sanandaj

Sanandaj's founding is fairly recent, (about 250 years ago), yet in its short existence it has grown to become one of the centers of Kurdish culture.Geoffrey Khan, The Jewish Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Sanandaj, Piscataway NJ: Gorgias Press, p. 1.[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/521720/Sanandaj Sanandaj] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130615085220/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/521720/Sanandaj |date=15 June 2013 }} Encyclopædia Britannica, retrieved 16 July 2014. During the Iran–Iraq War the city was attacked by Iraqi planes and saw disturbances.{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Sanandaj|title=Sanandaj | Iran | Britannica|access-date=30 November 2020|archive-date=27 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201127182821/https://www.britannica.com/place/Sanandaj|url-status=live}} Since 2019, UNESCO has recognized Sanandaj as Creative City of Music.{{cite web |url=https://en.unesco.org/creative-cities/events/sanandaj-one-year-anniversary-unesco-creative-city-music |title=Sanandaj one-year anniversary as a UNESCO Creative City of Music {{!}} Creative Cities Network |website=en.unesco.org |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201207155108/https://en.unesco.org/creative-cities/events/sanandaj-one-year-anniversary-unesco-creative-city-music |archive-date=2020-12-07}}

The name "Sinna" first appears in records from the 14th century CE.{{cite book |last1=Minorsky |first1=Vladimir |editor1-last=Bosworth |editor1-first=C.E. |editor2-last=van Donzel |editor2-first=E. |editor3-last=Heinrichs |editor3-first=W.P. |editor4-last=Lecomte |editor4-first=G. |title=The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Vol. IX (SAN-SZE) |date=1997 |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden |isbn=90-04-10422-4 |pages=680–1 |url=https://ia600603.us.archive.org/14/items/EncyclopaediaDictionaryIslamMuslimWorldEtcGibbKramerScholars.13/09.EncycIslam.NewEdPrepNumLeadOrient.EdEdComCon.BosDonHeinLec.etc.UndPatIUA.v9.San-Sze.Leid.EJBrill.1997..pdf |access-date=13 June 2022 |chapter=SĪSAR}} Before this, the main city in the region was Sisar, whose exact location is unknown. Sisar was also called "Sisar of Sadkhaniya", or "Sisar of the hundred springs", and it has been proposed that the current name of "Sinna" is a contracted form of "Sadkhaniya".

The name "Sisar" disappears in the 14th century and the name "Sinna" replaces it, for example in the works of Hamdallah Mustawfi who refers to a mountain and a pass with this name. Then the Kurdish historian Sharaf al-Din Bitlisi mentions that in 1580 an Ardalan ruler named Timur Khan had a land grant including Sinna and the earlier Ardalan capital of Hasanabad. However, the local historian Ali-Akbar Munshi Waqayi-Nigar wrote in 1892/3 that Sinna was founded later, by the ruler Soleyman Khan Ardalan, on the site of an earlier settlement; the chronogram he gives for this event corresponds to 1046 AH, or 1636-7 CE.

Sinna was developed significantly under the reign of Aman Allah "the Great" (from 1797-1825). 19th-century Sinna was "a lively commercial center, exporting oak galls, tragacanth, furs, and carpets". Its population was mostly Kurdish, with a significant Jewish minority and smaller numbers of Armenian and Assyrian Christians (the latter of which are predominantly Chaldean Catholic).

The population of Sanandaj is mainly Kurdish. The city also had an Armenian minority who gradually emigrated from the city. Until the Iranian Revolution (1979), the city had a small Aramaic-speaking Jewish community of about 4,000 people. The city boasted a sizable Assyrian community that spoke a unique dialect of Aramaic called Senaya, they are mostly members of the Chaldean Catholic Church.{{cite book |last1=Khan |first1=Geoffrey |title=The Jewish Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Sanandaj |date=2009 |publisher=Gorgias Press |isbn=978-1-60724-134-8 |pages=3–4 |language=en}}

