Āstārā

Astara lies on the western shore of the Caspian Sea, where the Talesh mountains descend toward the coastal plain. Mentioned in the medieval geography Hudud al-Alam, it became the seat of a small principality in the fourteenth century. Taleshi khans governed the district in later centuries, sometimes acknowledging the governors of Gilan or Ardabil. The Treaty of Gulistan in 1813 divided the district along the Astara River between Persia and Russia.