Sanandaj

Sanandaj (; ; ); , often romanized as Senneh, previously known as Senah Dezh (meaning; Land of Eagles) is the capital of Kurdistan Province in Iran. With a population of 414,069, Sanandaj is the twenty third largest city in Iran and the second largest Kurdish city. Sanandaj's founding is fairly recent, (about 250 years ago), yet under its short existence it has grown to become one of the centers of Kurdish culture. During the Iraq-Iran War the city was attacked by Iraqi planes and saw disturbances. From 2019 UNESCO has recognized Sineh (Sanandaj) as Creative City of Music.
Name.
The city of Sanandaj was originally called "Saneh", and because it was located near an important castle it was later called "Sanehdaj", meaning castle at the foot of a mountain. This presumably turned into "Sanandaj" over time.
People.
The population of Sanandaj is mainly Kurdish. The city also had an Armenian minority who gradually emigrated from the city. Until the Iranian Revolution (1979), the city had a small Aramaic-speaking Jewish community of about 4,000 people. The city boasted a sizable Assyrian community that spoke a unique dialect of Aramaic called Senaya. The economy of Sanandaj is based upon the production of carpets, processed hides and skins, milled rice, refined sugar, woodworking, cotton weaving, metalware and cutlery.
Most of the people of Sanandaj follow the Shafi‘i branch of Sunni Islam.
History.
In his book Median History, Diakonov writes: The upper part of the Diyala River and its tributaries and branches in the triangle of the present cities of Sulaimaniyah, Sanandaj and Sarpol-e Zahab have been called Parsua since the mid-ninth century
Climate.
Sanandaj has a humid continental climate ("Dsa") according to the Köppen climate classification with short, cold, and wet winters and long, hot, and dry summers.