The linguistic composition of the city:{{Cite web|title=Language distribution: Kordestan Province|url=http://iranatlas.net/index.html?module=module.language-distribution.kordestan#eyJ0IjoieCIsImkiOiIyYzg5NmZiZWU2ZmNiZTNmNWQ3ODZkNGNjNzIwYWQxYiIsInMiOjE2MzI2MTAyNjI2NjV9|url-status=live|access-date=25 September 2021|website=Iran Atlas|archive-date=4 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171204171130/http://iranatlas.net/index.html?module=module.language-distribution.kordestan#eyJ0IjoieCIsImkiOiIyYzg5NmZiZWU2ZmNiZTNmNWQ3ODZkNGNjNzIwYWQxYiIsInMiOjE2MzI2MTAyNjI2NjV9}}{{bar box|title=Sanandaj linguistic composition|titlebar=#ddd|left1=Language|right1=percent|float=|bars={{bar percent|Central Kurdish|blue|86}}

{{bar percent|Hawrami|red|7}}

{{bar percent|New Persian|orange|4.95}}

{{bar percent|Southern Kurdish|beige|2}}

{{bar percent|Aramaic|grey|0.05}}}}

Most of the people of Sanandaj follow the Shafi‘i branch of Sunni Islam.{{Cite web|url=https://www.iranhumanrights.org/2017/11/intelligence-ministry-invites-rouhani-campaign-manager-to-stop-advocating-for-sunni-muslim-rights/|title=Intelligence Ministry "Invites" Rouhani Campaign Manager to Stop Advocating for Sunni Muslim Rights|date=17 November 2017|access-date=23 January 2018|archive-date=23 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180123131638/https://www.iranhumanrights.org/2017/11/intelligence-ministry-invites-rouhani-campaign-manager-to-stop-advocating-for-sunni-muslim-rights/|url-status=live}}

BC.Diakonoff, I. M. (1985), "Media", The Cambridge History of Iran, 2 (Edited by Ilya Gershevitch ed.), Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-521-20091-2}}

At the time of the 2006 National Census, the city's population was 311,446 in 81,380 households.{{cite report|title=Census of the Islamic Republic of Iran, 1385 (2006): Kurdistan Province|language=fa|publisher=The Statistical Center of Iran|website=amar.org.ir|url=http://www.amar.org.ir/DesktopModules/FTPManager/upload/upload2360/newjkh/newjkh/12.xls|access-date=25 September 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110920092008/http://www.amar.org.ir/DesktopModules/FTPManager/upload/upload2360/newjkh/newjkh/12.xls|format=Excel|archive-date=20 September 2011}} The following census in 2011 counted 373,987 people in 106,771 households.{{cite report|title=Census of the Islamic Republic of Iran, 1390 (2011): Kurdistan Province|language=fa|publisher=The Statistical Center of Iran|website=irandataportal.syr.edu|via=Iran Data Portal, Syracuse University|url=https://irandataportal.syr.edu/wp-content/uploads/Kurdistan.xls|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119120701/https://irandataportal.syr.edu/wp-content/uploads/Kurdistan.xls|archive-date=19 January 2023|access-date=19 December 2022|format=Excel}} The 2016 census measured the population of the city as 412,767 people in 126,240 households.{{cite report|title=Census of the Islamic Republic of Iran, 1395 (2016): Kurdistan Province|language=fa|publisher=The Statistical Center of Iran|website=amar.org.ir|url=https://www.amar.org.ir/Portals/0/census/1395/results/abadi/CN95_HouseholdPopulationVillage_12.xlsx|access-date=19 December 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220508185635/https://www.amar.org.ir/Portals/0/census/1395/results/abadi/CN95_HouseholdPopulationVillage_12.xlsx|format=Excel|archive-date=8 May 2022}}

The city is the second largest Kurdish city in Iran, behind Kermanshah{{cite web |title=Sanandaj - Creative Cities Network |url=https://www.unesco.org/en/creative-cities/sanandaj |website=UNESCO |publisher=UNESCO |access-date=2025-03-25}}

The city is between the Qishlaq river, a tributary of the Diyala, and Mount Awidar, which separates it from the old Ardalan capital of Hasanabad.{{cite book |last1=Minorsky |first1=Vladimir |editor1-last=Bosworth |editor1-first=C.E. |editor2-last=van Donzel |editor2-first=E. |editor3-last=Heinrichs |editor3-first=W.P. |editor4-last=Lecomte |editor4-first=G. |title=The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Vol. IX (SAN-SZE) |date=1997 |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden |isbn=90-04-10422-4 |pages=6–7 |url=https://ia600603.us.archive.org/14/items/EncyclopaediaDictionaryIslamMuslimWorldEtcGibbKramerScholars.13/09.EncycIslam.NewEdPrepNumLeadOrient.EdEdComCon.BosDonHeinLec.etc.UndPatIUA.v9.San-Sze.Leid.EJBrill.1997..pdf |access-date=13 June 2022 |chapter=SANANDADJ}} Carpet making is the biggest industry in Sanandaj.

