province are Turkmen, Turkish and then Māzandarāni which is among the oldest written languages of the country. Māzandarāni Māzandarān is the neighboring province which has the language of Māzandarāni all over the province which has over tens of different dialects in different regions., almost all of them are sub categories of Māzandarāni. Native people of Māzandarān call themselves Tabari and their language Tabari. The name Tapuri / Tabari (which was the name of an ancient language spoken somewhere in former Tapuria) is now used in preference to the name Mazandarani by the young. The earliest references to the language of Mazandaran, called Tabari, are to be found in the works of the early Muslim geographers. Al-Muqaddasī (or Moqaisi, 10th century), for example, notes: "The languages of Komish and Gurgan are similar, they use hā, as in hā-dih and hāk-un, and they are sweet [to the ear], related to them is the language of Tabaristan, [similar] save for its speediness." The next province is Gilān, people of Gilān have three major languages: Gelaki, Rudbāri and Tāleshi with some other old languages which are spoken in small region on Gilān only. In the western side of Gilān people speak some sort of Gelaki which is heavily mixed with Āzari Turkish, the language of the neighboring province. After Gilān in the northwest of Iran, there are two Āzerbāijān provinces, the east and west ones, the main language is Āzari Turkish which is native language to the people of these provinces. Majority of young generations of Iranian, in all over the country, are able to speak, read, and write Persian, which is a national language of the country and they learn it in schools. Climate Cold semi-arid climate: the high mountains and northern parts of the Alborz range. In the heights, the weather is cold mountainous and most of the precipitation is in the form of snow. Humid subtropical climate: covering central and western plains of Mazandaran and the province of Gilān. The average annual rainfall amounts to 1200 or 1300 or even up to 1830 mm, and as we proceed to the east the amount decreases. See also Northwestern Iran Western Iran Eastern Iran Central Iran Southern Iran References Subdivisions of Iran