Bukan (Bookan) City

Bukan (or Bookan) lies between the two provinces of West Azarbayjan and Kurdestan. Its capital being the city of Bukan that lies en route from the city of Miandoab to Saqez. Bukan lies alongside the Simineh Rood River. Buke in the Kurdish language means bride and Bukan is its plural. As this area forms a cross-road when rural people after a marriage ceremony wanted to take their bride, they were compelled to cross en route from this vicinity to the other.

Crossing this village they used to dance and sing all together around the pool which is at present even exists and is considered to be a sight seeing area. The name Bukan comes from the Kurdish language.

Bukan History:

There have been several artefacts discovered in Bukan dating back to between 4100 BC and 4400 BC. These artefacts confirm that Bukan was home to one of the first human settlements on the Iranian Plateau. Bukan was also at the centre of the Mannaean civilization.
In Pre–Islamic times Bukan was a garrison for both the Parthian Empire and the Sassanian Empire There are several ancient sites from this time period in Bukan today.
Bukan was also under the control of different empires such as the Middle Assyrian Empire, the Medes, and the Urartu. Environmentally and climatically, Bukan is a highland with snow-capped mountains which looks like as beauty queen of Kurdistan. As regard to the history of the area, according to the archaeological findings, it should be said that from the earliest time the district of Bukan had been populated by ancient tribes, who were inhabited in the foothills of Zagros mountain chain. Archaeologically, the oldest remains that has been recovered here come from Gharagouz (4800-4100 Dalma), Nachit and Gharakend mounds (Bronze Age) The cultural sequence of Bukan, however, has been continued up to Qajar (Ghajar) dynasty. There have been recovered more than 150 sites in Bukan.

Bukan fell into the hands of the Muslims some time around 643. In the 15th century, a local by the name of Amirseifolldin Makari brought the area under his control. Shah Ismail I of the Safavid Dynasty tried several times unsuccessfully to try to bring the area back under his control.

In the year 1853, under the rule of Naser al-Din Shah Qajar (Ghajar), Bukan was no more than a small village. After the 1979 Iranian Revolution Bukan was faced with turmoil, and fell under the control of Kurdish opposition groups. Bukan was liberated by the Iranian Armed Forces on 1 January 1984. According to the IRGC, Bukan was the last Kurdish city in Iran to be freed. On 15 April 1988, Bukan was bombarded by the Iraqi Air Force, in which 19 people died and 160 were wounded.