File:Sanandaj city center.jpg

Sanandaj has a Mediterranean climate (Csa) according to the Köppen climate classification, bordering on a humid continental climate (Dsa), with cold and wet winters and very hot and dry summers.

The synoptic station of Sanandaj started working in the autumn of 1959.{{Cite web |url=http://www.chaharmahalmet.ir/iranarchive.asp |title=Statistics of 200 synoptic stations in the country |website=Chaharmahalmet |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160217102629/http://www.chaharmahalmet.ir/iranarchive.asp |url-status=unfit |publisher=Iran Meteorological Organization |no-pp=y |language=Persian |script-title=fa: آمار 200 ایستگاه سینوپتیک کشور |archive-date=17 February 2016 |access-date=8 March 2024|type=asp }}

Highest recorded temperature: 44°C on 16 July 1981{{Cite web |url=http://www.chaharmahalmet.ir/stat/archive/iran/kor/SANANDAJ/7.asp |title=Form 7: TEMPERATURE RECORDS HIGHEST IN C. Station: Sanandaj(40747) |access-date=8 March 2024 |website=Chaharmahalmet |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150128070153/http://www.chaharmahalmet.ir/stat/archive/iran/kor/SANANDAJ/7.asp |archive-date=28 January 2015 |url-status=unfit |publisher=Iran Meteorological Organization |no-pp=y |type=asp }}

Lowest recorded temperature: -31°C on 6 February 1974{{Cite web |url=http://www.chaharmahalmet.ir/stat/archive/iran/kor/SANANDAJ/6.asp |title=Form 6: TEMPERATURE RECORDS LOWEST IN C. Station: Sanandaj(40747) |access-date=8 March 2024 |website=Chaharmahalmet |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160120070403/http://www.chaharmahalmet.ir/stat/archive/iran/kor/SANANDAJ/6.asp |archive-date=20 January 2016 |url-status=unfit |publisher=Iran Meteorological Organization |no-pp=y |type=asp }}

{{Weather box

| width = auto

| location = Sanandaj (1991-2020, extremes 1959-2020)

