Andimeshk (Persian: اندیمشک) is a city in the Central District of Andimeshk County, Khuzestan province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district. The city is about 34 kilometres (21 mi) north of Shush, on the main road and the rail line between Tehran and Ahvaz.

Demographics

Population

At the time of the 2006 National Census, the city's population was 119,422 in 26,140 households. The following census in 2011 counted 126,811 people in 32,904 households. The 2016 census measured the population of the city as 135,116 people in 39,151 households.

History

The name first appears in cuneiform tablets from Mesopotamia from the Ur III period (21st to 20th century BCE) in the form "Adamshakh", with a probable meaning "Crocodile (Town)". Later it was called "Andamaska" or "Andimaska", meaning "plenty of butter"; local villages like Gheel-AB and Lour and two fortresses were added to it. The city was en route to Ilam and Anshan and subsequently to Lorestan, which made it strategically important until the late Sassanid era.

In the Andimeshk region, an individual known as Saleh-Khan Mukri (a Kurd from Kermanshah and the ruler of Shushtar during the Qajar era) built several buildings, including a fortress, for his residence, which became known as Saleh Castle or Lor Castle, and during the reign of Reza Shah Pahlavi and the construction of the railway In Iran, Andimeshk railway station was built in the vicinity of Lor Castle, and Andimeshk gradually expanded with the start of construction around it.

At the same time, the American General Motors Company established a branch of its military automobile factory in this city. In the second Pahlavi period, with the arrival of numerous domestic and foreign companies, Andimeshk became an industrial city and thus hosted thousands of domestic and foreign doctors, engineers, employees and workers. It was during this period that Andimeshk traveled the path of expansion and progress

During the Pahlavi dynasty era, Andimeshk received a great deal of modern development projects because of its location and resources. These included a railway, the Dokoohe military depot and an aluminum factory-silo, as well as many other industrial developments. The city had been connected along the Trans-Iranian Railway in 1929. During World War II a pipeline was also laid from Abadan, then the location of the world's largest refinery, to Andimeshk; from there the fuel was re-loaded onto trucks and transported to the Soviet Union. In 1955 the pipeline was extended from Andimeshk to Tehran.

Archaeology

North Khuzestan was home to some of the oldest civilizations in the world. The Choghamish hills have more than 8,000 years of treasures from different periods, and archaeologists have called on the city of dawn. Susa's Zanbil temple symbolizes the knowledge of the people who lived in this area over 3,000 years ago. Apadana palace is a symbol of the greatness of the Iranians. Shushtar waterfalls are a symbol of Iranian engineering and technology. Dezful's Old Bridge is a symbol of Persian authority. Cole Farah Izeh and Lure area in the west of Andimeshk County.

Famous dams

Karkheh Dam

The dam is not 127 m high rather 48 m and River Dez has the dam with 127m high and build by American multinational company. The Karkheh Dam damaged wild life down stream up to Shoush some 30 km south. The dam is on the Karkheh River in the north-western province of Khuzestan, the closest city being Andimeshk to the east. It is 127 metres high and has a reservoir capacity of 5.9 billion cubic meters. The Karkheh Dam is designed to irrigate 320,000 hectares of land, produce 520 MW of hydro-electricity and prevent downstream floods. In 1956, studies began on the Karkheh Dam by the American company Development and Resources Corporation, which was headed by David E. Lilienthal, the former Chairman of the TVA. In 1990, the final studies were completed by Mahab Ghods Consulting Engineers. The engineering division of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) started construction on the Karkheh Dam in 1992 and the dam was complete in 2001. During construction, 120 contractual and over eight consultative companies worked on the dam. 5,000 workers constructed the dam and 40 died in the process.

Dez Dam

Dez Dam is a famous dam for producing electricity for irrigation of agricultural lands, located on the Dez River, 23 km from Andimshek city in Khuzestan province of Iran. The construction of this dam started in 1959 and was built in 1963 by an Italian company. This dam has a height of 203 meters with a capacity of 3,340,000,000 cubic meters.

Geography

Location

Andimeshk sits close to the foothills of the Zagros Mountains on the main north–south highway from Tehran to Ahvaz, the provincial capital of Khuzestan. The main rail line from Tehran to the Persian Gulf is 15 km (9 mi) from Andimeshk. The Persian Gulf is at least 200 km south.

Climate

Andimeshk has a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification BSh) with extremely hot summers and mild winters. Rainfall is higher than most of southern Iran, but is almost exclusively confined to the period from November to April, though on occasions it can exceed 250 millimetres (9.8 in) per month or 600 millimetres (24 in) per year.

Notable people

• Qadam Kheyr of Qalâvand, Luri woman warrior
• Saeid Abdevali, national wrestling athlete
• Habibollah Akhlaghi, national wrestling athlete

See also

Iran portal