Shahmirzad

For the administrative division, see Shahmirzad District.

Shahmirzad (Persian: شهميرزاد)^[a] is a city in, and the capital of, Shahmirzad District of Mehdishahr County, Semnan province, Iran.^[4] It is in the northern part of the country and on the southern slopes of the Alborz Mountains.

Shahmirzad Persian: شهميرزاد
City
Shahmirzad, The Bala Sheikhi Neighborhood
Shahmirzad
Coordinates: 35°46′12″N 53°20′01″E[1]
Country	Iran
Province	Semnan
County	Mehdishahr
District	Shahmirzad
Population  (2016)[2]
• Total	11,191
Time zone	UTC+3:30 (IRST)
Website	https://www.shahmirzad.city/En

Demographics

Language

The Shahmirzadi language (شامرزایی) is a Caspian language close to Mazandarani.^[5]

Population

At the time of the 2006 National Census, the city's population was 7,273 in 1,860 households, when it was in the former Mehdishahr District of Semnan County.^[6] The following census in 2011 counted 8,882 people in 2,625 households,^[7] by which time the district had been separated from the county in the establishment of Mehdishahr County. Shahmirzad was transferred to the new Shahmirzad District.^[4] The 2016 census measured the population of the city as 11,191 people in 3,789 households.^[2] During the summer, the city's population approaches 40,000 as tourists come for its cool climate and popular gardens.^{[citation needed]}

Overview

Shahmirzad has been home to people of diverse ethnic backgrounds, a large group of whom seasonally settled in cities and towns of Mazandaran, such as Babol, Sari, Neka, and Behshahr. During the past decades many Muslim, Bahá'í, and Shahmirzadi Jews,^[8] migrated to larger cities in Iran and abroad, most notably San Francisco Bay Area.

Shahmirzad's walnut orchard with a size of 700 ha is noted by the UN, Food and Agriculture Organization, as the largest of its kind in the world.^[9] Shahmirzadi homeowners are given a proprietary interest in the walnut orchard in proportion to the amount of land they own in the village. Shahmirzad also produces mineral water "Tenab Shahmirzad".^[10][11]

Notable people

• Zabihollah Safa, Iran scholar and professor at the University of Tehran (d. 1999)
• Hají Ákhúnd, Apostle of Baháʼu'lláh, Hand of the Cause in the Bahá’í Faith

See also

Iran portal

Notes

1. Also romanized as Shahmīrzād; also known as Shamīrzād; also known locally as Shamirza (شامرزا)^[3]