Kermanshah

 city, capital city of state/province/region

Kermanshah is the capital city of Kermanshah Province, located 525 kilometers (324 miles) from Tehran in the western part of Iran in Iranian Kurdistan. The city is about 75 miles from the border of Iraq. It had an estimated population of 851,405 in 2011 and the majority of the inhabitants speak the Kalhori dialects of Kurdish. The majority of the population is kurdish.

In ancient Iranian mythology, construction of the city is attributed to Tahmuras, the third king of Pishdadian dynasty. It is believed that the Sassanids have constructed Kermanshah and Bahram IV (he was called Kermanshah, meaning king of Kerman) gave his name to this city. It was a glorious city in Sassanid period about the 4th century AD when it became the capital city of Persian Empire and a significant health center serving as the summer resort for Sassanid kings. In AD 226, following a two-year war led by the Persian Emperor, Ardashir I, against Kurdish tribes in the region, the empire reinstated a local Kurdish prince, Kayus of Medya, to rule Kermanshah. Within the dynasty known as the House of Kayus (also Kâvusakân) remained a semi-independent Kurdish kingdom lasting until AD 380 before Ardashir II removed the dynasty's last ruling member.

Kermanshah was conquered by the Arabs in AD 640. Under Seljuk rule in the eleventh century, it became the major cultural and commercial center in western Iran and the southern Kurdish region as a whole. The Safavids fortified the town, and the Qajars repulsed an attack by the Ottomans during Fath Ali Shah's rule (1797–1834). Kermanshah was occupied by Ottomans between 1723–1729 and 1731-1732.

Occupied by the Ottoman army in 1915 during World War I, it was evacuated in 1917. Kermanshah played an important role in the Iranian Constitutional Revolution during the Qajar dynasty period and the Republic Movement in Pahlavi dynasty period. The city was harshly damaged during the Iran–Iraq War, and although it was rebuilt, it has not yet fully recovered.