Bandar-e Anzali is a city ofGilan Province, Iran. At the 2011 census, its population was 144,664. Anzali is one of the most important cities in Iran in terms of tourism, economics, and athletics. The city was home to the first and biggest port on the southern shores of the Caspian Sea. Bandar-e Anzali consists of an island called Mianposhteh and the surrounding lands. Tourist attractions include a clock tower called Manareh, the long harbour promenade, and the water-logged delta and beach along the Sefid Rud.
History
Anzali is an old city in ancient Iran, they are related to Kadusin, owing to their pleasant relationship with Cyprus and their cooperation in battles, they changed their name to Anzan "The Anshans of Persia", in which the Greeks called Anzaluy. This word in Middle Persian means Anzalag and the variant Persian form of it is Anzalazh. Anzali Gulf was a safe harbour for trade ships and fishing boats. It was renamed to Pahlavi in 1935. In 1919, with the collapse of General Anton Denikin's White Russian army, eighteen of his ships sought refuge in Anzali. On 18 May 1920, a Soviet flotilla of thirteen ships launched a surprise attack on Anzali, capturing the British garrison and the eighteen White Russian ships. This allowed for the establishment of the short-lived Persian Socialist Republic and the Persian Communist Party. Soviet authorities denied responsibility for the attack, blaming the local Russian naval commander for attacking under his own authority. Its wonderful lagoon, Customs and City Hall edifice, Mian Poshte Palace and Motamedi Edifice, are its tourist attractions. Until 1980, when it was moved to Noshahr, Anzali was the site of the Caspian University of Naval Science. The structure Of Naser-al-din Shah Place which was built by Moayer-ol-mamalekk and its famous Sangi Bath was destroyed by people and natural factors. A wonder of Sangi Bath was the system of heating and durability water in its basins. Some groups think that Motamedi edifice had been changed; it is now its police office. This Ghajar Structure built in two floors with the help of Mirza Abd-ol-Vahab.
Geography
The Anzali Lagoon divides the Anzali Port in two parts. The city is connected by two bridges to the Beheshti Island. There is a caviar processing factory in Bandar-e Anzali, some old ruins from 19th century and the popular Shanbeh Bazaar. Tourbebar is a village about 40 kilometers from Bandar-e Anzali, near the Anzali Lagoon.
Climate
Bandar-e Anzali has a humid subtropical climate. It has the most humid climate of any city in Iran, having a climate somewhat similar in its heavy autumn and early winter rainfall, persistent high humidity and low sunshine to the Sea of Japan coast of Japan, though it receives much less summer rainfall than that region. The warm and humid weather has allowed this region to grow crops such as rice and tea that require very large amounts of moisture, especially with the extra water draining from the Elburz Mountains.
Caviar
Bandar-e Anzali is a center of caviar production. The preparation and marketing of which is a state monopoly, handled through the Iranian Fishing Company under the control of the Finance Ministry. The public is not admitted to the immense refrigerated hangars where tons of sturgeons, some as large as 3 meters long and weighing 100 kilograms, are stored after the removal of the caviar, usually equivalent to about one tenth of their weight.
In the past, citizens of Anzali were mostly involved in the fish trade. Rice farming and agriculture are the other traditional jobs in Anzali, and are practiced in the villages surrounding the city. The majority of Anzalichi's are adherents of the Shia Islam sect, although there is a sizeable Armenian Christian minority. The people of Anzali speak Gilaki as the maternal language and Persian as the national language.
