Zahedan

Zahedan ( Zāhedān, Brahui: Záhedán) is a city in southeastern Iran and the capital of the Sistan and Baluchestan Province. The city had an estimated population of 580,071 as of 2005.

Geography

Zahedan is located near Pakistan and Afghanistan, only about 41 km south of the tripoint of the borders of the three countries, at an altitude of 1,352 meters above sea level and at a distance of 1,605 km from the Iranian capital of Tehran.

Education

Zahedan is the home of the Islamic Azad University, Zahedan, the Zahedan University of Medical Sciencesand the University of Sistan and Baluchestan.

Demographics and Culture

The overwhelming majority of Zahedan's inhabitants are ethnic Baluchi and speak the Baluchi language. There are also smaller numbers of Pashtuns, Sistanis and Brahuis.

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', which Sistan was once the westernmost part of. 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...
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