Paleolithic Early humans were present at Gilan since
Lower Paleolithic.
Darband Cave is the earliest known human habitation site in Gilan province; it is located in a deep tributary canyon of the
Siah Varud and contains evidence for the earliest prehistoric human cave occupation during the Lower Paleolithic in Iran. Stone artifacts and animal
fossils were discovered by a group of Iranian archaeologists that dates back to the late
Chibanian. Yarshalman is a
Middle Paleolithic shelter that was probably occupied by
Neanderthals about 40,000 to 70,000 years ago. and
Khalvasht shelter.
Early history It seems that the
Gelae, or Gilites, entered the region south of the Caspian coast and west of the Amardos River (now called the
Sefid-Rud) in the second or first century BCE,
Pliny identifies them with the
Cadusii who were living there previously. It is more likely that they were a separate people, had come from the region of
Dagestan, and taken the place of the Kadusii. That the native inhabitants of Gilan have some originating roots in the
Caucasus is supported by genetics and language, as the Y-DNA of
Gilaks most closely resemble that of
Georgians and other
South Caucasus peoples, while their mtDNA closely resembles other
Iranian groups. Their languages shares typologic features with the
languages of the Caucasus.
Medieval history Gilan province was the place of origin of the
Ziyarid dynasty and
Buyid dynasty in the mid-10th century. Previously, the people of the province had a prominent position during the
Sassanid dynasty through the 7th century, so that their political power extended to
Mesopotamia. The first recorded encounter between Gilak and
Deylamite warlords and
invading Muslim armies was at the
Battle of Jalula in 637 AD. Deylamite commander Muta led an army of Gils, Deylamites,
Persians and people of the
Rey region. Muta was killed in the battle, and his defeated army managed to retreat in an orderly manner. However, this appears to have been a Pyrrhic victory for the Arabs, since they did not pursue their opponents. Muslim Arabs never managed to conquer Gilan as they did with other provinces in Iran. Gilanis and Deylamites successfully repulsed all Arab attempts to occupy their land or to convert them to Islam. In fact, it was the Deylamites under the Buyid king
Mu'izz al-Dawla who finally shifted the balance of power by conquering
Baghdad in 945. Mu'izz al-Dawla, however, allowed the
Abbasid caliphs to remain in comfortable, secluded captivity in their palaces. The
Church of the East began evangelizing Gilan in the 780s, when a
metropolitan bishopric was established under
Shubhalishoʿ. In the 9th and 10th centuries AD, Deylamites and later Gilanis gradually converted to
Zaydi Shiʿism. Several Deylamite commanders and soldiers of fortune who were active in the military theaters of Iran and
Mesopotamia were openly
Zoroastrian (for example,
Asfar Shiruyeh a warlord in central Iran, and Makan, son of Kaki, the warlord of Rey) or were suspected of harboring pro-Zoroastrian (for example
Mardavij) sentiments. Muslim chronicles of
Varangian (Rus', pre-Russian Norsemen) invasions of the littoral Caspian region in the 9th century record Deylamites as non-Muslim. These chronicles also show that the Deylamites were the only warriors in the Caspian region who could fight the fearsome Varangian Vikings as equals. Deylamite mercenaries served as far away as
Egypt,
al-Andalus, and in the
Khazar Kingdom. The
Buyids established the most successful of the Deylamite dynasties of Iran. , Gilan In the 9th–11th century AD, there were repeated military raids undertaken by the Rus' between 864 and 1041 on the
Caspian Sea shores of Iran, Azerbaijan, and Dagestan as part of the
Caspian expeditions of the Rus'. Initially, the Rus' appeared in
Serkland in the 9th century traveling as merchants along the
Volga trade route, selling furs, honey, and slaves. The first small-scale raids took place in the late 9th and early 10th century. The Rus' undertook the first large-scale expedition in 913; having arrived on 500 ships, they pillaged the westernmost parts of
Gorgan as well as Gilan and
Mazandaran, taking slaves and goods. The
Turkish invasions of the 10th and 11th centuries CE, which saw the rise of
Ghaznavid and
Seljuk dynasties, put an end to Deylamite states in Iran. From the 11th century CE to the rise of
Safavids, Gilan was ruled by local rulers who paid tribute to the dominant power south of the
Alborz range but ruled independently. In 1307 the
Ilkhan Öljeitü conquered the region. This was the first time the region came under the rule of the
Mongols after the Ilkhanid Mongols and their
Georgian allies failed to do it in the late 1270s. After 1336, the region seemed to be independent again. Before the introduction of silk production (date unknown but a pillar of the economy by the 15th century AD), Gilan was a poor province. There were no permanent trade routes linking Gilan to Persia. There was a small trade in smoked fish and wood products. It seems that the city of
Qazvin was initially a fortress-town against marauding bands of Deylamites, another sign that the economy of the province did not produce enough on its own to support its population. This changed with the introduction of the silk worm in the late Middle Ages.
