Most people know the history of Tehran with the Qajar era and the question of how Tehran became the capital? They also know stones. This idea originates from the fact that most of the old buildings in Tehran date back to the Qajar period. Buildings such as Golestan Palace, Ahmad Shahi Kush, Sahibqaranieh Palace, Ferdous Garden, and places such as Oud Lajan and Tehran Bazaar were formed and built during the Qajar era. In this sense, the public perception of the history of Tehran is focused on this time. However, little is known about the fact that Tehran was the residence of Tehranians who lived in different parts of the city during the time of Zandiyeh, Afshar, Safavid and even long before them in 3500 years ago. Even before Qaitariya, seven thousand-year-old works were discovered in Molvi area of Tehran, which showed that the history of Tehran reaches seven thousand years. In this article, we are looking to take a look at the history of Tehran.
The seven thousand year history of Tehran
Molvi's explorations
The story began with the digging of a sewage well in Molavi area. Following the discovery of pieces of pottery belonging to about 400 years ago in early December 1993 in Molavi area of Tehran, the Institute of Archeology issued permission to conduct archaeological studies in this area. The work of digging sewers was stopped and archeological operations began in this area until a skeleton belonging to the 5th millennium BC brought out a head from the ground and surprised the world. In the same days, the market of box makers was subjected to archaeological excavations and three pieces of pottery were also obtained from these researches. The age of these pottery was surprising. These pottery were 6757, 5373 and 4950 years old. Although these discoveries could not prove that the history of Tehran's settlement is seven thousand years, it showed that Tehran was definitely a place of living and transit. It was from this point of view that the skeleton of the 7,000-year-old lady Molavi was called the traveler of Cheshme Ali, although some believe that the 7,000-year-old lady of Tehran was not a traveler. However, due to the lack of follow-up and further explorations, Molavi's discoveries could not provide complete certainty about Tehran's seven-thousand-year history.
Excavations of Qaitariya
It was in 1347 that one of the owners of Qaytaria got permission to build his property and started digging. It was during the leveling of the land in the hills of Qaitariya that it exposed its ancient pieces. Leveling and excavation work was stopped to reveal the secret of these found pieces. The best person who could be selected was used for the exploration operation in Qaitariya Hill. Saifullah Kambakhsh Fard was assigned to explore Qaytarieh Hill. Before that, Seifullah Kambakhsh Fard was the head of the scientific team of Haft Tepe Khuzestan and Garmi Mughan excavations, and at the same time he was the head of the scientific team of Anahita temple excavations, and for this reason, he was one of the best options for exploring Qaitariya hills. Excavations in Qaytaria hills led to the discovery of 350 ancient graves with single and double burial rituals and a large amount of cultural objects. The existence of objects next to the dead proved that the residents of Qaitariya Hill believed in life after death. The discovery of these works proved that Qaitariya hill is nearly 3500 years old as a settlement.
Except Qaytarieh, the neighborhoods of Tehran carry this history everywhere. The rivers and valleys of Tehran, which we know today by the name of their neighborhoods, were among such settlements. Farahzad neighborhood, Darabad neighborhood, Ken neighborhood, Evin neighborhood, Derkeh neighborhood, Tajrish neighborhood, and besides these, Dareh river, Mehran neighborhood near Resalat and Vavan Hill near Imam Airport played a role in the history of Tehran.
History of Tehran after Islam
It was after Islam that for the first time the name of Tehran appeared in the form of Tehran in historical documents and books. In the year 261 and some documents in 271 A.H., Abu Abdullah Muhammad bin Hamad Tehrani Razi, one of the famous hadith scholars, passed away, and two hundred years later Ab Bakr Ahmad bin Ali Khatib Baghdadi narrated the incident of his passing in the book of Baghdadi History. This happened in the year 463 A.H. and that too with the blessing of one of the residents of Tehran at that time. Therefore, the first document related to Tehran is this document. Of course, there is no mention of Tehran itself, but the name of a Tehrani Muhaddith.
History of Tehran during Safavid era
During the Safavid era, Tehran had become a city with fourteen districts. Shah Tahmasb Safavi ordered to build a fence around Tehran to keep them away from enemies. This fence was built with 114 ramparts to indicate the number of surahs in the Qur'an. The fence of Tehran was 6000 steps long. To build the Tehran fence, two neighborhoods of Tehran were excavated to provide the soil needed to build the fence.
This is how Chal Maidan and Chal Hesar were created. Four gates were also built in Tehran so that people can use them for commuting. Shemiran Gate, Dolab Gate, Shah Abdul Azim Gate and Qazvin Gate were the gates of Tehran. This fence shows that Tehran had become a strategic city at that time.
During the Safavid era, it also included the Mazandarani nomads north of Tehran. Valenjak, Darabad and Imamzadeh Qasim Tajrish neighborhoods became densely populated neighborhoods from these migrations, and even today, some of the residents of these neighborhoods are Mazandarani tribes who migrated to the north of Tehran at that time.
