Kashan, Iran,
and its surrounds have been home to human settlements since at least the 4th millenniumBCE. Much of what is known of Kashan´s history is interwoven with legend.
It is known that Kashan was twice destroyed by invading armies. During the Seljuk
period (AD 1051-1220) the city walls were rebuilt, and the town became famous for its textiles, high quality pottery and tiles.
[1] Today, Kashan is the capital of Kashan County
, in the province of Isfahan, Iran and houses most
of Iran's mechanized carpet-weaving factories. The city is internationally famous for the carpets,
silk and other textiles man
ufactured there. Kashan also has an active marble and copper
mining industry. Its population in 2006 was 248,789.[2]
625 BC: Cyaxares the Great declared himself King of the Medes.
612 BC: Cyaxares the Great and the Babylonian king Nabopolassar invaded Assyria and laid siege to and eventually destroyed Nineveh, the Assyrian capital.
539 BC: Cyrus the Great captured Babylon, freed thousands of slaves and issued a declaration of human rights which would later be inscribed into the Cyrus Cylinder.
260: The Persians defeated the Romans in the Battle of Edessa. The Roman army was defeated and captured in its entirety by the Persian forces and for the first time in Rome's
military history against a foreign enemy their emperor was taken prisoner.[9]
636, November 16-19: The lose at the Battle of al-Qadisiyyah led to the permanent end of Sasanian control west of Iran. The Zagros mountains then became a natural barrier and border between the Rashidun Caliphate and the Sassanid Empire.[10]
661-680: Muawiyah I (602 - April 29 or May 1, 680) rules from 661-680.[23]
Muawiyah also encouraged peaceful coexistence with the Christian communities of Syria, granting his reign with "peace and prosperity for Christians and Arabs alike".[23]
680-683: On his death in 680, he is succeeded by his son, Yazid I.[23]
819-999: Samanid Empire, was the first native Persian dynasty to arise after the Muslim Arab conquest.[11]
1010: The poet Ferdowsi finished writing the epic poem Shahnameha touchstone of the modern Persian language.
1189-1192: During the “Third Crusade”, Teutonic Knights destroyed several cities of the Middle East. As a result of the conflict, the safety of both Christian and Muslim unarmed pilgrims is guaranteed throughout the Levant.
1219-1221: The Mongol invasion of Iran begins after two diplomatic missions to Khwarezm sent by Genghis Khan had been massacred. During 1220-21 Bukhara, Samarkand, Herat, Tus and Nishapur were razed, and the whole populations were slaughtered. The Khwarezm-Shah flees, he dies on an island off the Caspian coast.[12]
1256-1335: After the death of Genghis Kan, Iran is ruled by several Mongol commanders.
1514, August 23: At the Battle of Chaldiran the Ottoman Empire inflicted a severe defeat on a numerically superior Persian force, opening the northwestern Iranian Plateau to their occupation.
1514, September 7: The Ottoman Empire sultan entered Tabriz but a mutiny in the Ottoman army forced the sultan to withdraw.
1524, May 23: Ismail died. He was succeeded by his sonTahmasp I.
1709, April 21: Mirwais Khan Hotak, the leader of the Ghilzai clan and mayor of Kandahar, killed the Persian-appointed governor George XI of Kartli and declared himself King of Persia.
1796, April: Persian Expedition of 1796: The tsarina of Russian launched a military expedition to punish Persia for its incursion into the Russian protectorate of Kartl-Kakheti.
1804: Russo-Persian War (1804-1813): Russian forces attacked the Persian settlement of Echmiadzin.
1881, September 21: Persia officially recognized Russia's annexation of Khwarazm in the Treaty of Akhal.
1900 - 2012
1901; William Knox D'Arcy negotiates an oil concession with Mozaffar al-Din Shah Qajar of Persia. He assumed exclusive rights to prospect for oil for 60 years in a vast tract of territory including most of Iran. In exchange the Shah received £20,000 (£1.9 million today, an equal amount in shares of D'Arcy's company, and a promise of 16% of future profits.[19]
1908, May 26; George Bernard Reynolds, a geologist hired by William Knox D'Arcy finds oil. [19]
Allied (Entente) Powers
France, British Empire, Russia (1914-17), Italy (1915-18), United States (1917-18), Romania (1916-18), Japan, Serbia, Belgium, Greece (1917-18) and others
Central Powers
Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria (1915-18)
Iran declared its neutrality during WW I, but it became a battleground for Russian, Turkish, and British troops during the war.
1918, March 3: Russia and Germany sign an armistice at Brest-Litovsk.
1918, November 11: Armistice Day. At the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, Germany signs an armistice with the Allies. The war is officially over. More than 8.5 million have been killed and over twice as many wounded from across the globe. New technology has been created, America has risen to prominence as an economic power and new countries are forming in Europe and the Middle East.
1935, October 3; The Second Italo-Abyssinian War. Italian armed forces from Eritrea invaded Ethiopia without a declaration of war. In response Ethiopia declares war on Italy. On October 7, the League of Nations declared Italy to be the aggressor, and started the slow process of imposing limited sanctions on Italy.
