Meshkinshahr
History
The 14th-century author Hamdallah Mustawfi mentioned the city, as Khiyāv, as one of the seven cities in the tuman of Pishkin, or Mishkin. He distinguished between the cities of Khiyav and Pishkin — according to him, Khiyav lay to the south of Mount Sablan and had a warm climate, while Pishkin (which he said had formerly been called "Varāvī") was to the north of Mount Sablan and had a damp climate because the mountain shielded it from the sun. Both cities drew their water from the streams coming down from the mountain. The district of Pishkin, he wrote, grew both grain and fruit in abundance, while Khiyav mostly grew grain. Pishkin was assessed for a tax value of 5,200 dinars, while Khiyav was assessed at 2,000. Mustawfi wrote that Pishkin's population was mostly Shafi'i Sunnis, with Shi'i and Hanafi Sunni minorities. He said nothing about Khiyav's religious makeup, but instead described its population as mostly "boot-makers and cloth-workers".
Demographics
Population
At the time of the 2006 National Census, the city's population was 61,296 in 14,920 households. The following census in 2011 counted 66,883 people in 17,871 households. The 2016 census measured the population of the city as 74,109 people in 21,926 households.
