Bojnord

Bojnord is a city in the Central District of Bojnord County, North Khorasan province, Iran, serving as capital of the province, the county, and the district. It is about 701 km from Tehran. and 237 km away from Mashhad, the capital of Razavi Khorasan province.

History
According to local tradition, the whole area was controlled by the Qarai Turks since the Mongol invasion in the 13th century.

Bojnurd is of recent origin and possibly built by the Safavids for the Kurdish Şadiyan tribe who had been settled there to strengthen the Safavid borders against hostile Turkmens. Traditionally, the city was surrounded by a defensive wall and consisted of eleven quarters, bazaars and four mosques.

In 1849, the city saw a revolt which destroyed the city. When traveller G. C. Napier visited the city in 1876, it was noted that the chief of Bojnurd was a Kurd who governed the city without taxation in exchange for military support to the central government in Tehran.

Severe earthquakes in 1896 and 1929 destroyed the city and its surroundings. The city would consequently be rebuilt without historical or recent fortifications in a modern matter. In 1997, a magnitude 6.5 earthquake caused significant damage and many fatalities in the city.

Population
At the time of the 2006 National Census, the city's population was 172,772 in 44,217 households. The following census in 2011 counted 199,791 people in 56,761 households. The 2016 census measured the population of the city as 228,931 people in 67,335 households.

ٔGeography
Bojnourd city, the capital of North Khorasan province with an area of 36 square kilometers, is located in northeastern Iran at 57 degrees and 20 minutes longitude and 37 degrees and 28 minutes latitude south of Kopedagh mountain range and east of Aladagh mountain range and north of Alborz mountain range. Bojnourd is 1070 meters above sea level and its distance to Tehran is 821 kilometers.

Climate
Bojnord has a cold semi-arid climate (BSk) according to the Köppen climate classification.

Colleges and universities
Universities located in Bojnord include:
 * University of Bojnurd
 * North Khorasan University of Medical Sciences
 * Islamic Azad University of Bojnurd
 * Eshragh Institute of Higher Education (Bojnurd, North Khorasan)
 * Payam Noor University of Bojnurd

Notable people

 * Abdolhossein Teymourtash (Sardar Moazzam Khorasani), a distinguished and influential politician of the 20th century (Pahlavi dynasty)
 * Ali-Akbar Davar, politician and judge and the founder of the modern judicial system of Iran
 * Kazem Mousavi Bojnurdi, historian, theologian, writer and the curator of the National Library of Iran (1997–2005)
 * Mohammad Davari, journalist, known for arrest in 2009–10 Iranian election protests