Bīrjand

Birjand stands on low hills in the dry uplands of Quhistan, divided by the bed of the seasonal Shahrud. Two forts guarded the town, one on high ground to the south and another on the lower northern side. Gardens and fields lay around it, producing saffron, grain and fruit. The poet Nizari Quhistani, who died in 1321, and the astronomer Abd al-Ali Birjandi were among the scholars associated with the town.

The thirteenth-century geographer Yaqut named Birjand among the chief places of Quhistan. In the following century Hamdallah Mustawfi described a local centre surrounded by villages growing grapes and other fruits, with saffron as a notable crop. In 1732 Nader Shah appointed a member of the Khuzayma family governor of Qayenat, beginning the long association of the Alam family with Birjand and its district. His descendants faced conflicts with Afghan neighbours and local rulers of Sistan and Baluchistan.