| metric first = yes

| single line = yes

| Jan record high C = 17.5

| Feb record high C = 21.4

| Mar record high C = 27.8

| Apr record high C = 32.8

| May record high C = 36.6

| Jun record high C = 41.0

| Jul record high C = 44.0

| Aug record high C = 43.0

| Sep record high C = 39.4

| Oct record high C = 33.8

| Nov record high C = 26.0

| Dec record high C = 22.9

| Jan high C = 7.0

| Feb high C = 9.7

| Mar high C = 15.0

| Apr high C = 20.5

| May high C = 26.4

| Jun high C = 33.7

| Jul high C = 37.7

| Aug high C = 37.5

| Sep high C = 32.5

| Oct high C = 24.9

| Nov high C = 15.3

| Dec high C = 9.7

| Jan mean C = 0.8

| Feb mean C = 3.0

| Mar mean C = 7.8

| Apr mean C = 12.8

| May mean C = 17.8

| Jun mean C = 24.3

| Jul mean C = 28.4

| Aug mean C = 27.6

| Sep mean C = 21.9

| Oct mean C = 15.4

| Nov mean C = 7.8

| Dec mean C = 3.1

| Jan low C = -4.4

| Feb low C = -2.7

| Mar low C = 1.1

| Apr low C = 5.4

| May low C = 9.1

| Jun low C = 13.6

| Jul low C = 18.1

| Aug low C = 17.1

| Sep low C = 11.1

| Oct low C = 6.8

| Nov low C = 1.8

| Dec low C = -2.1

| Jan record low C = -28.0

| Feb record low C = -31.0

| Mar record low C = -16.0

| Apr record low C = -7.0

| May record low C = -2.0

| Jun record low C = 3.0

| Jul record low C = 7.0

| Aug record low C = 5.0

| Sep record low C = 1.0

| Oct record low C = -4.6

| Nov record low C = -14.0

| Dec record low C = -23.6

| precipitation colour = green

| Jan precipitation mm = 44.6

| Feb precipitation mm = 50.7

| Mar precipitation mm = 58.0

| Apr precipitation mm = 65.9

| May precipitation mm = 28.9

| Jun precipitation mm = 2.2

| Jul precipitation mm = 1.3

| Aug precipitation mm = 0.2

| Sep precipitation mm = 1.0

| Oct precipitation mm = 28.2

| Nov precipitation mm = 55.8

| Dec precipitation mm = 47.4

| unit precipitation days = 1.0 mm

| Jan precipitation days = 6.8

| Feb precipitation days = 7.1

| Mar precipitation days = 7.9

| Apr precipitation days = 7.6

| May precipitation days = 4.3

| Jun precipitation days = 0.6

| Jul precipitation days = 0.3

| Aug precipitation days = 0.1

| Sep precipitation days = 0.5

| Oct precipitation days = 3

| Nov precipitation days = 6.4

| Dec precipitation days = 5.9

| year precipitation days =

| Jan rain days = 6.9

| Feb rain days = 8.8

| Mar rain days = 11.4

| Apr rain days = 11.4

| May rain days = 5.9

| Jun rain days = 0.9

| Jul rain days = 0.5

| Aug rain days = 0.3

| Sep rain days = 0.4

| Oct rain days = 4.9

| Nov rain days = 10.4

| Dec rain days = 8.3

| year rain days =

| Jan snow days = 8.0

| Feb snow days = 6.4

| Mar snow days = 2.1

| Apr snow days = 0.3

| May snow days = 0.0

| Jun snow days = 0.0

| Jul snow days = 0.0

| Aug snow days = 0.0

| Sep snow days = 0.0

| Oct snow days = 0.0

| Nov snow days = 0.6

| Dec snow days = 3.9

| Jan humidity = 70

| Feb humidity = 64

| Mar humidity = 55

| Apr humidity = 53

| May humidity = 46

| Jun humidity = 28

| Jul humidity = 24

| Aug humidity = 24

| Sep humidity = 29

| Oct humidity = 43

| Nov humidity = 63

| Dec humidity = 69

| year humidity =

| Jan dew point C = -4.7

| Feb dew point C = -3.9

| Mar dew point C = -2.3

| Apr dew point C = 1.6

| May dew point C = 3.7

| Jun dew point C = 2.2

| Jul dew point C = 3.7

| Aug dew point C = 3.0

| Sep dew point C = 0.8

| Oct dew point C = 0.9

| Nov dew point C = 0.1

| Dec dew point C = -2.9

| Jan sun = 155

| Feb sun = 166

| Mar sun = 211

| Apr sun = 231

| May sun = 295

| Jun sun = 356

| Jul sun = 357

| Aug sun = 347

| Sep sun = 313

| Oct sun = 255

| Nov sun = 183

| Dec sun = 152

| year sun =

| source 1 = NCEI{{Cite web |url=https://www.nodc.noaa.gov/archive/arc0216/0253808/2.2/data/0-data/Region-2-WMO-Normals-9120/Iran/CSV/Sanandaj_40747.csv |title=World Meteorological Organization Cimate Normals for 1991-2020: Sanandaj-40747 |website=ncei.noaa.gov |publisher=National Oceanic and Atmosoheric Administration |no-pp=y |access-date=8 March 2024 |type=Excel |format=CSV }}

| source 2 = IRIMO (extremes, snow/sleet days for 1959-2010){{Cite web |url= http://www.chaharmahalmet.ir/stat/archive/iran/kor/SANANDAJ/32.asp|title=Form 32: NO. OF DAYS WITH SNOW OR SLEET Station: Sanandaj(40747) |access-date=8 March 2024 |website=Chaharmahalmet |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140907005856/http://www.chaharmahalmet.ir/stat/archive/iran/kor/SANANDAJ/32.asp |archive-date=7 September 2014 |url-status=unfit |publisher=Iran Meteorological Organization |no-pp=y |type=asp }}

