"تقرير عن كردستان" [و‎‎١‎٠] (٢٢٠/٢٤)

9
Kurdistan, according to Persians, whose love of symmetry is proverbial, has
j town, 17 or districts, 17 nomadic tribes, 17 mountains, and 17 rivers.
In order to get to 17 some of the tribes are mentioned together; as for the
districts, their number is given as anything between 12 and 22, according to the
way they are put together by the various governors of Kurdistan.
Capital op Kurdistan.
Kalul, during his rule, which was from 606 to 629 A. H. (1210-1233), removed
Capital of Kurdistan the ca P ital of his possessions from Kaleh
Zolm to Palingan which is at 12 farsakhs of
the present town of Senneh. He also built a citadel and founded a settlement
at Merivan. In 774 A. H. (1373) Hasan, a descendant of Kalul, built a castle
and founded a settlement at one farsakh from the present town of Senna and named
the place Hasanabad.
For 433 years one or the other of these three strongholds was the capital of
Kurdistan.
Sulaiman Khan, who was named by Shah Seffi to succeed Khan Ahmad
Khan, who had rebelled and fled to Turkey, had taken towards the Shah the en
gagement to remove the capital from Kaleh Palingan and Kaleh Hasanabad
to the site of the present Senna. Faithful to his promise he immediately des
troyed the strongholds of Zolm, Merivan, Palingan, and Hasanabad, so that
the Valis should in future have no place of refuge from which to defy the authority
of the Shah, and built himself a fortified residence and for the people bazaars
and mosques on the present site of Senna.
For 168 years the town remained but slightly altered, but in 1214 A. H.
(1800) Amanullah Khan, known as Amanullah Khan Buzurg, having become
Vali, embellished and enlarged the government residence and spent ten years
from 1220 to 1230 A. H. (1806-1815) in enlarging the town, erecting mosques,
bazaars, and residences, and laying out gardens.
Senna.
Latitude 35° 12T); Longitude 47° 18'T); Elevation
Senna situation. 5,300 feet.
The present capital of Kurdistan is Sennenduj commonly called Senna,
and known as Dar-ul-Eyaleh; as already mentioned, it was built in 1046 A. H.
(1638) by Sulaiman Khan Vali.
It is situated 200 miles south-south-east of Tabriz, south-west of Kazvin,
80 miles north-west of Hamadan, 87 miles north of Kirmanshah, north-east of
Baghdad, and east-south-east of Sulaimanieh.
It is secluded in the bosom of a deep valley, well cultivated and interspersed
with orchards of peach, apricot, pear, apple, and cherry trees, and is at once
a most remantic and flourishing little town. It was surrounded by a mud-wall,
and a small river runs through the town. It is so surrounded by hills that the
town is not seen till you are close to the suburbs. Its appearance is pleasing ;
the houses are well-built, and the gardens and cultivation in its vicinity are pretty.
It enjoys a fine climate, the small valley in which it is situated being protected
14IB B