Zanjân

Zanjan stands in a broad valley on the road between Qazvin and Azerbaijan. The Zanjan River waters gardens and fields before joining the Qezel Ozan to the west. Medieval geographers placed the city near the frontier between Persian Iraq and Azerbaijan, a position that made it a meeting point of routes across northwestern Iran. Tradition recorded by Hamdallah Mostawfi attributed its foundation to the Sasanian king Ardashir I.

In 1311 Mostawfi himself received authority over Zanjan and several neighbouring districts from the Ilkhanid vizier Rashid al-Din. Nearby Soltaniyeh became an imperial capital under Öljeitü, giving the region new political importance. Centuries later, the Qajar rulers renewed Zanjan's commercial and religious centre. Construction of the long bazaar began under Agha Muhammad Khan and continued under Fath Ali Shah; the latter's reign also saw the building of the Sultani mosque. Its shops, courtyards and mosque joined the older city to the busy road between Qazvin and Tabriz.