Soltaniyeh, located some Template:Convert to the north-west of Tehran, was built as the capital of Mongol Ilkhanid rulers of Iran in the 14th century. Its name which refers to the Islamic ruler title sultan translates loosely as "the Regal". Soltaniyeh was visited by Ruy González de Clavijo, who reported that the city was a hub of silk exportation.[2]
William Dalrymple notes that Öljaitü intended Soltaniyeh to be "the largest and most magnificent city in the world" but that it "died with him" and is now "a deserted, crumbling spread of ruins."[3]
Demographics
Population
At the time of the 2006 National Census, the city's population was 5,864 in 1,649 households,[4] when it was in Soltaniyeh DistrictTemplate:Efn of Abhar County.[5] The following census in 2011 counted 7,116 people in 2,013 households.[6] The 2016 census measured the population of the city as 7,638 people in 2,319 households,[7] by which time the district had been elevated to the status of Soltaniyeh County.[1] Soltaniyeh was transferred to the new Central District as the county's capital.
The city was established as a Catholicepiscopal see on 1 April 1318 for the Archdiocese of Soltania. In 1329, the Latin Diocese of Samarcanda became its suffragan for the Chagatai Khanate, at least until Tamerlane (founder of the Timurids) swept its see Samarkand. The archdiocese was suppressed as residential see around 1450.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
Guillaume Adam, O.P. (1322.10.06 – 1324.10.26); previously Archbishop of Smirna (Smyrna) (Asian Turkey, now İzmir) (1318 – 1322.10.06); later Metropolitan Archbishop of Bar (Montenegro) (1324.10.26 – death 1341)
