Qom; Country and People
Qom is the smallest governorate in Iran. Previously it was as a district belonging to the governorate of Arak and then it was attached to Tehran until it was certificated to be as independent governorate.
Its population was not more than one hundred and fifty thousand in 1957 A.D. In 1979, when the Islamic revolution triumphed, the population of the city was about three hundred thousand.
The city has progressed so much and has gotten much attention from the government after the years of deliberate neglect during the reign of Shah. After the triumph of the Islamic revolution, the city began to grow rapidly until its population became more than one million besides the many foreign students coming from the different continents of the world. They have come to study in Qom and then they got married and make families or they have brought their families with them. There are also many Afghan emigrants, who are more than half a million besides some thousands of Iraqi emigrants.
The city has flourished and prospered in every side especially that there is cheap employment because of the great numbers of the emigrant Afghans.
The cultural life has become too prosperous because of the availability of learned Arabs, among whom the Iraqis form a great proportion.
As for the texture of the local population of the governorate, we can say that only nine percent live in the countryside whereas ninety percent live in the city.
Nearly half a century ago the farms and gardens covered most parts of Qom and then they began to abate little by little before the expansion of building.
Some people, who have lived in the city about fifty years ago or those who have been born in the city, refer to some main streets of the city and say that they were as gardens full of pomegranate and fig trees.
Some famous quarters in the city are still having names that refer to their rural origins.
Nevertheless Qom was and is still as a district having a desert and semi-desert climate.
There are some certain areas having cold mountainous climate and others having moderate climate but the general climate of this governorate is the semi-desert climate.
At the shores of the “Lake of Salt” there is a long line of desert having many dunes. After that and towards the north and the west-north there are wide wild lands, in the western side of which Qom is. As for the moderate areas, they form the western line and have an area four times more than the area of the desert line. There is a small area having a cold mountainous climate around Mountain Ghaleek, which is 3171 meters high.
The western line has an important role in the life of the governorate because it has fertile agricultural lands and many water sources.
From among fourteen rivers flowing in the land of the governorate there are only two permanent rivers; one is “Qara Chai”, which flows from the mountains of “Shazand” in Arak to the west of Qom and the other is “Qamrood”, which flows from the mountains of “Khawansar” in the south.
The rate of raining in the governorate is about 138 millimeter. It is very little rate in comparison with the general rate of rain in Iran, which is about 255 millimeter.
Once Sayyid Muhsin al-Ameen al-Aamily has passed by this city and written down his notes about it in his Iraqi-Iranian travel in 1353 A. H., 1933 A/D.
Here are some lines of his notes:
“A flood has come and covered all the streets (of Qom) so we were obliged to walk away from the places being covered by the flood. We couldn’t reach Qom at that day. We spent the night some kilometers before Qom in a café near a village there. In the café there was an official having a high position in the army. He began to smoke opium with the keepers of the café. In the morning we set out towards Qom. We found that the flood had covered the way. We could not pass the bridge near Qom by the car so we passed it on foot.”
Source:
maaref-foundation.com
Other Links:
Old Mosques, Qom
Historical Caravansaries, Qom
