The cultural influence of Russians on people of Guilan in the age ofQajar

According to existing reports, Irans cultural relations with Russia back to the Safavidera, but with the beginning of Qajar era and the consequence of Irans prolonged warswith Russia, the need for extensive relations with Europe made Russia a gateway toIrans intellectual and cultural heritage, and at last because of Iranian economic andcultural exchanges through the Anzali Corridor, Badkoubeh and Tabilisi, wereimpressed primarily by the Russians.These relations led to numerous important economic, political, social and culturalconsequences in Iran. The northern parts of Iran, especially Rasht city, wereconsidered by Russians due to its specific geographical location and Iran_Russiacommunication route. Iran_Russia cultural relations back to late of ۱۸th and early of۱۹th century of Qajar era. Due to the circumstances, the people of Rasht visit Europeand Russia more, people such as businessmen, students and workers… and they werefamiliar with the new ideas there and those thoughts and ideas had been brought into Iran, especially in Rasht. This acquaintance made the people of Rasht betterprepared to embrace new cultural ideas and new social transformations. Thesedevelopments have led to the creation of new schools, especially girls schools andadults education classes, printing and publishing newspapers and establishing alibrary and People of Rasht were among the first Iranians got familiar with the newworld. In addition to these intellectual issues, Russia has also been one of the pathsfor the transmission of social democracy ideas to Iran. In the present article, theauthor attempts to analyze the subject and to assess the cultural and intellectualimpact Iranians of Russians.The method of this research is historical approach, by descriptive_analytical methodand using library resources and archival documents.

Keywords:

Guilan , Russia , culture , Qajar