Semnan, Iran Semnan, Iran Semnan (; , also Romanized as Semnān and Samnān) is the capital city of Semnan Province, Iran. Its population was 153,680 people and 36,298 families as of the 2011 census. Semnan is located 216 kilometers east of Tehran in north central Iran. It is home to Semnani languages and is known as "Seman" locally. The city offer various recreational activities, historical and religious sites, festivals, gardens and parks, colleges and universities, and Semnani culture. The city serves as the cultural and political capital of the Semnan Province. The city's main souvenirs are daffodil flowers, Shirmal pastry, Kolüçe cookies,
Iran of the Iranians, surrounding themselves with a culture that was distinctively Iranian. By the 1500s, Ismail I of Ardabil established the Safavid Empire, with his capital at Tabriz. Beginning with Azerbaijan, he subsequently extended his authority over all of the Iranian territories, and established an intermittent Iranian hegemony over the vast relative regions, reasserting the Iranian identity within large parts of Greater Iran. Iran was predominantly Sunni, but Ismail instigated a forced conversion to the Shia branch of Islam, spreading throughout the Safavid territories in the Caucasus, Iran, Anatolia, and Mesopotamia. As a result, thereof, modern-day Iran is the only