This section is from the book "Chambers's Concise Gazetteer Of The World", by David Patrick. Also available from Amazon: Chambers's Concise Gazetteer Of The World.
Ispahan, properly Isfahan, a famous city of Persia, capital of the province of Irak-Ajemi, and in the 17th century of the entire country, is situated on the Zenderud, in an extensive and fertile plain, 226 miles S. of Tehran. The river, here 600 feet broad, is crossed by three noble bridges. Groves, orchards, avenues, and cultivated fields surround the city for miles ; but the permanent beauty of the vicinity only serves to make the contrast all the more striking between the former splendour of the city and its present ruinous condition. Miles of street are now almost tenantless, and many of the palaces are falling to decay. The suburb Julfa, on the southern bank of the river, once a flourishing Armenian settlement of 30,000 inhabitants, is now little better than a mass of ruins. Ispahan, however, is still an important city and the seat of extensive manufactures, including all sorts of woven fabrics, from rich gold brocades and figured velvets to common calicoes. Trinkets and ornamental goods in great variety, with firearms, sword-blades, glass, and earthenware, are also manufactured. Of late years, too, many of its edifices have been rebuilt; and rice is now largely cultivated in the neighbourhood. Pop. 80,000 - not a tenth of what it was once.
 
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