvdasht as a county is divided into four districts: Central, Kamfirouz, Doroudzan and Seydan. Marvdasht has a cold weather in the hilly areas and moderate climate in other regions.
Higher education
The city has six universities:
Islamic Azad University, Marvdasht Branch; Fars Science and Research University;
Payame Noor University, Marvdasht center; a branch of
Technical and Vocational University
The Technical and Vocational University (TVU) ( fa, دانشگاه فنی و حرفهای, ''Danushgah-e Feni-ye Herfehai'') includes higher education that runs all technical/vocational colleges across the country. The main objective of this U ...
; and a branch of
University of Applied Science and Technology
The University of Applied Science and Technology (UAST) ( fa, دانشگاه جامع علمی - کاربردی Dāneshgah-e Jām'e Elmi Kārbordi) is a public university in Iran administrated by the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology. ...
.
Archaeology
The Tokyo University Iraq-Iran Archaeological Expedition, headed by Namio Egami, carried out three seasons of excavations in the Marv Dasht plain from 1956 to 1965.
The excavations took place at the following prehistoric mounds situated in the vicinity of Marvdasht and
Persepolis
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, alternate_name =
, image = Gate of All Nations, Persepolis.jpg
, image_size =
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, map =
, map_type ...
.
[Prehistoric pottery from the Marv Dasht Plain, Iran](_blank)
The University Museum, University of Tokyo (archived)
*
Tall-i Bakun A and B
* Tall-i Gap A
* Tall-i Jari A and B
* Tall-i Mushki
At
Tall-e Gap many ceramic items were found. The site was identified as an important settlement of the ancient Bakun culture, belonging to the Middle Bakun sub-phase of the 5th millennium BCE
Chalcolithic
The Copper Age, also called the Chalcolithic (; from grc-gre, χαλκός ''khalkós'', "copper" and ''líthos'', "Rock (geology), stone") or (A)eneolithic (from Latin ''wikt:aeneus, aeneus'' "of copper"), is an list of archaeologi ...
.
References
External links
Marvdasht Islamic Azad UniversityFarsnama in Persian on MarvdashtMarvdasht wallPersepolis Village
{{Marvdasht County
Populated places in Marvdasht County
Cities in Fars Province