1940, June 17: The British ocean liner,
RMS Lancastria, requisitioned by the UK Government during the Second World War was sunk
during Operation Aerial
off the cost of Saint-Nazaire, France. At the time of the sinking, there were an estimated 4,000 to 9,000
British military personal and forty civilian refugees, including embassy staff and employees of
Fairey Aviation Company of Belgium with their
families aboard the ship when the ship was struck by 3 to 4 bombs and quickly capsizes and sinks. Estimates of the death toll vary from fewer than 3,000 to 5,800 people to as many as 6,500 people, the largest loss of life in British maritime history.
[Ref]
1941, August 21: Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran: Three Soviet armies invaded Iran from the north. The Soviet and British armed forces met in Tehran on September 17.
[18]
1941, August 21: Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran: Three Soviet armies invaded Iran from the north.
1941, September 17: Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran: The Soviets and British armed forces met in Tehran.
1943, November 28 - December 1: Tehran Conference Consensus to open a second front against Nazi Germany by 1 May 1944 is reach by: the United States, Great Britain, and the
Soviet Union.[11]
The estimated number of people that perished during World War II is 70 to 85 million. This was about 3 % of the world’s population in 1940. (Estimated to be 2.3 billion).
This makes World War II the deadliest military conflict in history.
[Ref 1][Ref 2]
1979, November 4: The American Embassy is invaded. 52 Americans are held hostage for 444 days from November 4, 1979, to January 20, 1981.[15]
1980, January 28: The Six American diplomats hiding at the Swedish and Italian embassies, with the help of the Canadian Government and Canadian ambassador Ken Taylor, escape from Iran. The Canadian Parliament held a secret session for the first time since World War II and pass special legislation allowing Canadian passports to be issued to some American citizens so that they could escape. In cooperation with the Central Intelligence Agency and using the cover story of a film project, the six American diplomats board a flight to Zürich, Switzerland. [15]
1980, September 22 - 1988, August 20: Iran-Iraq War, also known as the First Persian Gulf War. During the war, the Iraqi government made extensive use of chemical weapons such as mustard gas against Iranian troops, civilians, and Iraqi Kurds. The number of estimated casualties for Iran are 320,000 - 720,000 soldiers and militia killed, and Iraq 150,000-375,000 soldiers and militia killed.[16]
2001, June 8: Iranian presidential election, 2001: President Mohammad Khatami was reelected with vast majority.
2012, November 8: A magnitude 6.4 earthquake occurs. The earthquake is centered 32 miles (51.5 km) north-northeast of Tabriz, at a depth of 6.2 miles (10 km) killing at least 250.[17]
Monthly average highs and low temperatures and the average amount of precipitation for Kashan, Iran. Data from World Weather On-line - Kashan, Esfahan, Iran.
Month
Jan.
Feb.
March
April
May
June
July
Aug.
Sep.
Oct.
Nov.
Dec.
Annual
Avg. High
49 °
56 °
66 °
78 °
88 °
99 °
104 °
103 °
94 °
81 °
65 °
52 °
77.92 °
Avg. Low
31 °
36 °
44 °
55 °
64 °
73 °
79 °
76 °
76 °
56 °
44 °
35 °
54.08 °
Mean
40 °
46 °
55 °
66.5 °
76 °
86 °
91.5 °
89.5 °
75 °
68.5 °
54.5 °
43.6 °
66 °
Avg. Prec.
0.7 in
0.5 in
0.8 in
1.1 in
0.5 in
0.4 in
0.2 in
0 in
0 in
0.1 in
0.3 in
0.6 in
5.2 in
The warmest month of the year is July with an average maximum temperature of 104° Fahrenheit, while the coldest month of the year is January with an average minimum temperature of 31° Fahrenheit.
Temperature variations between night and day tend to be large with an average difference of 23.83° Fahrenheit.
The wettest month of the year is April with an average rainfall of 1.1 inches, the driest months of the year are August and September when on average there is no
rainfall. The total annual precipitation in Kashan is 5.2 inches.
Cold semi-arid climates (type "BSk") tend to be located in elevated portions of temperate zones, typically bordering a humid continental climate or a Mediterranean climate. They are typically found in continental interiors some distance from large bodies of water. Cold semi-arid climates usually feature warm to hot dry summers, though their summers are typically not quite as hot as those of hot semi-arid climates. Unlike hot semi-arid climates, areas with cold semi-arid climates tend to have cold winters. These areas usually see some snowfall during the winter, though snowfall is much lower than at locations at similar latitudes with more humid climates. Areas featuring cold semi-arid climates tend to have higher elevations than areas with hot semi-arid climates, and tend to feature major temperature swings between day and night, sometimes by as much as 20 °C (36 °F) or more in that time frame. These large diurnal temperature variations are seldom seen in hot semi-arid climates. Cold semi-arid climates at higher latitudes tend to have dry winters and wetter summers, while cold semi-arid climates at lower latitudes tend to have precipitation patterns more akin to subtropical climates, with dry summers, relatively wet winters, and even wetter springs and autumns. Cold semi-arid climates are most commonly found in Asia and North America. However, they can also be found in Northern Africa, South Africa, Europe, sections of South America and sections of interior southern Australia and New Zealand. [Ref]
