The city is nicknamed the "Industrial Capital of Iran".[7][8] As a major industrial city, Arak hosts several industrial factories inside and within a few kilometers outside the city, including the factory of Machine Sazi Arak and the Iranian Aluminium Company. These factories produce nearly half of the needs of the country in the steel, petrochemical, and locomotive industries.
Etymology
Arâk
The term Arâk remains from a name given to the region since the medieval period. It derives from Arabical-ʿIrāq, meaning "root",[9] itself derived possibly from AkkadianUruk (Hebrew: אֶרֶךְ, Erech). But new research has shown that the word Arak has the same roots with the words Iran and Arran, and the name Iraq is an Arabicized Persian word.[10]
During the Seljuk era, a region comprising the whole territory of Media (northwestern Iran) and the lower part of Mesopotamia was referred to as Iraq; with the Median part called ʿErâq-e ʿAjam ("Iraq of the Ajam [non-Arabic speakers]"), and the Mesopotamian part called ʿErâq-e ʿArab ("Iraq of the Arab").[11]
Bowl, Sultanabad ware, first half of the 14th century, fritware, underglaze-painted, Iran. Metropolitan Museum of Art.[12]
Originally named Soltan Abad, the modern-day city of Arak was founded in 1808 by Yusef Khan-e Gorji,[13] a pro-Iranian warlord of Georgian Muslim origin who was given refuge by Qajar ruler Agha Mohammad Khan following a territorial dispute with his cousins, who were supported by Russian empress Catherine the Great.
Between 1795 and 1797, Yusef Khan-e Gorji, renamed Yusef Khan-e Sepahdar by the Qajar ruler, settled his army in the fertile but poorly-controlled territory that would become the modern-day Arak. Hostile tribes in the region had operated autonomously from the Qajar rule. With the Shah's approval, Yusef Khan diverted the main river to drive out the hostiles and build the war fortress of Soltan Abad to act as a buffer.
According to early modern historians, Yusef Khan built the city with the aid of effluents. Until 1892, the town remained a military base and fortress. The fortress of Soltan Abad had a thick wall surrounded by 7-meter-deep moats. Eight towers were constructed around the town and the governmental building was established in its northern part.[citation needed]
In 1891, shops, gardens, and government buildings of Soltan Abad were repaired by the order of deputy governor Mirza Hasan (Etemad os-Saltane). Large parts of the city were formerly annexed as personal property to the pre-existing army commanders, and were then ultimately turned over to the state around 1918–1922.
Beginning by the last quarter of the 19th century, the city achieved major developments in carpet industry, and eventually became Iran's most important center of carpet production for export markets, continuing up until at least 1940.[14]
National Garden Square in 1969.
Under the reign of Reza Shah of the Pahlavi dynasty, the city was renamed Arak. Modern factories for vegetable oil, soap, sugar beet, and wool industries were established within the city. Arak also became an important station for the Trans-Iranian Railway, a major railway project directed by Reza Shah which was completed in 1938.[citation needed]
In 1972, two major state-owned enterprises were established in the city, including an aluminum smelter and a heavy engineering plant. The aluminum smelter was built under the Regional Cooperation for Development project of the Central Treaty Organization, in cooperation with the company of Reynolds and Reynolds. The engineering plant was processed with equipment and technical advice from the Soviets, in return of gas sales to the Soviet Union.[citation needed]
At the time of the 2006 National Census, the city's population was 438,338 in 121,597 households.[17] The following census in 2011 counted 484,212 people in 148,249 households.[18] The 2016 census measured the population of the city as 520,944 people in 165,709 households.[3]
Geography
Location
Arak is surrounded by mountains in the south, west, and east, and its average altitude is about 1750m above sea level. It is located 260 km from the city of Tehran, and is in the vicinity of the cities of Qom and Isfahan.
The weather of the city is hot and dry in summer, cool in autumn, cold and snowy in winter, and mild in spring. Its maximum temperature may rise to above 35 °C or 95 °F in summer and fall to below −25 °C or −13 °F in winter. The average annual precipitation is around 337 millimetres or 13.3 inches and the annual relative humidity is about 47%.
Climate data for Arak (1991-2020, extremes 1961-2020)
Arak is served by the International Airport of Arak, which is located north of the city. The airport was opened in 1938, and is one of the oldest airports of Iran.
Arak–Qom High Speed Rail is the second high-speed rail project in Iran which will have a junction with Tehran–Qom–Isfahan High Speed Rail at one of the stations in Qom province.[22]The Islamic Republic of Iran Railways signed a €1.2 billion deal with its Italian counterpart for establishing a high-speed railroad between the Iranian cities of Qom and Arak.[23] Iran decided to delegate the project to the Chinese following the withdrawal of an Italian firm due to US sanctions on Iran.[24] This new High Speed Line, part of the Iran National Railway Network, will be a double track passenger railway line and will have an operational speed of 300 km/h.[22]
Public transportation
Buses provide the bulk of the local public transport in Arak.
The main agricultural products of the city are grain, barley, and fruits including grape, apple, walnut, and almond. Arak also exports hand-knotted carpets which are referred to as Sarouk rugs. Saruq is a small village outside Arak, and its name is used in order to prevent confusion with rug from the modern-day country of Iraq.
Main sites
A ceiling at the Four Seasons Bath.Yard of the old Sepahdar school.A ceiling at the old bazaar of Arak.Arak University, Faculty of Science
^Arak, Iran can be found at GEOnet Names Server, at this link, by opening the Advanced Search box, entering "-3053519" in the "Unique Feature Id" form, and clicking on "Search Database".
^Network, Creative (4 July 2017). "پایتخت صنعتی ایران". پایگاه خبری روزنامه عطریاس. Archived from the original on 15 August 2020. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
^Rahimi, Mohammad Reza (17 December 2014) [Approved 17 January 1392]. Approval letter regarding national divisions in Markazi province. rc.majlis.ir (Report) (in Persian). Ministry of the Interior, Council of Ministers. Proposal 11016/42/4/1; Letter 158802/T38854H; Notification 4076/T48686K. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 29 August 2023 – via Islamic Parliament Research Center.
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