Early modern and modern history Gilan recognized twice, for brief periods, the
suzerainty of the
Ottoman Empire without rendering
tribute to the
Sublime Porte, in 1534 and 1591. The
Safavid emperor,
Shah Abbas I ended the rule of
Khan Ahmad Khan (the last semi-independent ruler of Gilan) and annexed the province directly to his empire. From this point onward, rulers of Gilan were appointed by the Persian
Shah. In the Safavid era, Gilan was settled by large numbers of
Georgians,
Circassians,
Armenians, and other
peoples of the Caucasus whose descendants still live or linger across Gilan. Most of these
Georgians and
Circassians are assimilated into the mainstream Gilaks. The history of Georgian settlement is described by
Iskandar Beg Munshi, the author of the 17th century
Tarikh-e Alam-Ara-ye Abbasi, and the Circassian settlements by
Pietro Della Valle, among other authors. The Safavid empire became weak towards the end of the 17th century CE. By the early 18th century, the once-mighty empire was in the grips of civil war and uprisings. The ambitious
Peter I of Russia (Peter the Great) sent a force that captured Gilan and many of the Iranian territories in the
North Caucasus,
Transcaucasia, as well as other territories in northern mainland Iran, through the
Russo-Persian War (1722–1723) and the resulting
Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1723). Gilan and its capital of Rasht,
which was conquered between late 1722 and late March 1723, stayed in
Russian possession for about ten years.
Qajars established a central government in Persia (Iran) in the late 18th century CE. They lost a series of wars to Russia (Russo-Persian Wars
1804–1813 and
1826–28), resulting in an enormous gain of influence by the Russian Empire in the
Caspian region, which would last up to
1946. The Gilanian cities of
Rasht and
Anzali were all but occupied and settled by
Russians and Russian forces. Most major cities in the region had Russian schools and significant traces of
Russian culture can be found today in Rasht. Russian class was mandatory in schools and the significant increase of Russian influence in the region lasted until
1946 and had a major impact on Iranian history, as it directly led to the
Persian Constitutional Revolution. Gilan was a major producer of silk beginning in the 15th century CE. As a result, it was one of the wealthiest provinces in Iran. Safavid annexation in the 16th century was at least partially motivated by this revenue stream. The silk trade, though not the production, was a monopoly of the Crown and the single most important source of trade revenue for the imperial treasury. As early as the 16th century and until the mid 19th century, Gilan was the major exporter of silk in Asia. The
Shah farmed out this trade to
Greek and
Armenian merchants and, in return, received a handsome portion of the proceeds. In the mid-19th century, a fatal epidemic among the silk worms paralyzed Gilan's economy, causing widespread economic distress. Gilan's budding industrialists and merchants were increasingly dissatisfied with the weak and ineffective rule of the
Qajars. Re-orientation of Gilan's agriculture and industry from silk to production of
rice and the introduction of
tea plantations were a partial answer to the decline of silk in the province. After
World War I, Gilan came to be ruled independently of the central government of
Tehran and concern arose that the province might permanently separate. Before the war,
Gilanis had played an important role in the
Constitutional Revolution of Iran.
Sepahdar-e Tonekaboni (Rashti) was a prominent figure in the early years of the revolution and was instrumental in defeating
Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar. In the late 1910s, many Gilanis gathered under the leadership of
Mirza Kuchik Khan, who became the most prominent revolutionary leader in northern Iran in this period. Khan's movement, known as the
Jangal movement of Gilan, had sent an armed brigade to Tehran that helped depose the
Qajar ruler Mohammad Ali Shah. However, the revolution did not progress the way the constitutionalists had strived for, and Iran came to face much internal unrest and foreign intervention, particularly from the British and Russian empires. During and several years after the
Bolshevik Revolution, the region saw another massive influx of Russian settlers (the so-called
White émigrées). Many of the descendants of these refugees are in the region. During the same period, Anzali served as the main trading port between Iran and Europe. The Jangalis are glorified in Iranian history and effectively secured Gilan and
Mazandaran against foreign invasions. However, in 1920 British forces invaded
Bandar-e Anzali, while being pursued by the
Bolsheviks. In the midst of this conflict, the Jangalis entered into an alliance with the Bolsheviks against the British. This culminated in the establishment of the
Persian Socialist Soviet Republic (commonly known as the Socialist Republic of Gilan), which lasted from June 1920 until September 1921. In February 1921 the Soviets withdrew their support for the Jangali government of Gilan and signed the
Russo-Persian Treaty of Friendship (1921) with the central government of Tehran. The Jangalis continued to struggle against the central government until their final defeat in September 1921 when control of Gilan returned to Tehran. ==Demographics==