Urmia

**Urmia** or **Orumieh** (;  ;; ; ), durin the majority o the Pahlavi Dynasty [1925–1979] cried , **'), is a ceety in Northwastren [[Iran]] an the [[Caipital ceety|caipital]] o [[Wast Azerbaijan Province]]. The ceety lies on an altitude o 1,330&nbsp;m abuin sea level on the Shahar Chay river (Ceety River). Urmia is the [[Leet o Iranian ceeties bi population|10t maist populatit]] ceety in [[Iran]] wi a population o aboot 600,000. The population is predominantly Azerbaijani an Kurdish, wi significant Assyrian an Armenian minorities.

Urmia is situatit on a fertile plain cawed [[Urmia Plain]], on wastren side o [[Lake Urmia]]; an eastren side o [[Turkey|Turkis]] border an marginal range o muntains.

Urmia is the tred centre for a fertile agricultural region whaur fruit (especially [[Aiple]] an [[Grape]]) an [[Tobacco]] are grown. An important toun bi the 9t cent., Urmia wis seized bi the [[Seljuk Turks]] (1184), an later occupied a nummer o times bi the [[Ottoman Turks]]. Urmia wis the seat o the first U.S. Christian mission in Iran (1835). Aroond AD 1900, Christians made up mair nor 40% o the ceety's population, housomeivver, maist o the Christians fled in 1918.

== Etymologie ==
The name ''Urmia'' is a compoond. The first element--"ur" staundin for 'ceety', is  [[Sumerian leid|Sumerian]]. [[Ur]] per se, wis a principal Sumerian ceety. The seicont element, "mia" is Aramaic [[Syriac leid|Syriac]] meanin "water." Hence ''Urmia'' simply means 'Watertoun"--a befittin name for a ceety situatit bi a lake an surroondit bi rivers, wad be the cradle o watter.

== History ==
The ceety o Urmia (Urmiyeh), in northwast o [[Iran]], is considered ane o the auncient ceeties o the kintra an a [[Cradle o civilization]].

The diggins in the auncient ruins aroond Urmia led tae the discovery o utensils, some o which date back tae some [[20t century BC|2000 years B.C.]]

An aa research bi [[Vladimir Fedorovich Minorsky|Professor Minorski]] shows that thare hae been veelages in the [[Urmia plain]] some 2000 years B.C., wi thair [[ceevilization]] unner the influence o Van naition.

In the auncient times, the wast bank o Urmia lake wis cried ''Gilzan'', an in the nint century B.C. an independent government ruled thare which later jynt the [[Urartu]] or Mana empire; in the aicht century B.C., the aurie wis a vassal o the [[Asuzh government]] till it jynt the [[Median Empire]] efter its formation.

Aw an aw, accordin tae historical documents, the wastren pairt o the [[Lake Urmia|Urmia Lake]] haes been a centre o attention o the prehistoric naitions, the evidence o which are the numerous auncient hills in the aurie, sic as ''Gouy Tapeh'', 6&nbsp;kilometers sootheast o the lake which competes wi the auldest hills o [[Mesopotamie]], [[Anatolie|Asie the Minor]], an the Iranian Plateau.

Mony auld Islamic historians hae acknowledged Urmia as the birthplace o prophet [[Zoroaster]].

The claim that the aurie wis the birthplace o [[Zoroaster]], or even the burial steid o ane or twa o the Zoroastrian priests who allegedly traveled tae [[Bethlehem]] for Christ’s birth indicate that the ceety haes been ane o the lairgest releegious an scienteefic centres o the auncient times.


**Urmia*', accordin tae some historians, is believit tae be the birthplace o the prophet [[Zarathustra]], the foonder o [[Zoroastrianism]].
The [[Columbia Encyclopedia]] mentions that Urmia wis an important toun in the region durin the 9t century.

The [[Ottoman Turks]] made several incursions intae the ceety, but the [[Safavid]]s wur suin able tae regain control ower the aurie. The first monarch o Iran's [[Qajar]] dynasty, [[Agha Muhammad Khan]], wis crouned in Urmia in 1795. Due tae Urmia's relatively lairge [[Christian]] population growthe bi the end o the 19t century, Urmia an aa became the seat o the first [[Unitit States|American]] Christian mission in Iran in 1835. Anither mission suin became operational in nearbi [[Tabriz]] as well.
The *Catholic Encyclopedia'' mentions Urmia as the seat o a Chaldean diocese.

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