Takab or Tekab ( fa, تكاب, az, تیکان‌تپه, ) is a city and capital of

Takab County Takab County, or Tekab County ( fa, شهرستان تکاب) is located in West Azerbaijan province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is borde ...

, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 43,702, in 10,078 families. The famous historical complex Takht-e Soleyman is situated to the North-East of the city. Takht-e-Soleyman was one of Takab's oldest

Zoroastrian Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheistic on ...

fire temple A fire temple, Agiary, Atashkadeh ( fa, آتشکده), Atashgah () or Dar-e Mehr () is the place of worship for the followers of Zoroastrianism, the ancient religion of Iran (Persia). In the Zoroastrian religion, fire (see ''atar''), together wi ...

s during the

Sassanid Dynasty The Sasanian dynasty was the house that founded the Sasanian Empire, ruling this empire from 224 to 651 AD in Persia (modern-day Iran). It began with Ardashir I, who named the dynasty as ''Sasanian'' in honour of his grandfather (or father), Sasa ...

and had the name ''Azargoshnasp''. The

Karaftu The Karaftu caves ( fa, کرفتو,) are an ensemble of artificially cut rock chambers located between Saqqez and Divandarreh, Kurdistan Province, Iran. The cave complex dates back to the 3rd or 4th century BC and is of major importance due to i ...

Cave is also situated in Takab near

Saqqez Saqqez ( ; fa, سقز ; ), also known as Saghez, Saqez, Saqqiz, Saqiz, and Sakīz, is the capital city of Saqqez County in Kurdistan Province, in northwestern Iran. According to the 2016 census, its population was 165,258. Etymology The nam ...

Etymology

Shiz is the ancient name used during

Persian Empire The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire (; peo, wikt:𐎧𐏁𐏂𐎶, 𐎧𐏁𐏂, , ), also called the First Persian Empire, was an History of Iran#Classical antiquity, ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. Bas ...

for Takab. Takab means one narrow water way in

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 and ...

. Tak means one or alone and Ab means water. Takab was originally known as Tikan Təpə by its native Turkic

Afshar people Afshar ( az, Əfşar افشار; tr, Avşar, ''Afşar''; tk, Owşar; fa, اَفشار, Āfshār) is a tribe of Oghuz Turkic origin, that split into several groups in Iran, Turkey and Afghanistan. During the Seljuk conquests of the 11th century ...

until 1941 when Iran's

Academy of Persian Language and Literature The Academy of Persian Language and Literature (APLL) ( fa, فرهنگستان زبان و ادب فارسی, ''Farhangestân-e Zabân-o Adab-e Fârsi'') is the regulatory body for the Persian language, headquartered in Tehran, Iran. Formerly know ...

officially changed it to Takab. Afshar people are one of the Oghuz Turkic peoples. These originally nomadic Oghuz tribes moved from Central Asia and initially settled in

Iranian Azerbaijan Azerbaijan or Azarbaijan ( fa, آذربایجان, ''Āzarbāijān'' ; az-Arab, آذربایجان, ''Āzerbāyjān'' ), also known as Iranian Azerbaijan, is a historical region in northwestern Iran that borders Iraq, Turkey, the Nakhchivan ...

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

republic, and

Eastern Turkey The Eastern Anatolia Region ('' tr, Doğu Anadolu Bölgesi'') is a geographical region of Turkey. The most populous province in the region is Van Province. Other populous provinces are Malatya, Erzurum and Elazığ. It is bordered by the Black Se ...

. Later some of them were relocated by the

Safavids Safavid Iran or Safavid Persia (), also referred to as the Safavid Empire, '. was one of the greatest Iranian empires after the 7th-century Muslim conquest of Persia, which was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. It is often conside ...

Khorasan Khorasan may refer to: * Greater Khorasan, a historical region which lies mostly in modern-day northern/northwestern Afghanistan, northeastern Iran, southern Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan * Khorasan Province, a pre-2004 province of Ira ...

and Mazandaran.

People

The predominant language spoken in the city is Azerbaijani, while the predominant religion is

Shia Islam Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, m ...

. Minority

Kurdish tribes The following is a list of tribes of Kurdish people, an Iranic ethnic group from the geo-cultural region of Kurdistan in Western Asia. Iraq Baghdad Governorate The following tribes are present in Baghdad Governorate: * Feyli tribe Diyala Gover ...

include

Shekak The Shekak (also Shakkak, Shikakan or Shekkāk; ; ) is a Kurdish tribe present in various regions, mainly in West Azerbaijan province, Iran. History The Shikaki tribe are first mentioned in a Yezidi mişûr (manuscript) from 1207 AD, where the ...

, Sharani, Moslanlu and Zafranlu, while most of the Azerbaijani population is of the Afshar tribe. The Azerbaijanis have also been described as ' Turkmans'.

Economy

The majority of residents of Takab earn their income from agriculture. Takab is home to the biggest gold mine in the entire country and one of the biggest in the Middle East.http://www.farsnews.ir/newstext.php?nn=8901181434

Notable people

Shahriar Afshar ) , image = , image_size = , caption = , birth_name = Shahriar Sadigh Afshar , birth_date = , birth_place = Tehran, Imperial State of Iran , citizenship = Iran & American , nationality = , ethnicity = , fields = ...

Iranian-American Iranian Americans are United States citizens or nationals who are of Iranian ancestry or who hold Iranian citizenship. Iranian Americans are among the most highly educated people in the United States. They have historically excelled in busine ...

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...

and inventor. * Esmaeil Zolfi,

Iranian Iranian may refer to: * Iran, a sovereign state * Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran * Iranian lan ...

businessman and philanthropist.

References

Notes Populated places in Takab County Cities in West Azerbaijan Province Kurdish settlements in West Azerbaijan Province {{Takab-geo-stub