Khakestar
Village in Razavi Khorasan province, Iran
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Khakestar (Persian: خاکستر)[a] is a village, historical settlement, and caravanserai in Layen Rural District[4] of Hezarmasjed District in Kalat County, Razavi Khorasan province, Iran.
Khakestar
Persian: خاكستر | |
|---|---|
Village and Historical Settlement | |
  Khakestar | |
| Coordinates: 37°03′12″N 59°26′59″E[1][2] | |
| Country | Iran |
| Province | Razavi Khorasan |
| County | Kalat |
| District | Hezarmasjed |
| Rural District | Layen |
| Population (2016)[3] | |
• Total | 21 |
| Time zone | UTC+3:30 (IRST) |
Khakestar is in Khorasan in the mountains that now separate Iran from Turkmenistan.[5] [6] Formerly a customs post on the border between Qajar Iran and Imperial Russia,[5] it is on the banks of the Layen stream, which flows down from there to Kaakhka in Turkmenistan.[7] It is surrounded by hills with a large sugar loaf-shaped mountain on one side, and it has a spring.[8]
History
The 11th-century Seljuk emir Savtegin was born at Khakestar, and he later built a ribat (i.e. caravanserai) here.[9]
In the late 1800s, Mirza Reza Khan Arfa od-Dowleh visited the village of Khakestar after hearing a story about its inhabitants' longevity.[8] He wrote that it was close enough to Quchan that someone could leave Quchan in the morning, eat lunch in Khakestar, and be back in Quchan by the evening.[8] Its buildings were made of mud, with roofs variously made from wood or reeds.[8] There were 80 families and many of the villagers were old; there was virtually no surplus food production; when young people matured and married they would emigrate from the village.[8] In years where the harvest was good, their diet consisted of wheat bread and dairy products: milk, cheese, and yogurt.[8] When the wheat harvest was poor, they would eat barley bread.[8] Their main subsistence was from keeping livestock and selling wool in the markets at Quchan or Shirvan; they had no fruit orchards and bought fruit, clothes, and dishes at the markets.[8]
In 1918, the British agent Reginald Teague-Jones stopped at Khakestar on his way from Mashhad into Russian territory; at that time, Khakestar was a quarantine post for travellers coming into Iran from Russia, where there was an outbreak of cholera at the time.[5]
Demographics
Population
At the time of the 2006 National Censuses, the village's population was below the reporting threshold, when it was in Hezarmasjed Rural District of the Central District.[10][11] The 2016 census measured the population of the village as 21 people in nine households.[3]
In 2021, the rural district was separated from the district in the formation of Hezarmasjed District, and Khakestar was transferred to Layen Rural District created in the new district.[4]
