Naqadeh (Persian: نقده‎; also Romanized as Nagadeh, Naghadeh, Naghdeh, and Nākhuda; formerly known as Sulduz (Persian: سولدوز), also Romanized as Solduz and Suldoz)^[1] is a city in and the capital of Naqadeh County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran. At the 1982 census, its population was 72,975, in 18,320 families.

The city is located in the Gadar River valley, 23 kilometres (14 mi) south of Lake Urmia at an elevation of 1,300 metres (4,300 ft) above sea-level. The region's economy is based around agriculture, particularly the production of fruit, grain, and timber. Naqadeh is nicknamed as the Sulduz city of Azerbaijan. In the unofficial geographical distribution, Naqadeh (best known as نەغەدە) among its Kurdish inhabitants is part of the Sindus (in Kurdish) district adjacent to Sharweran (Mahabad) in its east, Lajan (Piranshahr) in its west. The name Naghada in Kurdish means water infiltration/water penetration, pointing to the geographical features of the area where the city is located.

The town is inhabited mainly by Azerbaijani Turks, although it was once home to a large number of Assyrians who perished during the Assyrian Genocide.^[2] The main religion is Shia Islam ^[3]

Contents 1 Historical places 2 Education 3 Language 4 Economy 5 References

Historical places

Naqadeh has several cultural and recreational attractions like "Hautkani"/"Yeddi göz" and "Sultan Yaghoob". The most important worth seeing and historical places of the city are as follows:

• Important archaeological sites in the vicinity of Naqadeh include Teppe Hasanlu, 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) northwest of Naqadeh and famous for its "Golden Cup", and Hajji Firuz Tepe where some of the oldest evidence for winemaking has been uncovered.
• Keleshin historical inscriptions in south-west to Lake Urmia.
• Several wetlands.
• Zendan and Baha Hasan caves.
• tepe bashi central and old park of the city that has big history and american researchers believe there is a big castle under ground of it.
• Qal'a Paswe is a very small village near Naqadeh whose name according to the Iranist Vladimir Minorsky has kept the memory of the Iranian settlements from the 9th century BCE and reminds of the "Parswa tribes" mentioned in the records of the Assyrian ruler Shalmaneser III (reign 858-824 BCE).^[4]

Education

• Payam Noor University
• Azad University of Naghadeh

Language

More than 78 percent of population of city speak in Azeri Turkish, remaining 22 percent speak in Kurdish.

Economy

The regional economy greatly depends on agricultural products, and cattle and sheep are raised both for meat and for wool. Some of this production is exported. The region's farmers also raise apples, grapes, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, peas, and other fruits. The high farm production results from the fertile soil and the use of modern machinery and scientific farming methods.

References

• اطلس گیتاشناسی استان‌های ایران [Atlas Gitashenasi Ostanhai Iran] (Gitashenasi Province Atlas of Iran)