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Kermanshah (Persian: کرمانشاه Kermānshāh, Gorani Kurdish: کرماشان), is the capital city of Kermanshah Province, located 525 kilometers (324 miles) from Tehran in the western part of Iran. The city is about 50 miles from the border of Iraq. It had an estimated population of 822,921 in 2005 [1] and its climate is mild. The majority of the inhabitants are Kurds [2] who speak the Gorani, Kalhori and Laki dialects of Kurdish. The majority of the population in this city are Shi'a Muslims.

Contents 1 History 2 Industry 3 Higher education 4 Notable people 4.1 Art 4.2 History and Politics 4.3 Literature 4.4 Science 4.5 Sport 5 See also

Given its antiquity, attractive landscapes and rich culture, Kermanshah is considered one of the cradles of prehistoric cultures such as Neolithic villages.

According to archaeological surveys and excavation, the Kermanshah area have been occupied by prehistoric people since Lower Paleolithic Period, and continued to later Paleolithic periods till late Pleistocene period.The Lower Paleolithic evidence consist of some handaxes found in the Gakia area to the east of the city. The Middle Paleolithic remains have been found in the northern viceinity of the city in Tang-e Kenesht and near Tag-i Bostan. The known Paleolithic caves in this area are Warwasi, Kobeh, and Do-Ashkaft.

The region was also one of the first places in which human settlements including Gaqieh, Tappeh Sarab and Ganj-Darreh were established in 7,000 years B.C. This is about the same time that the first potteries pertaining to Iran were made in Ganj-Darreh, near present-day Harsin. Kermanshah has some of the most interesting and famous archaeological sites. Its construction is attributed to Tahmoures Divband, the fabulous king of Pishdadian dynasty, but some others attribute it to the Sassanids. It was a glorious city in Sassanid period about the 4th century AD when it became a political city and a significant health center serving as a summer resort for Sassanid kings.

In A.D. 226, following a two-year war led by the Persian Emperor - Ardashir I - against Kurdish tribes in the region, the Empire reinstated a local Kurdish prince, Kayus of Medya, to rule Kermanshah. Within the dynasty known as the House of Kayus (also Kâvusakân) remained a semi-independent Kurdish kingdom lasting until A.D. 380 before Ardashir II removed the dynasty's last ruling member.[3]

Kermanshah was conquered by the Arabs in A.D. 640 and called the town Qirmasin (Qirmashin). Under Seljuk rule in the 11th century, it was, and still is, a major cultural and commercial centre in Western Iran and the southern Kurdish region as a whole. The Safavids fortified the town, and the Qajars repulsed an attack by the Turks during Fath Ali Shah's rule (1797–1834).

Occupied by the Turkish Army in 1915 during World War I, it was evacuated in 1917. Kermanshah played an important role in Mashrota Movement in Qajar period and Republic Movement in Pahlavi period.

After The Islamic Revolution in the 1970's, the city and its provinces (also called Kermanshah) were shortly renamed Bakhtaran, apparently owing to the use of "Shah" in the name. After the Iran-Iraq War, however, they renamed it to Kermanshah. The City was hit hard during the Iran-Iraq War, and although it was rebuilt, it has never fully recovered.

Kermanshah is now a fairly important industrial center; industries include petrochemical refinery, textile manufacturing, food processing, oil refining, carpet making, sugar refining, and the production of electrical equipment and tools.

• Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences
• Razi University
• Azad University of Kermanshah

• Shahram Nazeri, famous vocalist and musician
• Kayhan Kalhor, musician, nominated for the Grammy Award
• Hanibal Alkhas, painter, poet
• Guity Novin, painter, founder of Transpressionism
• Alexis Kouros, writer, documentary-maker, director and producer
• Manouchehr Taherzadeh, pop singer
• Pouran Derakhshandeh, director
• Fakhri Khourvash, actress
• Irandokht Mohasses, painter
• Jamal Shourjeh, director
• Mahshid Farhoudi-Di Marco, painter, visual arts
• Seyyed Khalil Alinejad, tanbour mastero
• Roknoddin Mokhtari, violin player
• Mojtaba Mirzadeh, violin player
• Yolanda Moradzadeh, graphist, owner of Yoli's Dolls
• Bagher Azadi, ceramic painter, poet
• Farhad Aslani, actor
• Ata Hayati, photographer, director
• Nikzad Nodjoumi, painter
• Bahram Kalhornia, graphist

• Nasser Zarafshan, novelist, translator, and attorney
• Karim Sanjabi, Iran's attorney in the oil's national movement, former foreign minister
• Bijan Namdar Zangeneh, former minister
• Ebrahim Azizi, member and spokesman of the Guardian Council
• Ahamd Shirzad, political activist
• Latif Safari, journalist
• Abdolreza Mesri, minister

• Rashid Yasemi, one of the Five-Masters(Panj Ostad) of Persian grammar
• Rahim Moeini Kermanshahi, famous poet of classical Persian lyrics
• Ali Ashraf Darvishian, novelist and writer, director of the Writers Assocciation of Iran
• Doris Lessing, writer
• Ali Mohammad Afghani, novelist
• Mir Jalaleddin Kazzazi, writer
• Mohammad Javad Mohabbat, poet
• Navab Safa, poet
• Abolghasem Lahouti, poet
• Yadolah Behazad(Yadolah Eivani),poet
• Parto Kermanshahi, poet
• Ahmad Golshiri, writer
• Shahmorad Moshtaq Kermanshah(Shami Kermanshahi), poet

• Al-Dinawari, botanist, historian, geographer, astronomer and mathematician
• Towfig Arjmand, physician
• Saman Heydari, geo-archaeologist, Paleolithic period
• Feridoun Biglari, archaeologist, Paleolithic period
• Masoud Azarnoush, archaeologist, Sassanid period
• Yousef Moradi, archaeologist, Sassanid period

• Kourosh Bagheri, weight lifting champion
• Mohammad Hassan Mohebbi, wrestling champion, former coach of Iranian wrestling national team
• Mohammad Ranjbar, soccer
• Mohammad Hossein Mohebbi, wrestling champion
• Fereidoun Ghanbari, wrestling champion
• Bijan Batmani, boxer
• Jalal Moradi, international soccer referee
• Mashallah Hosseini, Wrestling champion
• Hossein Shirmasti, Karate champion
• Homayoun Amiri, boxer
• Saeed Ramezani, soccer
• Peyman Akbari, captain of Iranian Volleyball national team
• khosro heydari, soccer

• Pol-e-Kohneh

Coordinates: 34°18′N, 47°4′E