It is one of the most densely populated provinces in Iran and has diverse natural resources, such as large reservoirs of Caspian oil & natural gas.The province's four largest counties are Sari, Behshahr, Babol, Amol, and Qaemshahr (All situated on the Mid-East).Found as province in 1937. Mazanderan was the 2nd modern province just after Gilan.Its diverse nature and climate include plains, prairies, forests and jungles ranges from the sandy beaches to the rugged and snowcapped Elburz sierra with the highest peak & volcano throughout Middle-East and Western Asia, Mount Damavand which at the narrowest point (Nowshahr County) narrows to 5 miles and culminates less than 2 thousand meters from the coast.A major producer of farmed fish in Iran and the neighbor regions,Mazandaran is the leading economic base of agriculture & dish productions,but also relies on the Tourism industry, as many tourists enjoy visiting the area. The area also leads in biotechnology and civil engineering.With the rich history ,its human habitation of the area dates back at least 75,000 years.Recent excavations in Goher Tippe provide proof that the area has been urbanized for more than 5 thousand years of civilization, and this area is one of the most important historical sites of Iran and has played an important role in cultural flourishing and urban development of the region.
Mazandaran was part of the ancient Hyrcanian Kingdom and former Kingdom of Tapuria. Indigenous people of the region are ethnic Mazanderanis (Tapurians) , speaking a Caspian language which most resembles Gilaki and Sangiseri.
Pre Islamic History
The region is known to have been populated from early antiquity, and Mazandaran has changed hands among various dynasties from early in its history. There are several fortresses remaining from Parthian and Sassanid times, and many older cemeteries scattered throughout the province. During this era, Mazandaran was part of Hyrcania Province which was one of important provinces.
With the advent of the Sassanid dynasty, the King of Mazandaran (Tabaristan and Padashkhwargar) was Gushnasp , whose ancestors had reigned in the area (under the Parthian empire) since the time of Alexandar. In 529-536 Mazandarn was ruled by Sassanid prince Kawus son of Kawadh.Anushirawan, the Sassanid king, put in his place Zarmihr, who claimed his ancestry from the legendary blacksmith Kaveh.This dynasty ruled till 645 A.D., when Gil Gawbara (a descendant of the Sassanid king Jamasp and a son of Piruz) joined Mazandaran to Gilan.These families had descendants who ruled during the Islamic period.
Post Islamic History
During the post-Islamic period the local dynasties fall into three classes: 1. local families of pre-Islamic origin, 2. the ʿAlid sayyid s, and 3. local families of secondary importance.
The Bawandids who claimed descent from Kawus provided three dynasties.The first dynasty (665-1007) was overthrown on the conquest of Tabaristan by the Ziyarid Kabus b. Wushmgir. The second dynasty reigned from 466/1073 to 606/1210 when Mazandaran was conquered by 'Ala al-Din Muhammad Khwarzamshah.The third ruled from 635/1237 to 750/1349 as vassals of the Mongols. The last representative of the Bawandids was killed by Afrasiyab Chulawi.
The Karinids claimed descent from Karin, brother of Zarmihr who was the pre-Islamic ruler under the Sassanids. Their last representative Mazyar was put to death in 224/839.
The Paduspanids claimed descent from the Dabyuids of Gilan (their eponym was the son of Gīl Gawbāra). They came to the front about 40/660 and during the rule of the ʿAlids were their vassals. Later, they were vassals of the Buyids and Bawandids, who deposed them in 586/1190. The dynasty, restored in 606/1209-10, survived till the time of Timur; one of its branches (that of Kawus the son of Kayumarth) reigned till 975/1567 and the other (that of Iskandar the son of Kayumarth) till 984/1574.
In 662 CE, ten years after the death of Yazdegerd III the last Sassanian Emperor, a large Muslim army under the command of Hassan ibn Ali (Imam Hassan, the second Shi'a Imam) invaded Tabarestan (Mazandaran as it was then called)[citation needed] only to be severely beaten, suffering heavy losses to the forces of the Zoroastrian princes of the Dabboyid house. For the next two hundred years, Tabaristan maintained an existence independent of the Umayyad Caliphate which supplanted the Persian Empire in the early seventh century, with independent Zoroastrian houses like the Bavand and Karen fighting an effective guerilla warfare against Islam. A short-lived Alid Shiite state collapsed before the subsequent take-over by the Ziyarid princes. Mazandaran, unlike much of the rest of the Iranian Plateau maintained a Zoroastrian majority until the 12th century, thanks to its isolation and hardy population which fought against the Caliph's armies for centuries. Image:Mahmoodabad.jpgthumbleftThe resort of National Iranian Oil Company, near Mahmoodabad.
During the Abbasid caliphate of Abou Jafar Al-Mansur, Tabaristan witnessed a wave of popular revolt. Ultimately, Vandad Hormoz established an independent dynasty in Tabaristan in 783[citation needed]. In 1034, Soltan Mahmoud Ghaznavi entered Tabarestan via Gorgan followed by the invasion of Soltan Mohammad Kharazmshah in 1209. Thereafter, the Mongols governed the region and finally were overthrown by the Timurid Dynasty. After the dissolution of the feudal government of Tabaristan, Mazandaran was incorporated into modern Persian Empire by Shah Abbas I in 1596. In the Safavid era Mazandaran was settled by Georgian migrants, whose descendants still live across Mazandaran. Still many towns, villages and neighbourhoods in Mazandaran bear the name "Gorji" (i.e. Georgian) in them, although most of the Georgians are already assimilated into the mainstream Mazandaranis. The history of Georgian settlement is described by Eskandar Beyg Monshi, the author of the 17th century Tarikh-e Alam-Ara-ye Abbasi, in addition many foreigners e.g. Chardin, and Della Valle, have written about their encounters with the Georgian Mazandaranis.
Before the reign of Nadir Shah, the province was briefly occupied by Russians in the aftermath of the Russo-Persian War, 1722-1723 and peacefully returned to Persia in 1735.
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