Rawandiz

Rawandiz (Rewandiz) is a city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, located in the Erbil Governorate, close to the borders with Iran and Turkey, it is located 10 km to the east from Bekhal Waterfall. The district is 123 km from Erbil. The district is surrounded by the Zagros mountain range; Korek Mountain is to the south, Hindren Mountain to the north, Zozik Mountain to the west, and Bradasot Mountain to the east. Rawandiz is populated by Kurds. The name 'Rawandiz' derives from the name of the Rawandiz (Rawadiya) Kurdish tribe, of which Saladin and the Ayyubids originated. The tribe's name is a corruption of the Old Persian root, Erwend 'a pass,' and which was usually Hellenized into Orodes and Orontes. The tribe was itself a branch of the Hadhabani confederation. In the time of the Neo Assyrian Empire, from the 10th to the 7th centuries BC, the area lay on the trading route to Nineveh. The area came under the rule of the Emirate of Bradost after the Battle of Chaldiran in 1514. The town would later come under the rule of the Soran Emirate until 1836. In 1915, during the First World War, the town was occupied by the Russians and Assyrians. The Rawandiz massacre took place, where the Kurdish Muslim population was massacred by the Russian army and allied Assyrian militants; after Nikolai Baratov's Cossacks recaptured the town, only 20 percent of the Kurdish population managed to survive. In 1922 the town was occupied by the Turks, until they were driven out at the end of the year. The British army occupied the town on 22 April 1923. The British decided to stay in place to await the arrival of a special commission to fix the border between Turkey and Iraq, believing that if they left the Turkish troops would return. Between 1928 and 1932 the British built a strategic road from Erbil, through Rawandiz, to the Iranian border near modern-day Piranshahr. The construction of the road was directed by the New Zealand engineer A. M. Hamilton. In 1940, the population was 1970. As of July 2007, Rawandiz was undergoing major reconstruction.