| source =

}}

The economy of Sanandaj is based upon the production of carpets, processed hides and skins, milled rice, refined sugar, woodworking, cotton weaving, metalware and cutlery.{{Cite web|url=http://www.yjc.ir/fa/news/4806092/%DA%A9%D8%B1%D8%AF%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%A7%D8%B2-%D9%86%D8%B8%D8%B1-%D9%86%D8%B1%D8%AE-%D8%A8%DB%8C%DA%A9%D8%A7%D8%B1%DB%8C-%D8%AF%D8%B1-%D8%AC%D8%A7%DB%8C%DA%AF%D8%A7%D9%87-%D8%AF%D9%88%D9%85-%DA%A9%D8%B4%D9%88%D8%B1-%D9%82%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%B1-%DA%AF%D8%B1%D9%81%D8%AA|title=کردستان از نظر نرخ بیکاری در جایگاه دوم کشور قرار گرفت|website=yjc.ir|access-date=2016-05-14|archive-date=28 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151128015706/http://www.yjc.ir/fa/news/4806092/%DA%A9%D8%B1%D8%AF%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%A7%D8%B2-%D9%86%D8%B8%D8%B1-%D9%86%D8%B1%D8%AE-%D8%A8%DB%8C%DA%A9%D8%A7%D8%B1%DB%8C-%D8%AF%D8%B1-%D8%AC%D8%A7%DB%8C%DA%AF%D8%A7%D9%87-%D8%AF%D9%88%D9%85-%DA%A9%D8%B4%D9%88%D8%B1-%D9%82%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%B1-%DA%AF%D8%B1%D9%81%D8%AA|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.sanayenews.com/provinces/east-western/kordestan/3711|title=سرمایه‌گذاری در صنعت و معدن کردستان، 4 برابر کمتر از متوسط کشوری است|website=sanayenews.com|access-date=2016-05-14|archive-date=11 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160611164909/http://www.sanayenews.com/provinces/east-western/kordestan/3711|url-status=dead}}

Zhina Modares Gorji, is a local bookseller and podcaster who was sentenced to over twenty years in Sanandaj prison on several charges. The sentence was reduced on appeal to two years and four months for "propaganda against the state" in 2024.{{Cite web |last=KHRN |date=2024-10-07 |title=KHRN: Kurdish activist’s 21-year sentence reduced to two years, four months |url=https://kurdistanhumanrights.org/en/news/2024/10/07/kurdish-activists-21-year-sentence-reduced-to-two-years-four-months |access-date=2024-12-13 |website=KHRN |language=en}}

{{commons category-inline|Sanandaj}}

{{clear}}

{{notelist}}

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book |chapter=The Kurdish frontier under the Safavids |first=Akihiko|last=Yamaguchi|title=The Safavid World|editor-first=Rudi |editor-last=Matthee |publisher=Routledge |pages = 556–571|year=2021}}

• {{cite book |last1=Alizadeh |first1=Hooshmand |title=Building a Traditional Kurdish: City The Urban Morphology of Sanandaj |date=2021 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan}}
• {{cite book |last1=Khan |first1=Geoffrey |authorlink1=Geoffrey Khan|last2=Mohammadirad |first2=Masoud |title=Language Contact in Sanandaj: A Study of the Impact of Iranian on Neo-Aramaic |date=2024 |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton}}
• {{cite encyclopedia | title = Sanandaj | first1 = Sabar | last1 = Yona | authorlink = Yona Sabar | encyclopedia = Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World | editor = Norman A. Stillman | editor-link = Norman Stillman | publisher = Brill Online | url = https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopedia-of-jews-in-the-islamic-world/*-COM_0019140 | year = 2010}}

• [http://lexicorient.com/e.o/sanandaj.htm Sanandaj]
• [http://www.sanandaj.net Sanandaj Online Community]
• [http://iausdj.ac.ir/ Islamic Azad University of sanandaj]

{{Authority control}}

{{Kurdistan Province|state=collapsed}}

{{Sanandaj County|state=collapsed}}

{{Provincial capitals of Iran}}

Category:Iranian provincial capitals

Category:Cities in Kurdistan province

Category:Populated places in Sanandaj County

Category:Assyrian communities in Iran

Category:Kurdish settlements in Kurdistan province