Shemiran is the capital of Shemiranat County

Shemiranat County

Shemiranat County is a county in Tehran Province in Iran. The capital of the county is Shemiran, which is part of the city of Tehran. At the 2006 census, the county's population was 37,778, in 11,178 families...

, Tehran Province

Tehran Province

Tehran Province is one of the 31 provinces of Iran. It covers on area of 18,909 square kilometers and is located to the north of the central plateau of Iran....

, Iran

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

, but is actually located just north of the borders of Tehran County

Tehran County

Tehran County is a county in Tehran Province in Iran. The capital of the county is Tehran. At the 2006 census, the county's population was 7,882,843, in 2,313,002 families. The county is subdivided into three districts: the Central District, Kan District, and Aftab District...

 along Chamran Expressway

Chamran Expressway

Shahid Chamran Expressway is an expressway in Tehran, Iran, leading from Tohid Square to Parkway Junction. Chamran is the oldest expressway in Tehran, and is unofficially called Parkway Expressway or just Parkway for short...

 and Sadr Expressway

Sadr Expressway

Sadr Expressway is a freeway in northern Tehran, Iran.This freeway runs west from the Modarres Expressway in Gholhak neighborhood east through Gheytarieh, Doulat, Darrous, Chizar, and Ekhtiariyeh, at which point it crosses Pasdaran Avenue and becomes Babayi Expressway....

 and it is the northernmost district of the city of Tehran.

Shemiran lies in the slopes of Alborz

Alborz

Alborz , also written as Alburz, Elburz or Elborz, is a mountain range in northern Iran stretching from the borders of Azerbaijan and Armenia in the northwest to the southern end of the Caspian Sea, and ending in the east at the borders of Turkmenistan and Afghanistan...

 Mountain and enjoys a suitable mild climate. It has fine and well-kept parks and is home to the richest class of Iran

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

ian society. Most of the foreign embassies and the Tehran International Fair are situated in Shemiran.

Shemiran used to be the summer residence of the Qajar

Qajar dynasty

The Qajar dynasty was an Iranian royal family of Turkic descent who ruled Persia from 1785 to 1925....

 and Pahlavi

Pahlavi dynasty

The Pahlavi dynasty consisted of two Iranian/Persian monarchs, father and son Reza Shah Pahlavi and Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi The Pahlavi dynasty consisted of two Iranian/Persian monarchs, father and son Reza Shah Pahlavi (reg. 1925–1941) and Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi The Pahlavi dynasty ...

 Shahs who built several palace complexes and villas in the area. Some examples are the Sa'dabad Palace Complex and the Niavaran Palace Complex

Niavaran Palace Complex

thumb|right|350px|The "Kushak" of Ahmad Shah, or [[Ahmad-Shahi Pavilion]] |PavilionNiavarān Palace Complex is a historical complex situated in the northern part of Tehran, Iran. It consists of several buildings and a museum. The Sahebqraniyeh Palace, from the time of Naser al-Din Shah of Qajar...

.

It is also where Imam Zadeh Saleh

Imam Zadeh Saleh

Imāmzādeh Sāleh is one of many Imāmzadeh mosques in Iran. The mosque is located at Tajrish Square in Tehran's northern Shemiran district. The mosque entombs the remains of Sāleh, a son of the Twelver Shī‘ah Imām, Mūsā al-Kādhim, and is one of the most popular Shī‘ah shrines in northern Tehran.-See...

 is, and where the former home of Imam Khomeini was located.

Among the neighborhoods of Shemiran are: Darakeh

Darakeh

Darakeh is a neighbourhood located north of the provincial capital of Tehran, Iran.It is near Evin and Velenjak, and it has a very beautiful hiking area. Its population in 2005 was 1.000.000....

, Darband, Jamaran

Jamaran

Jamaran is a neighbourhood located north of the city of Tehran in Iran.Jamaran was once an independent village; it is now a part of the North Tehran region. It is best known for being the home of Ayatollah Khomeini during his lifetime...

, and Niavaran

Niavaran

Niavaran is a district in the north of Tehran foothills. Bordering leafy, uphill-winding Darband Street, it can be reached from Tajrish Square, and is close to Darabad at the far north-eastern corner of Greater Tehran....

 on the far north, as well as Zafaraniyeh

Zafaraniyeh

Zafaraniyeh is a neighbourhood in the north of Tehran, Iran. The name's origin lies in the fact that it was the residence of many saffron traders long ago, thus the name Zafaraniyeh...

, Elahiyeh

Elahiyeh

Elahieh is an affluent and upper-class district in northern Tehran. The area is a residential and commercial locale and is filled with the homes and businesses of many politicians, diplomats, expatriates, and artists...

, Velenjak

Velenjak

Velenjak is a neighbourhood, northwest of Tehran, in Iran.- About :Located in the Shemiran area in the northernmost part of Tehran, on the slopes of the Alborz mountain range, Valenjak is known for its beautiful landscape, mild climate, fresh mountain air, springs, and wildlife.Velenjak is located...

, Gheytarieh

Gheytarieh

Gheytarieh is a district, in northeastern Tehran's city limits, within the larger Shemiran district. Gheytarieh has about 150,000 residents....

, and Farmanieh

Farmanieh

Farmanieh is a district located in Shemiran, Tehran, Iran centered around Farmanieh Street. Farmanieh neighborhood extends south all the way to Sadr Expressway, where it becomes Dibaji, and as far north as Niavaran Expressway...

.

Name

The word Shemiran or Shemran is the arabized form of the word Chamran consisted of two parts: "cham" (meaning "cold" in Avestan; "zama" or "zem") + "ran" (meaning "slope"). In fact "shemran" means "the cold place" or "the cold slope".

It is common in the Iranian languages

Iranian languages

The Iranian languages form a subfamily of the Indo-Iranian languages which in turn is a subgroup of Indo-European language family. They have been and are spoken by Iranian peoples....

 that the letter "z" changes to letter "ch" , For example in Persian the word "ruz" or "rooz" (day), from Middle Persian

Middle Persian

Middle Persian , indigenously known as "Pârsig" sometimes referred to as Pahlavi or Pehlevi, is the Middle Iranian language/ethnolect of Southwestern Iran that during Sassanid times became a prestige dialect and so came to be spoken in other regions as well. Middle Persian is classified as a...

 "roch", is still "roch" in Balochi language

Balochi language

Balochi is a Northwestern Iranian language. It is the principal language of the Baloch of Balochistan, Pakistan, eastern Iran and southern Afghanistan. It is also spoken as a second language by some Brahui. It is designated as one of nine official languages of Pakistan.-Vowels:The Balochi vowel...

 and "roj" in Kurdish

Kurdish language

Kurdish is a dialect continuum spoken by the Kurds in western Asia. It is part of the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian group of Indo-European languages....

. Another example is the word "zemestan" (winter) consisted of two parts: "zem" (cold) + "estan" or "istan" (being, or existence), which sometimes can be seen in Persian Literature

Persian literature

Persian literature spans two-and-a-half millennia, though much of the pre-Islamic material has been lost. Its sources have been within historical Persia including present-day Iran as well as regions of Central Asia where the Persian language has historically been the national language...

and common usage as "chamestan" or "chemestan".